As Punch-Out!! for Wii makes its way to stores for the first time, news is quickly spreading about a certain character from the "Mario Universe" appearing in the game. We understand some of you may be trying to avoid spoilers, so we'll only post links to the images.

SPOILER WARNING! Click here and here to see Little Mac's latest challenge. SPOILER WARNING!

Thanks to everyone who sent us the news!

J.J. here, former TMK mailbag contributor, longtime hanger-on.

So I moved to Japan a few months ago yadda yadda yadda you didn't ask for my life story.

Anyway, as a hardcore Mario fan I've obviously been keeping my eyes peeled for anything uniquely Mariotastic that this nation, whose loins birthed Mario in the first place, might be offering.

There is a lot of Mario stuff for sale, but much of it is mainstream and not terribly impressive. Little "capsule" style vending machines are very popular at toy stores here, and lots of them sell Mario key chains of various sorts, as well as Mario-themed DS screen cleaners, or Mario magnets, or other little cheap trinkets of that sort. You also often come across things like Mario pencil bags, Mario pencils, or Mario notebooks for school. Fancier toys are a bit rarer, but one does occasionally see a decent stuffed Yoshi, or Wario, or maybe a small Luigi action figure, or a weird board game. But compared to some of the other video game / cartoon franchises out there, Mario is comparatively unpopular when it comes the sort of intense, thousands-of-toys-of-every-character merchandising that Japan is known for.

Personally, I've been most vigorous in collecting Japanese player's guides. The official ones, produced by Nintendo. Here's my collection thus far:



Japanese player's guides are a tad different than ones in the states. Mainly they're a smaller and thicker. While ours back home tend to be magazine-sized, Japanese ones are about the size of a pocketbook. In terms of content, they're more or less the same. Maps and stuff. The newer ones tend to have rather sterile layouts, but the older ones sometimes have a bit more life, like this Super Mario World one, which contains a few silly little comics.



Yesterday at the used book store I finally stumbled upon something much cooler, however: Mario children's books! They're these thick, cardboard books produced for what I assume are very young kids. Each one has about 10 pages, telling a simple story interspliced with lots of games and mazes and things. There are apparently several different series' of these things, each based on a different game. What I like most about them is the art. While American-made Mario storybooks tend to have weird, Americanized illustrations, the drawings in these books are very authentic-looking, in the style of the art you'd see in instruction manuals and stuff like that. As someone who's always taken a great deal of inspiration from Mario art, these things are quite a find indeed.



For more images, check out my Flickr gallery here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43399380@N00/sets/72157614695613003/.

So, I was working on one thing or another, and I discovered a few nifty little Mario music renditions on Youtube.  It's times like this that I'm glad TMK has a blog section now, as I really don't know of how else I'd manage to share this stuff with you folks.

Anyway, for your listening pleasure... the Super Mario Bros. 2 Character Select music!

(Hey, SMB2/USA has ragtime-style music. I prefer its music to most of the rest of the series.  Your tastes, good readers, may vary.)

Nice ragtime piano version, and the primary reason I created this post

Four man arrangement - sounds a little clipped at times, but not bad

... and, just for the sake of it, the overworld theme...

...and, finally: some guy plays drums along with the NES overworld theme

It appears that someone out there in Youtube land has constructed their interpretation of a "modern day Super Mario Bros. Super Show" opening.  It's features a pretty decent collection of Mario cinema scenes from the recent games, generally patched together to fit the themes of the "song".

It might be worth taking a look at, if even for just a minute.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGfbAQOTipE

Are you busy wrapping packages, or are you simply diving into pipes?

Either way, WTMK is here -- for YOU!  We're now broadcasting a holiday/Christmas/winter music, just for you!  Every tune you've enjoyed hearing as Mario slowly trudged through snow -- now broadcasting on WTMK!

Tune in now!

Overstock.com is having a four day video game sale. I'm not entirely sure when the sale started, but I thought these deals might be appealing to some of our TMK readers.

* Wii Mario Super Sluggers for $24.95

* Wii Wario Land: Shake It! for $24.95

... and while it isn't a Mario related title, I feel like I'd be doing our friends over at Kirby's Rainbow Resort a disservice if I didn't mention the following...

* NDS Kirby Super Star Ultra for $16.88

Overstock features $2.95 shipping, and I believe it's a flat rate no matter how many games you purchase.  Great time to pick up some games for your friends and family!

