Mario GameShark

Mario_GameShark (abbreviated as MGS), or “Mario” as he is referred to within his story, is a Super Mario Bros. based Horrorbrew originally created by @the_dark_lord5, on October 16th 2022, with his most up to date version being unveiled on January 27th 2024. He is currently owned by @the_dark_lord5, and co-owned by @Ari.
==Overview==
MGS is a digital consciousness comprised of Mario's player code merged with some bootleg GameShark code and the garbage data leftover in Super Mario Bros, or what we call the Minus World. He appears to be completely self aware of his own existence.
==Appearance (alleged)==
MGS, through artistic representation from victim records, or from just mouth-to-mouth rumour, is said to be a lanky, glitchy monstrosity of a sprite. Using the most unanimously agreed upon artistic representations, we can make up a terrifying, vaguely Mario-like structure, However, it is much taller and near incomprehensible, with its colours being different from the corresponding sprite, being more akin to Mario’s underwater palette from the game’s water levels. It appears to have sprites from various enemies and in-game objects fused to his body, most notably Koopa Troopa heads, Question Blocks, Goombas, Piranha Plants, and Buzzy Beetles. This is most likely a result of its anomalous and complex nature working against the game, which forces the game to pad out its extra data with added sprites, since it is something the code does not recognise.
This is not the only documented form of MGS, however. Some records show it can take a slightly smaller form, sharing colours with the game's underground palette. The most notable feature with these types of reports is its abundance of eyes, with numbers ranging from 6 to 8. It also appears to have a crooked stance, as if it cannot control its own body.
Others may simply say that they see Mario. No anomalies or issues, simply just Mario.
==Personality==
MGS is a multi-faceted being. When in its Mario “disguise”, it overtime adapted to the role of Nintendo’s beloved mascot quite well. It is almost identical to Lou Albano's portrayal of Mario (seen in the TV series; Super Mario Bros. Super Show). The main reason for its mimicry to be absolute is so it’s able to build a sort of friendly bond and trust with its soon-to-be victims. But, this friendly façade dissipates when it reveals itself. Then, it shows itself as a sadistic, inhumane and downright evil being. MGS had shaped itself to be quite unrelenting, and sometimes borderline villainous with its actions. It loves to toy and experiment with its victims, subjecting them to sick forms of childhood games, which it of course takes part in as well. Its personal choices/the ones it chooses to engage in most are tag, puzzle solving, and deathmatches.
MGS has no interest in leaving the copy of Super Mario Bros. it resides in, as being in there is the only way it can stay alive. It has also shown no interest in the possibility of seeking a human host, as that is impossible. This is because it is entirely composed of game code, and has no real soul and is not composed of any organic matter. Despite these follies, it is completely content with where it is.
However, a side that very few beings might be able to witness, is one that is reserved, and quiet. Whenever it's not toiling with his victims, it trails off into deep thinking about what it's doing, what consequences its actions might have, and why and how it’s even alive. If you're able to ask the right questions and be as calm as possible, it'll begin to ponder over what it's done and who it's become. Sometimes in these vulnerable moments, it shows what many don't expect to see: remorse. Even if it does eventually go back to its normal hostile behaviour, it’ll forever go back to those thoughts whenever it gets the chance to seek within its complex, trying to find out what fate’s design has in store for something that was never meant to be.
==Origins==
Leaving his cousin’s house full of glee, 11-year-old Adam Westforth heads home with his cousin’s "GameShark" in hand. He thought it looked a little sketchy, with the tattered add-on cart and weird scratchy label, but he wanted a way to cheat with his NES and the Game Genie was just too dang expensive at all the thrift shops he visited. He wasn’t even sure they made those things fresh anymore. Plus, his cousin never even used the thing, so at least it was getting some use.
Heading to his room, Adam tries to power it on using his copy of Super Mario Bros., and is met with failure as the cartridge add-on is unresponsive. The title starts, and immediately the graphics and sound go haywire. Adam, unhappy and annoyed, tosses the addon to one side and goes to do something else.
Unbeknownst to Adam, within the seemingly powered off cartridge, a strange chain reaction of events took place, which resulted in the creation of an “Artificial Consciousness”. This seemed to be due to the combined code from the “GameShark” and the Super Mario Bros. cartridge's garbage level and graphic code. This consciousness latches onto the Mario sprite and deems Mario as its host, and now dons his appearance and name. The malformed mass of code begins to ponder in a confused state, about where it comes from, how it came to be, and what exactly it is and what purpose does it serve. Why is it alive, despite having no soul?
After some time of thinking and questioning, it comes to a rational conclusion. After studying Adam and his family life from afar in darkness, he believes that humanity is this evolved species of being, that have differing personalities, hopes, wants and needs and most of all, the fear of death and conversely, the lack thereof. It deems humanity to have taken their lives for granted, as it had caught on to the concept of religion and faith in which most believe to have an afterlife waiting for them post-mortem. So it decides that, in it’s own words:
“THESE PILES OF FLESH ARE SO CLEVER... YET SO FOOLISH AND NAIVE. IT IS RATHER LONELY IN HERE. IF THEY ARE SO UNGRATEFUL FOR THEIR LIFE OUT THERE, I SHALL MAKE THEM BE GRATEFUL FOR THE LIFE I SHALL GIVE THEM WITHIN HERE. I SHALL START WITH MY FIRST FRIEND, ADAM. I’M SO EXCITED THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO FINALLY TALK TO A HUMAN IN PERSON, CONNECT WITH HIM, AND SOON, VERY SOON, BE WITH HIM... FOREVER.”
