Nintendo Adventure Books 12: Brain Drain map
Intro: This book, the final of the series, is by Matt Wayne. In the twelfth Adventure Book Iggy swaps the brains of those in the Mushroom Kingdom. Now no one is in their right mind. Literally. This is an online adaptation of a guide I hand wrote around 5/9/19. To follow along F3 search the page listed (type out ‘page x’) or simply scroll down (or occasionally up). It’s not perfect but this worked the best for me. Look at the key page on the portal for the terminology that will make up this walk through and all others.
Relevant links: https://www.mariowiki.com/WMUSH . That page features a summary of events at WMUSH and some scans of the puzzles.
Disclaimer: This guide is property of Amia J Moore/ C. Mechayoshi. It may not be copied without permission.
Edited: 1/4/24
Statistics:
Chapters: Sixty-three
Endings: thirteen
Items: Wrench, tape cassette, paper/plumber’s oath, pizza
Max score: Plausible? See ‘concluding thoughts’ below.
Errors: The fourth paper item is never used. No ‘Mega Mole’ layer. You don’t lose your items to gain them back as a page suggests.
START Chapter 1 Page 1: The Mario bros are working on a large, messy, and problematic soda machine in the castle. Meanwhile the radio blasts an advert on ‘Fungus Up’ before making horrible noises. Use the puzzle to know what to do.
Puzzle: 1, maze
Splits: page 40 (land on tool box), 100 (land on radio)
Puzzle solution: A little confusing at first but imagine the letters are on the squares then use the key to navigate. You can land anywhere though at this point and be okay but the optimal path (see far below) says head to forty from points for an item. Path one-hundred offers nothing so avoid it.
Page 5 Chapter 2: Alarms go off as Mario attacks. Luigi is sent out and tries to convince Mario with the oath. Do you remember?
Splits: page 112 (‘he always carries a plunger’), page 59 (‘always has wrench ready’)
Path: from page 64
Puzzle solution: The plunger, remember?
Page 7 Chapter 3: Mario storms off and leaves Luigi who is tipped to head to WMUSH.
Splits: page 26
Path: from page 10
Page 8 Chapter 4: Luigi takes care of the valve then they climb out of there. There is a strange doctor ahead.
Reward: one-hundred points
Splits: page 87
Path: from page 60
Page 10 Chapter 5: Mario and Luigi try to hunt down Iggy but have a disagreement.
Puzzle: 1, math, maze
Split: page 93 (land on Mario), page 7 (land on Koopa Troopa)
Path: from page 112
Puzzle solution: You hop on the wigglers based on numbers. You aren’t given a hint of what is right. Don’t follow mario on ninety-three if you lack pizza. Per optimal route go on your own on page seven.
Page 12 Chapter 6: Luigi tells the truth and come to find out, Toad is Morton! Luigi escapes over Dinosaur Lake.
Reward: fifty points
Splits: page 23
Path: from page 98
Page 14 Chapter 7: Luigi plays the music and starts to groove whether he likes it or not. He heads back.
Puzzle: 1, maze
Split: page 38 (land on TV), page 74 (land on door)
Path: from page 26
Puzzle Solution: Take the black path to the TV for a code.
Page 16 Chapter 8: Luigi puts in the wrong code, getting sent to the dungeon.
Game over
Path: from page 66
Page 17 Chapter 9: Luigi listens for subliminal messages in rock music. No, really. Use the code you hopefully have with the numbers.
Split: page 101 (push orange button), page 46 (push yellow button)
Path: from page 107
Puzzle solution: Count back three letters from what you’re given to get ‘yellow button’. Otherwise you’ll have to guess and the book kind of acknowledges that you might get to this point without the code. How dastardly!
Page 19 Chapter 10: Mario and Peach split forcing Luigi to choose.
Puzzle: 1, math
Reward: variable
Splits: page 90 (more than one-hundred points- follows ‘Mario’), page 109 (less than one-hundred points- follows ‘Peach’)
Path: from page 119
Puzzle solution: You choose a path at the top and work down with your score determining where to go. Head to one-hundred and nine according to the optimal route. The ninety path will send you to the end game quicker but you will miss out on lots of points. Also, I couldn’t even find a way to get a score high enough for that path! See the summary far below for more details on that.
Page 22 Chapter 11: Peach fails and they are captured!
