Mario is Missing!

"A short yet slow-paced game that might satisfy those with a subtle sense of humour."

First off, despite the low scores that ''Mario is Missing!'' has received here, this is not an ''anticonformist'' review. I did enjoy this game to some extent, although I probably did not base my judgement on common criterions.

Is this game for small children, as many people have claimed? Maybe so, yet there are various ''non-childish'' elements that were inserted in the game and not explained in Peach's pamphlets. For example, the great 1930's Depression is mentioned on several occasions. Obviously, most small kids (and many of GameFAQs' most honorable contributors!) have no idea what the Depression is.

The moustached, red-suited plumber named Mario has quite absurdly fallen into a trap as he was about to crusade against Bowser's castle, in Antarctica. Not to worry, though, as his brother Luigi, who just happens to be an immortal, psychopathic, mad-jumping, turtle-disintegrating freak, witnessed the whole scene and is more than willing to save Mario.

Get ready to embark on an extremely bizarre journey throughout some of the world's most notorious cities. Luigi will need to retrieve stolen artifacts that are in fact shaped like malformed golden nuggets. To do so, harmless Koopa turtles must be mercilessly murdered in order to acquire any worthy items that would fall from their exploding corpses.

Next comes the educational part. The stolen items must be returned to Princess Toadstool, who guards touristic sites around the world as a hobby (she's bad at it, too, as brainless turtles are capable of stealing from her!) Since she's as freaky as Luigi, but in a non-violent, nerdy way, he has to answer a few historical questions before getting the reward.

The real enjoyment of this game, in my case, came from talking to the townspeople. Yes, the point of the inhabitants is to make you guess - or downright tell you - your current worldwide location; however, if you pay attention, they do once in a while have hilarious - sometimes almost shocking - things to say. The people Luigi gets to speak with are perfectly carrying the stereotypes of the place they live at. These stereotypical comments are often unnoticed by players who are just rushing through the game.

The background music changes accordingly to the regions that you visit. They are remixes of Supermario's most known tunes. There isn't much to say about them, other than that they sounded good to me.

The graphics, while not being jaw-dropping, are nice. The developers actually took the time to add some local realism to them. For example, did anyone notice the writings on the buildings? You could use an online translator and learn a few foreign words while playing - who knows, it might be useful if you ever go there someday!

''Mario is Missing!'' can indeed be interesting if you behave as a tourist : visit the towns slowly and watch what goes on. Heck, it even teaches you to speak to human beings in front of them, instead of talking in their back! Don't you hate it when people shout behind you?

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/17/02, Updated 06/17/02