Initially, Mario seemed determined to take the "wait for the problem to resolve itself" approach, but it soon became apparent that this wasn't a viable option. Mainly because if he stood still for a single second, he'd end up crushed by a falling barrel.

Left with no other choice, Mario tried the diplomatic path.

Despite the extremely poor condition of the stairs, the endless stream of barrels, and those little fire thingies chasing him around, Mario finally made it to the top. But then ...

Yes, Mario was so upset by what had just happened that he completely botched that sentence (he meant to say "The dang monkey just grabbed her and took her further up!"). Give him a break: He grew up in a household where everyone spoke in a particularly effusive dialect of Italian.

The good news was that Pauline was no longer frozen by fear. The bad news was that she was starting to make unreasonable requests in light of the situation.

Once again, as soon as Mario caught up with them, the monkey grabbed Pauline and took her to another section of this demented structure. By this point Mario was seriously reconsidering some of the choices in his life.

Puzzlingly, it appears that Mario took the time to chat with the mask salesman from Zelda 64 as he ran around swinging that hammer at unthinkable monsters.

And then, as suddenly as it began, the danger was over. Note that Mario conveniently forgot his earlier resolution to break up with Pauline as she approached him to extend her gratitude.

It later turned out that the big monkey wasn't really dead, and a littler monkey then came to pester Mario when he attempted to make some extra cash by showing off his exotic new pet, but let us skip over that part to go directly to the next important occasion in Mario's life ...

Bear in mind that the biggest thing Mario and Luigi had tackled up to this point was a kitchen sink, so the sight of this huge, dark room that someone expected them to clean was overwhelming to them, and a little bit scary.

That's when they noticed the turtles.

Luigi didn't join Mario's turtle-bashing, more out of laziness than out of respect for the noble creatures that his brother was now slaughtering (presumably Christmas gifts discarded by hyperactive children who would have preferred an Atari). Luigi continued to not move even when, as if prompted by the death of each turtle, something more bizarre began coming out of those pipes ...

The now popular acronym for "shaking my damn head" appears here in its earliest recorded use.

Mario didn't have a long time to wonder what kind of person throws giant coins of solid gold into the crapper (but they're in New York, so it was probably some Wall Street jackass), for this was the moment when things suddenly turned deadly.

They say that, even today, if you press your ear near a toilet, you can hear Mario's anguished cry echo within the pipes.

Luigi was gone, but the senseless death of his brother only strengthened Mario's resolve to escape this hellish poop depository. After going through what seemed like an endless succession of identical chambers populated by increasingly unlikely creatures (bugs, crabs, spiky guys), Mario stumbled into one of the green pipes he'd learned to hate and found himself transported into an even stranger place -- one with far more mushrooms.

After the unprovoked attack by the strange owl-person, everything turned black for Mario. The world around him ceased to exist and his soul finally found peace. That peace, sadly, only lasted a few seconds.

Avoiding the owl-person this time around (by taking a freakishly high jump in the air), Mario continued exploring his surroundings and came across a bizarre and terrifying sight.

Mario's frail psyche was beginning to crack as a result of the inexplicable transformations he was undergoing. Worst of all, he misspelled another word ("changed").

A conversation below that post confirms that Mario was indeed going through some sort of psychotic break (and he wasn't the only one).

This is what this place does to people.

Just then, Mario was shocked back into sanity by a horrifying development.

Now a serial murderer and no doubt wanted by the local authorities, Mario rushed forward, only to come across his biggest obstacle yet.

Mario landed in some sort of underground corridor -- probably a mine, judging by the elevators and the black-faced versions of the same owl-people he'd encountered above. An encounter with his least favorite reptiles led to the most bizarre series of events yet.

Mario jumped into another tube with the number 5 on it, thinking that whatever was on the other side couldn't be worse than this. Naturally, he was wrong again.

Miraculously managing to hold his breath long enough to escape this underground lake, Mario emerged to find it was probably the septic tank of a nearby building. Still, he tried to look on the positive side.

Mario attempted to explain to the fire-breathing monstrosity that he only came into his house because the door was open and he wanted to ask if he could use a phone, to which the castle's owner answered by spitting more fire. Eventually, Mario ran past the monster and in the process triggered a mechanism that dropped the guy into a pit of lava. Mario felt horribly guilty about that until he realized that the monster was holding a scantily clad dwarf hostage in his basement, for God knows what twisted purpose. This was the first English speaker Mario had come across in his entire quest, but unfortunately he didn't make much sense.

As he continued his adventures (highlights include being shot at with giant bullets for no apparent reason and getting stuck in a castle maze for half an hour), Mario grew increasingly desensitized to the madness and violence around him.

But, just as Mario was beginning to remember how to feel joy again, this sick universe delivered its greatest blow ...

Suddenly, Mario found himself exactly where he started, standing in the meadow-looking place with bricks on the floor. His exact reaction to this development has been lost to the sands of time, for it was deemed unfit to be displayed on a Nintendo console.

There was only one thing Mario could do now. It's hard to argue with his decision.

Once again, a brief moment of peace. And once again, Mario came back to life, as he always does -- if you can call that living. He's still trapped somewhere in this Mushroom Kingdom, but by now he has given up trying to return to Brooklyn (if he remembers what that is). Think about that the next time you see Mario running around, chasing turtles while smiling vacantly and screaming inane catchphrases. Think about what has to happen to a man's mind for it to end up so thoroughly broken. Think about that, and ask yourself who the real monster is: the turtle that spits fire, or you?

Wait, HE HAS A CAT COSTUME NOW? Fuck it, I need this game.

Maxwell Yezpitelok is in Chile, and also on Twitter. Check out his FREE online comic!

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