Consumed with thoughts of how to exact his revenge, Jumpman concocted a plan to kidnap Mario. With Mario out of the picture, Miyamoto would surely consider Jumpman for a starring role in his next game. And if he didn't? Well, Nintendo would surely sink into financial ruin without a flagship mascot.

So as not to arouse suspicion of Jumpman's devious propensities, Jumpman couldn't execute the caper himself. After all, a real life villain would never be cast as a hero in Miyamoto game. With the diminutive Pixel impotent against the patented Mario butt stomp, who could Jumpman trust to execute his brilliant plan? Then one weekday afternoon, while watching his favorite afternoon cartoons, inspiration struck!

Jumpman would make his enemy's enemy his friend.

A villain kidnapping the hero instead of the princess? The idea was so preposterous that it might just work, thought Bowser. Jumpman had his stooge.

The plan was simple. So as to avoid any suspicion from Mario, Pixel would send a letter to Luigi Mario notifying him that he's won a mansion. Excited to win a contest he never even entered, Luigi would undoubtedly call his brother to show off his newfound riches. And when the always punctual Mario arrived, Bowser would simply trap Mario inside the frame of a magical Dali. In the world of villainry, the plan was perfect. It involved numerous variables and contingencies completely dependent upon the presumed actions of third parties. And when the Mario Brothers turned out to be just as gullible as Pixel suspected, Mario unwittingly found himself trapped in a world of melting clocks and elephants on stilts.

For Bowser, with Mario out of the way, Princess Peach would have no choice but to marry the lizard king and birth scores of humanoid lizards (think V). And for Jumpman, the disposal of Mario would set off a chain reaction culminating in either Jumpman's meteoric rise to glory or Nintendo's immediate collapse. There was one factor that neither Bowser nor Jumpman considered: Luigi Mario.

The plan was originally to have Bowser guard the kidnapped Mario until Luigi arrived to the scene. The task seemed simple enough. With Mario trapped inside a painting, standing guard was as easy as beating Cheatum left-handed in Dev Kit. But Bowser quickly bored of King Boo's company - he craved action and destruction. Just when his ADD was kicking into overdrive, Bowser suddenly remembered an invitation from Mr. Sandman for a diabolical slumber party. Sarken, Dr. Robotnik, Ocelot, Sephiroth, Kraid, Gannon - only the A-list villains would be there. And as reigning champion of the annual evil-doer Twister smackdown (Bowser's spiny shell gave him the advantage), Bowser just had to go. One problem. Bowser and King Boo both wanted to party but only one could go. After all, someone needed to guard Mario and capture Luigi upon arrival. What to do, what to do?

Bowser did what any villain in a pickle would - he challenged King Boo to a game of high stakes Strawberry Shortcake DDR. Winner goes to the party, loser must stay behind and guard Mario and deal with the spineless Luigi. Soon after accepting the challenge, however, King Boo realized that he'd been scammed! With no legs and in a constant state of midair suspension, ghosts can't DDR. While King Boo called shenanigans, Bowser quickly countered by reminding King Boo that villains cannot call shenanigans since villains are by definition shenaniganners.

So while Bowser enjoyed a night of boisterous Twister drunk off power ups, King Boo was left to his own device. And what a device he found to possess....

Continue reading Part 3.