The Super Mario universe is certainly very large, with a multitude of locations, characters, special powers and enemies. But their origin remains deliberately unclear. Except for the origin of the 1UP mushroom, which grants Mario an extra life.
This was indeed explained in a manga published in 1996 to accompany the release of Super Mario 64. In a box, which recently resurfaced on Twitter, we learn that 1UP mushrooms grow thanks to… Mario’s corpse. Each time the player “dies”, his body therefore gives way to a mushroom. An explanation that we would have preferred not to know.
The manga does not end there. We also learn that Mario can breathe underwater by collecting coins. These would contain air, which would allow the plumber to continue his adventure without constantly having to come to the surface.