Mario is Missing!

Mario is Missing! is an educational video game released for the PC in 1992 and then for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. The game was developed by The Software Toolworks (Radical Entertainment for the SNES and PC versions) and published by Mindscape. It is the second game to feature Luigi as the sole playable character, following after the Super Mario Bros. Watch game Luigi's Hammer Toss.
==Plot==
Taken directly from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System version's manual:
Oh no! Bowser and his bad boys are back to a life of crime. This time, it's not Mario World -- it's your world! From his Antarctic castle, Bowser hustles his cold-blooded crew of cantankerous Koopas into his powerful Passcode Operated Remote Transport And Larceny System (PORTALS). The twisted turtles transport themselves throughout the globe, where celebrated cities suffer shocking crime waves, as turtles trash landmarks and loot ancient artifacts. With dough from his slimy sales, Bowser hoards hair dryers from the Hafta-Havit Hotline. His plot? Melt Antarctica and flood the planet! Whoa!
=== Ending ===
In the MS-DOS version, Luigi takes Bowser's shell (which covers his tail in this depiction) off, causing Bowser to run off-screen, embarrassed about his polka-dot boxers. This is the only time Bowser has been seen without his shell. Luigi shakes the shell to retrieve the key to Mario's cell, then throws the carapace away. Bowser returns wondering where his shell is, with Luigi then lying to him saying he threw the shell off the balcony; then, when Bowser leans over the railing to look for it, Luigi kicks him off and he lands in the snow. Luigi then opens Mario's cell and the two dance around in joy. They then go outside and shake Yoshi's hand before walking off into the distance together. Bowser then pokes his head out of the snow, looking in their direction with his shell back on.
In the Macintosh version, Bowser does not run off after his boxers are revealed, and Luigi smacks him off the balcony with his own shell.
In the SNES version of the ending, Luigi pulls a lever to reveal Mario behind a wall. Bowser then jumps down from a distant ledge, but Luigi pulls the same lever again, causing Bowser to fall into a cannon. He is then launched out of the castle and into the snow, where he freezes instantly and then shatters. In the NES version, Luigi and Bowser have a boss battle and "Bowser" turns out to be a normal Koopa in disguise, who turns the key to Mario's cell, freeing him.
== Gameplay ==
In each level, Luigi must retrieve several artifacts which were stolen by several Koopas within the city and return them to their rightful places. Luigi must jump on the Koopas to defeat them and reclaim the artifacts, which he then takes back to the landmarks they were stolen from. He must answer trivia questions about the landmarks before the Curators will take the wares back.
===MS-DOS===
This version particularly has a videophone aspect to gameplay, and Luigi must call the help number provided at the landmarks to get in touch with his friends, answer the questions, return the artifact, and receive a monetary reward. The mayor of the city also phones Luigi when he arrives, asking for his help in stopping the Koopas; he later phones when Luigi secures the city, thanking him and wishing him luck in finding Mario. Mario himself even manages to phone Luigi, giving him advice on his journey as well as updates on his capture and the Koopas' struggle to maintain their plot as planned. This version also has a Taxi feature, in which Luigi collects little Taxi tokens around the city and then exchanges them for rides across town to any point on the map.
As well as returning the artifacts, Luigi must also deduce what city he is in so that he can use the Globulator and call Yoshi to his aid for double the walking and running speed. Without Yoshi, Luigi cannot finish the level, as the exit pipe is occupied by a Pokey, which Yoshi can gobble up.
Once Luigi has secured all the cities whose doors are located on a floor of the castle, Luigi must use a fire flower collected in the cities to defeat the Koopaling on that floor using its only weakness, fire.
===Super Nintendo Entertainment System===
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System version has some differences from the main PC release:
*All of curators are women resembling Princess Daisy, complete with a crown.
*More Warp Pipes are used to facilitate speedy travel.
*The Pokey is merely scared away by Yoshi's presence.
*The console releases remove the fire flower in favor of a small boss battle. However, the bosses cannot hurt Luigi, and must be stomped on a certain number of times to be defeated.
*The Koopas are not defeated when they are knocked about and forced to leave in an undignified manner, but rather a sound stomp with destroy them upon impact, including the shell. When defeated, a Koopa literally falls to pieces.
===Nintendo Entertainment System===
The Koopalings are fought similarly as in the Super Nintendo version. Koopas are also fought similarly, but they do not fall to pieces when defeated.
===CD-ROM Deluxe===
This is an enhanced edition of MS-DOS version for the PC. It includes complete voice acting to accompany the dialogue, although not all of the in-game text matched the audio exactly. The voice actors are known (Kathy Fitzgerald, Rob Wallace, Bob Sorenson, Nicholas Glaeser, David Gill), but the game does not specify which of them supplied which voices. There are also some graphical changes, such as loading screens when the screen is black, and icons of Princess Toadstool, Toad and Donkey Kong replace a recurring phone call NPC (although the old dialogue was not changed on-screen).
The viewings of every historic spot in particular were originally recreated and shown in garish coloring, but this version replaces most of these pictures with realistic photographs and even live-action video clips to represent the landmarks.
==Gallery==
==External links==
*Mario is Missing! on Wikipedia.
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Category:MS-DOS games
Category:Nintendo Entertainment System games
Category:Super Nintendo Entertainment System games
Category:1990s games