Super Mario 64 is a game developed and released by Nintendo in 1996 and is probably one of the most iconic and memorable video games of all time. Kodansha, a Japanese manga publishing company, was simultaneously making and publishing manga for Mario games as they were coming out, and as you would guess, there would be obvious differences between the two.

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A video game, especially in the Mario series, is often fraught with canonically acknowledged game mechanics, but manga adaptations of video games often take the narrative more seriously and leave out all of the game's mechanics. Consequently, the two media forms will naturally approach the same story from different angles.

10 There Are New Characters In The Manga

Not too many, but enough to be notable. There is an author insert that appears in the manga multiple times, though he is defeated by Bowser and his henchmen multiple times whenever he shows up. The Koopalings, while not new characters to the franchise, are new to the story of Super Mario 64.

Similarly, Luigi shows up in the manga. Bowser has human-like minions that show up in a few panels, and a female Toad (not Toadette, though) shows up in Tall Tall Mountain. While Baby Mario and Baby Luigi aren't necessarily entirely different characters, they are shown as separate from Mario and Luigi in the manga, so they must have come from the past, again.

9 The Manga Is A Video Game And The Video Game Isn't

This might seem absurd, but hear this one out. During the events of the game, while some game mechanics are capitalized on, for the most part, the game is actually treated as actual events happening that are being documented on camera. While it might have ended up being a game in the grand scheme, Super Mario 64's story is really happening within its universe, including news reports of Lakitu tailing Mario.

In the manga, while there is an author insert to make the meta aspects of the story feel more manga-like, even this aspect comes across like a game. There is also Peach controlling Mario with a Nintendo 64 controller and a file being chosen at the beginning of every volume.

8 There Are 121 Power Stars In The Manga

While we only visually see Mario collect maybe a dozen Power Stars, we see at the beginning of the first volume whenever the file is being picked that one of the files has already collected 121 Power Stars.

It is commonly known that there are only 120 Power Stars in the original Super Mario 64, there are videos all over the earlier years of YouTube where people have tried to say they have gotten the 121st Power Star or people trying to find a way to get the 121st Power Star or whatever. Only in the manga does there exist 121 Power Stars, but we have no idea how the (fictional) player got it.

7 Peach Was Kidnapped After Mario Showed Up

In the game, whenever Princess Peach sent Mario a letter inviting him to the Mushroom Castle for some cake, Mario shows up only to find that Peach and the Toads were sealed away within the walls and paintings of the castle.

In the manga, Peach was actually there to see Mario. Then a Mr. I, wearing a suit and tie while riding a Nintendo 64, provokes the heroes. Ultimately, Mr. I is revealed to be none other than Bowser.

6 Power-Ups Are Different

Not only do the Power-Ups work differently in the manga, but there are also different Power-Ups that don't show up in the game. For example, when Mario is filled with courage or rage, he can just transform into his Metal Cap form. Another time, the plumber just willed wings to come out of his hat.

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Mario also wore both the Metal Cap and the Wing Cap at the same time. While in the game, there is a point where Mario needs the Vanish Cap and the Metal Cap at the same time; however, the game's version never mixes the manga's pair, and for good reason. In the manga, Mario starts destroying everything by flying and crashing into buildings. On a side note, he also used a Super Mushroom to grow during his first battle in the manga.

5 There Is A Lot More Dialogue

This should be obvious. While more NPCs probably speak in the manga, the main difference is that Mario talks a lot more than in the game. Mario has a mainly carefree personality, though his style of speech is reminiscent of an Italian Superman.

Mario speaks with an Italian accent in Japanese and his attitude changes depending on the situation. The only difference is that the hero is sometimes humorous or vulgar, to the extent of even giving Bowser the bird, but it's inevitable in a gag action-adventure manga.

4 Luigi Is Evil

While a case could be made that Luigi is evil in the games, it wouldn't be remotely as apparent as it is in the manga. There was a scene late into the manga that shows the flying ship in the Rainbow Ride course is actually being rowed through the air by the Koopalings, who Luigi is whipping into submission.

A more blatant example happens during the fight between Bowser and Mario as the former is revealed to be Luigi in a Bowser suit. This gets even darker considering that Luigi tried to kidnap Peach and pin it on Bowser.

3 Bowser Stole The Power Stars From Mario

In the games, Bowser often steals the Power Stars from the castle and then Mario retrieves them so that he could undo Bowser's curses. In the manga, the villain actually took them again from Mario after he collected them all.

We see Bowser take Mario's bag of Power Stars and pour them into this machine that he then hooks up to himself. Bowser forces all of the strength of the Power Stars into his body and then becomes a hulking giant before going to fight Mario again.

2 Luigi And Yoshi Help Out

While this was the case in the Nintendo DS remake of Super Mario 64, it wasn't in the original game and also played out differently than in the DS version. While Luigi was evil, the fact he tried to disguise himself during the act implies he did not want to be viewed as an evil person, so it is no surprise that Luigi tries to help Mario out.

In the final battle against the muscled Bowser, Yoshi and Luigi join in on the battle. After all, while Mario is powerful, he does often get help to defeat the King of Koopas whenever he powers himself up to level the playing field.

1 The Ending Is Different

In the game, Mario goes up into the sky and fights Bowser, throwing him into three bombs and then retrieving the last big Power Star before returning to the castle. In the manga, because Bowser employed a different strategy, his defeat was also changed.

The Brothers and Yoshi were initially defeated, but then Mario remembered Peach and his friends and was powered by his resolve to save them. Bowser fired a final fire blast at Mario but the plumber caught the blast while being backed by Luigi and Yoshi. He turned the fireball into a black hole and then used it to reduce Bowser to pixels. He later sealed him away into a painting and then the whole cast went kart racing.

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