Nintendo Adventure Books 1: Double Trouble Guide
Intro: This is the first of the series written by Clyde Bosco. Here Mario wakes up to slowly realize that there are mysteriously clones of everyone in the kingdom! How is that so?? Did these books start out with a hit? Let’s see. This guide is adapted from a handwritten version I made around 7/3/19. One thing to note as we will get into later, is that I had to use an online pdf instead of a physical copy in my collection, which lead to a few ‘quirks’. UPDATE 3/2/20: I have a physical copy now!!! Refer to the key on the main Nintendo Adventure Book portal on how to use this guide.
Disclaimer: This guide is owned by C. Mechayoshi/ Amia J. Moore. It may not be copied without permission.
Relevant links: https://archive.org/details/Nintendo_Adventure_Books_1_Double_Trouble
Edited: 1/34/24
Stats:
Chapters: Fifty-nine
Items: Mushroom, hammer, anchor, magnifying glass
Endings: four
Max Score: ?
Errors: page 87 (phantom anchor)
START Chapter 1 Page 1: Mario wakes up to a dramatic alarm clock at 3 AM. I like that Mario has a water proof wrist watch here, sounds obvious but a nice touch. He checks the computer for what’s up and the princess needs help.
Splits: page 4
Page 4 Chapter 2: Mario finds that Luigi is missing. He must choose between investigating where his brother went or gathering supplies, our first fork.
Splits: page 100 (search for Luigi), page 34 (get supplies), page 68 (head to the Mushroom Kingdom)
Path: from page 1
Puzzle solution: We’re pretty open ended at this point. For the optimal path I have Mario going to page thirty-four to get an item right away. Some items will be key to either getting out of puzzles unscathed or short cuts to progress.
Page 6, chapter 3: Mario goes for GLOM to get into a mirror match that he loses. Back to the mirror room!
Splits: page 118
Path: from page 36
Page 8, Chapter 4: Mario slams Roy on the head with a plank but it goes south and he’s tossed overboard.
Splits: page 94
Path: from page 105
Page 9, Chapter 5: Mario takes the short cut and deals with fire snakes. Use the puzzle to get away.
Puzzles: 1, maze
Splits: page 55 (five or less snakes), page 97 (six to ten snakes), page 110 (eleven or more snakes)
Path: from page 75
Puzzle solution: The least you can pass is nine and the mushroom will subtract three. Go to page ninety-seven. Page one hundred- ten is a hazard and page fifty-five is a go back page.
Page 12, chapter 6: Mario confronts Bowser. Iggy has as machine creating clones that are under Bowser’s control. Apparently a vote will be held Tuesday and Bowser is using this to rig votes in his favor. (A bigger question is why Bowser is a candidate..). Mario is almost locked in a room with sixty four koopas but then flees from Bowser. He finds directions in Koopanese. Use the puzzle.
Puzzles: 1, decipher
Splits: page 61 (go down hall), page 18 (look upstairs)
Path: from page 56, page 29, page 111
Puzzle solution: It says ‘Do not go up stairs’ so don’t, it’ll end badly.
Page 16, chapter 7: Mario hears something. Use the puzzle to pick where to go.
Puzzles: 1, decipher
Splits: page 43 (go left), page 60 (go right)
Path: from page 108
Puzzle solution: Go left on page forty-three.
Page 18, chapter 8: Mario goes to the second floor, entering a strange room.
Splits: page 95
Path: from page 12
Page 19, chapter 9: Mario escapes the goombas, entering a pipe. After some coins, he spots something in the sky.
Reward: sixteen coins
Splits: page 51
Path: from page 31
Page 21 Chapter 10: Mario finds Toad in the midst of trouble.
Splits: page 90
Path: from page 116
Page 22, chapter 11: Mario gets out of dodge then gets the machine into the mirror room. It’s a clever payoff, especially if you suffered coin flipping shenanigans to get here, but otherwise contrived. The GLOM clones self destruct, taking Fort Koopa with it.
Splits: page 69
Path: from page 36
Page 25 Chapter 12: Mario gets away from the impostor and grabs a mushroom too.
Reward: Super Mushroom
Splits: page 68
Path: from page 100
Puzzle solution: The mushroom will come in handy.
Page 26, Chapter 13: Mario will check out the Mushroom Kingdom first. Weather is nice but there is trouble. Pick between checking out a flock of creatures or a shadow.
Splits: page 31 (flock of small creatures), page 51 (giant shadow)
Path: from page 102
Puzzle solution: The creatures are a baddie encounter, the shadow is a koopa ship. Both can work but the ship is more fun.