Game over
Path: from page 109
Page 23 Chapter 12: Luigi comes across Dr. Shrinkasaurus. Mario and Peach are there and very unwisely, seriously it’s been the source of trouble this ENTIRE time, the radio is switched on yet again.
Splits: page 103
Path: from page 12
Puzzle solution: A pass through to the koopa section after you have scored well as we will soon discuss later.
Page 26 Chapter 13: Luigi enters WMUSH, controlled by the koopas. He’s sent to get Iggy’s music video and in the process finds a floppy disk. Use the puzzle.
Puzzle: 1, maze
Rewards: one-hundred points
Splits: page 78 (land on computer), page 14 (land on TV)
Path: from page 106, page 7
Puzzle solution: Go for the computer one seventy-eight for points but fourteen will work also, you’ll just be forced to guess at a later puzzle.
Page 29 Chapter 14: The brain switching is all over the place, leading to Dinosaur Land. Wooster comes running up while the radio blasts. Should it be shut off?
Puzzles: 1, maze
Splits: page 116 (land on radio), page 82 (land on Wooster)
Path: from page 76, page 55
Puzzle Solution: You really can’t control where you land but you might want to land on Wooster. Either way both paths merge shortly.
Page 32 Chapter 15: Luigi gets switched intp the body of a hamster in an exercise wheel.
Game over
Path: from page 71
Page 33 Chapter 16: The radio is cut back on and static occurs, swapping Mario back into his body. Mario gets them past the obstacle and then asks for the helmet back.
Reward: fifty points
Splits: page 98 (give helmet to Mario), page 49 (keep helmet)
Path: from page 51
Puzzle solution: Keeping the helmet gets you to the ‘great’ goose doctor quicker (you read it right) and the points are about the same so keep it.
WIN Page 36 Chapter 17: Almost everyone is switched except Iggy in a Wiggler’s body and Yoshi in turn is in his. Peach suggest adding Fungus Up to the water supply so RIP diabetics! Besides those implications, the day is saved.
Path: from page 46, page 92
Page 38 Chapter 18: Luigi’s uncontrolled dance is actually a code. Figure it out.
Puzzle: 1, logic, maze
Splits: page 117
Path: from page 14
Puzzle solution: Follow the dance steps as instructed. It will spell, ‘A fungus up’ a hint you might have heard before.
Page 40 Chapter 19: Luigi will deal with the potential flood first but what tool to use?
Spits: page 61 (get the wrench), page 96 (get spanner)
Path: from page 1
Puzzle solution: sixty-one gives the item but the ninety-six path points. If you play your cards right you wont need the item and if you see the optimal path there isn’t a ton of places to reliably get points so keep that in mind with your decision.
Page 41 Chapter 20: Luigi gets clocked and sent to the dungeons.
Game over
Path: from page 107
Page 42 Chapter 21: Luigi lacks a wrench so they get flooded.
Game over
Path: page 60
Page 43 Chapter 22: Yoshi is clearly not Yoshi anymore. Luigi still wants his dang soda though. Use the puzzle to know what to prioritize.
Puzzle: 1, decipher
Splits: page 71 (follow Mario), page 55 (stop for soda)
Path: from page 61, page 96, page 100
Puzzle solution: You are given directions involving the wall of letters and shapes. It will say ‘the radio’ as if it wasn’t already obvious what’s switching brains. Both paths are safe for now but you need that tape item for the end so head to fifty-five for a late payoff.
Page 46 Chapter 23: The machine dispenses Fungus Up cans. A battle happens outside but Luigi finds his friends and has them drink the Fungus Up.
Splits: page 36
Path: from page 17
Page 49 Chapter 24: Luigi holds off swapping and the Princess returns to Mario’s body. They find Dr. Shrinkasaurus.
Reward: fifty points
Splits: page 87
Path: from page 33
Page 51 Chapter 25: They run and escape into a pipe before finding a dead end. Use the puzzle.
Puzzle: 1, word search
Reward: fifty points
Splits: page 33 (turn on radio), page 60 (don’t turn on radio)
Path: from page 109
Puzzle Solution: Unscramble the words then order correctly the circles letters. You have ninji, wooster, shy guy, radio, princess, lichen. Next you’ll unscramble and get ‘wrench’. You can use it if you have it but the optimal path won’t have it so go to thirty-three.
Page 54 Chapter 26: Luigi tries the TOP SECRET… broom closet, then returns to the command center. Ha, good one!
