Question for my Japanese brothren about Mario 3

[sconley666]

I was just curious, when I was a kid and Mario 3 came out in the USA we were all stoked about it and whatnot and I remember we called mario with the ears and tail "raccoon mario"  hell that is even what the US manual called it.   We called the whole suit "tanooki mario"  also what the manual called it.  Well none of us ever knew what the fuck a tanooki was or anything but it amounted to us that the difference was tanooki mario looked cooler and could turn into a statue that if used wrong was totally counter productive!   I since have found out that a tanooki is a well known Japanese raccoon dog and its big in Japanese folklore, correct me if I am wrong.  But what the hell does it say in the NTSC-J Mario 3 manual what does it call it?  What did you call it as kids....we always called regular mario= small mario, and super mario = big mario.....speaks volumes about American children, I know.

Side-note:  Do you remember any video game myths pre-internet during the golden days of the famicom....I remember a kid telling me that there was a hidden sword in each castle you could kill bowser with and the hidden coin blocks right before him in 1-4 was the secret but the fucker never told ME how to do it....well he was a fucking liar and he is probably dead in a gutter somewhere for telling a hooker he had her $50 and a crack-rock and never had anything at all to pay her with......But I digress 

[Jedi Master Baiter]

We always called it Raccoon Mario, & called the other one a Bear suit until we found the manual (& noticed the anchor!).

I was tripping out for the longest time because I saw the back of the box at Sear's & it was the one with the "freak" shots:

http://themushroomkingdom.net/images/box/box_smb3_back2.jpg

I thought there was another version of the game!

As for rumors/stupid lies, I remember believing that something happens if you beat SMB1 10 times in a row (or something like that). Not gonna happen.

[L___E___T]

Best lie I remember is "you'll never make a living out of computer games!", glad to have proved that one wrong at least.

My best mate and I also called the Tanooki a bear.  The icon for it looks like a bear, or at least a little koala

[sconley666]

Best lie I remember is "you'll never make a living out of computer games!", glad to have proved that one wrong at least.

My best mate and I also called the Tanooki a bear.  The icon for it looks like a bear, or at least a little koala

In response to the other person who posted with the pic link on the box,  that middle picture was a little misleading eh?  the first pic! WOW beta World 1 map?  strange looking, but not strange enough that it was actually the first time I have ever noticed it.  I actually had to get my box out to look at it.  Nice catch!

Gotta love that!  I heard forever, you can't make money playing music.  Proved that wrong.  Do you work for a software development company.  If you can't say its cool.  I have heard that some people who work for *certain* companies can't say what they do and whatnot.  I work for a pharmaceutical company now, and I actually weigh the materials that go into over the counter medicine as well as Rx medicine.  I can't talk about some things, but others are ok.  I will say this, "If you have a storebrand/generic OTC medicine in your home, chances are I actually weighed the materials out that went into making it.  We are the largest generic Pharma company in the world.  But I digress.

[Aimsworth]

Can't relate to the japanese mario 3 game because I'm american as well, but I had to chime in. I do however remember the spoilers for Mario 3 given in The Wizard (1989). It came out a few months before the game was released... and it showed the location of some of the warp whistles and other things in the game.

As far as I know, the tanooki suit (タヌキマリオ/tanooki mario) is called the same in japan... while the 'raccoon suit' is called しっぽマリオ shippo mario (tail mario). Kind of funny that in japan he is referred to by his tail, while Americans tend to reference him by his ears. When you think about it, his tail is the most prominent feature in both the animation (hitting with tail, and flying by wiggling the tail)... but everyone I knew always tended to focus on the ears on the hat.

Another fun fact... in the latest mario outing (mario 3d land)... Luigi doesn't gain tanooki features with the super leaf, he gains kitsune (fox) features... and is called キツネルイージ kitsune luigi.

[sconley666]

Can't relate to the japanese mario 3 game because I'm american as well, but I had to chime in. I do however remember the spoilers for Mario 3 given in The Wizard (1989). It came out a few months before the game was released... and it showed the location of some of the warp whistles and other things in the game.

As far as I know, the tanooki suit (タヌキマリオ/tanooki mario) is called the same in japan... while the 'raccoon suit' is called しっぽマリオ shippo mario (tail mario). Kind of funny that in japan he is referred to by his tail, while Americans tend to reference him by his ears. When you think about it, his tail is the most prominent feature in both the animation (hitting with tail, and flying by wiggling the tail)... but everyone I knew always tended to focus on the ears on the hat.

Another fun fact... in the latest mario outing (mario 3d land)... Luigi doesn't gain tanooki features with the super leaf, he gains kitsune (fox) features... and is called キツネルイージ kitsune luigi.

You know you are right about the whole tail thing.  That is "THE WHOLE POINT" of raccoon mario yet everyone mentions the ears! lol
The wizard, dude I remember seeing that and being like WTF how do you do THAT the first time you play.  And way to go "Big N"  but on the same token I had Nintendo Power from issue one (wish my mom hadn't pitched 'em years ago) and they sent the strategy guide free if you had a subscription so they were just handing out the SMB3 secrets.  That was how I found out about the white mushroom houses and coinships and all that stuff.

I didn't know that about mario 3d land.  I did play it for like 20 mins a buddy @ work had it but didn't see the luigi thing.  Very cool, thanks for the killer info/trivia!

[Drakon]

I'm canadian so it was regular mario eh, big mario eh, fire mario eh, flying mario eh, and all the kids knew weren't good enough to get tanuki mario.

Of course the pre / early internet world was full of video game myths.  In fact a lot of kids didn't believe me about the top secret zone in mario world until I unlocked the stage on their cart.

I also remember calling flying mario in mario world "cape mario", seemed to be a logical name to me.  I didn't actually own a NES until the mario 3 crazy had kind of died off since my parents refused to buy me that system.  So I don't know what kids were referring to mario as.  Also I lived in a quiet neighborhood full of retired people so there weren't that many kids near me anyway.

[sconley666]

I'm canadian so it was regular mario eh, big mario eh, fire mario eh, flying mario eh, and all the kids knew weren't good enough to get tanuki mario.

Of course the pre / early internet world was full of video game myths.  In fact a lot of kids didn't believe me about the top secret zone in mario world until I unlocked the stage on their cart.

I also remember calling flying mario in mario world "cape mario", seemed to be a logical name to me.  I didn't actually own a NES until the mario 3 crazy had kind of died off since my parents refused to buy me that system.  So I don't know what kids were referring to mario as.  Also I lived in a quiet neighborhood full of retired people so there weren't that many kids near me anyway.

I always called flying Mario "cape Mario" as well. I didn't get the snes till after my friend showed me star road