Super Mario-kun Volume 9

Super Mario-kun Volume 9 is the ninth volume of the manga series. It contains the full Yoshi's Safari story arc, with elements from Yoshi's Cookie, Super Mario World, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Mario Bros. and even from the Super Mario Bros. movie; the first part of the Mario & Wario arc; and the third part of the Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins story arc, in which Mario, Carrot, Yokkī, and Hippo chase Tatanga in the last area, the Space Zone.

The last chapter is a bonus story of the Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins story arc starring Wario and his Goomba assistant.

This volume's extras are puzzles and riddles.

Stage 1
マリオ復活!! クリスタルキノコを探しだせ!! (Mario's back!! Find the Crystal Mushrooms!!)

After so many adventures, Mario has decided to quit being a hero and he is enjoying selling cookies with Yoshi and Luigi to the inhabitants of Yoshi's Island. After Luigi gets stuck inside the freezer and Yoshi eats all the cookies, Mario closes the baking stand for the day and continues to refuse any of his friends' suggestion to return to adventuring. A flying Message Block arrives to them. Inside Mario finds a videotape of Peach asking Mario for help: the world is in chaos, many of the old enemies have come back and the only that can solve this situation is Super Mario, by searching and collecting the three Crystal Kinokos to stop this disaster.

Even if unwillingly, and even without putting his iconic overalls and change from his chef outfit, Mario accepts to accompany Luigi and Yoshi in this adventure. Riding the Sky Pop, the three flies towards a big stormy black cloud in which it seems to be the big concentration of chaos. Just before they can start landing, a giant Battle Beetle catches them in the air, destroying the plane, and slamming the occupants on the ground.

Mario, much to Luigi and Yoshi's shock, does not fight him and instead he offers him cookies. The Battle Beetle punches him, sending him flying against a ? Block, revealing a Carrot inside that falls on Mario, turning him into Bunny Mario (and also changing his outfit). With nostalgia from the Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins events pervading him, Mario finds the lost sparks and starts fighting, but since he has not used the power-ups in a while, he stumbles and falls. The Battle Beetle uses his mandible to trap Mario, but with the power of his ears, Mario breaks free and destroys the mandible, defeating the enemy. The adventure has just begun, and Mario is now ready to strike back.

Stage 2
荒野の決闘!! 花も雷もふみこえて!? (Battle in the wilderness!! Overlooking flowers and thunder!?)

Mario, Luigi and Yoshi are traversing a dry plain where once, as Mario states, it was the place where the most beautiful and gorgeous flowers and cherry blossom tree grew. One flower, however, does pops from the ground, but it is not a normal flower: it is a Panser. The enemy first shoots what it seems to be fireballs, but are instead tadpoles, so, when it shoots the actual fireballs, Mario gets caught off guard. Mario and his friends try to run away from the Panser, but the enemy is able to walk and runs in front of them, burning Luigi and Yoshi. Quickly, Mario ties the Panser's petals, right when he was preparing to shoot another round of fireballs, bursting and getting neutralized.

Yoshi sighs in relief, but from a Warp Pipe, a Venus Fire Trap followed by Munchers and Nipper Plants, comes out and attack them. With a Fire Flower, Mario becomes Fire Mario and burns all the plants (and also Yoshi and Luigi). With the plant family defeated, Mario uproots the Venus Fire Trap out of the pipe, revealing a bunch of Monty Moles gripping the stem. Yoshi proceeds eating the Moles, when a lightning strikes down, right on bodies of a mole and each type of plant, fusing them together into the Pakkun Mogura, a Mega Mole with Venus Fire Traps for hands and a Piranhacus Giganticus on its head.

Mario tosses Yoshi at the monster, but the Venus Fire Trap hands chomp and burn him. Mario then tries to smack him with the hammer, but again gets burned by the Venus Fire Trap hands. After pulling himself up, Mario pulls out the cookie stand's oven from Yoshi's mouth and gets the Yoshi Cookies inside, then proceeds to toss them at the Pakkun Mogura, in a Slave attack: now the enemy and Yoshi are bound to move the same way and feel the same things. Slamming Yoshi's face to a rock, making him pick his nose and slamming him to the ground, the Pakkun Mogura is forced to do the same thing and gets defeated at last. Mario is ready to continue the journey, but then asks where has Yoshi gone, much to Luigi's confusion, since Mario has just slammed him into the ground right some seconds ago.

