REVIEW: Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia: The Official Guide to the First 30 Years, 1985-2015 (nonfiction book) translated by William Flanagan and Zack Davisson

Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book covers 17 Super Mario games in depth, each section including the game's basic story, features, playable characters, allies, enemies, an overview of all worlds and courses, info on items and obstacles, and a list of some memorable moments and some helpful gameplay tips and techniques. The end of the book includes a lengthy timeline of all games from 1984-2015 with some sort of connection to Mario (even if it's just via Donkey Kong, or a brief cameo in the artwork somewhere). There are also full-page columns throughout on topics like spin-off games, remakes, anniversary events, and more.

I know for a fact that my family had a Nintendo Entertainment System when I was growing up, and I think we might have had a Super Nintendo Entertainment System, although I'm not 100% sure about that. After that, that was pretty much the end of my direct experience with Nintendo and its games until I picked up a Nintendo Switch during the pandemic.

This had a lot more detail crammed into it than I expected, and even with the large page-size, all those tiny pictures and text could be a bit overwhelming. I read the entries for the first few games that I had memories of playing more thoroughly than a lot of the later ones.

I found myself unreasonably angry on behalf of my child self while reading the "helpful hints & techniques" section for the first Super Mario Bros. game. Child Me would have really appreciated those tips, darn it, and now it's well past the time I can make use of any of them.

The Super Mario Bros. 2 (called Super Mario USA in Japan) section was a weird reading experience. The images of the vegetables, particularly the turnips, instantly gave me flashbacks of playing the game, which I'd previously completely forgotten about. 

All in all, this was an interesting enough read, although it felt more like a combination of an ad and game guide than an encyclopedia. Its focus is on Japanese and US release info (the timeline is organized according to US release dates if the game was released in both US and Japan), so if you're interested in release info in other areas of the world you're out of luck.