Wario’s death

The cursed cassette of Super Mario 64 – Wario’s secret

It all started when I found an old Super Mario 64 cartridge in a market. The case was ruined, without label, and on the back there was only one number by hand: 1534.

At the beginning the game seemed normal … until I reached Peach Castle. Entering the large room, there was no toad, no cheerful music, just a distorted hum. At the center of the room, a new portal appeared: a staircase that did not exist in the original version. Going up, the environment changed: the textures became darker, the red sky on, and an iron smell seemed to really get out of the cartridge.

At the top, a wooden door opened slowly. Inside there was not a star, but a model that was not to exist in the game: Wario. His face was deformed, the gray skin, the yellow teeth. He did not speak, he did not laugh like in normal games … he was hanging on a rope.

The character swing slowly, and the sound of the rope that tended was repeated without end. As soon as I tried to approach Mario, the screen began to tremble. A text appeared in the center:

“It didn’t have to be there.”

Then the game crashes.

Whenever I rebooted the cartridge, the scene changed slightly:

Sometimes Wario’s hat fell to the ground, stained red.

Other times, on the wall behind him, a writing that changed language appeared, but always with the same message: “It’s too late.”

Investigating, I discovered a legend never confirmed: it is said that a Nintendo developer, who had insisted on to insert Wario as a playable character, was fired during development. Shortly after, that man took his life.

Some believe that, as the last gesture, a fragment of his death hid in the Super Mario 64 code, giving the world this “ghost” Wario. A corrupt, hung model, sentenced to oscillate forever …

After that night, I never touched that cartridge again. But even today, sometimes, I wake up with a start with the sound of the rope that tends …