National Museum of Kenya

The National Museum of Kenya in the DOS version

The National Museum of Kenya in the SNES version

“Anthropologists believe Kenya to be the birthplace of all mankind. Scientists working there have dug up some of the oldest human fossils ever found. One skull found near Lake Turkana is said to be almost 3 million years old! The plains of East Africa -- Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia -- are being eagerly excavated to try and solve the mystery of where human beings first lived.”

—Pamphlet, Mario is Missing! (PC)

The National Museum of Kenya (whose proper name is the Nairobi National Museum) is a museum in Nairobi. It appears in the PC, SNES, and NES versions of Mario is Missing! as one of the city's landmarks. In the game, it has been closed due to a three million year-old human skull being stolen by Koopa Troopas, and it is Luigi's task to find and return it, proving its authenticity by answering questions about the museum and the skull (seen below). He is rewarded 2,800 dollars for returning it, plus a 3,200 dollar bonus if he returns it first.

Questions

Luigi must answer the following questions to prove the skull's authenticity:

• Anthropologists think Kenya may be the birthplace of mankind. Why?
  • Messages written on cave walls/Writing on cave walls (NES)
  • Very old human fossils
  • Very old dinosaur bones
  • Leftover birthday cake
• How old is that skull you're holding?
  • 300,000 years
  • 344,000 years
  • 3,000,000 years
  • Way old
• Who discovered that skull you're holding?
  • Richard Leaky
  • Jomo Kenyatta
  • An anonymous anthropologist/An unknown anthropologist (NES)
  • H. Habilus
• Kenya is the burial site of the oldest discovered human _____
  • books
  • gorges
  • fossils
  • buildings

Media

Video - Live-action footage of the National Museum of Kenya in the Deluxe version of Mario is Missing!

File infoMedia:National Museum of Kenya MIMDX.ogv 0:15

Help:Media • Having trouble playing?

Trivia

• In the NES version, the museum is depicted on the map as a human skull.
• Although the game describes the human skull as being "almost 3 million years old", this information is based on an incorrect estimation; the actual skull found by Leakey is estimated to be roughly 1.9 million years old, and furthermore assumed to have belonged to a species known as homo rudolfensis, not homo habilis.