Headscratchers / Super Mario Bros. 3

• Raccoon Mario can fly, but real raccoons can't. Additionally, he gets this power from a leaf. What do leaves have to do with raccoons?
  • The same reason turtles can breath fire, mushrooms can make you grow twice as tall, walking mushrooms can fly, and you can get to dungeons through giant green pipes.
  • Actually, it's not a raccoon; it's a tanuki, which in Japanese folklore use leaves as part of their magic which adds more confusion with the Tanuki Suit as it's literally just a slightly more amped up Leaf powerup but with the added advantage of being a priest statue. Along with the Frog suit, SMB3 is pretty steeped in Shinto themes.
• How come the Sun is so hostile to Mario? Is it working for Bowser, or does it just not like Mario?
  • Probably Wild Mass Guessing on my part, but maybe it's not actually the sun, but a relative of Fryguy who bears a resemblance to the sun?
  • Like all the enemies, yes, it's working under Bowser. It's not the actual sun, though.
• Why does the king of world 3 look so much like Mario? Are they first cousins?

---