Super Mario Bros. may have mushrooms, but the long-running Mario series has a reputation for being family-friendly and fun for kids. It might come as a surprise, then, to learn that the a character from the series has appeared on illicit drugs. That's now the case, as one Japanese man has been arrested by police after it was discovered that he was carrying Wario-themed ecstasy tablets.

A man by the name of Satoshi Kishimoto was arrested in Tokushima, Japan for carrying fifty ecstasy tablets. The majority of the tablets were designed to look like Wario of Super Mario Bros., the arch-rival of Mario who has also gone on to have his own spin-off titles, such as WarioWare.

Apparently, this isn't the first time that the Wario tablets have been discovered by the authorities. Obviously, it's clear that the tablets have no tie whatsoever to Nintendo, but it's not entirely clear why someone would want to emblazon their drugs with Wario's image in particular. Of course, it's not the first time that the image of a cartoon or game character has been utilized when manufacturing illicit drugs.

wario ecstasy tablet

At this time, Kishimoto has not been yet sentenced, but the original report did note that it's his third known offense for possession of various drugs. Japan has extremely strict laws regarding drugs, so he's likely to get hit with a rather hefty punishment as a result.

Pierre Taki, a Japanese actor who plays a character in Yakuza spinoff game Judgment made the news not long ago for his own transgression with cocaine, and his game was completely pulled from sale in Japan. His jail sentence was ultimately suspended by a judge, but his particular infraction was for using the substance, not carrying enough to potentially sell it, as Kishimoto did.

While video game characters appearing on drugs might be fairly rare, video games themselves have had their run-ins with drugs in the past as well. They've especially been utilized in order to help smuggle drugs, like when an original bulky Xbox console packed with drugs was discovered by Homeland Security in the United States after being smuggled in from another country. In addition, collectors have found second-hand NES cartridges with drugs hidden inside.

Source: Asahi (via NintendoEnthuasiast)