How Question Mark Blocks Work [ IMAGE ]

I’ll acknowledge that this might be how question mark blocks work. But can someone explain to me how an overweight plumber breaks blocks of bricks with his bare hands?

source: Tubbypaws

Comments

  • He breaks them with his head, not his hands! Because, y’know, that makes a whole lot more sense.

    • Cybergeek

      Nope – check out the pixels on the sprite (http://i.imgur.com/eXPzs.gif). His hand is a row above his head.

    • DanTheMagnum

      Actually, it is his hands. Even in Super Mario Bros. you can see him raise his hand to smash the block.

      On topic, he *can’t* break them normally (small form being “normal”). He can only break the brick blocks after he gets a Super Mushroom, which essentially (in… canon I guess?) makes him twice his size and like super strong and such. There’s an “Iwata Asks” where Shiggy talks about all this kind of stuff.

  • Balur

    Actually they’re not really bricks, they are mushroom people transformed into bricks. Mario is a mass murderer.

  • Eyebrows

    What happens when he “Ground Pound”s the ?block?

    • Armane

      The bottom falls out with the item.

  • TecXero

    I could see that working but only when hit from below. What about when it’s hit from the side with a shell or power-up?

  • Mark Magi

    The spring is sensitive enough that an impact form the side is sufficient to trip the trap.

  • Tom

    But… how do they float?

  • Midean Tsukasa

    The bricks have weakened mortar which allows for an impact to break them apart but they also have some amount of spring loading to help blow them apart. As for the item and vine blocks there is a similar internal component but the brick appearance is simply painted on and the block flips around to a blank side. For coin blocks there’s like a pressure based single coin release that after the first hit begins to break down which is also why the number of coins you can get from it reduces over time.
    Now how does a fat plumber in a tanuki suit (or just the tail and ears) allow flight?

    • Phaelin

      Massive amounts of drugs.