Super Mario Adventures



Super Mario Adventures is a Mario comic originally published in the Nintendo Power magazine, in twelve monthly installments beginning in 1992; as well as being subsequently serialized in Japan through CoroCoro Comic in 1993. It's written by Kentaro Takekuma and illustrated by Charlie Nozawa. It is a very loose adaptation of the video game Super Mario World and features many of the same enemies and characters, but contains a largely unique, quite humorous storyline. After its run in Nintendo Power, the issues were collected as a graphic novel book. In this form, a bonus comic, Mario vs. Wario, was added.

Storyline
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, (but Luigi somehow gets stuck) eventually clearing out the mess, leaving only one disconnected green pipe that they had not seen before. Suddenly, a very large green pipe pops out of the ground. Mario peeks inside and promptly is snapped on the nose by a jumping Piranha Plant. At that moment, Pipes start popping out of the ground and Mario and Luigi run for their lives. Meanwhile, Princess Toadstool is playing Super Mario Bros. in the castle, accompanied by her courtiers. One of the guards runs up with news: gigantic pipes are popping up everywhere.

When they look out the window, however, they find pipes littering the palace yard and many enemies (all from Super Mario World), including Monty Moles, Swoops, and Galoombas. Mario and Luigi come up with an idea: Mario sticks a pipe in his mouth, wedges a Galoomba in, Luigi jumps on his back, and the Galoomba goes flying, defeating the other enemies.

Just as Toadstool and her subjects think that the palace is safe, a large pipe shoots out of the ground, which contains Bowser in his Clown Copter. Bowser, after testing the mic in his hand, begins rapping. Bowser wants to rule the Mushroom Kingdom, and he intends to do this by marrying Toadstool. She refuses and says that it will happen only in Bowser's dreams and her nightmares.

Bowser tells her to think about it, and announces he will be back in a week for her decision. He proclaims that if the answer is no, all her people will be turned to stone. He demonstrates this by petrifying nearby Mushroom People. Toadstool becomes extremely upset and tries reasoning with Bowser. Bowser, seeing as he's got her "over a barrel", chuckles at her and rockets back down his pipe with the Koopalings. Toadstool becomes enraged and, with some of her courtiers, charges down the pipe too, hoping to strike a compromise with the Koopa King.

Meanwhile, the castle subjects are trying to find the Mario Bros. to warn them about the Princess's departure, but Mario has been turned into a statue also. Luigi, however, does not seem to notice the difference, only that Mario is not talking and is extremely stiff. Someone calls up the Minister of Massage, a mystic who works wonders on the stone Mario and, one week later, Mario reverts to normal.

After hearing the news about Toadstool, the Bros. race down the huge pipe after her. The pipe is very long, and is in the clouds high above the Koopa Kingdom. After a rough landing, Luigi gets his head wedged into the ground. Mario pulls him up to reveal a giant, green egg. They are quite hungry; they proceed to cook the egg. As a result of the heat, Yoshi pops out of it.

Meanwhile, in the desert, Toadstool and Co. travel to Bowser's Castle, with their supply of water gone. One of her cohorts tries to tell Toadstool that the search is ridiculous, and that there is not a cloud in the sky; coincidentally, a cloud appears. Toadstool's companions attempt perform a rain dance, but the clouds are soon revealed to be Lakitus, who rain Spinys upon them.

Mario and Luigi have become terrified of Yoshi, thinking that their lunch wants to eat them. After running from Yoshi, Luigi collapses with Mario underneath a bush, which turns out to be a Wiggler's home. Mario tries to save Luigi, but when stomped on, the Wiggler gets upset. Racing away, they find Yoshi blocking their exit, but he eats Wiggler. Approaching the Bros., he motions for them to get on his back.

Yoshi and the Bros. arrive at a village full of Yoshis. At first, Mario and Luigi are very nervous, but their fears fade when they see another human. He introduces himself as Friendly Floyd, the salesman who can sell anyone anything. He is currently selling Yoshis light bulbs. He can interpret the Yoshi dialect, and he tells the Bros. that the Yoshi they are riding is the Chairman of the Dino Chamber of Commerce. He was trapped in an egg because of Bowser's curse. When some villagers were kidnapped, he went to rescue them, but he met Bowser, who sealed him into the egg.