Page 28, Chapter 14: Mario forgets how boomerangs work.
Game over
Path: from page 81
Page 29, Chapter 15: Mario escapes the foes while makes it to the fortress where Bowser captures him.
Split: page 12
Path: from page 81
Page 31 Chapter 16: Mario is attacked by para-goombas. Use the puzzle.
Puzzles: 1, word search
Splits: page 104 (clear Micro-Goombas), page 19 (ignore Micro-Goombas)
Path: from page 26
Puzzle solution: A simple word search. ‘Run for cover’ will be the message revealed.
Page 34 Chapter 17: Mario goes for supplies. Use the puzzle to see what you get.
Puzzles: 1, maze
Reward: Varies (Hammer, anchor, mushroom, magnifying glass)
Splits: Page 68
Puzzle solution: It’s a maze but you can’t control where you end up. Here is an overview. The mushroom can help get through certain puzzles in the book depending on path. The hammer has one use in the climax but it’s not important, it just might save time. The anchor has a use but only on a certain path. The magnifying glass will save some time as well, because it is needed coming up, but the book gives loop backs to attain this even on other pages. Overall, the mushroom probably.
Page 36, page 18: Mario meets ‘Giant Likeness Outputting Machine’ or GLOM, a frightening thing that there’s even a little image of in the puzzle. Use the puzzle to get away.
Puzzles: 1, logic, ‘get a ruler’
Splits: page 92 (Iggy), page 6 (GLOM), page 22 (run away)
Path: from page 73, page 43
Puzzle solution: Get the ruler again. ‘Do not attack Iggy’ is what I got. Page twenty-two is best.
Page 40, chapter 19: Mario tries to rile up the chomp. Use the puzzle.
Puzzles: 1, ‘get a ruler’
Splits: page 56 (route A) , page 113 (route B)
Path: from page 97
Puzzle solution: Look at the length of the chain chomp’s chain to know in theory how far you can be without getting your face bitten off. The page fifty-six option is the correct one, but it’s not the easiest to figure out.
Page 42, chapter 20: The Mario bros head to their plumber workshop in Brooklyn. They trap Luigi’s evil twin.
Splits: page 49,
Path: from page 44
Page 43, chapter 21: Mario finds a lab and Iggy. A machine rolls in.
Splits: page 36
Path: page 16
Page 44, chapter 22: Roy dumbly offs himself. Mario unties Luigi who explains the clone issue. Use the secret message to know what to do.
Puzzles: 1, decipher
Reward: eleven coins
Splits: page 42 (go home with Luigi), page 111 (ride Doom ship)
Path: from page 105
Puzzle solution: Get your scrap paper ready, but it’s easy. ‘The ship is headed to fort koopa’ is the long message. Granted you have no clue with option is the good one. Going with Luigi on page forty-two nets an item and reward. One hundred-eleven sends you to the ending sequences.
Page 47, chapter 23: Mario enters a mirror maze.
Splits: page 108
Path: from page 61
Page 49, chapter 24: The Marios rough up the Fake Luigi who then melts. They use a magnifying glass on the puddle but can’t determine what is going on. Mario returns to the Kingdom.
Reward: nine coins, magnifying glass
Splits: page 79
Path: page 42
Page 51, Chapter 25: Mario finds a doomship manned by Roy Koopa who tries to escape. Mario has options.
Splits: page 105 (use anchor), page 87 (jump for Doom ship), page 58 (explore Mushroom Kingdom)
Path: page 26, page 19
Puzzle solution: You can go to a one-hundred five if you have the anchor only available back on thirty-four. You can also just jump for it one eighty seven. On page fifty eight he just lets it go. All are safe at this point.
Page 53 Chapter 26: There are two Mushroom Kings but a magnifying glass might help. Does Mario have it?
Splits: Page 64 (use magnifying glass), page 116 (no magnifying glass)
Path: from page 114
Puzzle solution: Kind of tricky because page thirty-four’s puzzle does not guarantee the item even if you choose that path. It’s fine however, in fact NOT having that item leads to coins.
Page 55, Chapter 27: It’s impossible to get this score!
Path: from page 9, page 116
Page 56, Chapter 28: A chain chomp attacks Mario while he scales the fortress. He finds coins and then is captured by Bowser.
Reward: Twelve coins
Split: page 12
Path: from page 81, page 40
Page 58, chapter 29: Mario reaches a tangle of piranha plants with Toad trapped in the midst of them. Mario springs to the rescue.
