Mailbag
22 Aug 2003

TMK Staff In order of appearance

Got something you want us to answer next time? Send it in!

When you guys arent playing Mario games, what other games do you play?

-cikocikica

Deezer: Lately, uh, Continuum (DSB all the way!) and not much else. Ask me next month and I'll say F-Zero GX.

Chupperson Weird: Mostly Star Fox and Mega Man games. Also Homeworld and Civilization when I haven't played them in a while... and other things too numerous to mention. Most other Nintendo franchises too.

David Dayton: Who has time for games when you have an exciting life like mine? Er... okay, I suppose I've been known to play classic arcade games, Zelda games, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Resident Evil (occasionally), the older Final Fantasy games, Kirby titles, Tetris...

J.J.: I haven't been playing many games lately, but when I have free time I usually play the various games on my Sonic Gamecube Mega Pack or whatever it's called.

MEGAߥTE:: A lot of stuff. Lately, however, I've been playing my Japanese Famicom and Super Famicom imports and GBA games. Next week I'm sure I'll be playing lots of SSBM since I'll be back at college and I just got my GC VGA cable (get one, they absolutely rock). I also get off my butt and play real basketball fairly frequently.

Hey, TMK (a.k.a. Best Site here Is!),
This is my first time contributing to the mailbag, so I'll get right to the point. I found a certain glitch in Super Mario Sunshine that has no doubt been found by others. However, it isn't posted on your site, so I'll submit it. Whenever you get a shine sprite, whether you've collected it or not, if you shoot out water from FLUDD while grabbing the shine sprite, FLUDD will continuously try and shoot water from his nozzle as Mario does his little victory dance until the screen blackens. It works well while using the sprinkler technique. Just thought you'd like to know.

-Yaridovich'98

Deezer: Sounds weird. I'll have to try it next time I boot up Mario Sunshine.

Chupperson Weird: I'm still trying to figure out the "fall through the manhole" glitch.

David Dayton: This kind of glitch is fairly common in many games. The game switches into the "Grab a Shine" mode, but background programming remains in effect. As far as the FLUDD button subroutine is concerned, it never receives the notice from the system that the button has been released. If you play Super Mario World , you can get Mario to continuously bob his head during the ending credits sequence because of the same kind of glitch.

First, I would like to say how impressed I am by the site. The guide to Super Mario World has been very helpful, and the fan art is amazing...especially Toasty_64's stuff. I have been playing Super Nintendo since I was like 8, I'm 18 now. My younger brother was always better at all the games, but I would have to read him the story line...lol. Anyways, I got my dusty SNES out of the attic a couple of months ago, and I haven't turned it off since. I've turned the TV off, or I've watched TV, but the game has been on the whole time, so I can always pick up where I left off. I am just now realizing how awesome my 2 favorite games are, Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World. I have beat both, but I am only 85% saved in Donkey Kong. I was wondering if maybe you know a site, or you can provide me with information on how to discover any hidden rooms I might have missed. I would truly appreciate it. Also, what other Mario games would you recommend I buy? Much love, and your site has been added to my favorites list.

-blazebunny03

Deezer: If you liked Super Mario World, try Super Mario All-Stars for four more classic Mario platformers. For DKC guides, try GameFAQs.com.

David Dayton: In Donkey Kong Country, there is a rather obscure hidden percentage you can obtain if you check my website. One useful tip is that an exclamation point (!) will appear after the name of a level once you have found all the exits in it. If you wander about the map and notice a level without the exclamation point, you know you have some work ahead of you. Oh, and I also recommend Super Mario All-Stars and Yoshi's Island. If you pick up a Super Game Boy, you can even play the Mario Land and Wario Land Game Boy games.

Hey Mailbag dudes, I'm LuigiHann, the annoying "Winamp Skin" guy! Anyway, a website had a "Remix Contest" and look who came in at lucky number 5? Me! Hahaha. And with a Super Mario Bros 3 remix, no less. Check it out, if you like! Super Mario Bros 3 - World 2 v1.1 @ 1001 Winamp Skins
I even got a shiney ribbon.

-LuigiHann

Deezer: Congrats! I likes.

Chupperson Weird: Nice job.

David Dayton: When you said remix, I was hoping for music. The skin looks interesting, although I tend never to really use most skins because they hide all the buttons. Although I'm sure none of you have ever heard of it, there used to be a freeware MP3 player called Yamp which allowed you to do much more complex skins than Winamp allows. With Yamp, you could create a skin of any size, shape, or dimensions. I made a pretty nice skin which looked like a Game Boy Pocket and displayed all song information in the screen. I'm still waiting for Winamp to "catch up".

J.J.: Your skin is hideous and I don't like people who introduce themselves with fake names.

MEGAߥTE:: WinAMP 3 supports extremely complex skins, but it's slow. I'll guess I'll wait for WinAMP 5.

Hey. My mom found me a new Mario shirt. It says "Super Mario Bros." on it, and it has a picture of Mario (NES style) holding a mushroom. It seems to be an altered version of the picture on the box of Super Mario Bros. 2.

-Pokemario

Deezer: Is it gray? I heard Hot Topic has something like that, but I've never seen it there. Be on the lookout for more Mario shirts at Gadzooks (maybe not anymore) and Sears.

Chupperson Weird: Mario shirts... *drool*

David Dayton: Just be wary of Mario shirts on eBay. I've been noticing a LOT of buttons and shirts appear that seem to have been made with a home design kit.

J.J.: Sounds pretty dorky.