The brothers are astonished, and they decide that they need an interpreter. Floyd does not want to come with them; he sells them an "Acme Yoshi Learner" instead for 3000 coins. The Bros. are appalled by the price, but Floyd hastily makes it 10 "since they're friends of Yoshi". After Friendly Floyd goes away, they open the book and find out that every word translates to "Yoshi"! Mario gets irritated and wants to get back at Floyd, but suddenly, they realize that someone has stumbled into the village. The stranger is Toadstool's guard, Toad. Through him, they soon learn that she is now Bowser's captive. At the Koopa headquarters, the Koopalings are watching Ludwig von Koopa play what appears to be "" Ludwig stomps a Mario, and sends it flying into a long line of others for a 1-Up. After this, TV screen cuts to Bowser, telling them that he has proposed to Princess Toadstool. His chef then shows him the wedding cake model. Bowser decides he would rather have it much bigger, and turns to tell the Koopalings that he wants them to watch Toadstool, but realizes that they are playing again.

Meanwhile, dangling overhead, Toadstool balances herself on the cell ceiling and then performs a surprise attack on the Koopalings. After knocking them out, she races for the cell door, locking them in their own prison. Wendy O. Koopa, however, runs in with her personal army of Koopa Troopas. Toadstool runs for cover, but soon finds herself cornered in Wendy's room. She desperately throws some articles of clothing at them, then threatens to shred Wendy's favorite sweater. She grabs a cape from the closet and impersonates a bullfighter, sending Roy Koopa into the wall. With the cape, she steps onto a windowsill and bids them good-bye, but loses her balance and plummets. She is, however, able to use her cape and begins to float outside the moat.

Meanwhile, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Toad have arrived outside Wendy's castle. Toad saw the Koopas take her in, but they have to get across the moat. Mario tries swimming, but the water is filled with Fish Bones, Porcupuffers, and Urchins. The Bros. decide to move on to "Plan B", but they turn around and Friendly Floyd is present, selling lipstick to a female Piranha Plant. The Bros. decide to avoid him. After this, Luigi sits on a black, cannon-like object. Despite Mario yelling for him to get off, the cannon is a Bill Blaster, who shoots a Bullet Bill toward the castle. Mario, who was trying to shove it back in, gets shot with it. On his way to the castle, Mario spots Toadstool descending toward the ground with the cape. Mario flies into the castle, where the Koopalings take him prisoner.

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 tries to reassure Bowser that they captured someone even better than Toadstool: Mario.

While Luigi, Toad, and Yoshi try to revive an unconscious Toadstool, two Mechakoopas come up in a boat. They announce that Mario is being held a prisoner, and that if they fail to put Toadstool into their boat, they demonstrate what will happen to Mario via a doll. Toad claims that it is blackmail, but they keep insisting. Suddenly, Friendly Floyd appears, advertising his new make-up line. Luigi denounces it at first, but suddenly gets an idea. He asks the Mechakoopas to be excused for a moment, and he, Toadstool, and Yoshi head into the bushes nearby. Luigi grabs Floyd too, needing his kit for something. A moment later, Toadstool comes out. Meanwhile, in the castle, the Koopalings are examining the events with a telescope. They cheer triumphantly, but, when Toadstool, with a surgical mask on her face, is brought in, she awkwardly cries. Mario and Toadstool's wedding takes place in a church, with Mario standing in a couple of Question Blocks to match the Princess' height. Floyd, as the pastor, does the ceremony, but just as they are about to be kissed, Mario is captured by Koopas and Ninjis. She turns around to find Bowser leaning toward her, attempting to kiss Toadstool. The events are merely a dream; Toadstool wakes and sees Yoshi. Not knowing who he is, she panics and meets Friendly Floyd, causing her to run away. 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, but is held back by Toad. He tells Toadstool of Luigi's plans, which involves her wearing Luigi's overalls - at which moment she realizes she's already in them. Bowser congratulates his children on bringing back his bride, and he tells them to take good care of her. They all agree, but Ludwig tells Bowser that it is not very likely that she will say yes to the marriage. Ironically, Toadstool tells Bowser that she loves him and will marry him. Bowser gets happy, but he inquires why she has a mask on her face. She tells them that she is sick, and she asks to be untied. Bowser grants her request

