Super Mario Adventures
Super Mario Adventures is a Mario comic originally serialized in Nintendo Power magazine in twelve installments between the January to December 1992 issues alongside the The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past comic. The comic would later be serialized in Japan through CoroCoro Comic in 1993. The comic was written by Kentaro Takekuma and illustrated by Charlie Nozawa. While the comic tells a largely unique story, it is loosely based on Super Mario World, featuring many of the same enemies and characters.
After its run in Nintendo Power, the ten parts were collected as a graphic novel, which could be ordered through the July 1993 issue, celebrating the magazine's fiftieth issue and fifth anniversary[1]. This release also featured the Mario vs. Wario comic (originally printed in the January 1993 issue) as a bonus comic. In 2016, Viz Media announced that they would be reprinting the graphic novel, which was released on October 12.[2] On September 9, 2017, it was announced that Soleil Productions would release the comic in its Soleil Manga collection in France on December 6[3], but it was later advanced to November 29[4].
Storyline
Issue 32 (January 1992)
Mario and Luigi arrive at the palace of the Mushroom Kingdom, where a party is scheduled to take place in the evening. There is a huge mess in the plumbing, however; all the pipes are mixed up and disconnected. The Mario Bros. quickly get to work (Luigi getting stuck in the mess) and eventually clean up the plumbing except for a disconnected green pipe that they had not seen before. Mario then finds a giant pipe that also was not there before and peeks inside, only for a Jumping Piranha Plant to leap up and chomp on his nose. At that moment, more large pipes start popping out of the ground and Mario and Luigi flee the basement, only to find that numerous pipes have already sprung up in the courtyard.
Meanwhile, Princess Toadstool is playing a video game in the castle, accompanied by her attendants. One of her guards then appears with the news that pipes have appeared all over the castle. Various enemies then start appearing out of the pipes and attack the Toad guards, while Mario and Luigi are completely surrounded. A Goomba and a Jumping Piranha Plant attack Luigi, but Mario jumps on them to save him. Mario then has an idea: he pulls up a pipe which Luigi kicks a Goomba into, then puts the other end in his mouth and spits it back out at the enemies to beat them. At that moment, however, a giant pipe shoots out of the ground, which Bowser, in his Clown Copter, appears out of.
Issue 33 (February 1992)
After testing his microphone, Bowser starts to rap, telling Princess Toadstool that he wants to rule the Mushroom Kingdom, and that the only way they will live peacefully is by marrying him. The princess is outraged, but Bowser gives her time to think about it, threatening that if she refuses he will turn her people to stone, petrifying some of the guards as an example. The Toads remind themselves that they have Mario and Luigi on their side, but find that Mario has also been turned to stone, causing the princess to explode in anger. Bowser leaves the castle down the same pipe, and the princess leaps out the window, intending to chase after him. Calling some troops to her side, they go down the pipe, intending to try and negotiate with Bowser.
Meanwhile, Luigi is trying to get Mario to return to normal. The Toad attendants, however, have the idea to call the Minister of Massage, who massages the stone Mario. One week later, Mario is back to normal. Coming to his senses, he remembers Bowser, and the Toads tell him that he left back down the pipe, with the princess chasing after him. Mario and Luigi jump down the pipe themselves and, and after a while, appear out the other end, in the sky over a jungle. After a rough landing, Luigi gets his head wedged into the ground. Mario pulls him up to reveal a giant egg. Finding themselves hungry, the brothers try to cook the egg, but it suddenly hatches into a dinosaur.
Issue 34 (March 1992)
After the dinosaur hatches, the brothers cower away from it. They believe that it wants to eat them as it approaches.
Meanwhile, Princess Toadstool and her troops are in the desert, with their supply of water gone. One of the troops tries to tell Toadstool that the search is ridiculous. Just as he points out that there are no clouds in the sky, clouds suddenly start appearing. Toadstool's companions attempt a rain dance, but the clouds are soon revealed to be Lakitus, who attack them with Spinies.
