Fun fact: This cartridge was a one-off promotional tie-in between Nintendo and the radio program All Night Nippon (Nippon Broadcasting System). It celebrated the show’s twentieth anniversary. Nintendo’s teams, working with the producers, reused the Super Mario Bros. engine and swapped in graphics referencing on-air personalities. Since it was only given out as a contest prize, the cartridge quickly became a collector’s item in December 1986.
Live playthrough — we’re doing this now
Alright, inserting the cartridge. Title screen appears: same tune, slightly different banner. The little All Night Nippon logo at the top feels like tuning a radio, with Mario stepping into the broadcast booth.
Controls match Super Mario Bros.—tight running, responsive jumps. That’s comforting. Immediately, I notice swapped sprites with faces I know from the show. It’s odd yet charming, like celebrity portraits painted onto Goombas and Koopas.
First level plays like the original. Layout feels familiar, so muscle memory carries us. Gameplay highlight: unchanged engine means platforming shines. Precision jumps, tricky springs, and clusters of Koopas demand focus.
Many levels are straight lifts from Super Mario Bros., but a few stand out. Some offer vertical challenge stages reminiscent of Japan-only Mario entries. These break up repetition and add variety.
- Gameplay Highlights: The core platforming is still excellent—tight controls, fair enemy patterns, and soothingly familiar music. Celebrity sprite changes are a novelty that actually makes exploration entertaining; we laugh when a familiar face turns up as a flying Koopa.
- Hot Tips:
- Run and time your jumps—momentum is everything on the longer gaps.
- Check suspicious-looking ceilings. Hidden blocks are still around and pay dividends for extra lives.
- In castle rooms, bait the axes and retreat to predict the path—Bowser doesn’t get any more forgiving just because the cartridge is a giveaway.
A memorable moment: in World 3-2, a procession of celebrity Koopas lines a narrow passage. We try to stomp them all and accidentally bounce into a secret chin-high block that releases a volley of coins—then a 1-Up shows up. Crowd-pleasing—literally.
The final boss room is the same basic idea—Bowser on a bridge, lava below. Adapting to the slightly rearranged hazards is fun; those extra firebars in the doorway caught us off-guard the first run. When we finally land the jump and the axe falls, the relief is big. The end feels familiar and decisive, like finishing a radio broadcast at dawn.
Anecdote: at one point a large face replaces the flagpole graphic in a bonus area, and we both paused out of reflex—did Nintendo just turn the radio host into the flag? It’s the kind of cheeky customization that makes the cartridge more of a souvenir than an independent game.
There are rough edges, though. Because this is essentially a graphical hack, the novelty wears off after some levels; when the music and level layouts repeat, the celebrity swaps are less impactful. Also, distribution is non-existent for most players—if you didn’t win it, you’ll never see this version. That limits its influence and appeal.
Exactly. It’s a delightful curiosity for collectors and fans of the series, but from a pure gameplay standpoint, it does not depart from the formula enough to be essential. The borrowed levels are fun, and the presentation is charming, but it’s not a reinvention.
- Memorable Moments & Anecdotes:
- The celebrity-sprite goombas in World 2 that seem to smirk as they approach.
- A secret room where a portrait of a host peeks out from behind the coins—stopping to admire it felt almost like calling into the show.
- The final Bowser encounter: nervy, satisfying, and accompanied by a banner that reads like a late-night signoff if you squint.
Our verdict? This is an enjoyable variant of a classic—pleasant to play, occasionally surprising, but ultimately a novelty built atop an already-great game. We’ll give it a B. Play it if you can get your hands on it, especially if you enjoy the history and the quirky charm of promotional items, but don’t expect a new Mario revolution.
Agreed. It’s a fun detour that rewards familiarity with Mario and appreciation for pop-culture crossovers. For those of us huddled around a CRT with a friend and a boombox tuned to All Night Nippon, it’s a small but memorable treasure.
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