No one read the video game manuals. Let’s face it. It was something nice to browse through, but if the story wasn’t told within the game, it didn’t exist for most people. And yet, the manuals were where the real deal was. For example, in the Sonic manual, it was stated that he wore “powerful sneakers that give him super speed” (implying that it’s not his own doing to run so fast) and in ‘Sonic Heroes’ it was revealed that Doctor Robotnik is actually a feminist. But nothing compares to what the manual of perhaps the most iconic game in history, ‘Super Mario Bros’, reveals to us.
Block by block
In the game manual of NES, as it arrived in Spain translated from the United States, it indicated something that changes the way we see the game: according to the story, Bowser, the Koopas, a tribe of turtles famous for their black magic, turned the inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom into stones and blocks. That means exactly what you’re thinking: every time you go around jumping and destroying blocks, you’re ending the lives of the Kingdom’s inhabitants.
Or not? Watch out, because this story has an unexpected twist that you may have never heard of. And it’s on page 8 of the same manual, where it states that “if you come across mushrooms that have been turned into blocks or made invisible, they will give you a power”. So, you’re not actually killing them, but freeing them. Calm down.
The translation is very similar to the original Japanese, it’s not that the Americans made up the story. However, when bringing it to the United States, they made it very clear that you, as Mario, are killing the Goombas and the enemies in front of you. No knocking them out or jumping on top of them: you are a cold-blooded killer. That’s apparently how it is.
We all know that manuals have long ceased to exist inside video game boxes, but we still hope that they will become fashionable again in the future. Who knows, maybe we will even find out what the hell was going through the minds of those who invented this crazy story that was later adapted into animation because… Well, let’s be honest, Super Mario Bros is not exactly a narrative masterpiece, right?