Stage 3
呪われたクッパ城!? 妖精キャサリン登場!! (Cursed Bowser Castle!? Fairy Birdo Appears!!)

Mario, Luigi and Yoshi are still looking for the Crystal Kinokos, yet they have no idea where to find even one of them. Having going in circles for a while, the trio meets a fairy: it is Birdo, the same Birdo that last volume died and is now reincarnated as a fairy. Birdo's ribbon is now magical and can point them out in the direction of the Crystal Kinokos so, under payment of 1 coin per mile, Birdo leads them to the first location of the mushroom: the ruins of Bowser's Castle in the Valley of Bowser.

While looking in the debris, Luigi is attacked by a sentient block. Many other blocks come to life and attack the group. Yoshi tries to eat one of them, but they are too hard for his teeth. Very soon, Mario gets overwhelmed by them. Birdo finds one of Kamek's Magic Wands and passes it to Mario, who turns the angry block into calm Koopa Troopas, that Yoshi proceeds to eat.

With the situation calmed down, Birdo localizes the Crystal Kinoko but, before Mario can reach it, one of the kart circuit Thwomp appears and chases Mario. The chase takes Mario right to the same racetrack where Mario was challenged by Donkey Kong Jr. in the sixth volume. Mario runs towards a ? Panel and obtains a Lightning and uses it to shrink the Thwomp and then squashes it under his foot. In the meantime, Luigi got the Crystal Kinoko. Mario then asks Birdo where is the next destination, but she reveals that now she is charging 2 coins per mile, angering Mario.

Stage 4
そうなんです!? 流れ流され恐竜島へ!! (Is that so!? Washed away to Dinosaur Island!!)

Some days later, after resting in a wooden cabin, the party wakes up in the middle of the ocean: somehow, their cabin was swept way and ended up in the sea. Not seeing the shadow of an island, Birdo gets higher, trying to take a better look and spot and island. Left alone, the three heroes are attacked by a shark. Mario manages to defeat him by tossing Yoshi in his mouth, somehow, killing him. Suddenly, a storm arises and sweeps away the raft and its occupants.

The three find themselves beached in a strange beach. While exploring the land, what seems to be a boulder rolls towards them, running over Luigi. After noticing that the boulder smells awfully, the heroes notices it's not a rock, but a faece pooped by a giant Rex in a latrine. A giant Dino-Torch appears and burns them with its fire breath, then the Rex notices them and attempts to eat them. Running away, the three attract the attention of a giant Blargg and a giant Reznor as well.

Their escape is cut short when a giant Carrot blocks their path, but instead of giving up, Mario bites the giant Carrot, becoming Bunny Mario, but with gigantic bunny ears. The giant dinosaurs reach them, but they are all squashed by Mario's big ears, after he loses balance and falls. With that bonk to their head, the dinosaurs are now gentle and kind and no longer angry and famished. An idea pops in Mario's head and, by the time Birdo finally manages to find them, Mario has already transformed the island into a lucrative "".

Stage 5
ザ・ガマン!?三番勝負でチャンプを目指せ!! (The Games!? Aim for the champ in the third round!!)

While traversing a desert in search of the second Crystal Kinoko, the party come across a lake. Mario and Yoshi try to drink from it, but they are attacked by a Dossun-men Sakana. Running away in fear, the four find a sign explaining that the Koopa Troop had organized a series of competitions, in which the winner will receive a Crystal Kinoko. Without thinking twice, the party runs to enter the competition.

The Goomba referee takes them to the first challenge that has to do with food. Yoshi volunteers for it, thinking it will be an eating competition, while in reality, much to his shock, it's a no-eating contest. Yoshi tries to refrain himself, but he gives up and loses the challenge. The challenge is "Karaoke" and Birdo volunteers after seeing that the adversary is a Buzzy Beetle, but unfortunately for her, the competition is not about singing, but it is about surviving Mike Kirby's scream, which she loses, while the Buzzy Beetle gets out undamaged thanks to its hard shell. Mario and Luigi understands that they have to be prepared for anything in the next challenge, but their challenge is unfortunately straightforward: resisting longer in the lava, and their adversaries are a Blargg and a Lava Bubble.

