Super Mario Arabian Nights

Super Mario Arabian Nights is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. A spin-off to the Super Mario series, and follows Mario's quest to stop an evil genie named the Mr. Djinn. In addition to the basic platforming gameplay of previous Mario titles, Super Mario Arabian Nights uses a system of experience points and levels, as well as special moves that are unlocked via levelling up.

Gameplay
Super Mario Arabian Nights is a three-dimensional platform and action game. Mario, the series' main character, is the game's only player character. He is controlled exclusively with the Wii Remote, which is held horizontally like a traditional gamepad.

Like in other games in the series, Mario collects coins scattered throughout levels and Mario dies if he loses all three hearts. Unlike previous titles, Super Mario Arabian Nights does not feature a life counter or game over screen, but instead Mario reappears at the last visited checkpoint after dying, although the player will have to restart a mission if they fail a specified objective. The game contains 100 missions (including boss battles) over the course of eight levels. New missions, cutscenes, and sometimes new levels are unlocked by completing missions. Successful missions earn Mario experience points, which advance him levels.

Mario has 104 special moves called "skills" that are unlocked upon levelling up or reaching certain points in the story. The player can distribute these skills to four "Skill Rings", which the player selects before starting a mission. Skills can provide Mario with improved movement, offensive, and defensive capabilities, as well as special attacks. Skills are generally used by depleting the "Soul Gauge", which is slowly filled by collecting pearls scattered throughout the levels. Notable skills Mario can obtain are the "Air Break", which greatly increases his jump heights, and "Time Break" which slows down time, allowing the player to dodge obstacles more easily.

Super Mario Arabian Nights features three game modes: "Adventure", "Party", and "Special Book". The story is played in the Adventure mode. The Party mode features multiplayer gameplay for up to four players simultaneously, in which players spar in a turn-based tournament of motion control-based minigames. The "Special Book" mode displays the game's 225 unlockable bonuses, won by completing levels quickly and collecting "Fire Souls"—small fiery objects scattered throughout the levels. These bonuses are development documentaries, interviews, concept art, in-game cutscenes, and game music.

Characters
Mario is the game's protagonist, and his sidekick throughout the game is Princess Sahara, "Genie of the Ring". Their enemy is Mr. Djinn, a genie who aspires to erase the entirety of the Arabian Nights book. He was once the Genie of the Lamp from the story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, who was punished for misdeeds and imprisoned in his lamp until he granted the wishes of one thousand people. Mr. Djinn did so, gaining a renewed hatred of humanity and deciding to take over the world. Several Super Mario series characters appear in the form of figures from Arabian Nights, such as Luigi as Ali Baba, Wario as Sinbad the Sailor, and Bowser as Shahryār. Though Sonic recognizes them as old acquaintances, they do not recognize him, and Sahara insists that Mario's perception is mistaken.

Story
After reading the Arabian Nights, Mario falls asleep, only to be awoken by Sahara. She explains that Mr. Djinn is erasing the pages of the Arabian Nights and asks Mario to help her, to which he agrees. He dons a ring that makes him Sahara's master and grants him the ability to ask for any wishes within her power; he then enters the book. Mario and Sahara encounter Mr. Djinn inside; he tells them of his intent to search for seven artefacts called the World Stars, which Sahara claims do not exist. Mr. Djinn shoots an arrow of fire at Sahara, but Mario takes it for her. Mr. Djinn opportunistically tells Mario that he will remove the arrow if Mario gathers the World Stars for him. If Mario does not do so before the flame goes out, his "life is forfeit". Mario and Sahara embark on a quest to retrieve the World Stars. Over the course of this quest, they learn that whoever collects the stars must be sacrificed to create a link between the Arabian Nights world and the real world. Elsewhere in the quest, Sahara gives Mario The Genie's Lamp to use as a last resort.

Mario manages to obtain the World Stars, and Mr. Djinn convinces Sahara to give them to him. To try to keep them out of Mr. Djinn's hands, Mario wishes for Sahara to do what she truly thinks is right, and she collapses on the ground as her mind cracks due to her conflicting emotions. Mr. Djinn attempts to sacrifice Mario in order to open the gateway between worlds, but in a move of altruistic suicide, Sahara interrupts the attack, saving Mario and asking for his forgiveness before dying in his arms. Without Mario as the proper offering, Mr. Djinn mutates into the monstrous Alf Layla wa-Layla, now intent on remaking the Arabian Nights in his image before moving on to Mario's world. Mario absorbs three of the World Stars, granting him the power to defeat Alf Layla wa-Layla, but Mr. Djinn subsequently boasts that he is immortal and will always return. Mario then reveals that he possesses Mr. Djinn's lamp, and wishes for Mr. Djinn to bring Sahara back to life, restore the book to its original state, and be trapped in his lamp for all eternity. Mr. Djinn refuses to do so, but is helpless against the power of his lamp. After granting the third wish, Mr. Djinn pleads for Sahara to stop Mario and save him, but she refuses, leaving him to be sucked into his lamp. Sahara then bursts into tears, and Mario wishes for a mountain of handkerchiefs to help her through her crying. Mario then disposes of the lamp in a pit of lava in a previously explored level. Mario runs through the book until he finds a way home. Sahara states that his story will be forever remembered in the pages of the Arabian Nights, and the credits roll. An image of the title of "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp" in the book then changes to "Mario and the Genie's Lamp".