The Nintendo Comics System was a series of comic books published by Valiant Comics in 1990 and 1991. It was part of a licensing deal with Nintendo, featuring characters from their video games and the cartoons based off of them. Due to poor sales the comics were cancelled near the end of 1991.

The Comics

Valiant's Super Mario Bros. comic books were based on the three main Mario games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, as well as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. It featured the five main characters from the games and cartoon - Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, and Bowser. (Oddly enough, Bowser was drawn in the style of the cartoons, but was called Bowser several times.) Wart (the main villain from Super Mario Bros. 2), the Koopalings, and the Viruses from Dr. Mario also made appearances infrequently. New characters were also made for these comics. The first one to be introduced was Stanley the Talking Fish, an annoying fish who often pestered Mario about his dating problems. Among his girlfriends were Barbara the Bush, Bertha the Boss Bass, and Smookers the Jelectro. Also among the new characters was King Toadstool, Peach's brainless father who did stupid things frequently. Then there was his advisor, Wooster, who knew just how mutton-headed the King was. One particular character created for the comics was Dirk Drain-Head, a comic book superhero favored by Mario and all of Bowser's minions, and hated by all the other good guys. Oddly enough, Dirk looked just like Luigi. Mario's line was renewed for 1991, when he had two different books - "Super Mario Bros." and "Adventures of the Super Mario Bros."

The stand-alone Game Boy comic books, despite having that title, were based on just Super Mario Land, since it was the only Game Boy adventure game around at the time. It ended at four issues. The stories featured an exclusive character named Herman Smirch, who was a quasi-hero of the storyline. He was an ill-willed character whom Tatanga the Mysterious Spaceman, the villain of that game, could easily hypnotize into doing his bidding, despite that deep down inside, Smirch wasn't really a bad guy.

The Legend of Zelda was based off of the two Zelda games released on the NES, as well as the animated segments featured on Mario's cartoon.

Captain N: The Game Master was based on the animated series of the same name, but with some major differences. All third-party characters were dropped, but the characters made for the show (Kevin Keene, Princess Lana, Duke, and King Charles), as well as Pit, remained. Simon Belmont and Mega Man were appropriately replaced by Samus Aran, the Metroid heroine who had not appeared in the cartoon, and Mother Brain's second-in-command became Uranos, the demigod from Kid Icarus. For unexplained reasons, Pit's toga was bleached yellow, and in most of the stories, Lana's dress was purple. However, she has a weapon - the scepter she had in concept art, but never featured on the show. Unfortunately, some of the game-relation mistakes on the show (i.e. Metroid being a place, King Hippo being blue) remained in the comics.

Metroid and Punch-Out!! appeared as stories in the graphic novel-like issues, and never had their own books.

Story Lists

Note: Short stories are one or two pages. Long stories are four pages or longer.

Super Mario Bros.

Short Stories

• The Legend
• Koopa's Health & Beauty Tips
• Dear Princess Toadstool (A)
• Public Service Announcement
• The Mario Bros. Guide To Grooming Your Moustache
• Dear Princess Toadstool (B)
• Koopa's Believe It Or Else!
• Dear Princess Toadstool (C)
• Mario Bros. Museum Of Plumbing (A)
• Koopa's High School Yearbook
• Fryguy High Yearbook - Activity Page!
• Mario Bros. Museum Of Plumbing (B)
• Family Album: The Early Years
• Advertisement: Koopa Kola
• In The Swim! Fun And Sun Fashions
• Advertisement: Klub Koopa
• Advertisement: Koopatone
• Family Album: Summer Camp
• Throne Out
• Weight Up
• Kitchen Kraziness
• Toad's House

Long Stories

• The Fish That Should've Gotten Away
• Mutiny on the Fungi
• A Mouser in the Houser
• Just Deserts
• The Adventures of Dirk Drain-Head
• You Again?
• Piranha Round-Sue
• Cloud Nine
• Magic Carpet Madness
• The Kingdom Enquirer
• Bedtime For Drain-Head
• Love Flounders
• Betrayal Most Proper
• Beauty and the Beach
• Fins and Roses
• Duh Stoopid Bomb!
• Cloud Burst
• The Buddy System
• It's Always Fair Weather
• Elect Mario For Man of the Year
• The Revenge of Pipe Ooze!
• Minor Defects
• The Doctor Is In... Over His Head
• Bowser Knows Best!
• Tanooki Suits Me

Game Boy

Short Stories

• International Enquisitor (A)
• International Enquisitor (B)
• International Enquisitor (C)

Long Stories

• In the Palm of Your Hand...
• It's A Small World After All
• Team Play
• Pipes Is Pipes

The Legend of Zelda

Short Stories

Long Stories

• Assault / Choices
• Missing in Action
• Trust Me
• He Also Serves
• Thief in the Night
• The Power / The Price
• To the First Power
• Queen of Hearts
• Prologue
• Map of Hyrule
• Map of North Castle
• Zelda's Consumer Tips
• Secrets of the Triforce
• The Perfect Date
• Impa's Info
• The Adventurer Link
• The Compleat Hero
• The Legendary Zelda

Captain N: The Game Master

Short Stories

• Welcome to VideoLand
• Every Dog Has His Day
• Villains' Do's And Don'ts
• The Item
• The Fabulous Powers of Captain N
• Video-Town
• Secrets of the Warp Zones
• VideoLand Guidebook: Prisonworld

Long Stories

• All's Well That Ends Swell
• The Fruit and Vegetable War
• Money Changes Everything
• The Happy Zone
• Just a Dog
• The Master Machine
• Nervous Meltdown
• A Dog's Life
• The Real Game Master
• Breakout
• A King of Shreds and Patches
• When Friends Fall Out

Metroid

Short Stories

• The Coming of a Hero
• Metroid

Long Stories

• Deciet Du Jour

Punch-Out!!

Short Stories

• The First Fight

Long Stories

• Outsiders
• Fox and Hounds

Nintendo Comics After Valiant

Ironically, the cancellation of the Nintendo Comics System was not the end of Nintendo comics in general. Nintendo's characters would appear in several more comics in the coming years.