MEGAߥTE:: This guy doesn't seem to think so. No comment on his other adornments. This is the aforementioned Hot Topic shirt:

Im a Mario Game Lover. and i love your site too.
Im also an Easter Egg Freak. :)

Im woundering if you sometime in the future can add an easter egg section to the site. (I know that you have some, but theres more, and it would need its own location!) :D

Also, ive got some Easter Eggs/References for Super Mario Sunshine:

1: Lots of music are from older games, like the one in some bonus stage (W. 1-1 SMB music, hard to miss)

2: In the fludd intro, you can see short movies from SMB, SMW and SM64 (even harder to miss)

3: Jump onto the back of a boat in Delfino Plaza, and youll see a bucket. (Mario & Wario, someone?)

4: Also, a mysterios thing: The "Noki Bay Book". On Noki Bay, when youre inside the bottle, go down to the stone like thing. On one of its sides, theres 2 holes. Inside one of the holes, theres a door. If you manupilate the camera angle so you see its inside, youll see the book. Theres no known way of getting to it, so it remains a mystery.

-Smallhacker, The Nintendo Freak

Deezer: Here's another one for ya: In the FLUDD intro, there is a list of a few Mario games... in mirrored Japanese text. Oh, have you found TMK's easter egg yet?

Chupperson Weird: As for the book, I've heard that the goal of that level was originally to collect the book, but they changed it to collecting coins instead.

David Dayton: Hey, don't we have a screen shot of that reversed list of games for Super Mario Sunshine? I remember taking a screen shot of it.

J.J.: Those are all lovely observations, but an Easter Egg is by definition a hidden gimmick in a game. The things you mentioned are all very out in the open and obvious to even the casual gamer. A true Easter Egg is something like Samus in Mario RPG. But such things are rare in Mario games, so I see no use for a page on them.

MEGAߥTE:: "

Hey mailbag guys,

This is my first letter in awhile. So anyway, I was listening to WTMK and came across a few songs by my favorite composer ever, Motoi Sakuraba.

I wasn't aware he did any Mario related music. Could you tell me the names of those songs, or perhaps what the albums/OST's were?

Thanks alot.

-Blues

Deezer: Sakuraba-san composed the music for Mario Golf and Mario Tennis for N64, and also Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour for GameCube. (I assume he will also be doing the music for the upcoming Mario Tennis for GC.) Mario Tennis (N64) is the only one that had a CD soundtrack release.

David Dayton: I'm assuming he's a Camelot employee, or that Camelot contracted with him directly. I could be hideously wrong, though.

Hello, I want to tell you that you're all doing a great job on your site. I want to say though that I find your key used for judging if a game contains a Mario cameo, spin-off etc. not quite right at times. For instance, in the N64 section you had Super Smash Bros. under 'Starring Role,' but many Mario games (ie. Mario Kart 64) as a spin-off. I can understand why you would put Mario Kart under spin-off, it's not a traditional Mario game. That being said, I don't think Super Smash Bros. is either. I would have put SSB under spin-off.

In the NES section, you have Wario's Woods as a starring role for Toad. That's good an all, and I realize that you physically control Toad in that puzzle game, but technically you're controlling Mario in such games as Yoshi's Cookie (you see him working the levers and pedals). There are more in there too. I understand that it would be tough at times to find where to place them, and then they're open to interpretation, but you might want to fix and/or come up with more guidelines for deciding where to place them.
That being said, I know it doesn't really matter! A game is a game!

-Ross

Deezer: I was wondering when someone was gonna say something about Smash Bros. on our list.

David Dayton: I think we were hungry for a Mario title at that point and didn't really care. While I would agree that the Smash Bros. games might not fully qualify as games where Mario has a starring role, I would argue that they are fighting games which vaguely sprang out of the classic Mario Bros. and Mario Bros. Battle games, and are thus part of the Mario universe of games and therefore qualify to have Mario listed as a starring character. However, I'm also the guy that thinks that because there are Pikmin in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, the game Pikmin is supposed to take place within the confines of the Mushroom Kingdom.

J.J.: I remember Deezer and I had a long debate over what qualifies as a "cameo" vs. a "spin off." At the time I was satisfied with the definitions, but I have since grown to dislike their apparent inconsistancies and ambiguities.

Hi. Do you know if the E-reader cards to be released for SMA4:SMB3 will actually have information on new levels on them, or if they are merely codes to unlock bonus levels already stored on the cartridge? I ask because the E-reader seems like a pointless piece of crap to me, the only purpose of which being to force players to dish out more money to get the fullest experience of a game. This is why I refuse to buy Animal Crossing. If the information is actually ON the card, then a can sort of see a point to it (paper is cheaper than silicon, and an endless number of new bonus levels could be made), but if they just unlock things already on the cartridge then I don't see the point.

-picmaas

Deezer: I'm guessing the information is stored on the e-cards. I could be wrong.

Chupperson Weird: Probably a combination of both. Although, if they can store NES games on e-cards, I assume they could store levels just as easily.

David Dayton: From what I've been told, the cards actually store the level layout data. All the artwork and programming is in the cartridge, but the cards do contain level structure data, sort of like a map file for PC games. The good news is that this implies there is a nearly unlimited number of SMB3 Cards that could be made; the bad news is that this means there is a nearly unlimited number of SMB3 cards I might end up buying.

J.J.: Woah, take that Nintendo. "Picmass" isn't gonna buy Animal Crossing!

MEGAߥTE:: The level data is apparently on the cards. Series 1 will contain 25 "helper" (item) cards, 14 "example" (shows you how to beat stages), and 11 "course" cards. They start selling in Japan on Sept. 19 for ¥191 ($1.60) per pack. Therefore, unlike Animal Crossing, you may not be able to unlock stuff by cheating with Action Replay. I wonder how long before somebody decodes the data and comes up with a program to print your own levels on cards.

Hey TMK,
I first noticed this back in 1997, I'm not sure if the NTSC and PAL boxes of Super Mario 64 have the same screenshots, so I thought you may be interested in case they are not. If you have a closer look at the five screenshots on the reverse side of the box, one is actually a shot from an early build of the game; including an unfinished background and early versions of the on-screen icons. (See attached image for a scan.)



