Mario has aged in Super Mario Odyssey

When people think of Mario, everyone thinks he’s always this happy plumber who never ages. In this official piece of Super Mario Odyssey artwork, there are signs proving otherwise.

This particular artwork of Mario and Cappy comes from Super Mario Odyssey. It’s rendered in really high quality detail. Although there aren’t any obvious signs of aging, zooming in on Mario’s hair just above his left ear shows what appears to be a single strand of grey hair…

Supper Mario Broth claims this strand of grey hair isn’t a “transparency issue” or “compression effect”, as the image was released in a lossless format by Nintendo. Which means our friendly red plumber is really aging!

Mario isn’t the first Nintendo character to age over time. Bowser Jr., the son of Mario’s arch nemesis Bowser, grown fangs and learned how to breath fire over the years.