Old Games: Encyclopedia Bombastica: Mario is Missing!

undeniably best mario game not featuring mario

Well... video for every game on the site is needed

Remember to look both ways before crossing the street.

Quick Look Everything

This is maddening.

I remember playing this on the PC. Weird game (looks different too compared to the SNES version it seems), but playing a Mario game on the PC was sure interesting for little kid me!

@ilikepopcans: Quick Look EVERYTHING

This is a great Encyclopedia Bombastica for a completely different reason!

And now we all know more facts about San Francisco.

Man, I was not expecting Mario is Missing's plot to be so complicated while Dan was reading the synopsis on the back of the box. Great Encyclopedia Bombastic though!

Will Mario's Time Machine be next?

The Weegee meme really gave this game a second life.

Oh hey, Dan's got the same headset that I use. It's a logitech g230 if anyone cares.

Cool! that mic sound like hot garbage though Dan.

Dare I say, a classic.

wait, no.

Mario teaches typing next please. It's how 3rd grade me learned to type.

Is it just me or does this not seem nearly as complicated as Dan made it. Like, you get the artifacts and take them back to the people who were asking for them. It's like every quest ever made. No you can't give the top of the tower to someone asking for the foghorn.

I had this on the NES, I'm beginning to realise I played a lot of the downgraded versions of games. I only ever played the SMS Sonic games.

Somehow, I don't think I've ever heard of this game until this very moment. Or maybe I had and just forgot. Either way, this just seems like such a super fucking weird thing to exist.

I like how Mario makes an appearance in the Wii U version of Tekken Tag Tournament 2

I was obsessed with this game as a kid.

Sure, this game is hot garbage, but it's a hell of a lot more playable than Mario's Time Machine. I just could not figure out what the hell to do in that one, and I beat a lot of the Carmen Sandiego games.

I liked this game, I don't care what anyone says.

Having played this way back when I don't remember this game as being **that** obtuse and hard to understand. But there've been two recent LPs I've seen talking about how obscure and hard to control these games (this one and Mario's Time Machine) seemed. I was a pretty dedicated instruction book reader as a kid, so maybe that helped? It makes me want to try these games again to see if 23 years of experience with games helps or hinders.

They couldn't even be bothered to come up with a different sprite for Luigi? Seems kinda lazy to me, Nintendo.

I played the crap out of this game as a child

OH SHIT. Finally this game gets the coverage it deserves.

EDIT: I know this game is obtuse as fuck but I just remember as kid thinking it was weird and fun to get lost in the maze of real-life cities, checking the map to get directions, talking to people, learning little facts and taking quizzes. It was just kinda relaxing and cool. Anyway, thanks for covering this one @danryckert. You should rope @jeff in and play through the whole thing. It'd only take a couple episodes probably.

Awesome, thanks dan!

Sounds like much of the crew need to invest in better mics if this home streaming trend is going to continue (doesnt bother me much, but would be nice in general).

This game enforces proper sidewalk and crosswalk usage. That alone might qualify it as educational software.

I played this at a young age. Traded a friend for it (on a temporary basis). I did manage to figure out, but I also figured out that it was repetitive and boring.

I liked educational games as a kid but getting this as a Mario game I see how you could be bummed very easily. Doesn't look good either.

This might be the most accurate representation of playing Mario Is Missing. This game was a nightmare for my little kid brain.

So I think Dan got thrown off by collecting an Artifact from the first Koopa he encountered.

He attempted to turn it in at the first two booths but didn't try at the third when he visited, he collects a second artifact and returns to the Trans-America but now it wants to turn in his new item so he cant complete that.

The Blue Pipe was a real fuck you, certainly. I can see where this game is coming from, but I sure I don't think it looks fun.

I wonder if there's any story behind these games, in a similar manner to the Philips CD-i games coming from breaking contract etc

Mario's Time Machine kicks the shit out of this game. I mean, neither of them are masterpieces, but this game is some hot garbage.

Now if there was only some way @danryckert could ever find a manual for Mario is Missing.

Oh wait... Let Me Google That For You.

EBs are great when the presenters at least show a working knowledge of the game instead of a QL style "Lets just dive in".

@simkas I care

It reminds me of that Pac Man game that Drew did the V/O for

Dan had a hard time realizing that he was at the right place, but was giving the wrong item. Can't tell if he meant to do that.

Thank you for doing this Dan. Please do Super Mario All-Stars or Paper Mario next.

Let's be honest, there's enough evidence to show Dan was a dumb kid. It's no wonder he wasn't able to beat a level back then when he barely just figured things out in this game now.

I had Mario's time machine. I dont remember why or how I got it.

Thanks Dan!

I rented this game when I was a kid and I was so mad at how bad it was. It was that awful feeling of "oh no, this is what this game is, isn't it?"

The game is not nearly as complicated as Dan seems to think it is. You're going to each city to recover the missing artifacts. When you find an artifact you have to return it to the right place. The problem is Dan didn't notice he could push left or right on the pause screen to select each one. Peach is there to tell you what monument you're at and which artifact is missing from it. The people walking around are there to tell you what city you're in so you can get Yoshi there, and to tell you where the artifacts go. You need Yoshi to get through the blue pipe because Pokey is in the damn pipe and you can't beat Pokey without Yoshi (or a turnip, but those aren't in this game).

I had the DOS version of this. seems like that was the vastly superior version. not least of all for it's extensive use of terrible/amazing voice acting

I, have no knowledge of this game...

Why have there been so many of these lately? It's awesome.

I had the PC version of this as my first intro to a Mario game which made for a very weird viewpoint of Mario for me growing up. (I was a Sega kid.) This is weirdly different version. Gets the point across but doesn't have the incredibly obtuse interface.

And wow Dan should've been more informed for this video.

He doesn't even do the photo ops that unlock once the artifacts are returned!