Splits: page 90
Path: from page 94, page 51
Page 60, chapter 30: Mario gets fed up and flips a penny. Yes!
Splits: Page 118, page 108
Path: from page 108 (heads), page 118 (tails)
Puzzle solution: Instead of a puzzle they expect you to literally flip a coin with Mario. The pages aren’t an error, this is a little loop back part of the book that you’ll have to traverse if you didn’t get the hammer. See below.
Page 61, chapter 31: Mario runs all through fort koopa, following Iggy (who has purple hair in this book) until he bumps into a statue that falls and shatters. Iggy is freaked out and runs. Use the puzzle.
Puzzles: 1, logic, decipher, just a hint
Splits: page 47
Path: from page 12
Puzzle: Start at the top ‘Q’ and count every third steps. The message of where Mario is going is ‘hall of mirrors’, not to be confused with a hint that actually helps you.
Page 64 Chapter 32: Mario has the item actually! The fake king is made out of sand.. somehow! Mario moves on to the Koopahari Desert. Use the puzzle for a clue of what could be waiting for him.
Puzzles: 1, decipher, just a hint
Split: page 75
Path: page 53, page 119
Puzzle solution: Solve the grid. It says ‘the boomerang bros’.
Page 68, Chapter 17: Mario dives into the pipe right away for the Mushroom Kingdom.
Splits: Page 102
Path: from page 4, page 34, page 25
Puzzle solution: Just a quicker path to get to progress, though whether you have anything in your pockets or not will vary.
END Page 69, chapter 34: Mario picks coins from the wreckage then he’s too tired for much else. He finds out that only fifteen minutes has passed on his watch! No, it’s not a last minute time travel or dream twist, he just stayed up for twenty-four hours. He takes a three day nap and your reward is two hundred-six coins.
Reward: two hundred- six coins
Path: from page 22
Page 71, Chapter 35: Luigi shows his invention, getting Mario to try on a metal vest. It launches him out of the house to be captured by Roy Koopa.
Splits: page 85
Path: from page 100
Puzzle solution: None, you’re in trouble!
Page 73, chapter 36: Mario smashes through the mirrors and into Iggy’s lab.
Splits: page 36
Path: from page 108
Page 75 Chapter 37: Mario treks to the desert full of enemies. Fort Koopa is ahead but there’s also a short cut. Use the puzzle to know if to trust it.
Puzzles: 1, maze, just a hint
Splits: page 81 (Fort Koopa), page 9 (ravine shortcut)
Path: from page 64
Puzzle solution: Simple, just find your way out. It will spell, ‘two different monsters are waiting for Mario’, no indicators of that being good or bad for you or anything. Both paths leads to different splits.
Page 78, chapter 38: Mario is walloped by the plants, waking up forgetting the last two hours.
Splits: page 102
Path: from page 90
Page 79 Chapter 39: Mario goes to the palace, grabbing some coins also. Something is wrong and the place is a mess. Brock and Gerkins are mushroom guards, I bring it up because Leaping Lizards book #2 mentions them. They’re doubled too.
Reward: two coins
Splits: page 114
Path: from page 102, page 49
Page 81 Chapter 40: Mario does take the short cut and eventually reaches Fort Koopa. The boomerang bros attack and according to story, the last time Mario messed with them he broke a tooth! You don’t see that in games! Use the puzzle to get away.
Puzzle: 1, maze
Split: page 56 (twenty-eight or higher), page 29 (eighteen to twenty-seven), page 28 (seventeen or less)
Path: from page 75, page 10, page 113, page 97
Puzzle solution: You pick two koopas and climb up, counting the amount of boomerangs you collect. A mushroom item adds ten points to your score. Page fifty-six leads to coins, twenty-nine is progress with no reward and twenty-eight a dead end.
Page 85, Chapter 41: Mario discovers the copy problem before being shipped away forever!
Game over!
Path: from page 71
Page 87, chapter 42: Mario grabs some hanging cables to board the Doomship. He obtains an anchor but the score doesn’t count it. Use the puzzle.
Puzzles: 1, ‘get a ruler’
Splits: page 94 (O), page 105 (X)
Path: from page 51
Puzzle solution: Use a straight edge as advised to follow the path of Mario’s anchor. You should land on an ‘X’.
Page 90, chapter 43: The plants swing sticks like bats, Mario Super Star baseball predicted decades early! Use the puzzle.