Back in the jungle, Luigi is running away from the dinosaur. He finally finds Mario, hiding in a bush, but when he joins his brother Luigi finds himself sitting on a giant caterpillar. Mario tries to save Luigi, but stomping on the caterpillar's head only makes it angry, and as they run they find the approaching dinosaur. They prepare for the worst, but instead the dinosaur grabs the caterpillar with its tongue and tries to eat it. Realizing they are fine, the brothers try to sneak away as they fight but the dinosaur soon finishes its meal and notices the brothers. As they plead for the dinosaur not to eat them, it starts to speak (though only through the word "Yoshi"), and they realize that it is not hostile. Mario and Luigi hop on its back, and the dinosaur carries them away.
The dinosaur and the Bros. arrive at a village full of the dinosaurs. At first, Mario and Luigi are very nervous, but soon after they find another human, who introduces himself as a salesman named Friendly Floyd. Floyd tells them that they are in Yoshi Village, and that their dinosaur companion is Yoshi, the "Chairman of the Dino Chamber of Commerce". Asking why Yoshi was trapped in an egg, Floyd, interpreting for Yoshi, explains that it was "Koopa's curse"; some of the villagers were kidnapped, and when Yoshi went to save them Bowser sealed him in an egg. As the situation has been bad for business, Floyd offers to sell them something, to which Mario replies that they need a Yoshi interpreter. Floyd cannot stay with them, but instead offers "ACME's Yoshi Language Learner" for 3,000 coins, which (after the brothers call it a rip-off) he quickly lowers to ten coins. The brothers buy the book, and after Floyd leaves they are mad when they learn from the book that every word and phrase translates to "Yoshi". However, one of Toadstool's guards stumbles into the village and collapses, telling Mario and Luigi that Bowser has captured the princess.
Issue 35 (April 1992)
At the Koopalings' tower, Ludwig and the others are playing a video game when the screen cuts to a video feed of Bowser, who explains to them that he has proposed to Princess Toadstool. At that moment, his chef shows him the model for his wedding cake, stating that the actual cake will be twice as big, though Bowser wants it even bigger. He then reminds his children to make sure the princess does not escape, but they have already switched back to playing the game, prompting Bowser to yell at them (destroying the screen in the process). Lemmy points out that the princess is still safely in her cell, but they suddenly see that she is gone and quickly open the cell to check. Toadstool, however, has actually perched herself on the ceiling and drops down on them, knocking them out and escaping. However, she is confronted by Wendy and several guards, who chase after her.
Mario, Luigi, and Toad have arrived outside the castle, Toad saying that he saw Bowser's forces take her inside. Mario tries to swim across the moat, but is attacked by Urchins, Fish Bones, and Porcupuffers (which the moat is filled with).
Back in the tower, Princess Toadstool reaches Wendy's room, fending off the guards by throwing furniture at them and stopping Wendy by threatening to tear apart one of her outfits. The other Koopalings then arrive, and Roy charges at the princess, but she grabs a cape and dodges him. She climbs onto the windowsill to escape, looking and seeing how high up the window is, and the Koopalings charge at her. However, the princess loses her balance and slips.
Issue 36 (May 1992)
As the princess falls down the tower, the cape suddenly catches her, allowing her to float to safety. Meanwhile, Mario and his group are walking around the moat when they find Friendly Floyd, trying to sell lipstick to a Piranha Plant. They decide to ignore him, and Luigi sits down, not realizing he is sitting on a cannon. Mario knocks him off, and is caught as it fires a Bullet Bill, sending him flying toward the tower and directly past Toadstool, causing her to lose control. Mario then crashes into Wendy's room (the Koopalings surprised to find him) while the princess lands in the woods, with Luigi and the others finding her unconscious.
Bowser is infuriated that Toadstool has escaped. He roars at his kids, and as they make excuses, his anger causes him to smash the room he is in. Wendy, however, reassures him by telling him they have captured someone even better: Mario.
