Thanks to NichM, we have a link to a brilliant Japanese magazine pictorial named, simply and enticingly enough, 'The Youth Of The Mario Brothers'.

We've seen one or two of these pics scanned before, but with no explanation - however, blogger Patrick Macias sets us up the bomb: "Ok, vidiots. Not a lot of jokes here...here is some art by Goujin Ishihara (one of Japan's great pulp illustrators, 1923-1998) from an old ass issue of Famicom Tsushin magazine."

He continues: "The piece is called Mario Brothers no Seishun. "The Youth of the Mario Brothers." Don't blame me if you feel like eating a lot of hot Italian sausage afterwards..." Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...