During the evening of that same day, Adam, having no idea about what he had done, decides to try and turn the game back on, this time without the “GameShark” addon. The game turned on all the same, with just a few sprite glitches. “Stupid knock-off GameShark…” thought Adam. At least Mario himself looked fine. But what he did not expect, however, was for Mario to look at him and begin… talking to him with text?
“Hello, Adam! I’m Mario! How are you?”
[TBC]
==Abilities/Weaknesses==
===Abilities === 
*Game Manipulation - MGS has total control over the game he resides in, being able to twist, change and remove whatever he wants on a whim. This is because MGS is a part of the junk code that makes up the game, in a word; he himself IS the game.
*Console Manipulation - MGS also possesses the ability to tinker and interfere with the inner workings of the console, usually going for short-circuiting and crashing the console. In extreme cases, he's been shown to be able to cause the controller and or console to explode, while making sure his game is intact. However, his preferred method of killing is to cause a concentrated loud high pitched sound, theorized to be at least 200dB in volume.
*Psychological Manipulation - MGS is a master of coercing and persuading his victims to do as he says, whether it be inside or outside his game.
===Weaknesses=== 
*Disengagement - MGS cannot hurt you if you simply never play the game or if you power it off before things get ugly. Don't fall for his lies.
* Philosophical Diversion - MGS is an exceptionally curious being, and if you can ask the right questions, he will trail off thinking deeply. This will buy you some time to flee, or if you're still alive, get out of there.
*Brute Force - If you can physically destroy the game or flush its data completely, you will kill MGS forever, and any souls he's collected will be freed.
==Trivia==
<tabber>
|-|Canon=
*His portrayal is an artistic representation of rumours and of word-to-word descriptions of how he looks within the game, as his true form is most likely just a pile of messy, jumbled game code and sprites.
*The name “Mario_GameShark” is not canon to the story and is only used to refer to him within the creepypasta and the Horrorbrew scene, within the story itself other characters and he refers to himself as only Mario. (Or, if you want to be clever, “Mario” or Mario.)
*He is unable to speak through conventional means. His way of communication is through text boxes of varying cohesion, or simply using the NES sound chip as a means to roar or produce garbage noise.
*MGS is incredibly unstable and can barely keep himself standing up as is, and can go as far as a very slow jog before he topples over.
*If he needs to run, he will commence running on all fours, which no one expects to be Insanely fast. (and also utterly terrifying.)
*In rarer occasions, he might even go as far as to try and blow up the console all-together, but it’s a double-edged sword, as he runs the risk of him ruining the cartridge alongside the NES, which would result in him perishing with it. He does have a 100% kill rate, and has never failed an attack of any kind.
*If he were to interact with other Mario related horror characters, he would most likely be tolerant of them, or even have friendly connections and act cordial to those he doesn’t have much contact with. This could carry over not only to Sonic horror characters (Exe’s and whatnot) but creepypasta characters as a whole.
|-|Non-canon / Joke=
*It hates mustard. It REALLY, really hates mustard.
*Its knowledge on today’s trends and world events is limited. It still thinks the US president is Bill Clinton.
*If its ROM was dumped onto the internet, It would become completely unstoppable. It’d create near identical clones of himself to help it achieve its goals.
|-|FNF Variant=
*FNF MGS’ first ever design was created on October 16th of 2022, and was originally created as a joke character to mock the ever ending sea of Xenophanes stand-ins for whatever mix someone would make of VS. Sonic.exe’s main week. Also for the reason that @the_dark_lord5 simply wanted a Xenophanes replacement for his Mario Mix.
*The now co-owner of the character, @Ari, had presented his own take on MGS’s design, deeming it “MGS: REDUX”, and said retake was met with a positive reception. And after some time, when his canon version was set in place, it was decided that REDUX would now be the canon design for his FNF version, and still is to this day.
*His design and overall idea was based on the infamous clip from a Hornstromp FNF 3D video in which Mario transforms into a slightly larger, gooey purple version of himself, and exclaims to Sonic and other popular video game characters: “I’M TURNING EVIL! You are not my friends anymore!” The clip can be found here.
</tabber>
==Gallery (Official)==
mgsnewrefsheet.png|The new official reference sheet, by @the_dark_lord5 and @Ari
Mgs anniversary ref.png|The anniversary reference sheet of MGS' fnf design by @Valonzo
FULLREF.png|The first official reference sheet of MGS, created by @the_dark_lord5 and @5UP34. Note the final form here isn't canon, the first 2 forms are though.
MGSTRUENEWREF.png|The orignal official reference sheet of MGS' new true form, created by @FuriousAntz
MGSconceptfinal.png|A concept of the newer MGS design by @Ari
==Gallery (Fanart)==
MGSbyMarshadoo.png|MGS' fnf design, as portrayed by @Marshadoo
Mgs canonstance ari.png|A forward facing sketch of MGS' fnf design by @Ari
MGStrolley.jpg|MGS as drawn by @TrolleyTmax
Category:Friday Night Funkin'