The heroes have lost, and not only they will not get the prize Crystal Kinoko, but their own Crystal Kinoko is snatched away by Bowser, who has been enjoying the show from his Koopa Clown Car. Bowser then reveals that his plan is collecting all the Crystal Kinoko and use their power to go on vacation in Hawaii. Mario yells that they need those mushrooms for a much serious cause, but being fine with the world in chaos, Bowser intends to stop Mario and his friends, so he pulls out a Devolution Gun and shoot at them: Luigi is turned into a monkey, Yoshi does not change ("I guess we Yoshis never evolved."), and Mario, having dodged the shot, got a Tanooki Suit and transformed into Tanooki Mario to confuse Bowser.

Bowser does not get confused for long and flip the Clown Car to squash Mario under some Big Steelies, but they all fall on the tail, which becomes bigger due to the bumps. With a big tail whip, Mario defeats Bowser, who flies away in fear, and breaks the Devolution Gun, reverting the effects on Luigi. Just then, Yoshi realizes that Bowser, even if defeated, just got away with the Crystal Kinokos, leaving Mario in shock, while Luigi yells at him.

Stage 6
スーパースコープ登場!! 機械の国 を突破せよ!! (The Super Scope is here!! Break through the mecha-land!!)

Mario and his friends follow Bowser and arrive in Jewelry Land. Yoshi asks to take a break and eat some berries he picked up on the way, but as soon as they bite into them, Mario and Yoshi realizes the berries are made of metal, and not just that: the entire place is made out of metal, from the tree to the animals. A walking TV appears and pleads the heroes for their help: he presents himself as King Fret, the Jewelry Land leader that, just like the rest of the land, has turned into a machinery due to the chaos afflicting the Mushroom Kingdom, and Bowser took advantage of that to create a new base in Jewelry Land.

The party decides to help them, but suddenly, Luigi and Birdo are turned into machines: Fret explains that this is the effect of eating the "machined" food, but apparently, Mario and Yoshi's stupidity makes them immune to the transformation. To help Mario and Yoshi in their journey, Fret lends them a Super Scope, their most powerful weapon. Mario and Yoshi begins their journey and are faced by a group of Paragoombas. Mario tries to shoot them with the Scope, but since he holds it backwards, Mario and Yoshi are, instead, launched forwards, passing by the Paragoombas.

They land right in front of Ludwig, riding his brontosaurus-like mecha. Mario shoots at it, but Ludwig reveals that the mecha is invulnerable, except for the lightbulb on the back. Mario shoots at it, destroying it and leaving only the mecha's spherical pilot cabin. The cabin grows arms and legs and Ludwigs shoots the limbs at Mario and Yoshi, but then realizes his mistake after he remained with the defenseless and rolling cabin. Mario takes advantage of the situation, but the Super Scope is unloaded. Yoshi then notices a Flying ? Block with a Super Mushroom inside, that replenishes the Scope ammunition and with that, Mario defeats Ludwig and his robot, obtaining a Crystal Kinoko in possession of the Koopaling.

Meanwhile, Birdo and Luigi, incapacitated from walking, are watching on Fret's monitor a soccer match.

Stage 7
おにぎりころりん!?食い意地地底対決!! (Onigiri rice ball!? Gluttonous underground confrontation!!)

Bowser's Castle is in sight, so, Mario and Yoshi decide to take a break and eat some s. Yoshi excitedly jump on the onigiris, hitting the plate and making the two onigiris roll down a hole. Being hungry and being incapacitated from eating the local food, Yoshi follows the onigiris. In the underground, the two find one onigiri, but immediately after, a press squashes them, flattening the onigiri, much to Yoshi's sadness. Right after, two spiked walls close on the two, but Mario manages to stop them using Yoshi as a staff.