Meanwhile, Mario is sitting in his cell, when suddenly, Luigi appears as Toadstool. When he is trying to unlock the cell door, Wendy walks in. Luigi quickly whips around, masking his face. Luigi, in order to change a bad subject, suggests ordering pizza. All Koopalings are enthusiastic about this. Toad hears about the announcement and decides to make a delivery. The Koopalings spot Yoshi and him on their way, and they open the drawbridge. They open the box, which contains Toadstool in Luigi's overalls, Friendly Floyd, and a payload full of bombs.

The Koopalings get confused at the ordeal, since they think they see double. Luigi then pulls off his mask, which makes the Koopalings race for the real Toadstool. She threatens them with a bomb and a match, telling them to stay back or she will light the match. While the Princess is distracted, Luigi sneaks up on Roy Koopa and steals the keys. Roy dives for Luigi, but Luigi dodges, which results in the Koopaling getting his head stuck in the ceiling. He drops the keys, which Toad promptly catches. Toad then tosses them to Yoshi, who then carries it in his mouth, and then tries to run away. The Koopalings continue pursuing him, but Yoshi goes behind a pillar and Luigi comes out with the key. Because the Koopalings didn't realize this, they continued pursuing Yoshi. Luigi races for the cell.

While the chase continues, Luigi has trouble finding the right key at the prison. Luigi eventually gets the right key, but when inside, he realizes that Mario still has a ball and chain on his foot. In the fray, Wendy has also released a horde of Chargin' Chucks into the battle. Mario and Luigi then burst in and break up the fight, defeating the Chargin' Chucks. Wendy has a back-up plan, as she and her siblings pull a rope and send Floyd, Yoshi, Toad, the bros., and the Princess down a huge trapdoor. The trapdoor leads the characters into a room with Reznors, who light the bomb. The bomb explosion sends the characters flying.

They land on the other side, triumphant. Toadstool asks for her gown back, but Luigi prefers not to give it back, as he has grown fond of it. Floyd, after giving them a sales pitch for more bombs, jogs off in search of more prospective customers. After they cheer happily, they all walk into the sunset. Suddenly, the characters realize that they still need to get home through a huge Warp Pipe hanging high in the sky. Mario thinks about an alternate route while everyone else panics. Then, Toad uses the cape, in order to fly into the pipe, promising he will send a rescue party. Later that day, as they relax, a rope ladder falls, and Mushroom People descend. They look odd; in reality, they are disguised Koopa Troopas. A big, bushy eyebrowed one ushers them up, letting Toadstool go first, then him, then the bros. Suddenly, he kicks Mario in the nose. He then slices the ladder, sending Mario and Luigi plummeting.

Revealed to be Bowser's doing, he laughs due to the success of his plan capturing Toadstool. The clouds dissipate to reveal that the pipe is a Koopa flying machine. As the Koopas take off their fake caps, the captured Toad tells her that they have already taken control of their home kingdom. Bowser then orders his minions to attack Mario and Luigi. Mario stuns the Paratroopas, while Yoshi eats them. When Yoshi eats a blue shell, he sprouts wings, akin to the power-up in Super Mario World. Bowser flies away, losing Mario and Luigi. When Mario and Luigi start arguing, Mario asks Yoshi, which causes him to spit the blue shell. As a result, the characters fall. After a rough landing, they see a strange, gloomy chalet up ahead.

