Super Mario Land (manga)

Super Mario Land is the first volume of Kodansha's Super Mario manga published under the KC Deluxe label. Prior to this, Super Mario Bros. 3 Kanzen Kōryakuhon was published by Comic BomBom Special as an illustrated strategic guide. This first volume of "KC Mario" does not diverge from the idea of a strategy guide, but starts to give more priority to the plot and story than to the strategic guide part, mostly leaving it to some pages at the beginning with maps of the levels with various information such as power-up locations and boss descriptions.

As the title suggests, this volume exclusively covers Super Mario Land.

Strategy Maps
完全攻略マップ (Complete Strategy Maps)

Character list
キャラクター紹介 (Characters introduction)
 * ※Characters with a ★ before their name do not actually appear in the Super Mario Land software.

Chapter 1
攻略その 1 (ピラプト王国) - デイジー姫救出作戦開始!! (Walkthrough 1 (Birabuto Kingdom) - The operation to rescue Princess Daisy begins!!)

To celebrate Princess Daisy's birthday, Mario and Princess Peach are invited to Sarasaland castle to celebrate. Initially happy to see her long-time friend, Peach begins to act jealous and petty, seeing Daisy giving puppy eyes to Mario and the latter complimenting her: she shoves a bouquet of flowers into Daisy's face, revealing a caterpillar inside that crawls on her nose, scaring her, but she then retorts with a food fight. Their bickering comes to an end when a fleet of Roketons attack the castle and a giant spaceship lands in the middle of the party, from which the alien Tatanga, the self-proclaimed "Emperor of the Universe", emerges, claiming to be the new owner of Sarasaland. The alien's tiny stature amuses Mario that mocks him for it, getting scold by the Sarasaland King, who immediately bows in fear for his life, much to her daughter's disappointment. Daisy refuses to see the short alien as a threat and Tatanga, smitten by such bravery, kidnaps her with the intention of force-marrying her and flies away. Mario chases him down. Peach follows him, but not wanting her to be in any danger, Mario asks her to stay, safe and sound, in the palace. Peach, not wanting to do nothing (and not trusting in leaving Daisy and Mario alone together) takes the present they got for Daisy, a robotic Goomba helper named Mekakuribo, climbs in it, and follows Mario, pretending to be the robot itself.

Their first stop is at Birabuto Kingdom, the desert area of Sarasaland, full of pyramids. After quickly takes care of two Goombos, Mario enters a pipe that leads him to an underground bonus area. Meanwhile, Peach is regretting her decision of wearing a metal costume in a very sunny region. After Mario climbs back from the pipe area, he faces against two Bombshell Koopas that quickly stomps, being then perplexed that their shells are very similar to a bomb, getting caught by surprised by the following explosion. After that, Mekakuribo is jumped on by a Fighter Fly who starts smooching all over the robot. Mario knocks it out with a round of Superballs, that Mekakuribo explains being able of collecting hard to reach coins. While Mario puts this information to the test, he fantasizes on how he could use the Superballs trajectory to lift Peach's skirt, getting pinched in the bottom by his companion. After reaching the top entrance of a Goal, thanks to the robot manipulating the nearby lifts, Mario and Mekakuribo arrive to a Bonus game room, from which they gain 3 extra lives.

Entering the next stage, the two find themselves in a pit with tall trees as platforms. Two Bunbuns attack them, almost making Mario falling off one of the trees, but he manages to defeat them with a Superball. While Mario jumps in celebration (and Mekakuribo reacts disgusted by the falling bodies of the two bugs) he accidentally hits a ? Block containing a 1 UP Heart, with a lovey-dovey note on the back from Daisy addressed to Mario, making him blush. Mekakuribo hits him in the head, to which Mario questions sarcastically if the robot could be Peach in disguise.

Their journey leads them to a pyramid, in which there surely must be waiting a boss. Once inside, Mekakuribo is almost squashed by some falling blocks, but Mario shoves his robotic companion away, getting squashed instead. Mario emerges from the rubble in one piece and Mekakuribo cries from happiness, to then explain to a confuse Mario that its tears are just oil. While proceeding with more cautions, Mario splits up with Mekakuribo and arrives in a dome full of coins, from which then exits by breaking some Brick Blocks and reuniting with his ally. The two then are blocked by a pair of chained of fire-breathing Gaos, but thanks to Mekakurbo antennas functioning as propellers, the two fly over them, reaching the boss area: a bridge leading to the prison in which Daisy is locked, guarded by the giant King Totomesu. Analyzing the boss, Mekakuribo reveals that 5 hits from a Superball will do the trick. After hitting him four times, thanks to the bouncy trajectory of the Superball, King Totomesu swipes at Mario, sending him flying and making him lose his Superballs. Mario then tries to stomp on the boss' head, with no results, and by dodging another claw swipe, lands against the switch on the other side of the bridge that makes King Totomesu disappear in an explosion. With the boss defeated, Mario frees Daisy, who rewards Mario with a kiss, only to them reveal she was a disguised Fighter Fly. With Mario disgusted and Mekakuribo amused by the picture, the two continue their journey to the next region.