While Luigi, Toad, and Yoshi try to wake up Toadstool, two Mechakoopas come up in a boat. They announce that Mario is being held prisoner, and that they want the princess in exchange, demonstrating what will happen to Mario by burning a doll if they do not. Suddenly, Friendly Floyd appears, advertising his new make-up line. Luigi denounces it at first, but suddenly has an idea, and heads into the bushes with everyone. A moment later, Toadstool reappears and heads across the lake with the Mechakoopas. As soon as she enters the tower the Koopalings take her.
Issue 37 (June 1992)
Mario and Princess Toadstool's wedding takes place in a church. Floyd, as the pastor, does the ceremony, but just as they are about to kiss, the princess whirls around to find Mario, having been captured by Bowser's minions, and turns back around to see Bowser trying to kiss her. The princess then wakes up, and realizes it was only a nightmare. However, she panics and runs when she sees Yoshi, and yet again when she runs into Friendly Floyd. Seeing her Toad bodyguard, she finally calms down and remembers how she saw Mario zooming past her when she was flying. She realizes that Mario is nowhere to be seen, and Toad tells her that he is a prisoner. She dashes toward the castle to go save him, but Toad tells her that she will ruin Luigi's plan, at which point she realizes she is wearing his clothes.
Inside the tower, Bowser congratulates his children on bringing back his bride (who is wearing a surgical mask). Ludwig tells him that she will not accept his proposal, but the princess tells Bowser that she loves him and will marry him. Bowser is happy, but points out that her voice sounds weird, though she says that she has a cold. She then asks to be untied, to which Bowser agrees, and he cheers after turning off communications.
Meanwhile, Mario is sitting in his cell when Luigi appears, revealing to him that he has disguised himself as Toadstool (though Mario laughs at him). When Wendy appears, Luigi asks what they are going to do with Mario, and she tells him that they plan to feed him to the piranhas. After an initial shock, Luigi changes the subject and offers to order pizza, which the Koopalings agree to. He calls Toad and Yoshi, disguised as pizza delivery men, who head to the tower with their "delivery". As they arrive in the tower, however, the box opens, revealing the actual Princess Toadstool and Friendly Floyd with several bombs.
Issue 38 (July 1992)
Toadstool threatens to blow up the tower if the Koopalings do not free Mario. The Koopalings, however, are confused that there are two Princess Toadstools until Luigi reveals himself. As they try to charge, Toadstool pulls a match threateningly, though Wendy calls her a bluff. While the Koopalings are distracted, however, Luigi sneaks over to Roy and steals the keys to Mario's cell from him. He leaps over Roy when he dives for him, but he ends up jumping into the ceiling and drops the keys, which Toad catches. As the Koopalings chase him he throws the keys to Yoshi, and as he runs away he stealthily passes the keys to Luigi, who gets to work on freeing Mario, though he cannot find the right key.
The Koopalings continue to chase Yoshi, but they cannot catch him (while Floyd tries to sell them medical supplies, which Toadstool stops). Wendy finally trips Yoshi, which sends him crashing into the others, and she drops Thwomps onto them. Meanwhile, Luigi finally unlocks Mario's cell, but must now find the right key to release the ball and chain on his leg. Wendy sends a horde of Chargin' Chucks after the group, but Toadstool once again threatens to use the bomb. Wendy insists that she is bluffing, but the princess states that she is more than willing to sacrifice herself to stop them (Wendy calling her crazy for it). However, Mario has finally been freed and takes out the Chucks, though the Koopalings send them down into a dungeon below, where Reznors start attacking them with fireballs. One of them lights the fuse on the bomb and it explodes, destroying the tower.
Issue 39 (August 1992)
In the explosion, Mario and the group are sent flying away and land in the forest, across the moat. The princess insists that Luigi should give her clothes back, while Friendly Floyd leaves after the group refuses to buy more bombs. The group cheers as they start on their way back to the Mushroom Kingdom, their journey seemingly at an end.
