N-Mark Spade Panel
| N-Mark Spade Panel | |
|---|---|
  
| |
| First appearance | Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) |
| Latest appearance | Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition (2010) |
- “Flip over any two cards and see if they match. You can only miss twice!”
- —Toad, Super Mario Bros. 3
N-Mark Spade Panels,[1] also known as Matching Game Panels,[2] Card Matching Games,[3] Matching Game spaces,[4] or N-Spades,[5] are Spade Panels in Super Mario Bros. 3 that appear on the world map for every 80,000 points gained. Whenever Mario or Luigi moves onto an N-Mark Spade Panel, he is automatically taken in, unlike with other panels.
N-Mark Spade Panels do not appear in World 8; however, in the post-game of Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, the player's score is still tracked in World 8 for the purposes of an N-Mark Spade Panel, and if Mario or Luigi returns to one of the other seven worlds, it is possible to make multiple N-Mark Spade Panels appear in the same world each time he leaves a level.
When drawn into an N-Mark Spade Panel, the player must play a card minigame hosted by a Toad titled the Matching Game.[6] The goal is to flip over two cards, each depicting an item, every turn to try to match a pair. For each card pair successfully matched, the player wins that prize for their inventory, for a total of nine prizes per game. If the player mismatches twice, the minigame ends. Once all of the card pairs have been matched, the cards reset the next time around. Even if the player is unsuccessful at matching every card pair, the ones that they did match remain flipped over the next time they play the minigame.
In early copies of Super Mario Bros. 3, the Toad would say, "Flip over any two cards and see if they match. Miss twice and your[sic] out!" with "you're" misspelled as "your." The text was revised in later copies of the game, with the second sentence instead reading, "You can only miss twice!"[7]
In the Super Mario All-Stars version, while the Starman cards use their new design, the Super Mushroom and Fire Flower cards retain their original designs, albeit with the former's colors inverted. The text has been reverted to the incorrect version.
In Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, the text box has been enlarged enough for the Toad to use the correct grammar in the original message and a comma to be added after "twice."
Prizes[edit]
- 10 coins (1)
- 20 coins (1)
- Super Mushroom (2)
- Fire Flower (2)
- Starman (2)
- 1-up (1)
Layouts[edit]
The game was intended to perform a shuffling function that would output a completely random set of cards each time the game was initialized. However, minor coding errors in both shuffling routines resulted in most of the intended shuffling mechanics not to take place, unintentionally resulting in only eight possible arrangements of cards.[8] Despite this setup being unintentional, all future versions of the game continue to use the same mechanics. The fourth, fifth, and sixth cards from the left on the bottom row will always be a Super Mushroom, a Fire Flower, and a Starman, respectively.
See also[edit]
- Power-up Panels – a similar game found in New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | Nマークスペードパネル[9] Enu Māku Supēdo Paneru |
N-Mark Spade Panel | |
| Italian | Segno di picche con "N"[10] | Spade symbol with "N" | |
| Pannello picche N[11] | N spade panel | ||
| Mini-memory[12] | - |
Trivia[edit]
- In Super Mario Bros. Wonder, hitting a Hidden Character Block causes a sound that sounds similar to when an N-Mark Spade Panel appears in original releases of Super Mario Bros. 3 to play.
References[edit]
- ^ 1990. Super Mario Bros. 3 instruction booklet. Nintendo of America (American English). Page 22.
- ^ June 1990. Nintendo Power Volume 13. Nintendo of America (American English). Page 10.
- ^ Super Mario All-Stars Player's Guide. Nintendo of America (American English). Page 110.
- ^ Peterson, Erik (2003). Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 Player's Guide. Nintendo of America (American English). ISBN 1930206-37-2. Page 11.
- ^ Hodgson, David S J. (October 21, 2003). Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 Prima's Official Strategy Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 0-7615-4425-9. Page 23.
- ^ Spring 1991. NES Game Atlas Nintendo Player's Guide. Nintendo of America (American English). Page 41.
- ^ Super Mario Bros. 3/Version Differences. The Cutting Room Floor (English). Retrieved June 24, 2024.
- ^ Retro Game Mechanics Explained (October 7, 2023). SMB3 Roulette & Card Matching Games Explained. YouTube. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- ^ 1988. スーパーマリオブラザーズ3 (Sūpā Mario Burazāzu Surī) instruction booklet. Nintendo (Japanese). Page 19.
- ^ Super Mario Bros. 3 Italian manual. Page 22.
- ^ 2010. Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary Edition Italian manual. Nintendo of Europe (Italian). Page 17.
- ^ November 15, 2018. Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia. Magazzini Salani (Italian). ISBN 889367436X. Page 43.
