How about a nice game of... Checkers!
- Along with Presage proudly present.Mario's Game Gallery!
Mario's Game Gallery is an MS-DOS game released by Interplay in 1995. As the name suggests, it's a compilation of games you play with Mario. There's five to choose from: Checkers, Go Fish, Dominos, Backgammon and Yacht.
In 1997, a Windows 3.1 and Macintosh version called "Mario's FUNdementals" was released under Interplay's "Brainstorm" division.
Notable for being the first video game to feature Charles Martinet as Mario (though he had originated the voice in other mediums prior to the release of this game, such as various video game trade shows and the Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World and Super Mario Bros. pinball table).
This game shows examples of:
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The game is infamous for using this trope.
- In Go Fish, the game knows what's in your hand. More often than not, when you draw from the deck, the AI will call for what you just drew.
- Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: If you take too long on your move, Mario will get impatient and start complaining.
- Continuity Nod: The suit Mario wears on the title screen is reminiscent of the suit he wears on the box art for Super Mario All-Stars, minus the top hat.
- Couch Gag: Mario will always recommend a different game to play at the title screen.
- Covers Always Lie: The jewel case for FUNdamentals has a checkerboard with circular checker pieces. In the actual game, you play as either Yoshis or Koopas.
- Idle Animation:
- Mario taps his foot every once in a while on the title screen.
- During checkers, Mario will sweat if you're close to winning.
- Just Eat Him: In Checkers, Yoshis will eat Koopas alive when they jump over them.
- Luck-Based Mission: The entirety of Yacht.
- Luck Manipulation Mechanic: The entirety of Yacht.
- Malaproper: Mario (aside from the thick Italian accent) has a rather tenuous grasp on the English language in this game, leading to strange turns of phrases. For example of one such quirk, he'll often use "I'm-a" when he should be using "I" "I'm-a like-a [game of choice]" "I'm-a lost". Tellingly, this aspect of the way Mario talked was largely abandoned in the years to come.
- My Nayme Is: Bowser is misspelled "Bowzer" in the subtitles.
- No Fair Cheating: Mario will say this if you try to cheat:Hey! That's not a legal move!
- Oh, Crap!: Mario will sometimes go "Uh-oh" when you jump one of his pieces in Checkers.
- Pun-Based Title: FUNdamentals, The word "fun" is in all caps to lampshade this trope.
- Updated Re-release: Mario's FUNdementals has more polished graphics, new voice clips, and fixes a few bugs such as slowdowns.
- Viewers Are Geniuses: The game expects you to understand how to play Dominos and Backgammon, both of which are uncommon board games. The help menus don't help either.
- Writing Around Trademarks: Yacht is obviously Yahtzee, just renamed because it's the only game included to be trademarked. Mario even calls the game "Yacht-ee" hiding the trademark violation behind Charles Martinet's faux Italian accent.
