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Hotel Mario - Special Day Messages

The Philips CD-i keeps track of real time and saves game/system data using the same chip; a M48T08 Timekeeper RAM chip with an internal lithium battery.
(It also causes major problems for anyone who owns a CD-i, but that's beside the point.)

Thanks to this chip, the console can keep track of any date and time between January 1st, 1989 and December 31st, 2088. As far as I am aware, very few CD-i games use the console's timekeeping abilities for anything cool.
But Hotel Mario does, and it uses the current month and day to replace the "HERE WE GO!"/"CHAUD DEVANT!" text before each Hotel with a different message. Almost all of these celebrate some sort of holiday, whether it's Christmas, Father's Day, or anything in-between.

The English and French versions of Hotel Mario have unique message lists that correspond to holidays celebrated in their regions (specifically the US for English and France for French). These special messages do not trigger on a single day, however. Almost all of them appear during a pre-defined range of days, with some messages lasting almost an entire month and others lasting only a few days. Only three messages are tied to a single month and day.
Furthermore, all of these ranges are fixed, and do not adjust to match the distribution of days within a month/year. This affects holidays that fall on specific days of the week, like Thanksgiving.

Oh, and before you ask, these messages do not appear in the v0.09 prototype.

Sections:

English Messages -- French Messages

English Messages

Day Message Meaning
January 1 to 5 HAPPY NEW YEAR! New Year's Day (January 1).
February 12 to 14 HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! Valentine's Day (February 14).
February 17 ITS HOLLIES BIRTHDAY! Hollie S. Lohff is the game's Play Consultant.
She playtested the game and is the reason
why Mario and Luigi can jump in it. Yes, really.
May 7 to 9 DO NOT FORGET MOTHERS DAY! Mother's Day is on the second Sunday of May.
Some of the English holidays appear to be
set based on their 1994 date.
(Mother's Day would've been May 8.)
May 10 to 30 SCHOOLS ALMOST OUT! Schools typically start summer vacation
at the end of May (if not a bit later).
June 17 to 20 HAPPY FATHERS DAY! Father's Day is on the third Sunday of June.
In 1994, Father's Day would have been on
June 19.
July 1 to 4 HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! United States' Independence Day (July 4).
August 15 to 31 READY TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL? Schools typically start up at the end of
August (if not a bit later).
October 29 to 31 BOOOOOOOOO!!! Halloween (October 31).
November 17 to 25 HAPPY TURKEY DAY! GOBBLE GOBBLE! Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday of
November. In 1994, this would have been
November 24.
December 11 to 26 HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Various winter holidays are in this range,
including Christmas (December 24/25).
December 27 to 31 HAPPY NEW YEAR! New Year's Eve (December 31).

French Messages

Day Message Translation Meaning
January 1 to 5 BONNE ANNEE ! HAPPY NEW YEAR ! New Year's Day (January 1).
January 8 ALLONS CHERCHER LA FEVE ! LET'S LOOK FOR THE TRINKET ! Refers to galette des rois (king cake), a
treat eaten on Epiphany (January 6) that
has a fève (trinket) baked inside.
February 12 to 14 C' EST LA SAINT VALENTIN ! IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY ! Valentine's Day (February 14).
February 25 to 28 ON SE DEGUISERA
POUR LE MARDI-GRAS !		 WE'LL BE DRESSING
UP FOR MARDI-GRAS !		 Mardi Gras occurs on the day before Ash
Wednesday. Several of the French holidays
are set according to their 1995 date.
(Mardi Gras would've been February 28)
April 14 to 17 OU SONT CACHES LES OEUFS ? WHERE ARE THE EGGS HIDDEN ? Easter Sunday happens on the first Sunday
after the first full moon of Spring. In 1995,
this would've been April 16.
May 1 to 19
May 29 to 31		 L' ECOLE EST BIENTOT FINIE ! SCHOOL'S ALMOST OVER ! In France, schools get out in late June,
so this message is still correct. Its range is
split due to the next message.
May 20 to 28 BONNE FETE MAMAN ! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM ! In France, Mother's Day occurs on the
last Sunday of May. In 1995, this
would've been May 28.
June 17 to 20 BONNE FETE PAPA ! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD ! Father's Day in France is on the third
Sunday of June, like the United States'
version. (In 1995, it was June 18.)
July 14 ALLONS ENFANT
DE LA PATRIIIIEEE !!		 ARISE CHILDREN
OF THE FATHERLAAAAND !!		 Bastille Day (July 14). The message is
taken from the first line of "La Marseillaise",
France's national anthem.
August 15 to 31 PREPAREZ VOS CARTABLES ! PREPARE YOUR SCHOOLBAGS ! In France, schools start up at the start
of September.
December 1 to 26 JOYEUX NOEL ! MERRY CHRISTMAS ! Christmas (December 24/25).
December 27 to 31 BONNE ANNEE ! HAPPY NEW YEAR ! New Year's Eve (December 31).
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Last updated: March 25th, 2026.