-fdfed

Deezer: So are you saying you have the PAL box? I don't have my copy handy... See various issues of Nintendo Power in 1996 for more SM64 screen shots like this.

Chupperson Weird: I have an NTSC box, and they're all prototype screen shots like that one. That particular screen seems to be from an earlier build than the rest, but if you look closely, the icons on the top of all the screens aren't as "finished" as they are in the final version.

David Dayton: Did later boxes have different artwork? I'm curious what the Players Choice box art looks like.

MEGAߥTE:: I don't have any N64 boxes... I bought my N64 and every single one of my games and accessories used.

what sup with youre websaite? i font believe it!! its so had has reddicilus!!

its blue and mario and all look at t all this informative infromatioN!!!! hey, i have a hard time beleiving that your evan siite exists on the internet. i mean its at hard to believe a site like yours exists or so little money, where do you get your webspace from, the webspace fairy? or the webspace fairey??!?!

also, i have a hard time beleiving your site exists at all because your information is so accurate. what heck!!!??? are you guys psychick? fo you break into nintendo headquartars and spi on them?

your site may be the most imformative out there, but irefuse to beleive you guys really exist un till u answer my little questions and has as

all Mario video games out there on Nintendo -gamecube, Nintendo Game boy, Nintendo Game boy advance, nintendo entertainment system, superningent inter tainment system. winding finger with controllwr! have bloodstream not wwalk! i font believe

-Gguru1

Deezer: Believe it.

Chupperson Weird: Hey, I just stole some more information from Nintendo... Oh dang, we've been found out.

David Dayton: I gave up trying to understand what he meant when he used "font" to mean "can't".

J.J.: I hate you.

MEGAߥTE:: I am not a chick! I didn't spit on Nintendo either.

This is The Reanimated Raynor, or Jim Raynor from the most recent mailbag [July 31st] after my account suffocated in spam and had to be remade.

Deezer commented out my email? Someone hit him with a giant fish over there for me or something.

DiC has made very many enemies, and not just in the Mario universe, too. Its butchering of the anime show Sailor Moon is probably the most infamous example of this. To think I grew up missing the panty shots and nude transformation sequences...T_T;;;

-Rynr

Deezer: (Hits self with a giant fish)

Chupperson Weird: *runs*

David Dayton: It's times like this I'm glad I work for a Mario site and not one focused on Tomb Raider or the Dead or Alive series.

J.J.: I hate you.

MEGAߥTE:: Actually you need to read a little closer, it was David who commented out your e-mail.

Deezer: (Hits David with a giant fish)

David Dayton: Ouch. If it makes you feel better, I have no idea what you are talking about.

hey,
I love your web sight but I need help getting to the next level on mario legend of the seven stars. please tell me how to get to nimbus land. :) please.

-love_at_first_sight_88

Deezer: I think you take the bus.

Chupperson Weird: You go up the beanstalks from Bean Valley. Get to this one place in Bean Valley where you see a brick block, hit it, and a beanstalk will sprout. I think.

David Dayton: Yeah, climb the beanstalk. A bus comes into play as well. Aren't you glad we are so helpful?

MEGAߥTE:: C'mon man, I beat this game the first time in Japanese. I don't read Japanese.

I have some information, if you're interested, about the Super Mario Bros 3 DVD:

The actual title of the DVD is "Super Mario Bros.: King Koopa Katastrophe".

There's 6 Mario 3 episodes:
-Reptiles in the Rosegarden
-Sneaky, Lying, Cheating, Giant Ninja Koopas
-The Beauty of Kootie
-Toddler Terrors of Time Travel
-Reign Storm
-Never Koop a Koopa

Also, there's one bonus episode of the crappy 'Sonic Underground' series, called Sonic Tonic.

Sterling Entertainment Group, is the company who put together the DVD.

I haven't gone to these sites yet, but their addresses are on the back of the box: www.uavco.com and www.entermagic.com . Perhaps they will have more information on the DVD.

Also, I'd like to thank TMK, because I had no idea the SMB3 DVD was even out, or in production... Thanks =D

(BTW, there's also a DVD of 3 Sonic Underground eps, and another DVD of 3 Zelda eps, from the same company who produced the Mario 3 DVD)

-JG

Deezer: Glad we could help.

David Dayton: I'd like to take this moment to invite all of you to buy me some stuff.

MEGAߥTE:: You're welcome.

Hey , Great Site ! It Rocks in Stereo !
Have you played Mario Golf Toadstool Tour ? I'll tell you in case you haven't seen the particular flaw the artist{s} made . In the Club Slots , play as Luigi , and look at your character head on the slot that is yours . Luigi's head is drawn right , but the L on his cap is backwards . I haven't bothered to check other character heads , though . The image was probably flipped making the L backwards .

-vleit

Deezer: Ahahah! Looks like they just mirrored the character heads instead of drawing them facing the other way. Waluigi's "letter" is backwards too.

Chupperson Weird: They thought they didn't have to worry since it doesn't affect the "M" on Mario's hat. Foolish programmers.

David Dayton: Luigi, Luigi, Luigi...

MEGAߥTE:: Or maybe the artists were dislexic.

Mario was officially honored as the first and ONLY "G4 Legend!" Proof that Mario is superior to all other characters.

-BudnikTom

Deezer: Duh.

Chupperson Weird: What he said.

David Dayton: What's a G4 legend?

MEGAߥTE:: A little Internet searching found that G4 is "a 24 hour, seven-day-a-week television network completely dedicated to gamers and the games they play." Never heard of it.

