Everyone loves Elephant Mario and it’s (mostly) wholesome

Wednesday’s Nintendo Direct was jam-packed with pleasant surprises, from a Super Mario RPG remake to the return of Detective Pikachu. Another standout announcement was a new Mario game, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which looks like a fun and trippy take on the usual 2D platformer formula. The trailer showed Mario and the gang going on adventures, and at the end of the trailer, Nintendo gave us a sneak peek at a new, goofy-looking fruit that turns Mario into an elephant.

Elephant Mario is still recognizably Mario. He’s bipedal, bright-eyed, and keeps his usual mustache, cap, and overalls. (His shoes, however, are gone; presumably, they don’t fit his new elephant feet.) When I woke up this morning, I didn’t expect that I would be entering a world where Elephant Mario exists. But that is simply the case now, and there’s no going back.

Discerning fans are already sharing their Elephant Mario thoughts and fan art on social media, and this particular pachyderm seems to be a hit.

Absolutely delightful! I still have many questions. Can the other members of Mario’s friend group turn into elephants? Where’d this elephant fruit come from, and what does the upgrade actually address? There was a similar hubbub over Kirby’s Mouthful Mode in Kirby and the Forgotten Land, but Kirby needed to conform to the shape of a car or traffic cone for practical reasons. What does Elephant Mario do?

I’m also obliged to address the elephant in the room. Some fan artists have been inspired by Elephant Mario in an entirely different way, and searching for the phase brings up some very NSFW material. This isn’t the first time a Mario power-up has inspired a horny fervor online. As a friendly PSA, if you’re not interested in that, perhaps use caution in your social media searches.