Hotel Mario

Hotel Mario is a single-screen puzzle video game. Controlling Mario, or his brother Luigi in two-player mode, the player must search the Klub Koopa Resort for Princess Toadstool, who has been kidnapped by Bowser.

The game consists of seven hotels, which each feature several stages. The player must shut every door in the stage by moving up and down elevators and avoiding enemies. Mario can step on most enemies, as in previous games, but some must be avoided by changing floors or entering an open door. At the end of each hotel, the player engages in a boss fight with a Koopaling; in the final hotel, the player battles Bowser. The game features various power-ups: the Super Mushroom allows Mario to take multiple hits, the Star Man makes him temporarily invincible, and the Fire Flower allows him to throw fireballs.

Mario and Luigi arrive at the Mushroom Kingdom after having been invited for a picnic by Princess Toadstool, only to discover that the kingdom has been taken over by Bowser and renamed the "Klub Koopa Resort". Mario discovers in a letter left for them by Bowser that he and his Koopalings have turned the kingdom into their personal vacation resort and that they have established seven different hotels that act as their bases of operation. Along with this, Bowser has kidnapped Princess Toadstool and imprisoned her in one of the hotels as a "permanent guest". Mario and Luigi then venture into the Mushroom Kingdom with the assistance of the player.

As Mario and Luigi continue their quest, they defeat the Koopalings along with their hotels such as Morton's Wood Door Hysteria Hotel; Roy's HardBrick Hotel; Larry's Chillton Hotel; Lemmy's High-ate Regency Hotel; Ludwig's Thump Castle Hotel; and Wendy's Blitz Snarlton Hotel. Along the way, they manage to rescue the princess every time, only for her to be recaptured immediately. Mario and Luigi make it to Bowser's Seizures Palace Hotel where they first fight Iggy (who works at Bowser's hotel instead of running his own) before they confront and defeat Bowser himself. Afterwards, Mario, Luigi and the princess flee the hotel as it falls to rubble, allowing peace to be restored to the Mushroom Kingdom.

In 1989, Nintendo and Sony agreed to develop a CD-ROM-based add-on for the Super NES (see Super NES CD-ROM), that would allow for full motion video (FMV) and larger games. However, Nintendo instead signed with Philips to make the add-on, and Sony redesigned their console as the PlayStation. By 1993, Nintendo had abandoned plans for the add-on. As part of dissolving the agreement, Nintendo licensed Philips to use some Nintendo characters for their CD-i console, resulting in three Legend of Zelda games as well as Hotel Mario.

Another Mario game, Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, was canceled at the prototype stage. According to Stephen Radosh, Nintendo's only involvement in the development was ensuring that the source material was faithful to the Mario series. Nintendo was reported to be pleased with the finished project and Radosh stated that there were rumors that Nintendo considered bringing the game to their own platforms.

Hotel Mario initially received mixed reviews. Electronic Gaming Monthly described its gameplay as simple yet addictive. GamePro said the game was fun but quickly grew boring and stated that "the only intriguing aspects of this game are the well-fashioned animated sequences". Video Games: The Ultimate Gaming Magazine gave the game 7 out of 10 but acknowledged its difficulty. Spanish magazine Superjuegos praised the game's simple mechanics and recommended the game to CD-i owners.

Hotel Mario has since been described as one of the worst Mario games. C. Fletcher of Joystiq ridiculed the plot: "Apparently Bowser has nefariously plotted to have his underlings open doors in ... his own hotels, thus wasting air conditioning and increasing his own electric bill.

In the mid to late 2000s, Hotel Mario's cutscenes gained notoriety as Internet memes and endured as one of the most common sources for YouTube Poop video mashups. Marc Graue reprised his roles as Mario and Luigi in a parody dub in late 2011. In 2024, a fan remake of the game with several quality of life enhancements, titled Hotel Mario ReBooked, was announced to be in development.