The game was already out on the Japanese market for a few months before it was out in the US- a friend had the Famicom system and I'd played the game before the movie even came out. There was also a REAL Super Mario Bros. 2 which was like the first game with different levels, the game we got in the US with that name was a Japanese game called Ali Baba with Mario characters instead, but that's another story. This actually contributed to my losing interest in Nintendo, as I felt insulted that they put out all the good stuff in Japan early and tweaked it for us stupid Americans.

Here's a good page on the differences between Super Mario 2 and Doki Doki Panic.

http://progressiveboink.com/archive/dokidokipanic.html

I still have the Nintendo Power mag I got from the Wizard...

Nintendo, Sony, etc. have been doing that for 15-20 years. Japan still gets games weeks, months, years before we do.

finally found it at walmart on the outer banks of NC of all places! woohoo!

That's why he's The Wizard! Duh! I mean, not just anyone can score 50,000 points in Double Dragon!

BTW, if this kid is so good as playing video games, why did they need to call up the Ninten...sorry "gaming" hotline to learn how to play 50 different video games. Can't this kid just master them all easily?

Anyone else annoyed by Fred Savage's skateboard? The only time it gets riden is in a shot showing their backs and it looks like two 17 year olds on it.

Finally found a copy in Canada. It was C$12.99 at Best Buy.

still cant find it... has anyone seen it in Michigan?

-NiCK

The Japanese game that the American SMB2 came from was called Yumekojo(Dream Factory): Doki Doki Panic, not Ali Baba. Later, the American version with Mario characters it was re-released in Japan, called Super Mario USA. I actually think this game(s) is (are) 109901238129831298 times better than Japan's Super Mario Bros. 2. I'm GLAD Nintendo made the decision they did. US SMB2 will always be the definative REAL SMB2 to me. Super Mario Bros.- The Lost Levels (as the JPN Super Mario Bros. 2 was called in SNES's Super Mario All-Stars) is OK, but way to hard.

Yeah, I have that Pocket Power magazine somewhere. Mario 3 came out in the US after the movie. Fred Savage didn't know about the whistle, it was his character's brother, The Wizard, Jimmy Woods, played by Luke Edwards. Jimmy was just THAT good at games. He probably just figured, why is there a leaf here in the castle? Maybe I will try flying around.

Actually they did say Nintendo twice in the movie. When Haley called the game counselors, they answered, "Nintendo Game Play, this is Rick."

I forget the other time the word Nintendo was spoken.

Anywho, is this movie availiable in stores in the Columbus, Ohio area? I tried Blockbuster, Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart so far.

Actually Haley knew about the flute. She keeps telling Jimmy to find the flute. She also seems to know the star is worth the most at the end of the level. It's kind of funny if you don't sit there and wonder how she knows all this stuff about a new game.

Also, I ordered from DDD and it just got here yesterday after ordering around 9/1. So it's still rare and when you do get it, you WILL love it.

WRT the star, she could have just seen Lucas or the girl (or even Jimmy) get the star and notice that you get more points. I can't think of any explanation for knowing about the flute though.

Everyone knows Mushroom < Flower < Star in Mario, especially a street-wise, craps-shooting, friend-having chick like Haley.

I loved this movie as a kid. Therefore I wont ruin that memory by rewatching it now.

I think it held up well

Just watched this, does anyone elses DVD skip during the opening new Universal logo and during the credits? There are no scratches on mine, but it freezes up during both parts, luckily the rest of the movie plays fine.

I watched it couple of weeks ago and my disc did not freeze up.

I had no problems on mine either (watched two weeks or so ago) on a Toshiba HD-A1.

Thanks, to late to return to the store, but maybe the studio will do something. Ah well, I guess the movie plays fine so Ill probably do nothing.

Did you try blowing on the disc?

Watched this finally, (got the double feature disc) it had been years since watching it originally. It certainly has aged as a bad kids 80s movie. Then again, I didn't really like it when it was first released, as others have said, SMB3 was old by the time I watched it in the theater.

I had a Famicom and had Super Mario Bros 3 months before the movie, and watching the final scene with friends just made me think of how impossible it was to finding the magic flute and figuring out how to fly. That was in addition to the movie plotholes galore...

anyway, if someone told me that "Lucas" was played by Jason Mewes, I'd have believed it.

and wow, here I was, hoping to see that they were going to release a 3-disc extended director's cut with alternate ending, 47 minutes of deleted scenes, a 3 hour 40 minute making-of doc and make it available on Blu-ray.

but, I guess, you re-watching it is just as good.

Is Cloak and Dagger a good movie? That's the one The Wizard is double-featured with.

if you liked the wizard you'll probably like it.

It's not too bad, although I may be biased because I loved it as a kid. Definitely worth checking out, and keep an eye out for William Forsythe.

In packaging that resembles an NES cartridge, no less.