Hotel Mario

Hotel Mario
Developer: Fantasy Factory Publisher: Philips Media Platform: CD-i Released in US: April 5, 1994 Released in EU: 1994 This game has a hidden developer message. This game has hidden developer credits. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has regional differences.

Hotel Mario is the only Mario game for the CD-i. Mario and Luigi go through several hotels to rescue Princess Toadstool, who gets kidnapped seven times, and along the way shut all the doors in the hotels. However, it's mostly notorious for its questionable quality cutscenes.

Missing Level

The game is missing files for Level 6, as can be seen through the file list:

L0_av.rtf (Demo File)
L0_dat.rtf (Demo File)
L1_am.rtf (Hotel 1 Music file)
L1_av.rtf (Hotel 1 Graphics file)
L1_dat.rtf (Hotel 1 Enemy Data)
L2_am.rtf (Hotel 2 Music file)
L2_av.rtf (Hotel 2 Graphics file)
L2_dat.rtf (Hotel 2 Enemy Data)
L3_am.rtf (Hotel 3 Music file)
L3_av.rtf (Hotel 3 Graphics file)
L3_dat.rtf (Hotel 3 Enemy Data)
L4_am.rtf (Hotel 4 Music file)
L4_av.rtf (Hotel 4 Graphics file)
L4_dat.rtf (Hotel 4 Enemy Data)
L5_am.rtf (Hotel 5 Music file)
L5_av.rtf (Hotel 5 Graphics file)
L5_dat.rtf (Hotel 5 Enemy Data)
L7_am.rtf (Hotel 7 Music file)
L7_av.rtf (Hotel 7 Graphics file)
L7_dat.rtf (Hotel 7 Enemy Data)
L8_am.rtf (Hotel 8 Music file)
L8_av.rtf (Hotel 8 Graphics file)
L8_dat.rtf (Hotel 8 Enemy Data)

The L6_ files are missing, which suggests that Hotel Mario was originally going to follow the Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World pattern by having a Hotel for each of the kids and one for Bowser.

Unused Graphics

Early	Final

An early version of the Stage 1 title card, stored in L0_av.rtf. One exists for each stage in the file. Other than the font and background, it also says to "press a button" to enter the level, meaning a level could be entered by pressing any button earlier in development, rather than the 1 button as in the final version.

Unused Dialogue

Help dialog from an early version of the game, although the instructions seem to be explaining the final. The voice actor does not sound at all like Mario's actor from the final, suggesting that this was a placeholder.

An early version of the cutscene that plays when you beat Roy. It does not use the voice actors from the final, although they are much closer than the voice actor from the help dialog; they seem to be heavily based on Walker Boone and Tony Rosato's takes on the brothers from the Mario cartoon series airing at around the same time. Oddly enough, this is stored in the data for the final level, not Roy's. There is no known cutscene data.

Unused Music

Stages 2, 3, 4, and 5 have an alternative, longer "stage clear" theme that goes unused.

Stage 2

Used	Unused

Stage 3

Used	Unused

This music was eventually used at the end of the "Toasters" cutscene accessible in Stage 2.

Stage 4

Used	Unused

For some reason, this stage's alternate clear music is the same as the one used in Stage 7, but with an added echo.

Stage 5

Used	Unused

Peace Symbol

The stomp effect sprite has what appears to be a peace symbol inside. Since this sprite is shown for only a split second in-game, it is not easily seen.

Special Days

An odd Easter egg: if the CD-i's clock is set to a specific day, the "HERE WE GO" screen is replaced by one of these messages.

English

"Special" events in an American year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Displays on January 1, which is New Year's Day.

ITS HOLLIES BIRTHDAY

Likely refers to Hollie S. Lohff, the play consultant for Hotel Mario.

To do: "Sometime between New Years and Valentines Day."

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Displays on February 14, which is Valentine's Day.

DO NOT FORGET MOTHERS DAY

Displays on the 2nd Sunday of May, which is Mother's Day.

SCHOOLS ALMOST OUT

Displays on May 31, when most schools began Summer vacation (at the time).

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

Displays on the third Sunday of June, which is Father's Day.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Displays on July 4, which is America's Independence Day aka "Fourth of July".

READY TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL

Displays on August 31, when most schools went back into session (at the time).

BOOOOOOOOO

Displays on October 31, which is Halloween. Ironically, this sums up the whole game.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY GOBBLE GOBBLE

Displays on the fourth Thursday of November, which is Thanksgiving. Turkey is commonly served at Thanksgiving dinners.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Displays throughout December, which is the month of Winter holidays.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Possibly a duplicate of the first string, but December 31 is New Year's Eve.

French

A little different from the English one, with events special to France.

BONNE ANNEE

"Happy New Year." Displays on January 1, which is New Year's Day.

ALLONS CHERCHER LA FEVE

"Let's find the charm." Displays on late January. It's a time of the year in France, when they eat some "Galette des Rois" (King's Pie) and there is a charm hidden in the pie.

C'EST LA SAINT VALENTIN

"It's Valentine's Day." Displays on February 14.

ON SE DEGUISERA POUR LE MARDI GRAS

"We'll be dressing up for Mardi Gras." Carnival celebration in France.

OU SONT CACHES LES OEUFS

"Where are the eggs hidden?" Likely referring to Easter.

BONNE FETE MAMAN

"Happy Mother's Day, Mom!" Displays on the last Sunday of May, which is Mother's Day in France.

L'ECOLE EST BIENTOT FINIE

"School is almost over." Displays on May 31, when most schools began summer vacation (at the time).

BONNE FETE PAPA

"Happy Father's Day, Dad!" Displays on the last 3 June, which is Father's Day in France.

ALLONS ENFANT DE LA PATRIIIIEEE

"Arise, children of the Fatherland." (Taken from the French national anthem "La Marseillaise", although "ENFANT" should be "ENFANTS" due to the plural grammar rule.) Displays on July 14, which is France's national celebration.

PREPAREZ VOS CARTABLES

"Prepare your schoolbags." Referring to returning to school. Displays on August 31, when most schools were ending summer vacation (at the time).

JOYEUX NOEL

"Merry Christmas." Appears on December 25.

BONNE ANNEE

"Happy New Year", possibly a duplicate of the first string.

Bibliographic Text

FPD on December 6, 1993

Stored in the file "biblio", "FPD" likely means "Finished Project Date", so this file probably just exists to mark the date the game was finished.

In the French version, the text in "biblio" is completely different:

The PHILIPS Interactive Media Centre Development Team in Hasselt - Belgium,
made a FRENCH conversion of " HOTEL MARIO ".

Engineering		Bob Deblier
			Eddy Paulissen

Production Coordinator	Annet Daems
			Hugo Paulissen

**************************************

Regional Differences

To do: There's more.

In the French intro, Bowser's laugh has no echo.

The French cutscenes are completely (and poorly) dubbed, the speeches containing many errors, like Bowser being called "Boswor".