Dear TMK,
I'm a big Mario fan and I have some questions about some of the japanese Mario games. I recently read that "Super Mario Bros. 2" for the NES was originally called "Dream Factory: Doki Doki Panic." in Japan and that it was originally not a Mario game at all. I also read that after the success of "Super Mario Bros. 2" in America. It was released again as "Super Mario Bros. USA" in Japan. What I don't understand is how Nintendo could sell "Super Mario Bros. USA" when "Dream Factory: Doki Doki Panic." was already out in Japan. In ads did Nintendo explain that the game was a remake of "Dream Factory: Doki Doki Panic." or did Nintendo change the game so it would look more like a Mario game? Thanks for all the help!

-Apple Cat!

Deezer: That was an excellent synopsis of our SMB2 Madness special. Nintendo (of America) finally explained SMB2 was a remake of DDP in the Mario Mania Player's Guide (around 1991).

Chupperson Weird: DDP is radically different from SMB2(USA). Aside from the level design, almost everything was changed. I think the original DDP was discontinued before they released SMUSA.

David Dayton: Doki Doki Panic was a disk game, and disk games were pretty much dead by the time they released Super Mario Bros. USA in Japan. There are also several changes to the game, so it wasn't merely a graphical hack. I'm not sure if Nintendo has ever "officially" explained the situation to the Japanese public, though.

J.J.: Doki Doki Panic is an odd game that makes little sense. I imagine it was quite unpopular in Japan.

MEGAߥTE:: Actually, DDP isn't radically different at all. Since we already have a page about the changes there's no need to list them here. Except Deezer missed a big one, and that is you don't get to see the real ending until you beat the game with all four characters.

Hey, TMK.

Not sure, this might be a Yoshi cameo. But, I've noticed, and listened closely, parts of the main song (the one Luigi whistles and humms to through-out the mansion), sound alot like the Yoshi's Story castle song. Not sure if you noticed, but just checking.

-Yoshiman

Deezer: I don't remember the Yoshi's Story castle theme off-hand, but I do know Kazumi Todaka composed the music for both Yoshi's Story and Luigi's Mansion, so it wouldn't surprise me if he remixed or borrowed from Yoshi's Story.

Chupperson Weird: I thought LM used the same theme throughout almost the whole game. Anyway, I want to play through YSt again sometime, and maybe I'll check then.

David Dayton: Did you know that Peach whistles the SMB theme when you select her from the roster in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour?

J.J.: I think you're hearing things.

MEGAߥTE:: Funny how you mention this. I was just telling Deezer the other day that I thought the theme in the professor's room (related to Luigi's whistles) was a very remixed version of the Pumpkin Zone theme from SML2. I never played all the way through Yoshi's Story, so I have no reference for that comparison.

I have defeated Kraid, but cannot figure out how to get the energy tank in his lair. Can you help?

-sandyl

Deezer: I think you have the wrong number. Try dialing The Metroid Database.

Chupperson Weird: ...

David Dayton: This would have to be for the original Metroid. Sadly, I am not very good at the original Metroid.

MEGAߥTE:: Survey says! No.

God help me, I found a Mario cameo.... and I don't know if this is a good thing, see as how I found it: I was up all night, all morning, and at around 8 am, I found myself watching "Caroline in the City" on LifeTime because it had the hot chick from Back to the Future in it.

Anyway, after Caronline in the City went over, "Designing Women" came on.

Annie Potts (that chick from Ghostbusters) was telling her friends how her son broke into a friend's house to play their Nintendo, and she said, "10 minutes later, the security guards showed up and found a little 8 year old in the basement glued to Super Mario Bros 3!"

-JG

Deezer: Ahahah.

Chupperson Weird: These cameos are getting mundane... and they're everywhere... *sigh*

David Dayton: You know, a cameo and a reference are entirely different things. A cameo implies that the actual person appears as themself; in the case of Mario, I'd say that Mario would have to appear in a video game for it to qualify as a true cameo.

J.J.: God, now every time a character on a non-scripted reality show casually mentions Mario, we're gonna get some gluebag sending us another E-mail. We don't like hearing about your stupid "cameos" people! Stop sending them!

MEGAߥTE:: "I saw this cloud the other day. It looked like Mario's big toe. You should mention it on your page."

Hiya! I may be one of the greatest Nintendo fans ever, and upon discovering your site, I was amazed. Your site is incrediblly large and useful. Amazing. Especially the Mariopedia. You even have some secret site that makes people wanna go back to your site everyday in hope of finding it. Anyway... I haven't writen before because I haven't ever had any good questions, but I have one now! Have there ever been any reliable resources on the ages of any Mario characters? I mean, Peach looks a little old to be a Princess, and Mario and Luigi looked like they were in their 20's or 30's in the in the first Mario Bros. game, but that was 20 years ago! What are they like 40 now? Either way, they never look any older. Oh well. Thanks for answering.

-Meowrik

Deezer: I think the Wario World manual lists Wario's age, as well as other stats. I'll ask David. David, does the Wario World manual state Wario's age?

Chupperson Weird: Time does not pass in the Mushroom World. ...Corporeally, anyway.

David Dayton: If I still had the manual for Wario World, I'd tell you. The problem is that I merely rented the game and am waiting to purchase it used (mutter mutter... game is too short... $50.00... mutter) . However, as for ages... temporally, Mario is 22, Luigi is 20 (or 21, depending upon whether the second Mario character in Donkey Kong Jr. is Luigi or not), the Princess is 19, and Wario is merely 11. Of course, you don't want the actual age of the characters, you want the perceived age of the characters. This is even harder to determine, but let me give you some insane estimates. These are in no way official.

Mario: 30. Luigi: 25. Peach: 21-23. Wario: 30-ish.

Please note that a princess can be of any age; although the fact that no other member of the royal family seems to be present in the Mushroom Kingdom and that it seems not to be subject to any foreign power, there could well be a reason why Peach is a princess and not a queen. For all we know a queen in the MK has to be married. (Although recent revelations at e3 concerning Mario Kart Double Dash and elements of Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour might imply that she is... but I digress).

