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View Full Version : The day Mario went missing.


vulcanjedi
05-27-2005, 10:20 AM
Greetings

A story leading up to a question.

Back in 1991 I was working part time in a Babbages at the King Of Prussia Mall in PA. On night the manager noticed the little 4 foot high Mario statue that stood at the entrance was missing and called security. One of the 2 security guards saw a guy walking out the service entrance with it and he dropped it and took off. He decided not to chase the guy because there was a group of kids that went to look at Mario. Only a minor chip off one side of his hat.

Two weeks later one of the same Mario statues was nabbed at the Willow Grove Mall and a guard was able to get a description of the car. To our surprise, and I'm sure also to the guy with the Mario in his front seat next to him, he was nabbed by state police on the PA turnpike a few minutes later.

They had them all bolted to the floor after that. But people were always offering money for them. Guys would always say I'll give you $500 for that. One guy that bought a Neo Geo and all the carts we had for it said he would buy it for a $1000. Never happened though I know the assistant manager probably thought about it a few times.

Anyway, anybody ever see these up for auction or for sale anywhere? I wonder where they got to after Babbages closed...

VJ
Richter
05-27-2005, 05:38 PM
at mine someone offered $1000. Must have went through since i no longer see it
MarioAllStar2600
05-27-2005, 07:16 PM
I see them on often every couple of months. They catch a nice chunk of change usually 500-700...... but then shipping or picking up is expensive.
evildead2099
05-27-2005, 07:17 PM
The only thing I'll say is that Mario Is Missing was a sorry excuse for a game.
PDorr3
05-27-2005, 07:25 PM
I have seen them on ebay, and they do fetch atleast 500, and like marty said, the shipping on them adds a ton more onto the final cost, but they are usualy local pickup.
Zadoc
05-28-2005, 05:43 AM
That's funny. I used to work at Babbage's #132 and someone nabbed our Mario statue, but we didn't even notice until the next day.
Jasoco
05-28-2005, 07:25 AM
Wow, that's pretty close to me.

Damn, I haven't seen a Mario statue in years. I really wish I had one though... don't know where I'd put it, though.
Brisco
05-28-2005, 11:50 AM
In my area, right after Gamestop bought Funcoland, the new Gamestop District Manager himself tried to steal our local Mario statue. When questioned, he told the LP guys that "He was just moving it to a better area", which turned out to be his house. Needless to say, he was fired for this, among other things.
GamerNerd
05-28-2005, 01:13 PM
Hey, I played Mario is Missing & beaten it the same day I got it for Xmas. Forgive me for being off-topic.
MarioAllStar2600
05-28-2005, 07:48 PM
Hey, I played Mario is Missing & beaten it the same day I got it for Xmas. Forgive me for being off-topic.

Oh man, your my hero! x_x

On a different note.... How do you steal one of these things and not get caught, unless your working there and closing? You guys are all telling storys of these things getting robbed which seems quite comical to me.
qbertandernie
05-28-2005, 11:56 PM
ive got (what i beleive to be) a similar statue, but its of Tails. mine was simply given away when the store took it down, and went to a lesser manager than the mario one went to.
TeddyRuxpin
05-30-2005, 12:04 AM
The Toys R Us here still has such Mario and Tails statues up.
Richter Belmount
05-30-2005, 01:22 AM
thats a little creepy >.> there was one at my old best buy though.
vulcanjedi
05-31-2005, 02:12 PM
Hey, I played Mario is Missing & beaten it the same day I got it for Xmas. Forgive me for being off-topic.

Oh man, your my hero! x_x

On a different note.... How do you steal one of these things and not get caught, unless your working there and closing? You guys are all telling storys of these things getting robbed which seems quite comical to me.

Actually

I just got mario is missing for the SNES which is what prompted my memory of the statues.

The two I knew of did get caught. The second one was a shock because I can't imagine the guy in his car thinking a cop would actually catch him on the turnpike. And then having the cop flying down the turnpike looking for a stolen mario. And what if he ran from the cops :) Would that make great helicopter footage. A bright red and blue Mario on someones front seat.

Ah yes, I can imagine a hostage sequence here too :)

VJ