However, Mario stops them when he remembers that they arrived here through the pipe, which is hanging in the sky. Although they panic at first, Toad thinks to use the cape to fly back to the Mushroom Kingdom and send a rescue team for them. They send him off, and later in the day their rescue party arrives. As they climb up the ladder leading into the pipe, however, the leading Toad kicks Mario back down and slices it, sending Mario and Luigi falling back to the ground. The Toad then reveals himself to be Bowser, and takes the princess back up the pipe, which is revealed to be part of a ship hiding itself in the clouds, Toad revealing that Bowser's forces have taken control of the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario and Luigi try to chase after them, but Bowser sends Koopa Paratroopas to stop them. Mario is able to jump on them, while Yoshi starts eating them, growing a pair of wings after eating one with a blue shell. Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi try to fly after Bowser, but they have lost him, and when Mario asks Yoshi where they went he spits out the shell to answer, and they fall to the ground. Picking themselves up after the crash landing, they find that they have landed in front of a gloomy-looking house.
Issue 40 (September 1992)
The brothers decide to inspect the house, unaware that they are being watched by Bowser and the Koopalings with a camera mounted to the house. The bros. see that nobody is inside, so Luigi tries to go in, believing that this is someone's vacation retreat. Mario, however, grabs him by the overalls, insisting that he has a weird feeling about the house. The koopalings gasp, believing that the trap wasn't going to work. Bowser then explains that they are too tired and hungry to not go inside, and Mario simultaneously states that he believes it is a trap. Panicking, Bowser presses a button to activate his "trump card". As Mario is leaving, Luigi insisting that he is paranoid, they start to smell provolone, which draws Luigi inside. Mario and Yoshi chase after him, shouting at Luigi to stop, but Yoshi gets caught in the door and Mario is knocked off into the house as a metal door slams down from above, shutting Yoshi out and trapping the brothers inside. Bowser, pleased that his plan worked out, skips off to continue planning his "perfect wedding".
As Mario wanders the halls, calling for Luigi, a Boo appears behind him. Mario notices quickly, and turns around. however, the Boo stops and hides its face. As Mario inspects it, asking if it was following him, a second ghost floats towards Mario and bites him in the butt, angering Mario. As he faces the second Boo, the first one quickly bites him. Mario races away with the Boos giggling behind him.
Meanwhile, Luigi has followed the scent to a room with a huge piece of provolone cheese being aired by a huge fan. Luigi gets suspicions for a moment about the fan, then exclaims that it's too good to pass up. As he eats the cheese, a large horde of Boos start to slowly gather behind him. At the last second, Mario appears and warns him of the Boos inches behind him. When Luigi turns around, he panics and runs away with Mario. The Boos corner the bros. against a wall, so the Mario brothers slide along the wall, keeping their eyes on the ghosts. Eventually, they slide until they reach a hallway, unaware that a massive Boo is behind them.
Issue 41 (October 1992)
As Mario and Luigi back down the hallway, Luigi trips, noticing the giant Boo behind them. When Mario turns around, however, the horde of smaller Boos advance, chomping on Luigi. The brothers stand back-to-back, keeping both the Big Boo and the smaller Boos away.
Meanwhile, at Bowser's castle, Bowser and his Magikoopa attendant watch a massive group of Yoshis pulling the cart with the giant wedding cake on it, the Magikoopa explaining that they hired a Magikoopa hypnotist to entrance them. Regardless, Bowser warns him to keep an eye on the Yoshis, as they are still enemies. Then, Bowser asks of Toadstool, and he is informed that her dress is being fitted. Unable to hold back his anxiousness, Bowser rushes to her room to take a peek before the wedding, the Magikoopa trying in vain to warn him that it is bad luck.
