Super Mario · Nintendo Power · From 1992 · 12 issues
Serialised across all twelve 1992 issues of Nintendo Power, Super Mario Adventures told a complete Mario story — Bowser kidnapping Princess Toadstool with the intent of marrying her — in a charming manga-influenced style that has kept it in print for decades.
Super Mario Adventures ran in Nintendo Power throughout 1992, appearing in twelve monthly installments from the January issue to the December issue. Written by Kentaro Takekuma and illustrated by Charlie Nozawa — an artist who also worked under the pen name Tamakichi Sakura — it was an original comic loosely based on Super Mario World, giving the Mushroom Kingdom a continuous narrative rather than the disconnected gags of other licensed strips. The story follows Mario and Luigi as they set out to rescue Princess Toadstool after she is kidnapped by Bowser, who intends to marry her. Across its twelve parts the comic builds a genuine adventure with recurring characters, escalating stakes, and a satisfying arc, treating the Mario cast with real affection while keeping the slapstick energy the games were known for. Its manga-influenced art style, expressive and dynamic, distinguished it sharply from the Western-cartoon aesthetic of most Nintendo licensed material of the period. For Nintendo Power subscribers, the serial was a monthly highlight. It ran alongside another prestige comic, Shotaro Ishinomori's adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and together the two strips represented the magazine at its most ambitious — commissioning original, high-quality comics from accomplished Japanese creators rather than filling pages with promotional filler. The comic's popularity was such that the collected installments were offered as a graphic novel through the July 1993 issue, which celebrated the magazine's fiftieth issue and fifth anniversary. In 1993 the story was also serialised in Japan in CoroCoro Comic under the title Mario's Big Adventure. Super Mario Adventures has enjoyed a long afterlife well beyond its original run. Viz Media returned it to print in a modern collected edition, introducing it to readers who never saw the Nintendo Power serialisation, and it remains one of the most fondly remembered pieces of Mario media outside the games themselves. It stands as a high-water mark for video game comics — an original, well-crafted story that captured the spirit of its source material without condescending to its audience.
Delivering an original, complete, manga-influenced Mario adventure through Nintendo Power, and remaining in print decades later as one of the finest video game comics ever made.
Unlike the disposable gag strips that filled much licensed material of the era, Super Mario Adventures committed to a genuine serialised narrative: Bowser kidnaps Princess Toadstool intending to marry her, and Mario and Luigi must mount a rescue that unfolds across twelve monthly chapters. Loosely rooted in Super Mario World, the comic built escalating stakes and recurring characters while preserving the games' slapstick charm, and Charlie Nozawa's expressive, manga-influenced art gave it a look quite distinct from the Western-cartoon style typical of Nintendo's licensed output. The result was a story that treated the Mario cast — and its young readers — with real respect.
The serial ran alongside Shotaro Ishinomori's Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past comic, and together the two represented Nintendo Power at its most ambitious — commissioning original work from accomplished Japanese creators rather than padding the magazine with promotional filler. Reader affection was strong enough that the collected chapters were offered as a graphic novel through the July 1993 fiftieth-issue anniversary edition, and the story was later serialised in Japan's CoroCoro Comic. Viz Media's modern reprint has kept it available to new generations, cementing Super Mario Adventures as one of the best-loved pieces of Mario media outside the games themselves.