Hey-oh! Look out down below! This scanlation is from Yukio Sawada’s Super Mario-kun volume 23. It’s labelled as “Special Stage 3” and tells a new story set in the continuity of the French/Canadian Donkey Kong Country CG animated series from Nelvana et al, as you can see from the presence of Bluster Kong and Candy Kong’s unique design. Mario’s not even involved apart from a tiny cameo. It’s a short story but a bit of silly fun with the trademark SMk puns and comedic action (not to mention cute chibi character design).
This volume has never been available outside Japan (although it may be getting a French and even Spanish release in the future). But with the help of Horseypope I’ve translated it into English for the first time for fans to enjoy. It’s to be read in its native right-to-left orientation. I didn’t have scans available for this so I actually scanned this story myself (with help from @lupiter), using an unorthodox technique involving glass plates and a DSLR camera that worked out pretty well, except for losing a tiny bit if the printing was too close to the margin.
I am fascinated by works with multiple layers of adaptation; in this case game series->animated series->manga, so scanlating this was satisfying for me. I hope you enjoy it too. Banana Slamma!
My other latest project, a single chapter of Volume 12 of Super Mario-kun. I’ve posted before a series of 4koma strips from another volume, and now I’ve graduated to a proper story. This is a brief one-shot based on Donkey Kong Country, but not really retelling the game. Rather, it’s the story of Mario and Yoshi crashing their plane into Donkey Kong’s territory on New Year’s Eve. They then have to find the missing banana hoard (again), which is in the possession of a Rockkroc. It’s silly (to be expected of this manga) but a bit of fun, and a rare friendly interaction between the Kongs and Mario.
I started working on this when I realised the Zelda comic was going much quicker than my last. I was waiting for Caramelman to finish the translation but still had the comics itch, so I picked this up and translated it myself. I used Google translate mostly, and this site for the meanings of the various sound effects used. My sister-in-law, a Japanese linguistics student, helped a lot to refine the script after I’d done the first draft, also introducing me to Jim Breen’s online dictionary site. She then signed up to Twitter so I’d have something to put on the credits page. :)
I’m releasing this chapter alongside my previous 4koma translations, which come from Vol 14 of Super Mario-kun. If in future I scanlate any more SMk, I’ll update the archive and web gallery, to keep all of it in one place.
.cbz version (use Simple Comic on Mac, or CDisplay on Windows)
If you’re after more Super Mario-kun translations (not by me), there’s not a whole lot but I’ve found a few:
Chapters 1-7 of Volume 1 (Super Mario World) are hosted here, by various translators. A better version of some of these chapters is contained in this archive. A single short comic from Volume 19 (Yoshi’s Story) has been translated here, and a 4koma from Volume 35 here (Christmas-themed). Apparently another translator has done Chapter 9 and 12 of Volume 1 (12 in colour), links here and here, but the host is currently down so I can’t verify. Keep an eye on that one. Finally, a chapter from Volume 38 (Super Mario Galaxy) has been translated here.
Oh, and if you’re wondering where I got the raws from, well a while ago I stumbled upon a filesharing site folder full of very nicely scanned volumes, with no hint of who scanned or uploaded them. If you’re interested in the original Japanese or want to translate some yourself, have a look here.
If you know of any more around the Internet, let me know. And also, spread this DKC one around and enjoy!
I’ve posted a few times on here about the official Japanese manga “Super Mario-kun”. Well, for a while now I’ve been planning on scanlating a small bit of it, for practice and to see if I could do such a thing on a larger scale. I already have scans, so it’s more like translating and editing—I’ve never owned anything rare worth scanning. I chose to start with these because they’re very short, only a few panels on a few pages; they’re very simple, being a children’s manga they have simple language and plenty of furigana over the kanji; and the scans I had were very clean, well aligned, very high contrast, which made the typesetting and all easy.
What I’m presenting here is a series of 8 4komas (4-panel gag strips), and 2 picture puzzle activity pages, that went in between chapters in a volume of Super Mario-kun. This volume was a recreation of the story of Donkey Kong Country 2, except with Mario and Yoshi, because they’re the main characters of the manga. You’ll find they tend to visit a few places they’re not supposed to, like Wario’s Woods, and their past selves in the Yoshi’s Island volume. Only natural, with these 3 sub-series being part of the greater Mario Universe.
Don’t expect any heavy themes here, especially from the spot-the-difference page. The nature of this manga is visual jokes, occasional toilet humour (not in these, though), and over-the-top comic violence. But, and this is the reason I translated this at all, it is a contribution towards the overall Donkey Kong pseudo-canon. I’m not sure what to call it actually, the body of work of DK-related materials, not all of which are strictly in continuity but which are still important (at least to me). Anyway, I’m a fan so I was interested in a comic about silly monkeys.
Give them a read, and if you’re a true fan like me, save them to your computer and spread them around. Although I intend to post this on DKVine and DKC-Atlas myself, so I’m not sure where else you would go with this.
EDIT: By the way, credit to my sister-in-law for translation help. There’s only so far you can get with online dictionaries and apps. Also thanks to my wife for helping to make some lines more natural.
Early-era Mario and Luigi in the jungle. It looks like it’s Nintendo-sanctioned, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what this might be from. Anyone?
New Information: This art appeared in Issue 5 of Nintendo Power (Mar-Apr 1989).
On occasion of Nintendo Power’s death, I was flicking through the old issues, courtesy of Retromags. I was stopped by this image, which I recognised from your post. In the credits section of this issue, Yukio Sawada (the author and illustrator of the Super Mario-kun manga) is credited for art.
Now Super Mario-kun did not begin publication until August 1991, two years later, according to Super Mario Wiki. The sort of hidden object puzzle panel thing represented here in NP was common in SM-kun between stories, along with 4komas. But this art, made possibly for this magazine, possibly first for a Japanese one, may have been the predecessor and progenitor of the manga.
Early-era Mario and Luigi in the jungle. It looks like it’s Nintendo-sanctioned, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what this might be from. Anyone?
It’s got the seal, that’s good enough for me! Loooks a lot like Super Mario-kun style, although why that would feature the game branding I have no idea.
In fact, I’m sure it’s from Super Mario-kun. Either a repurposed panel for a game advertisement, or an ad done by the same artist. Or a shop. Games on NES with bros in the jungle….?
Super Mario-Kun is a series of 44 volumes of Japanese comics chronicling almost every major Mario game from Super Mario World up to Super Mario 3D Land, including even the games from the Mario & Luigi and the Paper Mario series. Sadly, the art of the only source in the world to unite all these games in one canon does justice to none of them.
It also covers Mario Kart 64, Donkey Kong Country 2, Yoshi’s Island, and even Wario’s Woods (among others). It is aimed at very young Japanese readers, so the art and jokes are quite immature.