Split: page 5
Path: from page 103
Page 55 Chapter 27: Luigi wants his soda first and finds his old cassette too. They learn of the brain swap between Toad and the King.
Puzzle: 1, math, decipher
Reward: tape item
Splits: page 29
Path: from page 43
Puzzle solution: First solve the math puzzle, you will find that there are two ounces of Fungus Up. Use that to count backwards from the letters in the message. It says ‘Stops brain switch’.
Page 58 Chapter 28: Mario can’t fight in Peach’s body.
Game over
Path: from page 90
Page 59 Chapter 29: Luigi gets it wrong and Mario breaks the Synapse Switcher. Good, except Luigi is now stuck a koopa.
Game over
Path: from page 5
Page 60 Chapter 30: Luigi doesn’t want to touch the radio so he’ll need a wrench to get past the wall. Do you have it?
Split: page 8 (uses wrench), page 42 (no wrench)
Path: from page 51
Page 61 Chapter 50: Luigi returns with the wrench but Mario commands him to skip it and head for the radio. Oh well! When he does so Yoshi has an unexpected quip.
Reward: wrench
Splits: page 43
Path: from page 40
Page 62 Chapter 32: Luigi plays a ‘Pound the Plumbers’ game and the high score will reveal a secret code.
Puzzles: 1, maze, logic
Reward: one-hundred points
Splits: page 107
Path: from page 78
Puzzle Solution: The score you want is thirteenth. You start at the indicated spot then go side to side, down and diagonally downwards only. You kind of want this hint too so keep note of that number.
Page 64 Chapter 33: Luigi orders his pizza but it’s not the same experience in a koopa body.
Reward: fifty points, pizza
Split: page 5
Path: page 66
Page 66 Chapter 34: The phone needs a code and there is something conveniently scribbled on the wall. Figure it out.
Puzzle: 1, logic, decipher
Splits: page 64 (numbers are six and eight), page 16 (numbers are eight and nine)
Path: from page 102
Puzzle solution: A simple sequence pattern. Go to sixty-four.
Page 68 Chapter 35: Luigi gets tricked and trapped by Morton.
Game over
Path: page 98
Page 69 Chapter 36: Luigi is now a goldfish.
Game over
Path: from page 93
Page 70 Chapter 37: Luigi tries the blue stuff and it’s good actually. He leaves the cafeteria.
Split: page 5
Path: from page 102
Page 71 Chapter 38: They find out that others brains have been switched like Toad and the King. At loss for what to do, should Luigi switch on the radio?
Puzzle: 1, logic, math
Splits: page 32 (turn on radio), page 76 (don’t turn on radio)
Path: from page 43
Puzzle solution: The ‘puzzle’ is actually a little recap quiz of book events so far, cute enough. Add up the right answers to get the ‘off’ option on page seventy-six.
Page 74 Chapter 39: Luigi gets out of the room quickly.
Split: page 117
Path: from page 14
Page 75 Chapter 40: Luigi becomes a pony. Giddyap!
Game over
Path: from page 117
Page 76 Chapter 41: So everyone correctly deduces the koopas are behind it all. After antics they get going.
Reward: fifty points
Splits: page 29
Path: from page 71
Page 78 Chapter 42: Luigi used the computer but since this is pre-internet he has few options.
Puzzles: 1, word search
Splits: page 62 (play games), page 97 (look at Synapse Switcher file)
Path: from page 26
Puzzle solution: Finally a puzzle with a definite correct option. Play games for points and a code.
Page 80 Chapter 43: They get away and Peach becomes herself again, commanding Luigi to hand over the helmet.
Splits: page 103
Path: from page 90
Page 82 Chapter 44: Wooster’s brain on this path was switched so Mario has a clever idea involving the plumber oath. Us the puzzle to solve the missing line.
Puzzles: 1, logic, maze
Splits: page 119
Path: from page 29
Puzzle solution: Follow the rhyme so it should say ‘and he always carries a plunger’. Knowing this will help if you get on the path where you must recite it to Mario.
Page 86 Chapter 45: Luigi is swapped with a parrot due to mixup.
Game over
Path: page 112
Page 87 Chapter 46: Luigi meets Dr. Shrinkasaurus. They try to fix the Princess and Mario but a radio is cut on and Luigi’s world goes back.
Split: page 103
Path: from page 49, page 8
Page 90 Chapter 47: Luigi follows ‘Peach’ or Mario rather. Soon they find baddies but should Mario fight?