Also, Yoshi's Island states that Mario and Luigi are twins, so they should be of about the same age; however, most of us prefer to ignore Yoshi's Island for details of Mario history (however, if there is any truth to the theories that emerged after e3, the two babies in Yoshi's Island could very well have been born on the same day and named Mario and Luigi...heh heh heh).

J.J.: They're fictional characters and have no ages. They can be whatever age makes you happiest.

what is this mario 128 game and why does nintendo want to keep it a secret

-luigi likes n64

Deezer: Super Mario 128 (tentative title) will be the next "big" Mario game. Nintendo has always been secretive because other companies are quick to copy their ideas. Case(s) in point: Directional pad on original NES controllers (Nintendo patented it); Rumble Pak; Super Mario 64; etc.

Chupperson Weird: Analog stick too, if I'm not mistaken.

David Dayton: Don't forget connectivity!

J.J.: And the whole "Mario Kart" thing.

MEGAߥTE:: And who could forget the Lockout chip?

Dear TMK Mailbag Dude,
Why did DIC stop making the Mario's Greatest Movie Moments DVD? I really wanted that dvd, and now it is discontinued. Do you know why it was discontinued, if it will be rereleased and if there will be more DVDs with Mario cartoons. All or any of this information would be a great help.

-Phantaz

Deezer: Lackluster sales? Limited copies? I really don't know, you'd have to ask them.

Chupperson Weird: Because no one wanted it?

David Dayton: I am fairly certain you can still get it if you try eBay or ...

Okay. I am amazed. I went to check for the film using my usual Internet suppliers of films and such, and discovered that it seems out of stock at most places. However, you can still purchase it at Deep Discount DVD, although I've never bought anything from them and can't really say how well it would work.

J.J.: I think Chupperson hit the nail on the head.

MEGAߥTE:: Yes, try eBay, I'll be selling several copies of that DVD over the next few weeks. Just watch out for all those people selling the pirate DVDs with "all SMB episodes." As for your second question, the previously mentioned SMB3 DVD is now out.

Hey, this is an update about the "debug" in Super Mario RPG. I got another GameSaver off eBay and I found the screen again. If, on the file select screen, you press SELECT+R (save), you can then load the first file slot (whether there's a save in it or not). depending on what exact second you press the save keys, there may or may not be a name in the slot, but after you load it, it brings you to the debug area. One toad person allows you to turn the World Map on/off, get 999 coins, get the signal ring, add Mallow/Geno/Bowser/Toadstool "to the party", and save. others let you go to Monstro Town, Land's End, and depending on when you pressed SELECT+R, either another toad person for Bean Valley, or Bowser for Bowser's Keep. Once to any of these levels, you can go to the World Map, which is completely unlocked, but if you press X, the screen goes blank and the game freezes. After you do this, any previous save files are erased. Oh and I didn't mention, instead of Mario, you are Mallow.

This confused me because when I did this a few years ago, I was Mario, and there was a toad person for each world. I've also found that in battle, your attacks and sprites are very messed up, but your HP levels are higher than 255.

Well, I'll try to get some pictures, but I don't have a video capture card or a digital camera. See ya.

-JasonMaloney101

Deezer: Go Naki GameSaver.

David Dayton: I actually have a Naki GameSaver+. I might have to try it out again. What I used it for was fooling with soundtracks. As the SNES has a seperate music chip, most games have a seperate subroutine running for the background music. If I used the GameSaver in Super Mario All Stars to save my place in Super Mario Bros. 3, then hit RESET and started up Super Mario Bros., pressing the restore data button on the GameSaver resulted in me playing Super Mario Bros. 3 with the Super Mario Bros. music tracks.

Hey, Deezer! Me again. Yeah, the one who sent in the Kuribo pronouncing question. I was playing Banjo-Tooie, and found a Mario cameo! Here's how it went: (Banjo and Kazooie go to Grunty Industries, and find Loggo. After hearing about his clogging up, Loggo said "Hey, unblock me!", then Kazooie said "Then call a plumber. I hear Mario's free at the moment!", then Loggo said "I don't think he does that kind of thing anymore...")

-Bobby

Deezer: BTW, we still need a screen shot of that text. Can anyone help?

Chupperson Weird: If I ever get a ROM of that...

David Dayton: ROMs are bad. Naughty naughty.

J.J.: Yes, I am er, glad none of us ever use them... especially not for screenshots and Mariopedia sprites, no siree.

MEGAߥTE:: Without them we would never have such things as "All your base..."

Trainman here (esl2005) saying that I believe I am the first one to report the first glitch in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. It's kinda hard to explain but hopefully you'll understand and it's kinda hard to do. You can only use Bowser for this glitch. You probably should turn off the music and leave the sound effects on for the best results. You know how Toad shows up on every screen? i.e. Toad is on the character select screen at the bottom-left of the screen and when you advance to the next screen he'll run and slide to the next screen with you. You get the gist right? Well, anyway you can get him stuck in the sliding position if you switch screens fast enough. When your at the character select you need to choose Bowser to do this. I say you need to choose him because you know how the characters yell when you pick them i.e. When you choose Mario he'll say, "Hoo hoo!" Bowser's yell is the shortest so you can advance to the next screen faster; The next screen being the game modes. Anyway, right before Toad starts sliding choose Bowser then immediately hit back to go to the previous screen. As the screen is advancing Toad starts sliding and if you were quick enough going back then Toad should appear sliding again. Then what he'll do is stop in the sliding position, just appear out of nowhere a little to the right where he's supposed to stop sliding, and just be stuck in that sliding position... forever, until of course you advance to the next screen then he'll continue his slide and you'll here the screeching noise he makes when he slides. It may take a few tries. The first time I discovered it (which was just a few minutes ago) it took me about 5 more times to do it again. A few minutes ago would have been 5:10 in the morning Central Time. I discovered the first glitch in MG:TT at 5:10 in the morning Central Time on Tuesday, August 5, 2003; in Central Texas in Bell County in none other than the state's small, peaceful county seat of Belton. (Boy, I need to go to sleep and get a life, eh?)

