I want to correct a bit of an error I've seen sometimes claimed online. Some have pulled out the following quote from the Super Mario Bros. instruction booklet:
The quiet, peace-loving Mushroom People were turned into mere stones,
bricks, and even field horse-hair plants, and the Mushroom Kingdom fell
into ruin. (page 1)
This has led to some asserting that Mario is actually a villain because
he goes around breaking bricks that are actually the Mushroom People. While these comments are generally meant in a facetious sense, it is still in error when
one examines this portion later in the same instruction booklet. While discussing power-ups, it says:
Mario's Friends
If you come across mushrooms who have been turned into bricks or made
invisible, they reward you by giving you a power boost. With each boost
Mario changes into a different, more powerful Mario, as shown below.
As it made abundantly clear by that quote, the "bricks" that the
Mushroom People were turned into are the blocks that give you a
power-up, i.e. the ? Blocks (visible or invisible). These are not
destroyed when you hit them. So, no, none of the people turned into
bricks are destroyed in the game by Mario. The question then comes why there are still suck ? Blocks after the curse is broken. I don't think there has been any official explanation, but if one wants a fan speculation, perhaps there were always ? Blocks with this function, and all that happened with the curse was there there were more created by people who were turned into them.
In any event Mario appears cleared of this
accusation that he's breaking the bricks people were turned into and killing them. This is obviously a bit different than the normal kind of thing I write on this blog (hence the post title), but I thought I might as well put this explanation out somewhere.