Puzzles: 1, maze
Splits: page 119 (land on plant), page 78 (land on Mario)
Path: from page 58, page 21
Puzzle solution: You move around the grid with no real control. Page one hundred nine will reward an item. The other continues or loops.
Page 92, chapter 44: Mario sues the coin trick in attack mode. He can’t keep off the constant Iggy clones and gets pounced and tossed back into the mirror room.
Splits: page 118
Path: from page 36
Puzzle solution: A mild setback and oddly forgiving for the end of the book.
Page 94, chapter 45: Mario slips up and lands. He goes for the mushroom kingdom now.
Splits: Page 58
Path: from page 94, page 51
Page 95, chapter 46: Mario barges into a room with Wendy O Koopa clones.
-Game over
Path: from page 18
Page 97, Chapter 47: Mario escapes to the rocks where he faces a chain-chomp. Use the puzzle to know what to do.
Puzzles: 1, logic
Splits: Page 40 (get past chomp), page 81 (turn back)
Path: from page 9
Puzzle solution: Okay, the book could explain this one better. You see letters on the chain chomp and then you see five blocks. You have a hint that you go two forward and one back. So basically two bricks are blacked out then one removed if you notice the pattern already there. You want to figure out what in the box is the next pattern and then follow its instructions of crossing out letters. You will find the third one from the top to be correct. Once you cross out those letters you will have the message ‘Keep going’ on the chain-chomp’s chain. That’s page forty and leads to a reward possibly. Page eighty-one is to Fort Koopa.
Page 100, Chapter 48: Mario heads to the kitchen and Luigi behaves strangely. He has a surprise for Mario but should you fall for it? Use the puzzle.
Puzzles: 1, decipher
Splits: Page 71 (go outside with Luigi), page 25 (leave for Mushroom Kingdom)
Path: from page 4
Puzzle solution: The message clearly says ‘It’s not Luigi’ so don’t trust him and head to twenty-five.
Page 102, Chapter 49: Mario winds through the kingdom finding baddies and doubles of everything. Fun fact: Shy guys travel alone, according to this story. Mario has a choice to make.
Splits: page 79 (go to palace), page 26 (explore Mushroom Kingdom)
Path: from page 68, 104, 78
Puzzle solution: Page seventy-nine is getting to the nitty-gritty. Coins and other events are on twenty-six.
Page 104, Chapter 50: The micro goomba (who can emit ‘goomba gas’) knock out Mario. They don’t eat him though (sigh in relief) but Mario wakes up with amnesia, how convenient! A ‘shaggy dog’ path.
Splits: page 102
Path: from page 31
Puzzle solutions: just keep moving.
Page 105, Chapter 51: Mario swings the anchor and uses it more like a grappling hook. Whatever works. Mario boards the ship and threatens Roy once he sees Luigi captured. Use the puzzle.
Puzzles: 1, maze
Splits: page 8 (star), page 44 (splat)
Path: from page 51, page 87
Puzzle solution: You choose a shape at the start and must stick with it so chance time! Page forty-four will yield coins.
Page 108, chapter 52: Mario bangs into glass several times before finding a split. Could an item assist him?
Splits: page 73 (use hammer), page 60 (go right), page 16 (go left)
Path: from page 47, page 60
Puzzle solution: Left, or page sixteen is a puzzle. Page sixty is a ridiculous page for reasons you will see but choose it if you lack an item. Page seventy-three is quick progress, but only if you grabbed the hammer from way earlier.
Page 110, Chapter 53: Mario gets burned.
Buffet: Lose mushroom
Splits: page 81
Path: from page 9
Page 111, chapter 54: Mario presses to the fort and leaves the clone at home to his brother. Mario gets there and sneaks in.
Splits: page 12
Path: from page 44
Page 113, chapter 55: The chomp snaps down on a toe. Ouch. Mario leaves the ravine.
Splits: page 81
Path: from page 40
Page 114 Chapter 56: Peach is stressed out. A gift of flowers she received had cameras in them recording everyone! That’s… one way to do it I suppose…
Splits: page 53
Path: from page 79
Page 116 Chapter 57: Mario does not have the glass so he goes out for it, finding coins and shy guys.
Puzzles: 1, maze
Rewards: less than twenty coins
Splits: page 55 (twenty or more coins), page 21 (less than twenty coins)
Path: from page 53
Puzzle solution: Cross out the shy guys then see how many you can get. You can’t get more than twenty on page fifty-five, so that’s dead end. Go to twenty one with your haul.
Page 118, chapter 58: Mario, expert navigator, does the penny thing again.