-Trainman

Deezer: Toad is a fun guy.

Chupperson Weird: Yes, you do need to go to sleep.

David Dayton: That's neat. I need to try it and document it.

the secret page was accidently readily accessible for two days last month"

What exactly do you mean by "readily accessible"?

-JG

Deezer: My guess is that it was showing up in the search engine.

David Dayton: I'd like to point out that not only do I not know where the secret page is, I've never found it myself either. The only time I've seen it was when Deezer gave me the URL before changing its location.

J.J.: I know where it is, haw haw haw!

MEGAߥTE:: Deezer is correct.

Hello... I cant tell you my real name but just call me G. and I have a few questions

1.Out of: Mario Party 5 , Mario & Luigi , Mario Golf:Toadstool Tour Mario Kart Double Dash , which should I get?

2. Are you gonna add more fan fiction

3. Other then Mario who is your favorite Character?

-G.

Deezer: 1) All of the above. 2) No, but Chupperson might. 3) Samus.

Chupperson Weird: 1. (See #1 above) 2. More fanfics coming soon! 3. In Mario games? Shy Guys. Or Peach.

David Dayton: If you are playing only by yourself, I might say Mario & Luigi. If you will ever have other people around, I'd say Mario Kart: Double Dash. Luigi would, of course, be my next favorite character.

J.J.: I refuse to call you G, you paranoid freak. 1) I have never played any of them 2) Dear God I hope not 3) The Doom Ship in level 3

MEGAߥTE:: 1. At least MKDD, but you'll have to wait till November. Actually, I don't care as long as you buy any of them here... (remember 10% off preorders until the end of August).

Helllooo!!! The great 'Badfex' here. Now fetch me some new Mario games Myamoto or I may as well go play Double Dash on an Emulator. I am overally disappointed wththe look of that game. No doubt It'll play well, even though the cars looks as rickety as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the game is as fast as Luigi's bread.

Oh yeah, Sonic DX is cruddy compared to Super Mario Sunshine! Man, Sonic, just cos he has rock music in his games and a cheesy voice over with terrible lines, does that make him more mature than Mario?

-Badfex!!!!!!!

Deezer: "As fast as Luigi's bread"?

Chupperson Weird: Yeah. What?

David Dayton: I'm confused. Which one of us is Miyamoto, again?

J.J.: Your failed attempts at humor annoy and disgust me.

Misters who own this web page, your content are really good, but i'm be dissapointed about how you answer some questions, in the last mailbag i can see some angry mode in your answers, so i have these questions.. 1.- Are you think that you're the ONLY fan with authority about mario games..? just for own a web page?
2.- Someone send a question like this "Are you good in SSBM?" and you reply: "Yes, better than you'll ever be"...how do you know that?, we must supposed that you are the best player of the world? are'nt you so vanish? in any case is this important? who cares if you are better or badest than other? the spirit of the game is "Entertainment" and is just for these..not for egos or some **** like this
3.- About your "secret page"...are you traying to give more interest to your web page..? is this about feel like a video game programmer..? in a video game is perfect understood the presence of "secrets"..but in a web page? it be supossed that a web page is created for give information...not for "hey i'm the riddle master...can you discover my secrets?"
4.- I think that you're a smart persons...but your attitude just leave much to desire...

So, if you decide not answer these questions i understand...but almost take a minute to think about.

-J.C.Zuniga

Deezer: I have a feeling he's talking about JJ's mailbag.

Chupperson Weird: Hey buddy, don't judge the whole site by a few mailbag comments.

David Dayton: Nyaah, nyaah, everyone loves me and not J.J.. Even this guy that uses the word "vanish" to mean "vain". In response to your questions... 1) No, but we are the best fans with a fancy webpage hosted on a Gamespy server. 2) Let me play SSBM against you sometime and any worry you have about me being vain will vanish faster than my lives will. 3) The secret page gives no information, so don't worry about it. 4) I am so smart, I am smart, everybody loves me...

J.J.: Geez, I hope you didn't throw out your back while you were wrestling with our language.

MEGAߥTE:: 1. No, we never said anything of the sort. We're just the foremost.
2. Actually, he was talking about my mailbag. That response was a reference to two things: A. J.J.'s last mailbag, where his caption was "better than you." and B. The e-mail made the font big in strange places (actually a lot bigger than I showed in the mailbag), so I did the same thing. Besides, it's true :-P
3. Umm you have no business critisizing how we design the website.
4. If you can't appreciate satire, maybe you just need to grow up. Though judging by the horribly broken grammar, maybe it's just cultural differences.
Note: I almost took a minute to think about this.

Hey TMK its me Logan agen and I have some thing for you I was playing super Mario world super Mario advance 2 and I was at ... vanilla secret 3 ( sorry about the spelling) and did you know you can eat the dolphins with yoshi? and I was hoping that you can tell me what was up with that!? also I remember reading some thing like that on your sight that you can to that in the Japanese version of super Mario world for the SNES well thanks bye

-Logan:)

Deezer: Yoshi can eat the Dolphins in SMA2? Well, they ported the Japanese version of course (because that's where SMA2 was first released), and I guess they forgot to change it again for the English version.

Chupperson Weird: ...Heh.

David Dayton: Time to pull out the SP again.

J.J.: Personally, I always found the dolphins annoying and am glad they can now be killed.

MEGAߥTE:: Tuna always tasted better before they made it "Dolphin-Safe"

dear tmk,
thank-you for posting my letter! i was so surprised to see it in the mailbag! that was really the first time i ever saw my e-mail on a site. thank-you!!!!! oh yeah, and thanks for making such a wonderful site! (i was shocked to see the complaints from other people. they're such wimps!)

