Title - Fighting Mario
System - Nintendo Family BASIC V3
Author - Shuhei Inaoka
Publication - Micom Basic (マイコンBASIC) March 1986
Preserved by - ximwix

Files:

notes.txt - The file you're reading now (wow!)
Fighting Mario (Shuhei Inaoka).nes - Game converted to standalone NES rom
fighting-mario-prg.txt - The typed-up program listing
fighting-mario-prg.wav - WAVE file of the program listing, for playback to hardware
fighting-mario-prg.vtp - Virtuanes tape file of the program listing
fighting-mario-prg.fbt - Mesen tape file of the program listing
scan1.jpg - A scan of the program overview from Micom Basic
scan2.jpg - A scan of the program listing from Micom Basic
screenshot1.png - Title Screen screenshot
screenshot2.png - Gameplay screenshot

Notes:

(1)
Line 40 almost certainly ends with a bug:

IF(Q)*(XPOS(0)<X)THEN E=3

Q is always zero, so this condition is always false.  I have changed this to be what I believe it is intended to be:

IF(XPOS(Q)<X)THEN E=3

I left the original line as a comment in the fighting-mario-prg.txt file.

Game Instructions:

Fighting Mario would maybe best be described as a fighting game, but that is kind of a stretch.  The objective is to take on three different opponents as you climb your way to the top of the screen.  You move Mario around using left and right on the d-pad, and jump with the "A" button.  The game is pretty choppy, but you are able to change Mario's direction mid-jump.

You can damage the enemy by colliding into them, but they also damage Mario by colliding into him.  Each of the three enemies has a particular way that you must collide with them for Mario to cause them damage, so the game is really about figuring out those weaknesses and then exploiting them without taking damage yourself.

For the first two enemies, after you defeat them, a door will appear and you need to walk into it to complete the fight.  The third enemy's fight takes place on a separate screen.  If you somehow manage to win this fight, then you need to walk over to the yellow tile in the floor and press down on the d-pad to complete the fight.

There are hidden power-ups on each stage, which turn Mario a different color grant additional health, speed, and possibly other benefits.

The game can be paused and unpaused using the Start button.  

If you manage to defeat all three enemies, then the game loops with the same enemies but increased difficulty.  The continue function on the title screen lets you continue on the last "loop" that you made it to.

Cheats:

The "PO" variable is Mario's health, so you can change this to give yourself an advantage.  For example, on line 15 you could change "PO=2" to "PO=255" to give Mario a lot of extra health.  Or on line 52, you could change "PO=PO-1" to "PO=PO-0" to prevent Mario from losing health altogether.