Back in the haunted house, hours later, Mario and Luigi are getting tired from staring down the Boos. However, their apparent shyness gives Mario an idea, and he pulls Luigi toward a nearby room. They close the door and start to rearrange some items, and when the Boos finally get inside they find Mario dressed as a doctor, with Luigi as his nurse. They direct the Big Boo to lie on the couch, and Mario diagnoses him with anthrophobia, asking to be told about his childhood. Later, they are all crying as the Boo has explained its troubled past (even Luigi starts crying because he had similar experiences, though Mario will not counsel him). Finally, Mario comforts the Big Boo, telling him that his problems are small compared to the vast universe. They head outside to get some air, and as thanks for helping them Mario asks how to get to Bowser's castle. Once the Boos are out of sight, the brothers remove their disguises and charge toward the castle on Yoshi.
Issue 42 (November 1992)
At Bowser's Castle, a large crowd has gathered for the wedding between Bowser and Princess Toadstool (Friendly Floyd is also there, selling automatic cameras for the event). Meanwhile, the hypnotist halts the hypnotized Yoshis pulling the cake, and he orders them to march down a conveyor belt and into a machine, where they are sealed in eggs. Up above, Mario is watching with Yoshi and notes that the security is tight. Luigi then finds a pipe that he believes will bring them inside. While traveling through the pipe, Luigi complains about the heat and, after scrambling to the end of the tunnel, the group finds that it leads into a lava-filled cavern. Mario sees a small rock island in the lava, but when they jump on it a Thwomp starts to fall. They jump away before it can land on them. Luigi and Yoshi land on another rock island, but Mario finds himself jumping across a group of Blarggs before leaping through another pipe on the other end.
Meanwhile, Bowser is preparing for the wedding when he is informed that the princess is acting hysterical. In the bride's chamber, Toadstool is attacking the Koopas and Goombas attending to her, insisting that she will not wed Bowser. When reassuring her does not work, Bowser has the hypnotist brainwash her into loving him, and he is so thrilled with the results that he orders a Troopa to bring him a video camera to record it.
The wedding begins. While Bowser is bringing the Princess down the aisle, Mario has found his way through the pipe he went through, which happens to come out of Bowser's wedding cake. Seeing the ceremony, Mario jumps down before the Princess can say her "I do".
Issue 43 (December 1992)
After Mario kicks Bowser away, he is shocked to hear Toadstool calling Bowser "darling". Nevertheless, he grabs her and attempts to get her out, while Bowser sends his guards after them.
Elsewhere, Luigi and Yoshi have gotten lost in the basement looking for Mario. They find a room full of eggs, and Yoshi suddenly becomes ecstatic, pointing them out to Luigi. Luigi recalls that he and Mario hatched Yoshi out of a similar egg, and realizes that the other Yoshis have been trapped in these eggs. The two then set to work freeing them all.
Back at the party, Mario has been beaten and tied up while Bowser taunts him. Bowser orders the minister to continue the ceremony, but is suddenly interrupted by a guard informing him that the Yoshis have escaped. At this point, the Yoshis (with Luigi) come storming in, trampling over the enemies. Bowser orders the hypnotist to cast another spell, but he too is trampled, which breaks the spell on the princess, who promptly unties Mario. Bowser attempts to escape in the Clown Car, but Mario snags the propeller with the rope he was tied up with, causing it to crash into the cake.
Bowser hides inside the cake as the Yoshis start eating it, and as soon as he emerges, he finds Mario standing over him. Bowser tries to charge at him, but misses and falls into the cake again. The cake then starts to fall apart, and Mario jumps off before it collapses on top of Bowser. With Bowser finally defeated, Toadstool kisses Mario. The narration tells that the Yoshis were freed, and that the bros. and Toadstool returned to the Mushroom Kingdom to rest "until their next great adventure."
Similarities to the games
Prior to the release of this comic, most of the Mario series media outside of the video games, such as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, differed from the games in terms of artistic style, character designs, storylines and settings. Super Mario Adventures, however, subverts many of these issues. The character designs are mostly faithful to the series' official artwork at the time, and the comic largely uses existing settings and characters.