-parakarry

Deezer: Yeah, complainers are wimps!

Chupperson Weird: Parakarry? Surprised to see letters in a mailbag?!

David Dayton: Letters, we get letters...

J.J.: Yeah, people are wimps. I keep getting hate mail. Grow up, dammit.

Hi. I have an 8-year old son who is wondering why the cheat you suggested on your site about unlocking Super Mario Bros. for Super Players isnt working. He has done everything per your instructions but still does not get Luigis head to appear at the menu screen. Hes driving me nuts with his questions. Can you pls help me out?

-Johanna

Deezer: It worked for me. I don't know what the deal is, but I've heard of this problem before. If I remember correctly, you might have to lose all your lives intentionally after getting 300,000 points and then save. Other people were having this problem, but this was a while ago and I'm not sure if this was the solution.

Chupperson Weird: Wasn't it like a factory defect or something? Send it in and they fix it, or something? Or maybe there are two different versions of the game floating around.

David Dayton: I remember hearing about this before. First, call Nintendo (1-800-255-3700) and see what they can do for you. I remember that if you earned the point total and did something else before you saved, the game would get confused and save the high score but not unlock the bonus. However, I can't remember exactly what causes the glitch, nor what the work around was to fix it (and there was one). I know that we have the Album completion glitch documented, however.

J.J.: I don't think children should be allowed on the Internet, especially not on a site like this, with all the casual swearing and adult situations.

There was a goof I noticed that concerns the cassette comic and "The Best of Super Mario Bros." collection. Both contain the story "Bedtime for Drainhead", a story about Toad being kidnapped by Koopa (they called Bowser by his last name in the comics just like the cartoons). Luigi and Princess Toadstool (not Peach yet) try to wake Mario so they can send him on a mission to rescue Toad. But Mario starts sleepwalking and thinks he is Dirk Drain-Head(his comic book hero in the comics). So Mario sets out to rescue Toad (thinking he is Snakey, Dirk Drain-Head's side kick). Luigi and Princess Toadstool go after him. The point is that on the fifth page, fifth panel, there is something strange. In both books, Luigi says: "I'm a bit embarrassed about this". But here is where the strange part comes in. In "The Best of" book, Princess Toadstool's line after Luigi's is "Mario, my father was turned into a spider. Don't try to top me on this." Notice that she said Mario, when it is Luigi that is with her! In the cassette book she says "Luigi, my father was once turned into a lizard. Don't try to top me on this." The error has been corrected and the spider part was changed to lizard, a reference to the story "Piranha-Round Sue", which is in both of these books. I have enclosed scans of both versions of that panel.



A few questions to add:

1. I see you added a new staff member, Chupperson Weird. Will he be doing a mailbag in the future?
2. Rare has left Nintendo, correct? In an early mailbag, it said that if this ever happened, Nintendo would have to go back to using the old goofy looking DK model. They are still using the model, as well as Diddy (a character Rare created) in "Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour" Did Nintendo acquire the rights to the DK model and Diddy?
3. Why was Milli Vanilli in the episode "Kootie Pie Rocks" of the Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon?
4. Will any more playable characters be added to SMB3 in SMA4?
5. Will all the new levels be in the world-e+?
6. Does Nintendo push back their release dates for any good reason or just to test our patience?
7. Is the Mario Party series ever going to end?
8. Do you know anything about Mario Golf: Advance Tour and what features it is going to have?

-Dan

Deezer: Look for an update to the comics page soon!

Chupperson Weird: 1. Hiya. 2. Nintendo bought all sorts of stuff from Rare when they split. 6. Localization delays?

David Dayton: 2) Nintendo owns Donkey Kong and (I assume) all the DKC characters. While Nintendo could have retained all of the Rare created games and characters (note how almost all the Nintendo/Rare releases have a Nintendo copyright on 'em?), Nintendo let Rare have the new Rare developed characters as part of the sales deal.
3) I don't want to know.
4) I actually know the answer to this, but I'm not allowed to say. Heh heh heh heh heh.
5) I don't know, but I am guessing they might be.
6) Generally for a good reason.
7) Eventually it will.
8) Er, it links to the GC version and allows you to raise your own player.

J.J.: Finally, someone writes in with an interesting observation. What are the voices like on the tape?

I just have a question about WTMK
Does WTMK count towards the "download count" of your internet account? (in other words, is your comp downloading the songs, then playing them?)

-Mario922

Deezer: Yes.

David Dayton: It's actually downloading a fragment of the song at a time and playing it while it downloads the next few fragments.

MEGAߥTE:: I guess you're talking about bandwidth usage, so yes, if you have a bandwidth-capped account, you had better watch out how long you listen to Internet radio because it's downloading data that whole time. I mean really, do you think it just magically appears or something? ;-)

There have been a lot of questions as to why Peach's voice changed from Leslie Swan to the annoyingly ditzy sounding Jen Taylor. As I'm sure you know, Peach never spoke in the Japanese version of SM64 and this feature was added just for the US release. Leslie Swan has always done work for Nintendo such as localization management but when doing SM64, NOA was too lazy to bother getting another VA so they just used her as the voice of Peach. I'm not too sure but I think that in games such as Mario Kart, Jen Taylor was the voice of Peach in the Japanese version but they redid the voice in the US. Of course that probably ended up being a waste of time and money so when they got to Mario Golf 64, they just kept Jen Taylor as Peach. It's interesting though, if you watch the bonus movie in SSBM, you can hear Leslie Swan as the voice of Peach. In the segment actually devoted to the Princess, the voice is Jen but in other characters segments, it's Leslie. Hope that clears things up and sorry for the insanely long email.

-P. Mc.

Deezer: Don't worry, it wasn't that long.

Chupperson Weird: I like Jen Taylor. Better than Leslie Swan, that is.

