We all love and remember Nintendo Power Fondly! For a brief time in the 80s and 90s Nintendo
Power had the trifecta. A perfect balance of news, entertainment and help for the games
of the time. I loved the comic strips they had too. The most popular one was Howard and
Nester and there was also this weird little crazy comic about Mario and Luigi. Without
really knowing it, it was the first foray into Japanese manga that most of us had. Manga
is the Japanese word for comics, incase you don’t have internet to learn that. The art
style was weird, cute and very exaggerated. While we were reading this, there was a much
bigger series of Mario manga going on in Japan, they were full books, individually sold, with
over 40 volumes with complete stories and were absolutely weirder, and crazier than
anything Nintendo Power could ever publish.
The books were published in Japan by Kodansha media, and are referred to as the KC Mario
comics series. They were collected from weekly comics that were first printed in Bon Bon
magazine. They didn't just do Mario, there was a range of characters like Gundam and
wait! they did Megaman too!?!? oh I’ve got to find that. Anyway, the Mario comics ended
in 1998 and now this collection of books is all thats left. The comics don’t seem to
have a lot of editorial control from Nintendo. The characters don’t look like the official
versions of themselves for one, but some of the scenes are risqué and some of the language
is not for kids. These are clearly some things that would never make the cut in Nintendo
Power,
The first comics started in 1989 and were based on the story of Super Mario Land for
GameBoy, All of the comics promoted the newest Mario game at the time. Some of the ones did
were for Dr. Mario, Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart, Wario’s Woods, Super Mario 64
and Yoshi’s Story.
One of the more funny and strange ones was Super Mario USA, known to us a Super Mario
Bros 2. Of course theres that whole Mario 2/ Doki Doki Panic story that’s pretty well
known. Even I joined this conga line of insanity with a video all about the Yume Kojo festival.
But what you might forget is that this game was re-released in Japan as a separate spinoff,
and marketed as Mario’s adventure that was locked out of Japan. Strange I know. But in
the Fall of 1992 Super Mario USA hit the Famicom and this comic helped promote it. Let’s
take a look inside and see what the story is all about.
One thing I like besides The funny cover with Princess Peach as the statue of liberty is
that the first few pages give a little detail about what Super Mario USA looks like and
how to play the game. Its a slight throwback of the feeling you get from reading Nintendo
Power to start you off. Remember that if Super Mario USA was a new
game to you, you'd need to know the characters and this handy guide at the beginning of the
book helps you out. All of the enemy names are different in Japan, but the most notable
is that Birdo is named Catherine, a real female name. While Ostro is actually called Birdo,
Maybe the writer of this book didn’t know about that typo in the credits or the manual
of the game
Toad is called Kinopio. Wart is called Mamuu, and Shy Guys are called Hey-ho. Sparks have
the same name. If you forget the rest, thats ok.
The story starts out with a zoom-in on Earth and the USA, which is of course where an Italian
plumber would live. Are they all sleeping together? in a big pile? What’s that? Ah
well, its just the setup of the story. Mario and the rest exclaim they are “the American
version of themselves” and they start out by working a farm. Well it is a dream, you
know, so weird stuff can happen. Peach finds Mouser stealing seeds from the farmhouse and
a chase ensues. Mario and Luigi mis understand and think the mouse in question is the mouse
from Mario Paint! It is 1992 after all. They chase him through a tunnel and he runs up
a mountain. This is where Mario and Luigi discover the vegetables and cherries found
in Mario USA. In fact the first radish Mario sees talks to him and tells him to pull and
throw them to keep safe in this area. Shy guys, called Hey-ho are walking around, and
Mario takes the advice to fend them off. One Hey-ho or, Shy guy, surrenders and offers
to help Mario find Mouser and take them up the mountain. Mario had a bean in his pocket
and it lets a big vine sprout to let them climb up. Once on top in the clouds they find
Catherine, or Birdo.
Then we see her for the first time. Or him, it? uh I don’t know. I don’t read Wikis
like its The Bible just to keep up with that stuff. This scene might seem kind of strange,
because its not in the game. But this scene parodies the Super Mario USA TV commercial,
which would have aired at the same time as the comics were being printed. Its weird in
its own way. Anyway Kinopio slash Toad notices that theres an escape door but needs a crystal
to open it. How does he know that? Did he read the instruction manual? Anyway, they
fight, get the crystal and pass through. They catch up with Mouser, have the bomb fight
from stage one-three and blow him up. Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be back. A snake
takes the seeds and run away, what were this things called again?