The exhausted brothers decide to inspect the house while being watched by Bowser. As they watch, Luigi bursts inside, but Mario cautiously holds him back. The Koopas are anxious that the brothers will not go into the house, but Bowser announces they are too tired to pass down the invitation of the house. Mario tells Luigi, simultaneously, that the house is a trap. As they turn to go, Bowser, panicking, presses a button that activates the smell of cheese. Luigi, entranced, races inside. Mario, riding on Yoshi, follows, but the ceiling is too low and Mario is knocked off into the house as the door slams, shutting Yoshi out. Bowser, cheerful as the events take place, skips off to "his perfect wedding". As Mario wanders the halls, calling for Luigi, a Boo appears behind him. Mario turns, and it and hides its eyes. Mario is inspecting it when another appears and successfully bites Mario's posterior. Mario turns to face it, but the first one to appear dives in. Mario races away with the Boos giggling behind him.

Luigi treads the halls to find a huge piece of Provolone cheese being aired by a huge fan. As he eats the cheese, a large horde of Boos appear behind him. At the last second, Mario warns him. Luigi turns and panics. The Boos corner the bros. against a wall, but the Mario brothers slide along the wall, keeping their eyes on the ghosts. A Big Boo is in the hallway behind them, which Luigi finds out after falling. As Mario turns to look at what scared Luigi, he sees this Big Boo behaves just as the smaller Boos, but they forget about the swarm of Boos, who then attack them from behind. To keep all the ghosts away from them, Mario and Luigi decide to stand back-to-back with each other, staring at them.

Meanwhile, Bowser's wedding ceremony is being set with a large troop of Yoshis bringing forth the massive wedding cake. Bowser is pleased to see which Yoshis can be tamed, and it is explained they all are under hypnosis. Bowser warns Kamek to keep an eye open for the Yoshis, though, as they are still enemies of Koopas. Then, he asks of Toadstool, and he is informed that her dress is being fitted. Unable to hold his anxiousness, Bowser decides to rush to her room and take a look, knocking down a Galoomba in his way.

Back in the haunted house, Mario and Luigi are getting tired of staring at the Boos. Mario then notices a door nearby, grabs Luigi, and runs, slamming it behind him. Inside the room is a desk and a couch. When the Boos break into the room, they find Mario dressed as a psychologist, with Luigi as his nurse. As the Big Boo lies down on the couch, Mario counsels the ghost, asking to be told about its childhood. Later, the Boos cry about the Big Boo's childhood. This saddens Luigi so much that he says he had the same problems. Mario proceeds to comfort the Big Boo, telling him that his frustrations are nothing in the vast universe. Feeling better, the Big Boo brings the Mario Bros. outside. Mario then requests that the Big Boo tell them how to reach Bowser's Castle. Once they are gone, they remove their disguises and ride Yoshi to the Koopa Kingdom. At Bowser's Castle, a large crowd of enemies are gathering to witness Bowser's marriage to the Princess (the Blue Viruses from Dr. Mario and a few enemies from Super Mario Bros. 2 can be seen). Friendly Floyd is also there, selling automatic cameras to the guests. Meanwhile, the hypnotist (a Magikoopa) halts the hypnotized Yoshis who have now settled the wedding 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 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, finds that it leads them into a lava-filled cavern. Mario sees a small rock island in the lava. A Thwomp comes down, though; they immediately jump away. Luigi and Yoshi land on another rock island, but Mario finds himself jumping around on a group of Blarggs before landing in another pipe.

Meanwhile, Bowser has been getting into his tuxedo when he is suddenly informed that the Princess is hysterical. In the bride's chamber, Toadstool is attacking the Koopas and Galoombas attending to her, insisting that she will not wed Bowser. When reassuring her does not work, Bowser sends in the hypnotist to brainwash her into loving him. The Koopa King is so thrilled with the results that he orders a Troopa to bring him a video camera so he may 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 and kicks Bowser before the Princess can say her "I do". (The Koopalings, minus Larry, briefly appear to point this out.) Mario is shocked to hear Toadstool calling Bowser "darling", but nevertheless grabs her and attempts to get her out while Bowser orders his minions to seize him.

