Hotel Mario

Hotel Mario is a game that was published by Royal Philips Electronics for the Philips CD-i. Philips Media had acquired the rights to produce Mario and The Legend of Zelda games after initial plans to make a CD-ROM add-on for the Super Nintendo fell through. Released in April 5, 1994 only in North America to little fanfare, the game did very poorly due to a lack of interest in the CD-i system. The game received very bad reception as well.

In the game's plot, Bowser and the Koopalings have taken over the Mushroom Kingdom, where they've built seven Koopa Hotels and have kidnapped the Princess, hiding her in one of them. After Mario and Luigi are informed of this, they set out to rescue her.

The general goal in each stage is to close all the doors on every floor. However, various enemies will interfere and reopen them at times. Elevators are needed to travel between floors. Each hotel has around three stages.

The Princess is held captive in each hotel until the moment of its destruction, at which point she is taken off to a different hotel. Each hotel is run by a different Koopaling (except for the last one which is run by Bowser) who must be fought by Mario in order to destroy the hotel. The game also has a two player mode, allowing a second player to control Luigi. As with previous titles, Mario and Luigi take turns playing during a two-player game.

Story
Mario and Luigi head to the Mushroom Kingdom after being invited to a picnic by the princess. However, soon after arriving, Mario finds a letter on the front door to a gate, which has a board with the words "Klub Koopa Resort" on it. The letter is from Bowser, who claims that he and the Koopalings have turned the Mushroom Kingdom into their personal resort and have each taken over a hotel. It also states that the princess is being held hostage in one of them, and challenges them to find her.

The brothers come across the first hotel, Morton's WoodDoor-Hysteria. With Luigi's help, Mario is able to leap inside the hotel through a window. After conquering the hotel, Morton and the brothers leap out of the tree-hotel, which then sprouts fruit. Mario notices the princess on one of the branches, but it snaps underneath her. She lands in Roy's open arms, and he takes her to his hotel, Roy's HardBrick Hotel. However, the lights continuously flicker on and off inside. Luigi is concerned as to how they will find her, but Mario assumes that there may be a switch somewhere. Inside the hotel itself, Mario finds the cause of the hotel's light problem: a room with several toasters plugged in. He unplugs all the toasters, which returns the hotel's electricity to normal.

After defeating Roy, the Mario Brothers condemn the hotel. The princess is standing on a Warp Pipe, but she is sucked down into it. Mario wonders where she is, but Luigi points out the cave in the distance. This cave turns out to be Larry's Chillton Hotel. It is dark inside, and they do not have a light. Nevertheless, they journey inside.

After Larry's hotel is conquered, the cave explodes, with the princess flying out of it. Mario and Luigi prepare to catch her, but find that she is not falling. Mario realizes that she is in the clouds, and Lemmy's High-ate Regency Hotel is revealed. Luigi kicks a nearby Exclamation Mark Block, which causes a Vine to sprout out of it and into the sky above. Once Lemmy is defeated, Mario, Luigi and the princess escape. Lemmy also tries to flee, but a massive fan blows both him and the hotel away before he can reach them. However, the princess suddenly magically vanishes. Back on the ground, Mario and Luigi take sight of another one of the Koopaling's hotels, this time Ludwig's Thump Castle Hotel. Just as they are about to enter, the entrance disappears, but reappears near instantly after.

After Ludwig is beaten, the Mario brothers escape as the entire hotel crumbles, leaving only a frame. However, the princess is nowhere in sight. Luigi then points out the location of Wendy's hotel, Wendy's Blitz Snarlton Hotel. When they conquer the hotel, the brothers escape and the hotel vanishes. The princess runs over and greets them, but vanishes once again as well, with Bowser's laughter heard in the background. Mario then takes notice of a plume of smoke heading their direction, and find Bowser's Seizures Palace Hotel. When Iggy, who works at Bowser's hotel as opposed to running his own, and Bowser are defeated, Mario, Luigi, and the princess flee as the hotel falls to rubble, the landscape transforming back to its previous form. The princess thanks the Mario brothers for defeating Bowser and his Koopalings and restoring the kingdom, giving them both a kiss, and they all thank the player for his or her contributions.

Main Characters

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Princess Toadstool
 * Bowser
 * Koopalings

Hotels

 * Morton's WoodDoor-Hysteria
 * Roy's HardBrick Hotel
 * Larry's Chillton Hotel
 * Lemmy's High-ate Regency Hotel
 * Ludwig's Thump Castle Hotel
 * Wendy's Blitz Snarlton Hotel
 * Bowser's Seizures Palace Hotel

Enemies

 * Koopa
 * Goomba
 * Wiggler
 * Para-bomb
 * Mini Ninja
 * Buzzy Beetle
 * Spiny
 * Monty Mole
 * Flying Koopa
 * Flying Goomba
 * Banzai Bill
 * Big Boo
 * Boo Buddies
 * Skeleton Koopa
 * Pat the Bat
 * Mecha Koopa
 * Bellhop Goomba
 * Rhinestone Goomba
 * Z Koopa
 * Wendy's Pennies

Items

 * Coins
 * Super Mushroom
 * Fire Flower
 * Toad
 * Star Man

Trivia

 * This is one of the only games in which Mario and Luigi have four fingers. Mario is shown to have five fingers on the box art, but four during the cutscenes.
 * Most of the names of the Koopaling's Hotels are puns on real world hotels ("WoodDoor-Hysteria," "Blitz Snarlton," etc.). Roy's HardBrick Hotel, however, is more likely named after the song "Heartbreak Hotel."
 * Other cultural references include Mario's lines "We ain't afraid of no Koopas!" (a play on the line "I ain't afraid of no ghost!" from the Ghostbusters theme song) and "Hey, you! Get off-a my cloud!" from the Rolling Stones song, "Get Off of My Cloud."
 * If the game is played on January 1st, the game will say "Happy New Year!" instead of "Here we go!" when loading a game or starting a new one.
 * Hotel Mario marked the last appearance of the Koopalings in an official game until Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, which was released nine years later in 2003.
 * The only Koopaling who does not own a hotel in Hotel Mario is Iggy.
 * It should be noted that Mario and Luigi never refer to Princess Peach as anything but "the princess." This is possibly due to differences in her name between Japan and other countries.
 * The game manual refers to the 1-Up Mushroom as Toad, an "Extra Mario Mushroom". If Fire Mario or Fire Luigi open a door with a Super Mushroom behind it, it transforms into a faster Toad mushroom.