Stage 2 is just like you’d think. Beezos, Pokeys and Phantos in the desert. Its basically
the 4 of them chasing to get the seeds back, but some funny things happen here. Peach keeps
eating cherries and cause a Starman to pop up which gets them out of trouble. Mario tries
to take off a one of their masks. But then the story gets little deeper as the Beezo
says they are really Subcon people and are forced to wear the masks because Wart has
taken over the land of Subcon and they can’t take them off until he is defeated.
Is that anywhere in the Mario canon? Oh yea, its actually said that in the Super Mario
Bros. 2 American manual, it says Wart placed the Subcons under an evil spell. The manual
to Doki Doki Panic doesn't mention the masks being cursed, but what do you expect, in 1987
you were supposed to buy them and wear them, so they had to be a fun thing!
Anyway the scene gets interrupted by a Pidgit throwing a POW block to the ground. Mario
tackles him and steals the flying carpet. They use it to enter the pyramid. Inside there,
the find some mummies. But wait, there were mummies in Super Mario 2? No, just Snifits
in disguise. Pretty clever, I’d say. What’s more clever in a very meta way, is Mario and
the others jump on their heads to escape, keeping the game physics intact, in this crazy
comic world. Sorry, manga.
They meet Catherine again and this time she proudly exclaims that she has to be a girl
because she can lay eggs and is pretty friendly this time around as she agrees to guide them
around. Theres also a strange scene where Luigi hits on Catherine and calls her beautiful.
She points them to the door, but its locked, so they need a key. If you played Super Mario
Bros 2, you know what that means! Phanto injures Mario in the chase and they need to find him
a mushroom to power him up.
By the way, if they are in a strange new land, how do they know that they need to travel
to subspace to find the mushroom ?? In one of the funniest and weirdest inside jokes,
Peach pulls up a magic lamp, which was the item in Doki Doki Panic. Catherine says that
won't work and she has the real potion to travel to Subspace and that she went to the
bathroom in the magic lamp. They get the mushroom, Power Mario up, and go through the door and
meet Tryclyde and engage in a pretty dramatic battle. Tryclyde is defeated and Peach takes
the seeds back! Only to be kidnapped by Wart and taken away.
Stage three is the final battle. Mario Luigi and Toad are on their way to save Peach. Meanwhile
Wart orders Peach to cook dinner for him and he ends up throwing it up because its full
of vegetables. Mario Luigi and Toad are on the way and Wart orders an evacuation and
sends everyone through a warp zone. As the 3 of them get closer, they come to Catherine’s
house. Luigi tries again to flirt with her to get her to go along with them. But this
time she changes her feelings on a dime, like a real girl by the way, and thinks it won’t
work out anymore. Mario offers Catherine a chance to date Yoshi, who Catherine thinks
is pretty hot. This part is just classic. There’s a cutaway to Yoshi making cookies
and somehow hears this and starts freaking out at the prospect of having to go out with
her. With this she lets them ride her rocket up to Wart’s castle. They battle Clawglip
and Fryguy and end up using Fryguy to boil Clawglip and eat him!! To defeat Fryguy, Catherine
goes to the bathroom on him! I guess the magic lamp was full.
Mario finally makes it to Wart’s chamber, with Peach atop the Dream Machine. The battle
is rather dramatic and ends with Mario prying Wart’s mouth open and Peach raining down
vegetables from under her dress! It makes Mario get a nosebleed, and if you read manga
you know what that means.
if you don’t know what that means, it means that Mario got to see the Royal peach!! Anyway,
with Wart defeated, the masks fell off and the Subcons were free! Peace was one again
returned to the land.
That ends the main story, but there’s a second smaller story which is just weird all
around. Mario Luigi Toad and Peach go to a casino run by Wart. They dress up in power-up
suits from Super Mario Bros. 3 and later as Sailor Moon and has Mario trying to beat Wart
at a game of roulette. I guess its like having a bonus story after the main one like having
the bonus chance after each level in the game,
So if you enjoy weird off model character designs, silly wordplay and having Birdo going
to the bathroom on everything, take a voyage down to your local library, because its all
in books!
If you’re a big fan of Super Mario Bros. 2 and Nintendo history, then you'll want to
check out “What Was Yume Kojo?” to find out what the event that eventually gave way
to our favorite game was all about.
If you want to see another funny book from Japan, try “The Butt Detective” it reads
just like it sounds!
Thanks to Andrew Fleming (AF Drums) for his awesome drum tracks and Ed Brown for his Super
Mario Bros. 2 music.