As one of the longest running franchises in gaming, the characters found within Super Mario Bros. have seen their fair share of adventures over the years. What's odd about this, however, is that these games don't really mesh into a cohesive narrative – nor do they attempt to at any point. It's for this reason that gamers have crafted so many fan theories about the series' mascots, but most of them have gone unanswered.

At least, that was the case before Nintendo decided to delve into the lore of Super Mario Bros. in a recent video. Featuring none other than the legendary creator of the property, Shigeru Miyamoto, the brief footage addresses some of the most popular myths surrounding Mario and friends, answering some of the lingering questions gamers have been holding onto for all of these years.

Two of the more interesting questions are whether or not Super Mario Bros. 3 was all a performance and if Super Mario himself was named after Nintendo of America's former warehouse landlord Mario Segale. Surprisingly, both are accurate, which means that fans were correct in piecing these together all along. That said, not all of the ongoing myths pan out, as Bob-ombs don't actually become Boos upon exploding. Still, it's a very interesting look into the loose canon following the series.

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One of the questions that Nintendo UK teased prior to launching the video, however, pertained to the identity of Bowser Jr.'s mother. Ever since Super Mario Sunshine introduced Bowser's offspring, gamers the world over have been wondering who the famed king of Koopas actually settled down with long enough to bring about his successor. As it turns out, Miyamoto claims he's Junior's other parental figure, leaving fans to continue guessing about the other half of B.J.'s gene pool.

This segment in particular strikes a chord that's unlike anything Nintendo has done in the past though, and it makes for an incredibly nice change of pace that allows fans a quick peek behind the company's curtain. Still, this is likely just a one-off to coincide with the release of Super Mario Maker – a game that we praised in our recent review – but hopefully fans will see similar content from the Big N going forward.

There are a number of questions about Super Mario that many gamers have wondered about for years, so hopefully Miyamoto deems it appropriate to step up and shoot another video at some point soon. In the meantime, theorists now have some answers to questions that they've been wondering about for quite some time and that should keep them satiated for now.

What question have you always had about Mario? Would you like to see more videos like this from Nintendo? Get at us in the comments.

Source: Nintendo - YouTube