David Dayton: If I am correct, the last few Mario Party games credited Leslie Swan as the voice of Daisy. I'm not sure, but she might be the voice of Daisy in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour as well; I shall have to check on that. On a related note, I really don't like the normal sound of Peach these days... it sounds too high pitched and affected.

J.J.: Leslie Swan was also the longtime editor of Nintendo Power magazine.

MEGAߥTE:: And the new Daisy is ugly. I much preferred Samantha Mathis. ;-)

Attached is a better copy of that pic someone sent in during a recent mailbag. The one from Birthday Nick Mag, with Miyamoto. Enjoy!



-S4MM0

Here's a better shot of that picture of SM! (From July 31 Mailbag) Please give Mario Gamer cerdit!



-Mario Gamer

Deezer: Thanks guys.

David Dayton: You know, Miyamoto wasn't the creator of Animal Crossing. It's interesting to note that they must have liked AC enough to list it, though.

Hello there. I'm GoldenYoshi11.
I'd like to start off by saying that your site rocks! *That has now been said 5,531,012 times*
-------------------
Reference 1 - Mario Kart 64
In Dexter's Laboratory, there's one episode (The one where Dexter goes to college) with a reference to Mario Kart 64.
*There are 3 kids playing what appears to be an N64*
Kid 1: I'm gonna beat you, Toad!
Kid 2: Eat my Red Shell!
Kid 3: No, I'm gonna stomp all of you with Lightning!
Dexter: Shut up you nerds.
*END SCENE*
--------------------
Reference 2 - Humming the SMB main theme
In the game Gruntz, sometimes when one of the Gruntz digs a hole, he'll start humming the SMB theme song.

-goldenyoshi11

Deezer: Neato.

Chupperson Weird: I've seen the Dexter's Lab reference sent in... what, three times now?

David Dayton: I saw a few Dexter's Lab cartoons last month. I had never seen them before. I have no plans to see them again.

J.J.: I like the art style and little else.

MEGAߥTE:: Yeah, I posted this reference in the last mailbag. Did you read it?

Hello

I loved playing the first Mario Tennis, I was always Toad, with the Recent character list for Mario Kart Double Dash-not including Toad.... I am upset that maybe Toad will not be in the new Mario Tennis either. Do you know why Nintendo is dropping Toad recently? I hope he is in the next tennis. Well any info you have will be appreciated

-forceofearth

Deezer: Looks like Toad's role has been reduced to a guide/tutor type thing.

Chupperson Weird: It's too bad, too. Toad is cool.

David Dayton: I am annoyed, although I'm still unreasonably clinging to the hope that Toad will appear as a playable character in Mario Kart: Double Dash.

J.J.: Toad is really short and has no legs. His body type makes it impossible for him to do things like play golf and tennis. At least that's my theory. My other theory is that no one except you likes Toad.

MEGAߥTE:: I think the whole under-the-dress thing ruined him or something. Toad was a playable character in Mario's Tennis for the Virtual Boy so that does discount J.J.'s first theory. You should see how pissed off my roommate gets when he sees Toad give him the O.B. flag in the first Mario Golf.

Hello there. I have a few questions for you fellows.

1) Do you happen to know the Japanese names for Toads (in general) in the following games?
-Super Mario Bros. 3 (Toad's Houses)
-Super Mario 64
-Paper Mario
-Luigi's Mansion
-Super Mario Sunshine

2) I asked this once before, so in case you got any new info do you know the Japanese name for Foreman Spike in Wrecking Crew?

Thanks for your time!

-Luigi of the Pipes

Deezer: 1) Kinopio. 2) Blacky.

David Dayton: Did you know that Spike appeared in the Game Boy Color Golf game that worked with the cell phone adapter?

J.J.: Well we do now.

In the last mailbag, MEGAߥTE said that the Playstation Portable basically has the same specs as the PS2, if not better. Not true. Actually, the PSP's specs are barely better than the original Playstations. Just thought I'd let you know.

-Evanc88

MEGAߥTE:: Actually, I didn't mean it to be interpreted like that, I was referring to individual specs (like the surround sound). Anyway, the PSP's specs are much closer to that PS2's than the PS1's. Since Deezer has pointed out to me that this has nothing to do with Mario, I will not dwell on the subject.

A few comments on your last mailbag...
MEGAߥTE: No. However, the secret page was accidently readily accessible for two days last month. Did anybody find it?
Don't taunt me like that. Just. Don't.
In more recent news, the Great Satan of Video Games, IDSA, has changed its name to the ESA...
Excuse my naivete, but what is the ESA, and why is it so eeeeeeeevil?
-Yoshi348

MEGAߥTE:: Well for one, our PC games page and homebrewn ROMs page was removed because of them. If you've heard about the RIAA and MPAA in the news lately, the ESA is the games industry equivalent of those evils.

In the last mailbag, mention was made of NOA's censorship of religion in American releases. I've read from other sources that not only do they not allow religious references, they also refuse to release games that feature gambling. (The Mega Man series has fallen victim to this twice - the first time being the instance of having to rename a character originally called The Yellow Devil to The Rock Monster, and the second time being the denied American release of Rockboard, a board-game like Famicom cart which featured gambling). Neither of these forms of censorship - religious or gambling - make a whole lot of sense. First off, there was a game released for NES called "Bible Adventures." Secondly, there have been TONS of games released for the NES which centered entirely around gambling (Vegas Dreams, Ceasar's Palace, Casino Kid I & II). How NOA can grant license to games which center around these themes but then censor games which make minor reference to (or at least have as a feature) those very same themes seems hypocritcal, or at least odd.

-JeffBond87

MEGAߥTE:: Actually, Bible Adventures was NOT licensed by Nintendo, and neither were any of the other Wisdom Tree/Color Dreams games. There's a good article on the censoring of Maniac Mansion here.