Iggy is revealed to be behind the traps, and he also shows to have the second onigiri, angering Yoshi. Iggy flees from Yoshi's fireballs in a lake, where King Gessō, a mechanical Blooper, emerges. Yoshi is not scared by the robot, not until all the tentacles start shooting at him. Mario tries to use the Super Scope, but gets zapped by the tentacles' bullets. Mario falls on the ground finished, but the Super Scope, seemingly on his own, grabs a Super Mushroom, absorbs it and shoots Mario, turning him into Super Mario. With a punch, Mario destroys the tentacles, but King Gessō is still functioning and shooting ink and flames from its snout.

The Super Scope, once again, solves the situation by plugging itself into King Gessō's mouth and shooting, making the robot explode. Iggy rises the white flag and gives up the onigiri. Yoshi is happy again, but then has to fight with the Super Scope for the onigiri.

Stage 8
クッパ城突入!! メカクッパをたおせ!! (Entering Bowser Castle!! Let's go Mecha-Bowser!!)

Finally, Mario and Yoshi reached Bowser's Castle. Mario congratulates Yoshi with a shoulder pat, and it is then where he realizes Yoshi turned into a machine: apparently his hunger was more powerful than his "stupid-immunity". Inside the castle, Mario asks Yoshi if he is uncomfortable in his robot form, but Yoshi admits that he is actually comfy, and also can store their Crystal Kinoko in a safe place (a safe place where his butt once was). When Yoshi shows the Crystal Kinoko to Mario, a boomerang snatches it away and takes the relic to a Boomerang Bro.

Mario arms himself with the Super Scope, but the weapon is tired and exhausted. Laughing, the Boomerang Bro tosses his boomerang once more and cuts off Yoshi's head, which the boomerang returns to the sender, hitting the Boomerang Bro in the head, and knocking him out. Mario recuperates the Crystal Kinoko, Yoshi's head (that he reattaches to his the body) and the Super Scope (who took a nap).

The heroes finally arrives to the final room, where Bowser, in his heavy and armed armor, is waiting for them. With the Super Scope still unloaded, Mario sends Mecha Yoshi in battle, but he runs out of batteries and stops moving. Mario gets shot and slammed by the Armored Bowser, but he gets up and, using the Scope as a club, destroys the cannons in the armor's gauntlets. Bowser, then, activates another cannon placed in his belly and shoots at Mario, who takes cover behind Yoshi's unmoving body. Furious, Bowser shoots another round of missiles, and they all end up into the Super Scope. With the weapon finally loaded, Mario shoots the missiles back at Bowser and defeats him, recovering the remaining Crystal Kinokos. The three relics, finally together, activates their power and Mario wishes for the chaos to end once and for all.

Yoshi returns to normal, so does the Super Scope (who is revealed to be King Fret's son, Prince Pine), Luigi, Birdo and Jewelry Land's citizen. With peace restored, Birdo disappears and Mario and his friends returns to baking cookies (only in their free time from adventuring) using Bowser's armor (with him still inside) as the new baking oven.

Stage 9
骨肉の争い!? バトルドームの大バトル!! (Battle of bones and flesh!? Battle Dome's big battle!!)

Mario, Luigi and Yoshi are enjoying a weekend to the beach of Yoshi's Island, when Bowser arrives riding his Koopa Clown Car, taking with him a Cheep Cheep balloon, that he calls a "Battle Dome". Bowser tosses the Cheep Cheep balloon at them, and the three find themselves in a Mario Bros. arena. Bowser then releases something that would help them battle: Battle Kins, a type of spores that will increment their violence levels. After accidentally releasing on Mario the Fat Kins (that makes him momentarily fat), Luigi and Yoshi are infected by the Battle Kin and starts beating each others, while Mario, thanks to his own Omanuke Kins that shields him from the Battle Kin.

Bowser then starts filling the dome with enemies like Sidesteppers, Spinies and Fighter Flies. Luigi and Yoshi, while defeating enemies and collecting coins to prove who is better, continue punching each others. To stop this madness, Mario hits the POW Block in the center of the arena and gets a Super Mushroom from a pipe that lands right on one of his Omanuke Kins that enlarges so much that it absorbs Luigi and Yoshi, debelling their Battle Kins.

