the zalianth.

Disabled people tried to warn us.

Epidemiologists tried to warn us.

Historians tried to warn us.

But when the money stopped flowing, it didn’t matter anymore. The lives and the quality of life of the masses was considered the cost of business.

Super Mario Odyssey contains unused code for a "CeilingKeep" state for Mario that does not resemble anything found in the finished game, or in Mario games in general, which can only be described as "ceiling with ice floor puzzle mechanics".

A typical ice floor puzzle in a video game will take away the player's control upon stepping on a slippery surface and make characters keep moving in a straight line until they either leave the ice floor or hit an obstacle.

This state confers the same ability, bafflingly, to a ceiling instead. The ceiling would "grab hold" of Mario, make him move without player input in the direction he was facing when he touched it, and only let go when he reached the end of the ceiling.

What this could have been used for, and what such a ceiling could have looked like, is unknown.

Top: a diagram of the state. Bottom: an example of an ice puzzle, the Ice Path in the Generation II Pokémon series games.

"What do you mean you don't have them? You can't just not have them!"

"Well, we have them, we just send them away."

"SEND THEM AWAY? HOW? TO WHERE?"

"Settle down, it's very straightforward. When someone starts getting their period they go to the local witch or wizard or necromancer or whatever's nearby and get a spell placed on them. All the blood gets sent straight to the throne of the Blood King. Which is nice because he loves blood and isn't too picky about where it comes from. This way he's not running around starting wars for his blood. He gets it free and on a regular basis."

"But what about period cramps?"

"Oh, we send those away too. Off to the orcs of the Screaming Mountains."

"That seems like it could cause problems. Aren't you worried they'll retaliate?"

"Well, no. The orcs....kind of like it? They apparently like pain about as much as the Blood King likes blood. So as long as we keep sending the period cramps, they leave us be."

"huh, I wonder why more kingdoms haven't tried this."