Nintendo Adventure Books - Choose Your Own Path! (Now Playing: Leaping Lizards)

Time Turner

You are filled with determination. (R/GD/TT)
The Nintendo Adventure Books are a series of choose-your-own-adventure books released from 1991 to 1992. There are twelve books in the series, ten of which are Mario-themed, and they attempt to capture the feel of the games by allowing the reader (or "Game Player" as the books put it) to make choices every once in a while. In theory, this would be difficult to pull off, but not impossible. In practice... Well, why don't you see for yourself? I will be posting the entirety of the books that I own, chapter by chapter, while modifying none of the text. Just about everything that you'll read has been pulled from the book verbatim; I will leave let you all riff on it. Along the way, I'll stop the text whenever the book presents either a choice or a puzzle, and it's up to you, intrepid readers, to choose wisely. The text will be typed out, while the puzzles will be scanned and posted as images. I will follow the most popular choice no matter if it's right or wrong, and when I mean wrong, I mean Mario has a good chance of dying throughout this adventure. Choose wisely, think critically, and just maybe, you'll survive.

For our first adventure, I will be covering the second book in the series, Leaping Lizards. Oh, I'm sure it'll be fun!
[quote author=Blurb on the back cover]When His Royal Highness is turned into a rabbit by the devious Morton Koopa, only one plumber can save him. Luigi leaps into action to save the King from a life of hopeless hopping - and almost becomes a Koopa casualty himself!

As in all Nintendo® Adventure Books, you control the action. Only you can make the choices that allow Luigi to beat Morton and the rest of the Koopa Kids. Help him crack codes, solve puzzles, conquer mazes, and subdue enemies. You and Luigi must outwit the Koopas at their own game - or go down in final defeat![/quote]

"Look out below!" Luigi yells. He dives head first into the Central Pipe that sticks up from the floor of the Mario Bros. plumbing workshop. Tumbling through steamy darkness, he passes dripping faucets, hissing valves and the glowing red eyes of wayward alligators. In minutes, he plunges from the Brooklyn plumbing shop to the Mushroom Kingdom, deep below the surface of the Earth.

Thump! Luigi drops out of the lower end of the great metal pipe and lands in a mound of spongy pink mushrooms.

"Two minutes fifty-eight seconds," he says, inspecting the dial on his plumber's stopwatch. "Not a bad time at all."

"Unlike most of his journeys to the Mushroom Kingdom, this time there's no hurry. Usually Luigi and and[sic] his older brother, Mario, race down to the mysterious world to rescue Princess Toadstool, or to save the palace, or to perform some other heroic task. But today's visit is strictly for fun.

"Spread the blankets and start roasting those weenies," the tall, skinny plumber sings. "It's almost time for lunch."

Luigi slicks back his black mustache, straightens the straps of his bright green overalls, and hops onto the brick sidewalk that zig-zags through the Mushroom Kingdom. He bounces along the road, past small stone pyramids and wooden staircases that lead nowhere. Above his head, brick ledges and metal cubes hang in the air, suspended by some mysterious force.

"Ah," Luigi chirps. "It's a beautiful day for a picnic." He removes his green cap and lets the sun warm the top of his head.

Just then, two Goomba fungus monsters dart out from a clump of shrubs and charge towards Luigi's feet.

"Pests!" says Luigi. He jumps lightly, landing on the small brown creatures' flat heads. They scurry back to the bushes.

The plumber pauses by a heap of old, rusty pipes. "I stashed some equipment in these pipes last time I was here," he says. "You never know when you might need supplies. Now where did I leave those wings the princess gave me? Was it down that pipe to the left? Or was it just ahead, on the right?"

Solve this puzzle to find out which piece of emergency equipment Luigi finds in the Mushroom Kingdom:​
  • Follow the trail through the pipes. Along the way, you'll pass several junctions. Choose any branch you want and record the number of wrenches on that branch. Follow the pipes until you reach the exit. Then add up the total number of wrenches you collected on your trip and read the instructions at the bottom of the page. They'll tell you which item Luigi picks up.

If you pass a total of seven wrenches, Luigi has the anchor.

If you pass a total of five or six wrenches, Luigi has the frog suit.

If you pass a total of four wrenches, Luigi has the wings.

Turn to page 5.
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[Again, it's by popularity, so whichever item is mentioned the most will be chosen.]
 
Two for frog suit and one for wings. Looks like Luigi's feeling green(er)!