Finally working as a team, Mario and his friends quickly defeats the remaining enemies, so Bowser sends his trump card: a Shellcreeper. Mario flips him over it with no problem, but when the Shellcreeper flips back on, he summons the Mecha Nokonoko and attacks them with it. Having no chance against a battle mecha, Luigi suggests looking for a ? Kinoko in one of the pipes, so to switch powers with the Shellcreeper, but encounters a Boo that pushes him back in the arena. The Mecha Nokonoko sends Mario flying against one of the platforms' blocks, revealing a ? Kinoko, inside but before he can grab it, the mushroom enters a pipe, turning it into a giant Super Scope. With that, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi shoots and defeats the Mecha Nokonoko and a destroying the dome. Bowser is shocked, but his trouble are not over yet: the Fat Kins landed right on him, making him fat. Luigi and Yoshi laughs at him, but then they have to run away when Mario chases them with the Super Scope, to punish them for beating him under the Battle Kins influence.

Stage 10
マリオとワリオ!! お先まっ暗ルイージ探し!? (Mario & Wario!! Looking for Luigi in the dark!?)

Peach is enjoying her "forced stay" in Bowser's Castle, but the Koopa Troop can not take her antics anymore, so they let her have a walk in the park alone. Suddenly, Wario, riding his Bulldog, appears and tosses a bucket on Peach's head, which she can not remove. Bowser witness to the fact and yells at Wario that, in response to the threats, tosses another bucket at him, but it is thankfully too little for Bowser's head. Wario flies away, revealing that "Luigi is the key to remove the bucket".

Without thinking twice, Bowser departs for Yoshi's Island, where the Mario Bros. are supposed to be. Bowser finds Yoshi and orders him to take them to Mario and Luigi. Yoshi takes him to Mario, which has suffered the same fate as Peach. However, Mario is already looking for a way to free himself from the bucket, having found the mystical fairy of the Yōsei no Mori: Wanda. Thanks to her, Mario can lift the bucket just enough to see under it, but still can not quite remove it. Bowser walks towards them to brainstorm an idea, but trips and falls flat on Wanda, squashing her. This, however, does not kill her, but fuse the two together. With Bowser now in control of Wanda's body, the gang has to think a new plan to remove Mario and Peach's buckets, so Bowser reveals what Wario said to him and they all go look for Luigi.

Wanda suggest Bowser to help Mario walking by making sure the terrain is safe for him, but he is good with magic, continuing making Mario trip or fall under a block that Bowser-Wanda failed to make appear in time. Wario spots them and decides to make their journey less calm, by activating Mario's bucket. The bucket comes to life and start biting Mario's head. Bowser tries to help him by hitting the bucket, but he accidentally makes the Rock Block under Mario disappear, making him plummet right on some Spike Traps that sens Mario flying straight to a ceiling, bonking his head on it and hurting the bucket as well. This makes the infernal bucket let go of Mario, finally free.

The bucket tries to return on Mario's head, but Bowser summons a poop on Mario's head, disgusting the bucket. After transforming into a butt and farting away the poop and the gang against a wall, knocking them down, the bucket attempts again to attach to Mario. Quickly, Mario grabs the block below him and plug it into the bucket and, luckily for him, it is a Coin Block. Grabbing Wanda's wand, Mario hits the Coin Block, making it pours out all the coins inside the bucket, bursting it. Wario flies away in defeat, while the gang continue their search for Luigi, who, unbeknownst to them, just passed by on a block bridge under them.

Stage 11
ワリオのプレゼント!?大?恐竜をたおせ!! (Wario's gift!? Great? Give me a dinosaur!!)

Luigi, unaware of being the most wanted person in the kingdom, is headed for the Yosu Ko where, coincidentally, Mario, Yoshi and Bowser-Wanda are also headed, helping Bowser mastering Wanda's magic to avoid any more accidents like creating a Jump Block below a ceiling. Once the group arrives to the lake, they are welcomed by the Star World's Yoshis, who are enjoying a Christmas vacation, even setting up a Kadomatsu. Suddenly, Wario, dressed up like Santa Claus, comes on his Bulldog ready to share his presents: a new type of bucket shaped like a Yoshi's Eggshell. Mario attempts to destroy the eggshell with a Super Scope, but fails in saving the Yoshis and Bowser-Wand from getting the buckets on their head. Mario later suffers their same fate after he slips on a banana peel and straight into a bucket.

