When you think Mario games on the Super NES you probably think of Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart and Super Mario All-Stars. Chances are you don't think of the game Mario Is Missing ... and for good reason. Mario Is Missing was one of the few Mario games that was not developed or published by Nintendo. Instead it was created by the infinitely less interesting company, The Software Bookworks. Bookworks? Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I play video games to avoid reading books. If I wanted to read a book I would go to the library, beg them for a library card and then learn how to read. But what do I know? Perhaps there's a market out there for educational software starring everybody's favorite chubby plumber.

But The Software Bookworks wasn't going to take any chances; they didn't want their game to be associated with learning and school. In fact, if you took a look at this Mario Is Missing commercial you might think that this was just another mindless Super Mario game. We see a ransom note letting you know that if you don't find him Bowser is going to "destroy the planet." Wait a second; this is Mario we're talking about, right? The same Mario that is nothing more than a princess saving plumber? Why is this fat guy with bad fashion sense so important that Bowser is willing to not only kill everybody on the planet ... but also kill himself? In what universe does that make any sense?

Speaking of things that don't make any sense, I have to wonder how Bowser was able to get his hands on something that would actually destroy the planet. Destroying a whole planet is not an easy task; it's going to take quite a few high powered nuclear devices to actually get the job done. And really, that may not even be enough to do the trick. It seems like you would have to dig down into the earth and try and destroy it that way, blowing up little pieces as you go along. Earth is a pretty big place, regardless of Disneyland and the whole misleading "It's a Small World After All" thing. Perhaps it would be worth letting Mario stay missing just to see how Bowser intended to make this planet unlivable.

FROM: The Trouble With Bad Advertising