But along with all the SMW maps and strategies were several pages of Mario history and an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, which contained the now-famous quote in response to a question about Mario's changing appearance from game to game: "Who knows how Mario will look in the future? Maybe he'll wear metallic clothes!" This, of course, was five years before the metal cap showed up in Mario 64.

I won't reproduce the interview here, however I will scan this drawing from the book because it's awesome.

That is one cool rabbit.

Anyway, the book also includes obscure trivia that caps the coverage of each world, and that's what I bring today. You can't properly call yourself a Mario nerd until you can recall at a moment's notice his comparative running speeds in SMB1 through 3 and SMW. As usual, click any image for a bigger version.

Don't you feel more enlightened now? How about some Mario records?

Unfortunately, I don't know how the later games have influenced these records. I don't think there's been any power-up only used once like the Kuribo's Shoe, but has there been any enemy as rare the one-shot Walking Ptooie? You could say things like the Chain Chomp or eel from Mario 64, but they're not really enemies since you can't actually fight them. Klepto the Condor in Shifting Sands Land? Or was he not fightable either? This question will keep me up at night. It also makes me realize I should play Sunshine again, because I can barely remember any enemies from it at all.

I should make a mental note here to scan in the artwork from the book sometime, as it has a unique full page picture for each world in SMW, and I haven't seen them reproduced elsewhere.