Wario flies away happily, while Mario and his friends try to come up with a plan. Bowser-Wanda localize a Rock Block and brings it above the others and breaks it. The debris destroy the buckets, but also hurts everyone, reason why and angered Mario tosses a rock to Bowser-Wanda, breaking his bucket and hurting him in the process. The troubles, however, have just begun: the eggshell pieces come and fuse together forming Tamagodon, a giant and sentient soup tureen made out of eggshells.

The Mario and the Yoshis laughs at this silly-looking enemy, angering it and making it spill thick soup all over them. The four Yoshis quickly eats it, freeing everyone, but they all got fat from eating so much and can no longer move. Tamagodon then proceeds to attack Mario with his electric sight. Bowser-Wanda attempts to help him escape, but he then activates a Timer Block that disappears after Mario stands on it, making him fall to the ground. Tamagodon tosses at him some eggshells that pins Mario to the wall and zaps him.

The Yoshis must do something to help him and Yoshi is already on it, having reached, with some hiccups, the Kadomatsu and grabbed the Star at the top, he passes it to Mario. Mario becomes invincible, and the eggshell that were restraining him not so long ago, are now an armor with star-shaped spots. With the eggshells, Mario shields himself from Tamagodon's zaps and with uses the star-shaped spots as projectiles, blowing up the enemy, revealing a Dodorigesu Jr. inside. The Yoshis roasts the Pidgit and feast on him and with Mario and Bowser-Wanda, celebrate. Meanwhile, not one soul notices Luigi buried under the debris of the Rock Block Bowser-Wanda destroied.

Stage 12
マリオ宇宙へ!! 勇者ヒポポン大活躍!? (To Space Zone!! Heroic Hippo's great success!?)

Mario, Carrot and Yokkī are recapping the situation: to access Wario's Castle they need the 6 Golden Coins and now they possess five: only one remains. After Mario shows to Carrot that he stored the Golden Coins inside Yokkī, the latter is taken by some strange force that rises him up: it's a gravitational ray coming from the Pagosu, Tatanga's spaceship. Mario tries to rescue his friend and the coins, but Tatanga slams him to the ground, breaking Yokkī and flies away with the Golden Coins, cackling. After rebuilding back Yokkī, Mario realizes that Tatanga must have gone to the last zone of Mario Land: the Space Zone.

The only way to reach Space Zone is via the Bubbles produces by the Hippo statue's snout. After Mario chants a spell wearing the Tanooki Suit, the Hippo statue produces the bubbles in which they will reach space. Their journey is, however, cut short when they come across a group of Unibōs that burst their bubbles, plunging them into the sea below. In the water, the part is ambushed by Cheep Cheeps and more Unibōs, when suddenly the Hippo state, who came to life thanks to the spell, comes to their aid by getting rid of the enemies and by creating a new bubble from its butt. This almost kills Mario and his friends, but the smell does keep the pesky Unibōs away, letting them reach Space Zone.

After Mario quickly procures a space suit to survive the lack of oxygen, he, Carrot and Yokkī continue the chase for Tatanga. They are suddenly ambushed by a No. 48 who keeps shooting stars at them, alongside the Leo and Virgo constellations. While the No. 48 prepares to attack them with the Sagittarius constellation, Hippo comes to Mario's aid once more by passing him a striped rod and pointing a ? Block above. Mario stabs the block, finding a Super Star inside it, and fuses the rod and the star together, creating a Star Rod. With his aura, the No. 48's stars are flashed and knocked out, and the enemy is then defeated. Mario and his friends thank Hippo and let it joins the party.

Stage 13
月面最終決戦!! 強敵タタンガをたおせ!! (The final battle on the moon!! Defeat the powerful enemy Tatanga!!)