Puzzles: 1, spot the difference
Split: page 58 (fight the koopas), page 80 (don’t fight)
Path: from page 19
Puzzle solution: Don’t fight according to the matching puzzle. Go to eighty.
Page 92 Chapter 48: The cure works on Luigi so he urges others to pop open a cold one (of Fungus Up).
Split: page 36
Path: from page 117
Page 93 Chapter 49: Luigi does it Mario’s way. They pretend to fight when baddies draw near. Mario is ‘scared’ away but then the bad guys want to turn on a radio. Seems kinda weird since they should now how this brain swapping thing works. Anyway, Luigi is not going to be immune to the radio, so what to do?
Splits: page 106 (use pizza), page 69 (no pizza)
Path: page 10
Puzzle Solution: Have the pizza to block your ears, albeit in an icky way.
Page 96 Chapter 50: Luigi passes the spanner to Mario then tries and fails to fix the radio, prompting Yoshi to SPEAK with a rude remark.
Reward: fifty points
Splits: page 43
Path: from page 40
Page 97 Chapter 51: Luigi checks the file but then accidentally erases it. I guess he was bad at DOS commands, can’t blame him. He heads back.
Split: page 107
Path: from page 78
Page 98 Chapter 52: Luigi wakes up off the shore in Peach’s body. Toad wants to give him something and Luigi wonders if he should come clean about who his is. Use the puzzle.
Puzzle: 1, logic, decipher
Splits: page 12 (tell Toad the truth), page 68 (don’t tell him)
Path: from page 33
Puzzle solution: Mark out the odd shapes. It’ll say ‘tell him’. Yes, be honest or else.
Page 100 Chapter 53: Luigi prioritizes fixing the radio first and Yoshi suddenly says something rude.
Splits: 43
Path: from page 1.
Page 101 Chapter 54: Luigi makes it self destruct. That’s one way to solve it, if a bad way.
Game over
Path: from page 17
Page 102 Chapter 55: Luigi goes to the cafeteria. Should he eat pizza or koopa food?
Splits: page 66 (order a pizza), page 70 (eat the Koopa food)
Path: from page 103
Puzzle solution: Order the pizza on sixty-six. You won’t enjoy the taste but you might enjoy the points.
Page 103 Chapter 56: Luigi is now a Koopa Troopa deep in the base. He soon learns the ins and outs of the ‘Synapse Switcher’. Use the puzzle for your next move.
Puzzle: 1, maze
Splits: page 102 (land on cafeteria door), page 54 (land on Top Secret)
Path: from page 80, page 23, page 87
Puzzle solution: Start from the top and move down. You can’t control where you end up, a common theme in the book but try for the page one-hundred two option. It has an item and points.
Page 106 Chapter 57: Luigi uses pepperoni to avoid the radio.
Reward: one-hundred points.
Splits: page 26
Path: from page 10
Page 107 Chapter 58: Luigi learns that the secret to the Synapse Switch is actually in a hit song by The Pizzas. Does he have the tape?
Splits: page 17 (use tape), page 41 (no tape)
Path: from page 62, page 97
Puzzle solution: Have that tape from Luigi choosing to stay behind for soda way at the start.
Page 109 Chapter 59: Luigi follows Peach in Mario’s body when Shy Guys attack. Peach thinks she can out jump them.
Puzzle: 1, ‘get a ruler’
Splits: page 22 (jump), page 51 (don’t jump)
Path: from page 19
Puzzle solution: Don’t jump. Go to fifty-one.
Page 112 Chapter 60: Luigi gets the oath correct. The brothers begin to fight together, forcing Iggy to call retreat. Then Peach, Toad and Dr. Shrinkasaurus show up. Luigi gets his stuff back we guess and Peach insists they try to get switched back. Use the puzzle.
Puzzle: 1, logic
Reward: one-hundred points, all items back*
Splits: page 10 (go with Mario), page 86 (Luigi should stay)
Path: from page 5
Puzzle solution: Do you remember a page taking away your stuff in the first place? I don’t. Anyway use the directions to find that you cannot trust that goose. Basically don’t get impatient.
Page 116 Chapter 61: Luigi cuts off the radio and Wooster shows up with news they already know.
Split: page 119
Path: from page 29
Page 117 Chapter 62: Alarms go off and Iggy accidentally sort of reveals a cure. Which is it?
