Mario Beach
Image: Nintendo Life

A few years back, around the time of Super Mario Odyssey's release, the internet became obsessed with Mario's nipples. A couple of years later we glimpsed the the bare chest of Wario (and Dr. Robotnik) in crossover game Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and since then nipples seemingly became an accepted part of the Mushroom Kingdom crew. They're only natural, no?

After causing such a fracas, new promotional art appears to show that Nintendo put the plumber under the knife and has given Mario a nipple-ectomy - a U-turn from previous depictions of the little guy's little guys in official artwork.

In the recent image posted on Nintendo's social media accounts of the mascot relaxing in the sun, it's been pointed out by Automaton (via Kotaku) that Mario no longer has his headline-makers. Here's the picture again, for reference:

Can't quite see what's going on? Allow us you zoom in for you:

Mario
Image: Nintendo Life

People online were quick to point out the absentee nipples:

https://twitter.com/PansLittleSis/status/1293609866775408642?s=20

Yep, it seems that Mario is missing (his nipples). A trick of the light, or has Nintendo taken drastic steps to ensure nipplegate never happens again? Let us know your thoughts below.

[source automaton-media.com, via kotaku.com]