Chapter 2
攻略その2 (ミューダ王国) - 発進! マリンポップ号!! (Walkthrough 2 (Muda Kingdom) - Launch! Marine Pop!!)

While Mario and Mekakuribo arrive in Muda Kingdom, Tatanga is spying on them from a magic fountain in his lair, getting ready with the wedding. When a group of Torions in the fountain make fun of how the "Emperor of the Universe" had to force via hypnosis the princess into agreeing into marrying him, Tatanga quickly cooks them and eats them in anger, leaving only their bones, then tosses them into the fountain to send them to Muda's beach to stop Mario. Mario avoids in time two of the Honen, but one lunges at him from behind, biting him right in the bottom. Mario yelps out of his overalls (and underwear) in pain. While Mario takes back his pants and stomps the skeletal fish, Peach gets flustered and surprised in seeing Mario fully exposed, slapping him away from embarrassment straight into a warp pipe, leading him into a bonus area full of coins and some Superballs.

Once out of the bonus area, Mario is almost hit by a Mekabon's flying head and all the coins he has just collected falls in the sea below. He quickly defeats it, and two more approach. Mekakuribo arrives and, at the same time as one of the Mekabons, tosses its head at the enemy, swapping heads with it. While the Makebon is confused, Mario stomps the other one and continues. A Yurarin Boo is now blocking the path and the Superballs do not seem to be effective against it. The Yurarin Boo then starts spitting fire at Mario, that, while dodging, confuses the enemy, and it ends up tying its own snout. Now neutralized, Mario stomps him and ties him up, forcing it to help them reach the region's boss. The Yurarin Boo points to the bottom of the sea and, while Mario asks how to reach it, Mekakuribo finds inside a UFO an armed submarine: the Marine Pop.

Mario, Mekakuribo and the tied up Yurarin Boo hops in and dive right into the sea. A school of Torions lunges at them, but Mario dodges them, but when the fishes do a U turn and hit them, he quickly speeds up to escape them. While blasting blocks in their path, Mario reveals a Super Mushroom inside one of them and Mekakuribo extends its arm to grab it, making the submarine larger. A Gunion attach to the Marine Pop. Mario blasts it away in half. The two parts of Gunion homes at the Marine Pop and, Mario dodges them. Reaching a wall of bricks, Mario interrogates the Yurarin Boo to know where the boss is at, but Mekakuribo points to some coins that are placed in a way to form the word "MARIO". Understanding that is a hint left by Daisy, Mario blast the adjacent wall and enters right in the boss', Dragonzamasu, room. Mekakuribo analyses the boss and tells Mario that he needs to blast him with the Marine Pop's torpedoes. Just as Mario is about to shoot the first missile, Tamao, the boss' assistant, hits them, causing a hole in the submarine. As a plug, Mario and Mekakuribo use the Yurarin Boo. After avoiding a group of Yurarins, Mario starts to hit Dragonzamasu and Yurarin Boo manages to stop a second attack from Tamao, letting Mario deal the final blow. The group gets out from the Marine Pop and reaches Daisy's prison. Mario frees her, but Mekakuribo's lights reveals that she was a disguised Gunion, who inks Mario and runs away. Mario and Mekakuribo continues to the next region, while Yurarin Boo decides to quit being a minion and opens a shop.

Chapter 3
攻略その3 (イーストン王国) - 愛と悲しみをのりこえて!! (Walkthrough 3 (Easton Kingdom) - Overcoming love and sorrow!!)

Chapter 4
攻略その4 (チャイ王国) - タタンが帝王との大決戦!! (Walkthrough 4 (Chai Kingdom) - The great decisive battle with Emperor Tatanga!!)

Extras

 * まちがいさがし だよ~ん (Find the diffrences/mistakes): a pair of images are presented, one drawn in Kazuki Motoyama's style and one in a more "serious anime" style, with the author asking to find all the differences. Suu-chan claims to have found 78. Later, in the 4-komas page, she gives the correct amount: "everything."
 * 4-komas:
 * スーパーピーチ シスターズ (Super Peach Sisters): a role reversal in which plumbers Peach and Daisy have to rescue Princess Mario from Tatanga. When a gust of wind lifts Mario's skirt, flashing his underwear, villain and heroines leave in disgust, leaving Mario alone.
 * このはんの できるまで (How a product is made): Kazuki Motoyama goes through the process on how this manga was made: facing the editors' criticism, dealing with a loud younger sister playing video games while working, printing and distributing in all bookstores in Japan, and sponsoring the previous manga.