It is the flue season and Wario is not feeling well, being bedridden and with his nose pouring mucus non-stop. His conditions do not improve when he gets to know that Mario is chasing the last of his bosses down to retrieve the last Golden Coin. Meanwhile, even Mario is a bit sick, which he excuses with the cold temperature of space. Mario decides to rest on a floating platform, but it is revealed to be a Tōsenbo who prickles him. Hippo stops the enemy by freezing him with his mucus, then asks Yokkī to use his fire breath to warm Mario up, healing him from the cold.

After neutralizing the Tōsenbo, Hippo ties it up and forces it to tell them where is Tatanga. The Tōsenbo tells them that Tatanga is hiding in the star stage. The gang reaches the level and start looking for the alien, when suddenly, Yokkī starts bouncing up and down, hitting Mario and the others. After a laser beam comes out from Yokkī's mouth, Mario notices that Tantaga hid the Pagosu inside Yokkī, and he's using him as a human shield. After Mario KOs Yokkī with a fireball, Tatanga comes out of him and the battle properly begins.

Mario tries to grab him, but slams against a rock, Hippo tries to freeze him with mucus like he did with the Tōsenbo, but hits his friends instead. Then Tatanga shoots moon cutters at Mario, tearing his space suit and cracking his helmet. Mario and Hippo tosses the moon cutters back, finally pinching him, but Tatanga then shoots a spherical projectile that Yokkī grabs with his mouth. Just then, Tatanga reveals that is a firework and the explosion sends Yokkī, Carrot, Hippo and Mario so high in the sky that they land back to Earth. Tatanga laughs in delight, holding the 6 Golden Coins, but he is suddenly attacked by someone.

Back to Earth, Mario and Carrot admit defeat, but a few minutes later, Santa Claus, riding a sleight tow by some Koopa Paratroopas, appears. Mario is not in the mood, but Yokkī asks if they can have the 6 Golden Coins as a present, which Santa agrees, giving the Coins to them. Mario thanks him and, after Santa leaves, it is revealed that he was non-other than Bowser, feeling good due to the Christmas spirit. Meanwhile, Tatanga has just recovered from the pounding Bowser gave to him, realizing that someone robbed him.

Special Stage
怪力ワリオくん (Super Wario-kun)

Wario and his Goomba assistant are on the look for a pirate treasure located in the sea of Turtle Zone. The two dives in the water and, following Wario's instinct, arrives to a rock wall. Wario destroys it and zaps the debris before they can get hurt with the Tetris Wario powers.

The two finally arrive to the sunken pirate ship and are immediately attacked by a group of Cheep Cheeps which Wario quickly takes care of. Another enemy appears: it is an octopus, who Wario defeats by lifting an underwater volcano with his bare hands and tossing it at him.

Wario finds the treasure chest and opens it, but inside, he only finds a Boo telling him he lost: he chose the wrong chest. Wario and the Goomba return home, telling the octopus and the fishes, much to their disappointment, that tomorrow they will redo this "pretend treasure hunt". Mario and Yokkī appear and ask if they can join the game too.

Puzzles

 * マリオスーパー迷路・パズル (Mario Super Maze: Puzzle)
 * 1) アイテム迷路 (Power-up maze): Please tell me what kind of power-ups are in the blocks 1 to 5.
 * 2) OXOX!: Mario taped Yoshi's mouth to help him with his diet. Which tape was put first?
 * 3) 四番目はだれだ? (Who is the fourth?): The members of the Koopa Troop are racing. Looking at the four pictures on the left, can you tell who is the fourth in the line?
 * 4) まちがいさがし (Find the differences):
 * This is a commemorative photo of the Koopa family. Take a good look at it.
 * Look for the differences from the photo on page 114. There are eight differences in total.


 * Solutions:
 * 1) As shown in the figure below.
 * 2) 22 Marios! I wonder if you spotted Luigi.
 * 3) 59 minutes is the correct answer. Those who answered 20 minutes, as for one-third of an hour, got themselves tricked. That's too bad.
 * 4) Wiggler has a lot of legs, so she needs more time to wear shoes.
 * 5) Read it in horizontal lines