Elsewhere, Luigi and Yoshi have managed to escape the lava cavern and are looking for Mario in the basement. They find a room full of Yoshi eggs, which Luigi finds creepy. Yoshi suddenly becomes ecstatic, pointing the eggs out to Luigi, who then notices they look familiar. He then recalls that this is the same kind of egg he and Mario hatched Yoshi out of earlier, and that the other Yoshis are trapped in these eggs. With that, Luigi and Yoshi start cracking the eggs open.

Back at the party, Bowser taunts a captured Mario, saying that he will stay to witness this blessed event. Bowser orders the minister to continue the ceremony, but then a Koopa Troopa rushes to alert Bowser that the Yoshis have escaped. At this point, the Yoshis (with Luigi) come storming in, trampling over the enemies. Bowser orders the Hypnotist Magikoopa to cast another spell, but he too is trampled, with his wand being smashed in the process. The spell on Toadstool is broken, and she promptly unties Mario. Bowser attempts to escape in the Clown Car, but Mario snags the propeller blades with the rope, causing it to crash into the cake.

Bowser hides inside the cake, and Mario jumps after him, telling him to "eat cake". Coincidentally, the Yoshis start eating the cake. Bowser flees to the top of the cake, where he finds Mario telling him that "the party's over". Bowser runs at Mario but misses. The cake then starts crumbling due to the Yoshis eating it, so Mario jumps down as it collapses, taking Bowser with it. Afterward, Luigi and Mario make jokes about Bowser's defeat, and Toadstool kisses Mario. The narrator then tells the reader that the Yoshis were freed, and the bros. and Toadstool return to the Mushroom Kingdom for some rest "until their next great adventure."

Impact on the series
Prior to the release of this comic, most of the Mario series media outside of the videogames, 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 subverts this issues. For example, the character designs are much more faithful to the official artwork of the series. This comic was also one of the earliest media forms to show Peach's Castle, though this particular rendition was not used again. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars would have a different depiction of her castle, but it was Super Mario 64's rendition that became standard. While the castle's depiction continued to change in later games, they would still use the Super Mario 64 castle as the basis.

But most important, Super Mario Adventures was one of the first media forms that displayed some of the characters' personality traits that would define them in later games. Traits such as:
 * Luigi's relative cowardliness and fear of ghosts (the latter being heavily shown in Luigi's Mansion).
 * Bowser showing a quite 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 having a Magikoopa companion as his advisor and second-in-command (later represented as Kamek).
 * Peach's willingness to fight to save Mario (which she does in Super Princess Peach) and attempting to escape captivity (later seen in various Paper Mario games, Super Mario 3D Land and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam).
 * The misconception that Yoshi can say only its name.

Additionally, certain events from this comic also resemble some events and features seen in future games:
 * Luigi would later dress up as Peach in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.
 * Wendy would also summon several Chargin' Chucks to attack the bros. in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.
 * Some scenes feature orange-colored Yoshi, a variant not available in the games until Super Mario Sunshine.
 * Peach's wedding dress bears a resemblance to her current main dress introduced in Mario Party 4.
 * Additionally, Peach's Paper Mario counterpart would later be forced into marrying Paper Bowser through hypnotism in the intro to the game Super Paper Mario, although in that instance he didn't plan the wedding or Paper Peach's hypnosis.
 * When Peach is playing Super Mario Bros., Mario's sprite actually uses his current colors rather than his 8-bit red, brown, and yellow colors. Similarly, in Ludwig's game, Bowser's sprite has his modern colors and its scaled down to match the height of Small Mario. Both instances bear a resemblance to some of the costumes available in Super Mario Maker.

Changes as a graphic novel
When it was later reprinted in graphic novel form, some of the dialogue had been altered. 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!"

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 the dream sequence, Friendly Floyd served as the pastor in Mario and Peach's wedding, yet Peach had not met Floyd until the next scene after she wakes up.
 * A panel in the first chapter featues Mario's face being drawn in a more realistic style, exaggerating his state of shock.
 * Toad's fate is never revealed after he is captured, as he is not seen after that scene.
 * 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 stated that Bowser brought a spell that turned the Mushroom Kingdom residents into stone, just like early in the comic.