[DeepL Translation - needs review] Volume 1: ●Synopsis: Super Mario, the world's most popular video game hero, has finally made his way into the world of manga! Mario and Luigi are a pair of misfits who have lost Princess Peach to the new Koopa Army while she was playing in Dinosaur Land. The two immediately set off on a journey to rescue Princess Peach. On their journey, they are joined by Yoshi, the famous foodie! Can they save Princess Peach now that they have finally become a big, blunde...
The N64 era of Super Mario Kun continues to be pretty solid. Even though we've previously had an ending in the prior volume, we're back to as if the "other stories" never happened and Mario and Crew work their way through the castle's second floor. We get a jidaigeki themed twist on Tall, Tall Mountain and a welcome return to Bob-Omb battlefield that gives some insight into the Chain Chomp's mind before taking a turn of the cursed, and a whopping two consecutive chapters for Tiny Huge island that actually flow into each other. I'm still not sure if Tiny Island and Huge Island are considered separate locations or if it's one island that changes size and the manga is a little inconsistent but the tiny versions of the enemies are quite cute. I think the most interesting chapter for Mario 64 Iceberg fans is the one set in Wet-Dry World's downtown, which is actually depicted as a bustling flea market with lots of items being sold serving as fun callbacks to older games. It's a far cry from the liminal, uncanny atmosphere the area is known for in the games. My favorite of this volume's Mario 64 chapters has to be the one devoted to the Mirror room. I'm sure we all tried going inside the mirror as a kid and Mario 64 DS actually let you do that, but this has an interesting almost creepy-pasta esque twist that ends quite cleverly as opposed to the usual burst of random violence that defeats most enemies in this series.
The volume's latter half is devoted to Mario Kart 64 which now has a full arc after showing up as a few chapter's worth of 4-koma's and as a one-off diarrheal diversion in the Super Mario 64 arc. The racetracks aren't as slavishly faithful to the game layouts as the levels in the Mario 64 arc are to that game's levels, but they're recognizable and in general the Mario Kart 64 material has been more successful at actually being a funny sitcom than some of the other stories. There's something about getting the whole cast together in a nebulously defined championship that lets everyone's personality bounce off of each other in zany ways. The "Crab with a big attitude" the gang has to fight in Koopa Troopa beach is my new favorite one-off character of the series, he has such hilarious aura in his introductory panel and gives everyone a good diversion.
It seems like the next volume is more of both of these games and so far the series is the strongest it's been so far, so onward to the next one!