MUSHROOM KINGDOM – Infant and star of the Yoshi’s Island subseries, Baby Mario has sadly died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), sources confirm.

“Oh-ah nooo-ah!” Baby Mario’s father Papa Mario wailed. “My-ah beautiful son! He was-ah healthy and happy last night, and then when I-ah checked on him this morning he had passed out of-ah nowhere! What am I going to do-ah? We raised him-ah like one of our own after Yoshi rescued the stork that was-ah delivering him to our house, and now he’s-ah gone. We only had him because Baby Luigi had been-ah kidnapped by Kamek, and now there’s-ah nobody to accompany Yoshi on the mission to-ah rescue him. We can’t even have another child because I’m-ah sterile! Mama Mario is-ah going to be furious with me, but what could I have-ah done to prevent this?”

Magikoopa and enemy of Baby Mario, Kamek, was delighted to hear the news.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not typically the type of guy who celebrates the death of a baby, but I’m going to make an exception in this case,” Kamek told reporters. “I had kidnapped his brother Luigi at the behest of my master Baby Bowser, and I really wasn’t looking forward to him showing up here with Yoshi and defeating us. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we Koopas don’t really have a great record of fighting those guys. Plus, hearing him cry every time they got separated was getting really, really annoying. I say good riddance. I’m also going to check with Bowser on why exactly he wanted Baby Luigi, otherwise we can just give him back to his parents to help with their grieving. We’re not monsters.”

Mushroom Kingdom physician Dr. Waldo Bloom commented on Baby Mario’s unexpected demise.

“SIDS is actually extremely common here,” Bloom noted. “We’re not entirely sure of the cause, but it’s my personal belief that copious amounts of poisonous mushrooms simply cannot be good for developing brains and bodies. I mean, look. They’re literally all over the place, and for seemingly no reason. I’m always warning Mushroom Kingdom parents to keep their babies away from all of them, including the sentient ones. Did you know that every baby who comes in contact with Toad dies within 48 hours? What happened to Baby Mario was awful, and it’s made even worse by the fact that it was likely preventable.”

At press time, Papa and Mama Mario had decided to just leave Baby Luigi with Bowser.