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Mario & Bowser's Relationship: Main Games vs Spin-off Games

This is a two-panel comparison meme highlighting the difference in Mario and Bowser's dynamic across different types of Super Mario franchise games. The top panel uses official Nintendo promotional art showing Mario and Bowser facing each other aggressively, ready to fight, with a caption noting this is their relationship in mainline Super Mario platformer games, where Bowser is the core antagonist that kidnaps Princess Peach and Mario fights to rescue her. The bottom panel uses a photo of Mario and Bowser plush toys sitting casually on a couch looking friendly, with a caption noting this is their relationship in Mario spin-off games (such as Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Mario sports titles), where the pair are usually friendly rivals or even teammates that participate in activities together. The joke relies on the stark contrast between their hostile canonical dynamic in core games and their amicable, casual dynamic in non-mainline spin-off titles.
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Mario & Bowser's relationship in the main games; Mario & Bowser's relationship in the spin-off games

Overview

This is a two-panel comparison meme highlighting the difference in Mario and Bowser's dynamic across different types of Super Mario franchise games. The top panel uses official Nintendo promotional art showing Mario and Bowser facing each other aggressively, ready to fight, with a caption noting this is their relationship in mainline Super Mario platformer games, where Bowser is the core antagonist that kidnaps Princess Peach and Mario fights to rescue her. The bottom panel uses a photo of Mario and Bowser plush toys sitting casually on a couch looking friendly, with a caption noting this is their relationship in Mario spin-off games (such as Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Mario sports titles), where the pair are usually friendly rivals or even teammates that participate in activities together. The joke relies on the stark contrast between their hostile canonical dynamic in core games and their amicable, casual dynamic in non-mainline spin-off titles.

Origin notes

This meme is sourced from the RSS feed of the Reddit Meme subreddit. It was created by combining official Super Mario franchise promotional art for the top panel and a candid photo of Mario and Bowser plushes for the bottom panel, with added text captions to deliver the comparison joke. This meme follows a popular format that contrasts differing portrayals of media characters across different categories of content in their franchise.

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