'Only Blindness or Death Will Stop Me': Nintendo Historian Supper Mario Broth Reveals Severe Heart Failure Diagnosis
For fourteen years, the anonymous archivist behind Supper Mario Broth has quietly built one of gaming's most rigorous historical repositories, documenting every obscure corner of the Mushroom Kingdom. On November 8, 2026, the creator shared a sobering personal update: following a sudden wave of health complications a month ago, they have been diagnosed with severe genetic heart failure and progressive retinopathy, leaving them with a two-in-three chance of surviving past one year.
A Genetic Diagnosis and the Threat of Progressive Vision Loss
In a detailed statement published across their official social channels and the Supper Mario Broth archive, the historian explained that despite a lifelong commitment to a healthy lifestyle, doctors traced the heart failure to hereditary causes that could not have been prevented. While navigating hospital stays and potential future surgeries, the creator is also facing retinopathy, a complication that steadily degrades eyesight.
Because sharp vision is essential for inspecting pixel art, comparing ROM revisions, and verifying community discoveries, the prospect of losing their sight carries a deeply personal weight for the archivist:
"I am scared I will soon not be able to see Mario again. However, I promise that until that day arrives, I will always be here, posting Mario facts. [...] Further health-related issues and hospitalization may result in gaps in content, but only blindness or death will result in me no longer posting Mario facts. Mario is my life, and sharing these findings is my only purpose."
True to their long-standing ethos, the creator explicitly stated that the announcement is not a fundraising appeal or a request for financial assistance, noting that they already have the support they need and simply hope their body can endure the treatments ahead.
Fourteen Years of Selfless Preservation Across the Mario Franchise
Launched in September 2012 and named after the licensed canned soup produced by Campbell's in 1989, Supper Mario Broth has become an essential pillar of video game preservation. From unearthing off-camera geometry in Super Mario 64 to cataloging subtle animation details in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the blog has spent over a decade debunking urban legends and rescuing forgotten print media from obscurity.
Just hours before sharing the medical diagnosis, the archivist posted a clever hardware test linked to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo Switch 2, demonstrating that the console's top-mounted microphone can register Dry Bones sound effects from Super Mario Maker 2 as valid ocarina audio inputs. Even in that clip, the creator recorded the hardware in complete darkness to avoid showing their hands or home background, apologizing for the camera bloom while maintaining total anonymity so the focus remained entirely on the games.
Alongside modern hardware curiosities and Nintendo Switch 2 Mario discoveries, the archive's thousands of documented entries stand as a testament to independent preservation. Following the announcement, developers, speedrunners, and gaming historians rallied to express their gratitude for fourteen years of unmatched dedication.
My Perspective
In video game preservation, few projects match the quiet integrity of Supper Mario Broth. Since 2012, I have turned to their archives knowing every frame, localization quirk, and unused sprite was verified firsthand without ego or clickbait. Learning that an archivist who literally records footage in pitch darkness to keep themselves out of the spotlight now faces progressive vision loss is heartbreaking. Whatever gaps in publication lie ahead, the encyclopedia they have built over the past fourteen years is already an irreplaceable monument to Nintendo history.
Based on the outskirts of New York City, Chaya 'Chayane' spent five years studying software engineering in Montreal before returning to her home state. A Full-Stack developer and Deep Learning AI architecture researcher, she explores neural networks and algorithmic optimization while engineering data pipelines for Retrocharting and Gamescharting alongside Grimtag. A gamer for over 20 years and an avid collector of Nintendo history and The Legend of Zelda, she explored World of Warcraft's Azeroth before bringing her deep technical background to video game analysis.