Splits: page 60 (heads), page 16 (tails)
Path: from page 60, page 92, page 6
Puzzle solution: You want TAILS for page sixteen or you will loop harmlessly but endlessly.
Page 119, chapter 59: Plants slug each other while Mario saves toad. They conveniently find a magnifying glass.
Reward: one coin, magnifying glass
Splits: page 64
Path: from page 90
Optimal Path: here’s a direct path I came up with.
START: Page 1- page 4- page 34 (obtain mushroom)- page 68- page 102- page 79 (two coins)- page 114- page 53- page 116- page 21- page 90- page 119 (one coin, magnifying glass)- page 64- page 75- page 81 (use mushroom)- page 56 (twelve coins)- page 12- page 61- page 47- page 108- page 60- page 118- page 16- page 43- page 36- page 22- page 69 (two hundred-six coins) – END
Score is 221, not the highest (see score card).
Summary and conclusions: I have a lot to babble about here.. A very interesting book premise wise, but with a few issues. Bowser’s scheme, clones made of sand, I enjoy because it reads to me here as more ‘wacky’ than just plain dumb like a few other books unfortunately. The GLOM machine was effective when seen and its downfall is sort of obvious but works. It was wise to hide it until the end unlike, say, Monster Mix-Up (Book #3) where we see the Monster Mixer long before the climax, and there is no suspense with it. It’s too bad the way the clones act isn’t explored more aside from Luigi’s clone. The way most copies behave is indistinguishable from the original or generic baddies you meet. Aren’t these clones are under Bowser control? It’s a wasted opportunity when you remember that prominent figures like the King get cloned. (At least a much later book Brain Drain would properly explore your character needing to distinguish who has or hasn’t gotten their brains swapped. Similar principle.) Beyond a certain point in the book, Mario is doing typical adventure things and the clones hardly come up. I think they forgot or something. At least the action is nice here. Mario as a solo protagonist works here atypically, and his connections with other characters I like. The writing overall does not bore.
Structurally it feels open until you are in Fort Koopa, where Mario can encounter a lot of things depending on if you make him gun straight to the palace or explore the kingdom. There are legitimately different events you could experience and still win, which is great. Two key items in the story are the mushroom and the magnifying glass. The former has two pages that grant it, so that’s already better than some later books in the series, but also it actively can help in some puzzles. The magnifying glass is required, but multiple pages can give it to you, so there’s never any danger of losing because you don’t have it. The other two items are situational and that’s just fine. So, item focused? Maybe technically but it doesn’t feel like it. There are two soft resets in the book where Mario loses his memory and has to start back at a point, so that’s going to mess with our score a bit. Not a sin exclusive to here so I’ll let that go.
That brings us to the book’s overall difficulty. To a seasoned vet, you might catch the sophomoric aura here compared to later books. This tale’s ending does not require ANY items (except if a real life penny counts) and the book is extremely forgiving overall, with only a few options leading to game overs. Some pages are particularly egregious examples too. I think of this as a better and easier version of Dinosaur Dilemma (Book #12). There things were open and you could also explore or gun Mario to the ending sequence quickly. Unlike Double Trouble however, Dinosaur Dilemma will punish you harshly for not having needed items. Not an issue here!
Puzzles are overall meh for me. A couple were ambiguous, others were simple deciphering, and others of the pick something random and see what you get variety. At least it gave me the name of my ‘get a ruler’ puzzle category. To conclude, I have no personal connection to this book like some others. I think if I younger me read it along with Monster Mix-Up, Leaping Lizards, and Brain Drain, it might be a favorite, because there is good and light-hearted fun here. Decent overall for the introduction. 3.5/5
Item locations:
Mushroom: page 25, page 34
Hammer: page 34
Anchor: page 34
Magnifying glass: page 34, page 49, page 119
Puzzle analysis: There are eighteen puzzles, many of them mazes. There are seven ‘maze’ puzzles, four ‘decipher’, two ‘get a ruler’, one word search, one logic/decipher, one ‘get a ruler’/logic puzzles, and one ‘decipher’/’just a hint’.
Book Goals:
Does Mario rescue Luigi? You’d better! This means tussling with Roy on the doomship.
Does he fight the doubles? This is optional but very fun to do. You can do this after rescuing Luigi.
Does he get past the fire snakes and the chain chomp? Both of those are encountered simply by exploring. Not a bad effort at hints for the first book, if of a more ‘check these events out’ rather than the explicit ‘you need this route to get x item or x points’ of later books.
Edited: 3/2/20, 11/13/20, 11/14/21