(Did I mention that I needed a copy of all three of those?  Just keep it in mind... I mean, it's not like my infamous wish list has ever done me any good.  Of course, there is a first time for everything, right?

A French fellow named Remi Gaillard decided to reenact some Mario Kart madness... along the streets of France.  I hadn't seen it before, but some of the rest of you might have.  In any event, seeing a fellow on a go kart tossing banana peels while swerving in between cars is interesting, at least for a few minutes.

Video on YouTube
Video on DailyMotion (appears to be slightly higher quality)

Someone brought this to my attention recently... a music video about love and Mario Kart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDBpQVhCMb8

Someone else then directed me to this.... weirdness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuX5_OWObA0

I was going to do something more interesting with these, but I got tired of keeping them bookmarked, so I've unleashed them on the TMK community. Enjoy!

Want some cheap Mario games?

* $30 Wario Land: Shake It! on Amazon.com
* $30 Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) on Amazon.com
* $135 Mario Edition DS Lite with New Super Mario Bros. on Amazon.com, OR
* $136 Mario Edition DS Lite with New Super Mario Bros. at Wal-Mart/Wal-Mart.com

During a routine internet investigation for Mario-related madness, I stumbled across "The 40 Greatest Uses of the Super Mario Theme" on an odd website dedicated to lists.  It seems like the sort of thing some of you might enjoy, so feel free to go take a look -- I was rather impressed by the SMW track played by dialing a cellphone.

Link: http://www.rockthelist.com/2008/10/23/the-40-greatest-uses-of-the-super-mario-theme/

Go, take a look.

Many months ago, I got an e-mail about this webcomic, but I can't recall if I ever actually mentioned it much around TMK.  I was browsing some websites today and came across this comic... and felt a need to share it with you all.

Have a great weekend.

Source: Brawl in the Family (www .brawlinthefamily .com)

If you can, stop by Toys R Us soon for some sweet deals on great games.  I didn't see any Mario games in the bargain bin, but there are several others that are well worth it -- only $7.98 (marked $9.98, but you get 20% off).  It's a shame Zack & Wiki for Wii didn't sell better given its quality, but its retail failure is your gain.  I also saw some other good games such as Elite Beat Agents for DS and Every Extend Extra for PSP.  The store I went to even threw in a free frisbee.  If you can't make it out to the store, you may still be able to pick up the games without the 20% discount, and with shipping added.  Still, it's probably worth it for some quality titles.  Even better, here's a coupon for $5 off if you spend $25, but it's only good today and tomorrow.

Nintendo finished up their E3 press conference a few hours ago, and we are sad to report that there is not much news for the Mario crew. NCL President Satoru Iwata touched on the success of New Super Mario Bros., but Wario Land: Shake It! and Mario Super Sluggers were conspicuously absent from the upcoming games shown during the hour-long conference.

Though no new Mario games were announced, we saw (and heard) Mario references in the upcoming Wii games Animal Crossing: City Folk and Wii Music. The big bro's shirt was clearly visible in the City Folk video, and the Super Mario Bros. theme was performed during the Wii Music live demo.

Meanwhile, on Nintendo of America's press site, the release of Wario Land: Shake It! was quietly moved up one week, from September 29 to September 22.

NCL recently unveiled their minisite for Wario Land Shake (Wario Land: Shake It! in the USA).  Along with the cheery character art for the "Sha King", Captain Syrup, and Wario, you'll also find what appears to be the game's animated intro and some gameplay footage.

Gameplay Footage: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/rwlj/point/index.html
Click through the down arrows to the final page.

Animated Intro: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/rwlj/prologue/index.html
Click on the text box in the top right corner.

Source: NCL Wario Land Shake minisite

Brian Brinegar, Dan May, and John Groth are playing Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, and 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy to raise money for Child's Play.  You can join in the fun by chatting with them while watching the marathon live on Ustream.  Of course you could donate to Child's Play for the kids and to show Brian, Dan, and John your support, but could you play all those Mario games for 55 hours straight?

Although I've never tried to play a marathon of games, I have donated to Child's Play before.  I gave several GBA SPs and SMA4:SMB3 to three childrens' hospitals a few years ago.  I think it's time to do it again.  I just wish I could afford to send Nintendo Wiis this time.  Makes me almost regret spending my money on a PS3 this week. 

Source:  mariomarathon.com