It’s been a while since we heard from our resident NES expert Andy (aka UKNESBoy) but the wait was worth it! And after you’re done here, why not listen to our NES chat with Andy. But for now, here is his Mario is Missing! review for your reading pleasure.
Games like the beautiful yeast extract Marmite (or Vegemite if you’re from the “Land Down Under”) which people will love but others will feel is an oddity to the series and wasn’t worthy of gracing this world. There are countless titles that do this and on the NES one game that has divided opinion for years was Mario is Missing! (no, the ! wasn’t added for heightened reading pleasure and enjoyment).
Saying that, the idea of the world’s famous plumber going missing and not rescuing the princess does seem a pretty sour pill to swallow – Dr Mario, come quick! So today we look back and ask, is it really as bad as people say it is? Or does it go down like a smooth scotch or a Dr Pepper on a cold winter’s morning?
Mario is Missing! was released to the masses in 1993, and the big M partnered with The Software Toolworks to create an “educational game”, though in Europe it was published by Mindscape. This brings fear to gamers who don’t want to learn whilst gaming – they want to forget about the world and all the bad things that happen in it.
The premise? Bowser instructs his Koopas to go around the world stealing world artifacts for his mail order company – everyone needs a side hustle these days, right? Ahem, anyway, whilst Mario goes to the castle to protect said items, he takes inspiration from Princess Peach and gets kidnapped – hence Mario is Missing! So it’s up to everyone’s favourite Player 2, Luigi, to rescue not only Mario but the artifacts as well. Quite how Koopas can pick up Eiffel Towers and Pyramids to put in their bags is anyone’s guess…
Upon booting the game, the first thing you’ll notice is that graphically it looks like Super Mario World on the SNES. On no account is that a criticism – Super Mario World was a great game so it was good the developers based the graphics on a proven hit rather than what the CD-I did to Zelda games.
Anyway, upon entering the castle, you can go through doors even though they have locks on them (I wont ask – Ed). You’re presented with pipes to go down but there’s no explanation in any way as to where they go. Go down the pipe and you have beaten the game, right? If only! Going down the pipe you’re not playing the game, but playing with power… Okay, just the game.
As Luigi, you search the town hunting Koopas, stamping on their heads in order to get bags which are clues as to where Luigi has ended up in the world. Rather generously, you get three clues but at that point you realise that you cannot go to the information desk in this location without Yoshi. Why does Yoshi need to be there? Is he a guardian that the grown ups can talk to? With Yoshi in tow, you can speak to the lady at the counter who gives you clues about the item that you are supposed to be returning. Having spoken to her, you then have to then select the item in your inventory before talking to her again. Highly convoluted and unnecessary for something as simple as returning an artifact.
The fun really begins as the clerk asks you an educational question, for example “What does the word ‘sistine’ mean in Latin?”. If you get the question wrong, you can’t return the item – you have to answer another different question. This means you’re either blitzing your way through, or spending the afternoon on Google figuring out the answer. When you do finally answer the question you get your reward – tax free cash! It needs to be said, when has a gamerewarded you not only with cash, but being tax free? It’s not as if as a player you file taxreturns when achieving high scores or obtaining monetary reward…
So rinse and repeat this many times in different cities in different countries and different continents to the point where your head hurts and you need to play something else to cranially cool down.
Controls-wise, it’s slightly different to your standard Mario game. B button makes Luigi jump, A button when pressed whilst Luigi is moving makes him walk slightly faster. The Select button cycles through the on-screen menu whilst the Start button selects the item.
Items in the game include a map of the city, a world map where Yoshi can transport across oceans with ease, and the items which you have collected along the way. Audio-wise, it sounds remarkably like Super Mario World; good sound effects and decent 8-bit music. As a title that wasn’t fully developed by Nintendo but licensed out, it would have been very easy to neglect the importance of the Mario brand and instead have basic music and sound effects. If ever you choose to play this game blind-folded, you would not be mistaken in thinking it was a Mario game you were playing, based on music and effects alone.
Circling back to the start of this review, Mario is Missing will always divide gamers, from those denouncing the educational element and shouldn’t have incorporated Mario – but why not? In the early 90s, the fashion was educational games which Nintendo tried to jump on. In theory, what better way of getting kids to learn than with characters from video games they recognize than from text books they read in school?
Yes, the game is frustrating and unnecessary drawn-out with the repetition of answering questions about the city you are in with multiple choice answers but in the grand scheme of life, the game isn’t as bad as people make out.
My best advice is to take the game as it is and not treat it as a Mario game in the truest sense. Instead, take it as a game that aims to help children learn, whilst using characters they grew up with and enjoy. Copies of the game, aren’t cheap but it’s a title worth dropping a few notes on. And what’s also good is there is a password system which you can enter on the main screen.
So if you’re looking for a treat for your collection, do think about Mario is Missing, I mean the chance to play a game where Luigi is the star AND you get to learn something? Put away your encyclopedias and your search engines – you won’t need those where you’re going!
Graphics – 90%
Sound – 90%
Gameplay – 60%
Difficulty – 85%
Longevity – 50%
Overall – 75%
Andy (aka UKNESBoy)