Super Mario Theory: Why Boo Ghosts Cover Their Faces

Anyone who has played a Super Mario Bros. game is likely familiar with the devious ghost enemies known as Boos that haunt Mario and Luigi. They’re known for pursuing the protagonist, inching closer and closer unless that playable character turns around, in which case the Boo ghosts will freeze and cover their face… but why do they do this? 

Boos are round, typically white-colored ghosts with little arms. They have a menacing face with black beady eyes, fangs, and a red tongue that sticks out. Boos first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3 in the World 2-Fortress level of Desert Land. If the player never faces a Boo ghost, it will eventually sneak up and kill the player.

Little is known about the history of Boos, or how they came to be. One of the few hints comes from Paper Mario’s Goombario. Goombario’s tattle move reveals stats during battle and general information in the field. Upon using tattle on Igor, a Boo that runs the shop in Boo’s Mansion, Goombario states that he was “probably a merchant before he became a Boo.” While it seems like Boos are their own species, this information presents the fact that Boos were once living beings. Reddit user False_Baconator presented a theory in 2018 speculating that Boos are actually dead Shy Guys.

Super Mario Theory: Boo Ghosts are Dead Shy Guys

Shy Guys are another common enemy in the Super Mario franchise. They are short, somewhat rounded characters that wear a white mask with holes for the eyes and mouth. They wear different color robes, although the default color tends to be red. The theory lists many compelling links between Boos and Shy Guys. The most obvious is that both enemies are shy in nature, preferring to hide their faces. It is unknown what Shy Guys look like under their masks, so Boos covering their faces could be a Shy Guy’s bashfulness transcending life into death. Additionally, both enemies have similar, rounded bodies, and their arms have the same short, oblong shape — a trait not common in other Super Mario characters. 

In Mario Power Tennis, when Shy Guy wins, he’ll trip when trying to collect his trophy. His mask falls off, exposing his face to Luigi, who is handing out the trophy. Luigi becomes visibly scared. It’s worth noting that Luigi is scared of ghosts. If that isn’t evident from his reactions to ghosts in Luigi’s Mansion, it’s proven in his 2nd diary entry in Paper Mario where he writes, “Yaaaah! I hate ghosts!!” It’s also curious that Shy Guy and Boo are doubles partners in Mario Power Tennis. Further evidence is that Shy Guy is present in Super Mario Bros. 2, but not in Super Mario Bros. 3 — where Boo makes its premiere! This chronologically coheres with the idea that Shy Guys were around prior to dying and becoming ghosts. It should be noted that Shy Guys and Boos do appear together in other side games. 

The main wrench thrown into this theory’s gears has to do with two other minor enemies — Ghost Guys and Boo Guys. Ghost Guys are pitchfork-wielding ghosts that fly around in Luigi’s Mansion. They resemble Shy Guys but their masks have no eyes. Boo Guys first appeared in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, and look like a combination of Boo and Shy Guy. They are all white, and shaped similarly to Boo, but they wear a Shy Guy mask. If Boo ghosts are dead Shy Guys, it feels redundant to have these other ghost versions of Shy Guys floating around. Yet, their very existence arguably indicates that the creators have already drawn a connection between Boos and Shy Guys. Whether or not Boo ghosts are actually dead Shy Guys in the Super Mario Bros. series is a fun topic for debate regardless, especially considering the surprising amount of evidence in favor of it.   

Source: False_Baconator/Reddit

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