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!!)

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.