Splits: page 92, page 75
Path: from page 38 (drink the Fungus Up), page 74 (drink the Morel Moxie)
Puzzle solution: Use the Fungus Up if you somehow missed all the hints until now. It’s the only soda usually mentioned and I’m sort of curious why they didn’t throw a red herring in there with the Morel Moxie and Lichen Cola. Oh well.
Page 119 Chapter 63: Mario, Luigi, and Peach go to Dinosaur Land towards WMUSH. Mario has a brain switch proof helmet but he gets switched with Peach anyway due to antics.
Splits: page 19
Path: from page 116, page 82
Summary: A fun book staring Luigi. Some of the body-switching antics gave me laughs even if not massively explored once you are in the thick of things. Beyond a certain point, you’re just trying to keep Mario and or Peach from making unwise choices. Finally, you are in enemy territory undercover to foil Iggy’s plans. I liked how natural the Super Mario World settings worked with out being a promotional showcase akin to Book#7 Dinosaur Dilemma. The story structure is not too open ended or linear. There aren't really any loop back and reused pages. You are always guided towards the end, with different ways to get to the goal as long as you are prepared for a late item check, or ‘quiz’ more like, but see below.
Optimal path: START 1- 40- 96 (50pts)- 43- 55 (get tape)- 29 82 (establish secret oath) 119- 19( 70pts*) 109- 51 (50pts)- 33 (50pts)- 49 (50pts)- 87- 103- 102- 64 (50pts, pizza)- 5- 112 (100 pts)- 10- 7 - 26 (100 pts) -78- 62 (100pts) -107- 17- 46- 36 END
Score: 620, “Super Stream-of-Consciousness”. I’m not sure how high you could go because you're forced to not score well at one point for a certain path. As mentioned earlier I couldn't max more than seventy points anyway.
So this route uses one in a half items, the tape to play at WMUSH and the oath which is not credited on the score card. We skip the wrench. Not needed on that path. The pizza is gained only for the points as we avoid the path that requires Luigi to plug his ears to save time. Yeah, yuck, I know. Now here's an interesting thing. On page nineteen you need lesser points to go to page one-hundred nine, which is great because I kept trying for a while and couldn't get high enough for the other path. I don't have it listed as an error because it could be down to my ineptitude. The code you need for the subliminal message puzzle can theoretically be skipped and the book even states ‘IF Luigi has the code’, acknowledging that you might have missed the hint. Worse come to worse, you have a fifty/fifty shot at guessing which isn't really that bad. Alternate paths can be taken here or there which reflects well on the book overall.
Concluding thoughts: This was my favorite as a child. Something about it captured me, and the splits in the book allowed for some different experiences on various reads. I like the characters also getting a look into Koopa HQ . Now, the mystery is obvious, and several puzzles are of the pick a path sort with no definitive correct answer, but they do span different puzzle ‘genres’ as you see in my analysis below and it’d rate them decently. There are no trap ‘items of doom’ unless we count the character Dr. Shrinkasaurus, but he’s not an item so, doesn’t count! Still, be careful on his pages. For some reason everyone trusts that quack..
Flaws are a few dumb moments in-story and a crucial item almost buried at the start, not hinted at ahead of time, and with zero options to obtain it again. The tape situation is the only fatal flaw here. Still an old favorite as kid, and a pleasurable read even now. 4/5
Item locations:
Wrench: page 61
Tape/ cassette: page 55
Paper/ plumber’s oath: page 82
Pizza: page 64
Puzzle analysis: We have twenty puzzles here, quite a lot and they are eclectic at that. There are five ‘maze’ puzzles, three logic/math puzzles, one decipher, one math/decipher, one math, one spot the difference, one ‘get a ruler’, two word search, two logic/decipher, one logic, and one math/maze puzzle. They aren’t brainless and some take some time to work out.
*New* Book goals: Do you meet Morton? Remember that he’s in toads body and he only attempts to lure Luigi in Peach’s body on ninety-eight. Assuming you tell the truth you will gain some points.
Did you use the phone in the koopa base? It gives the pizza and a bunch of points.
Did you dance to Iggy’s music video? This doesn’t give points, rather just a hint to what should be obvious at that point.
Lastly, there’s no mega mole layer to visit. I checked. Other than that these hints are decently relevant.
Last edited: 2/20/20, 11/13/20, 12/4/20, 11/18/21