Luigi spots his friends at the top of a hill. "Hi guys!" he calls, and bounces off the sidewalk. "Did I miss any of the eats?"

As he marches up the hill, he notices several shiny coins scattered in the blue-green moss. "Hey, he says, this must be my lucky day." He pockets the coins and continues up the hill.

Mario, Luigi's older and slightly more famous brother, is sitting on a plaid picnic blanket with Her Royal Highness, Princess Toadstool. Most of the food is gone. Luigi gazes longingly at the remains of an extra-large pizza with everything. All that's left is some crusts and a pile of anchovies that the princess picked off her slices.

"Little brother," Mario says, "if you didn't sleep till noon every day, you wouldn't have this problem." He smacks his lips and swallows the final bite of his toasted cheese sandwich.

"Good afternoon, Luigi," says the princess. She sips delicately from a cone-shaped teacup. "Mario was just telling me about the time he saved the entire city of Topeka, Kansas from a flood."

Luigi is about to explain that it was he, not his older brother, who unclogged the giant overflowing bathtub at the last moment, siphoning away the terrible wall of water. Suddenly, a loud, high-pitched squeal fills the air. A two-foot-tall mushroom wearing a red polka dot turban runs up the hill.

"It's Toad," Mario says, jumping up from the blanket. "And I don't think he's here for the picnic!"


*** Luigi collects 5 coins. ***
Turn to page 64.
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"It's terrible! It's horrible! It's . . . it's not good!" yelps Toad, the royal mushroom retainer, as he dashes up. "Morton Koopa's in the palace, and he's making a terrible mess."

"Ugh, Mario grunts. "Another Koopa attack. It seems like every time we stop one of those crummy turtles, another shows up."

"Thanks for coming to warn us, Toad," says the princess. She addresses the plumbers in her best mushroom royalty voice. "Let's hurry back to the palace. The king needs our help."

"I'll run ahead," Mario offers. "The king will want my protection right away."

"No!" Luigi shouts. "I can get there faster." When the princess looks the other way, he sticks his tongue out at his brother.

Mario grabs one of the cold, uneaten anchovies and plops it onto Luigi's tongue. Luigi spits it out indignantly.

"Let's all go together," Toad suggests.

"Hmmm," says Princess Toadstool thoughtfully. "I just don't know what to do!"

Here's a clue to help you decide:​

  • Shade in all the spaces with an odd number of sides, and a secret message will be revealed.
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If you think the four heroes should head to the palace together, turn to page 45.
If you think Luigi should run ahead and get there first, turn to page 27.
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Inventory: Frog Suit, 5 Coins

[Alternatively, if you're not up for the puzzle and the full Nintendo® Adventure Books FEATURING THE SUPER MARIO BROS.® experience, you can simply vote for which option you'd like to take]
 
This is great. I'm imagining the brothers with Vinny's impression of them as their voices.

The secret message says
SEND LUIGI
 
Magikrazy correctly solved the puzzle, and with two votes, Luigi's being sent off first.

"I'll meet you there!" calls Luigi. He dashes off to the palace. "Mario might be more famous, and maybe even a bit smarter," he pants. "But nobody's faster than me!"

He races along, hopping over snapping turtles and Goombas that get in his way. There's no time to bonk them properly.

Soon he reaches the white marble walls of the palace. He bounces past the royal doormen, asleep at their posts, and charges down the hall into the throne room.

"Uh-oh," Luigi says as he crashes through the massive wooden double doors.

The palace is usually spotless, thanks to the attention of Wooster, the chief mushroom assistant. If Wooster had his way, no one would enter the throne room until he passed a special no-smudge test.

But there's no sign of Wooster. Even more troubling, there's no sign of the king. Instead, Morton Koopa, a large, armored turtle, is lumbering around the chamber. As Luigi watches in alarm, Morton dips a paw into a jar he's carrying and smears a fistful of peanut butter on the royal walls.

"Rarrr!" Morton growls. "I haven't had so much fun in weeks!" In one hand, he holds a ruby-tipped wand. He scrapes it against the royal blackboard. Luigi claps his hands over his ears to block out the horrible sound.

"Yikes!" Morton blurts, as he notices Luigi. "Time to go!" He darts toward an open window. Luigi lunges at the evil turtle.

Solve this puzzle to see what happens:​
  • Follow the trail from Luigi to Morton. Whenever you reach a blob of peanut butter, choose which way to go. When you land on either Morton or a window, follow the directions below.

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If you land on Morton Koopa, turn to page 98.
If you land on a window, turn to page 78.
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