In addition, Super Mario Adventures was one of the first forms of media that displayed traits or elements for certain characters that, even if not the direct inspiration, have since been used to define the characters in later media, such as:
- Luigi's fear of ghosts (most prominently shown beginning with Luigi's Mansion).
- Bowser showing a humorous side as well as his romantic interest in Peach (albeit preceded by the anime film Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!, and first seen in the games starting with Paper Mario) and having a Magikoopa advisor (Kamek has since filled this role).
- Princess Toadstool's wedding dress design in the comic would provide the template for Peach's sundress in Super Mario Sunshine (albeit without sleeves) and her modern dress which was introduced in Mario Party 4.
- Peach's willingness to fight to save Mario (which she does in Super Princess Peach) and attempting to escape captivity (later seen in some of the Paper Mario games, Super Mario 3D Land and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam).
- The idea that Yoshi can say only his name (introduced in Yoshi's Story), though later games show that while he verbally speaks his name, other characters can still understand what he's saying.
- Peach wearing overalls which she does in Super Mario Odyssey (albeit with a pink shirt underneath) in the post-game in some areas of the game and is one of the random outfits Peach wears after Mario places his hat on top of her castle after getting 999 Power Moons.
Graphic novel changes
When the comic was later reprinted in graphic novel format, some of the dialogue was altered from the original. These include the following:
- Part 2, page 8, panel 6: Luigi: "Tell my stomach that!" --> "Tell your stomach that!"
- Part 3, page 4, panel 8: Luigi: "Yahoo!" --> "Yikes! What a fight!"
- Part 6, page 8, panel 2: Toad: "Onto plan B!" --> "We have a delivery to make!"
- Part 8, page 8, panel 7: Mario: "Quit clowning around, Luigi! Look!" --> "Look! I wonder if anybody's home..."
- Part 9, page 1, panel 1: Mario: "Quit clowning around, Luigi! Look!" --> "I don't see any lights on..."
- Part 9, page 5, panel 8: Koopalings: "He's off the royal rocker!" --> "I hate it when he's right!"
- Part 11, page 4, panel 5: Mario: "Ow ow ow!" --> "Look out!"
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | マリオの大冒険[?] Mario no Daibōken |
Mario's Big Adventure |
Trivia
- Spike Tops are featured with a brownish color similar to the Galoombas as opposed to their standard red coloring.
- After Mario stomps the Wiggler in chapter three, its angry form is shown with an orange coloring instead of red.
- During Peach's dream sequence, Friendly Floyd is the pastor in Mario and Peach's wedding, yet Peach had not met Floyd until the next scene after she wakes up.
- Toad's fate is never revealed after he is captured, as he is not seen after that scene, nor is the fate of the other Toads after they are seen in the desert.
- In the same scene, Luigi mistakenly calls the Paratroopas "Mecha-Koopas".
- Bowser threatening to turn the Mushroom People into stone might be a reference to the manual in Super Mario Bros., as its plot summary states that Bowser brought a spell that turned the Mushroom Kingdom residents into inanimate objects, just like early in the comic.
- Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and its remake would both have a scenario where Luigi would have to take Peach's place, having to wear her dress and a wig, so as to retrieve the stolen Beanstar. However, in this instance, rather than wearing a mask, he simply covers his mustache with his hands, which ultimately gives him away.
References
- ^ Nintendo Power Issue 50, page 97 (July 1993). Retrieved August 5, 2016.
- ^ Vogel, Mitch (August 3, 2016). Super Mario Adventures is Being Reprinted as a Graphic Novel. Nintendo Life. Retrieved August 4, 2016
- ^ Super Mario Adventures - Une BD inédite pour tous les fans de Mario !. Soleil Manga. Retrieved October 26, 2017
- ^ Super Mario Adventures. Soleil Manga. Retrieved October 26, 2017
