Super Mario 64 1-2

Star #2 - 白熱 ノコノコレース >　はくねつ　ノコノコレース >　Hakunetsu Nokonoko Re-su　> White Hot Koopa Troopa Race

 

This level is called "Footrace with Koopa the Quick" in the English version. Even faster than you can outrun the giant turtle back to the mountaintop, let's divide this phrase into just two parts.

1. 白熱　> はくねつ > Hakunetsu > White Hot

The kanji for "White" (白　＞　はく　＞　Haku) and "Heat" (熱 ＞　ねつ　＞　Netsu) are combined to mean incandescence, or an equally intense sense of passion. At this point in the game, likely still getting used to the paradigm shift that is Mario 64, even a race against a friendly turtle seems engaging  enough to warrant the description of 'white hot'. These kanji are a bit more difficult to explain than the previous ones covered. 白 may represent either a white fingernail, or the white flesh of an acorn. Combining several kanji radicals (parts making up a Chinese character), 熱 may possibly represent a bent person (depicted: right) attempting to light some plants (depicted: left) on fire (depicted: bottom).

2. ノコノコレース > Nokonoko Race

Here's some more katakana. The long beloved Koopa Troopa is called ノコノコ (Nokonoko) in Japanese. The English word 'Race' has been converted into katakana as レース　(Re-su). The dash in the middle is used to indicate an elongation of the preceding sound, indicating the word should be pronounced more like "Reee-su".

Here's each katakana:

ノ = No コ = Ko ノ = No コ = Ko レ = Re ス = Su

These two parts of Stage 1-2's title add back to 白熱 ノコノコレース >　はくねつ　ノコノコレース >　Hakunetsu Nokonoko Re-su　> White Hot Koopa Troopa Race. Don't worry if you can't easily remember 熱 just yet. Remembering all those strokes is akin to scaling a mountain many times over.