This is long over due... I know.
Some of you may remember a week ago, about Mario Day, well it was just a Saturday except celebrating Mario for the dumbest reason ever... Because March 10, exactly cause star wars days is May 4. Anyway while you think about that, the day wasn't all bad. A twitch channel was broadcasting Super Mario Cartoons that day, there is a total of 3 that was made years ago produced by DIC Entertainment.
This show was the first to be produced. It combines live actors action segments Lou Albano and Danny Wells playing Mario & Luigi working at their basement workshop in Brooklyn New York, every episode they get a visitor by a celebrity and get into various antics with them. The show aired five days a week, every Friday would be Legend of Zelda cartoon instead of Mario. This part was nothing more than to sandwich the cartoons with poorly scripted humor and shenanigans. These segments lead up to the cartoons (Which I'm sure was the reason why everyone watched in the first place.) Mario & Luigi was also voiced by those two.
When you actually get to the cartoon, you will find somethings potentially worth watching. The general story here is that Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool (Peach) and Toad travel across different lands, in attempts to stop King Koopa (Bowser) from trying to cause trouble, with help from enemies from Super Mario bros 2 like Mousers, Fryguy, Tryclide, Pidgets, and any other enemies, there is no Wart at all, while this show doesn't really put emphasis on the first game, some enemies from it shows up but not as often or prominent. The thing that made this unique is that each episode would try to parody another form of media, including Godzilla, Hercules, Merlin, star wars and more, but also sometimes the story would feature their own unique plot.
One thing I find funny about the cartoons is the use of the video game sound effects during the show. Also the shows theme features two parts of a lyrical rap, and the cartoon's music has arrangements... or remixes (which ever you wanna call it) of the music from the games. Basically this show takes elements from the first 2 games and uses them in various ways to make the show last as long as it did.
This is the second series produced by DIC Entertainment. Obviously this is based on what could be considered everyone's favorite Nes game of all time, Super Mario Bros 3. This had total of 26 episodes, each one was aired Saturday morning in pairs of 2. This has no live segments so is all in for the cartoons, straight to the point which is good! It features the same plot of Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool (Peach) trying to stop King Koopa and his minions from trying to cause trouble. At various times, they would travel between Mushroom Land and the fictional Real world (Still animated like a cartoon, not live actors) all to stop them from their silly desires, which lead to one more known episodes featuring performers Milli Vanilli.
This show features the 7 Koopalings from the game, but instead they are King Koopa's children. Remember, this was produced at the time where the writers didn't have enough of the official information about the game to give them the accurate depiction they was meant to have originally. This also lead to each of them having silly names that explains their personality.
This is the third and last of the 3 cartoons made by DIC. There is a total of 13 episodes which half was shared in a half our time slot with last season of Captain N and the Game Masters before ending. It was program block called "Captain N and the New Super Mario World" Which is another cartoon based on NES games which I may discuss later.
Obviously this one was based on Super Mario World, and I say that with the most sarcasm I possibly can cause it's almost a constant reminder that it hardly is worthy of the title it represents. This one went way too far in my opinion. This show focuses on Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool (Peach) and Yoshi in Dinosaur land just like the game, but with one huge plot twist. They are specifically in Dome City, a place where prehistoric cavemen people live. "Did that happen in the game?" Toad is gone, instead there is Oogtar the caveboy, but when did the Mario Bros cross over into Chuck Rock or Bonk's Adventure!?
The show features the same formula plot as the previous ones. King Koopa and his koopalings (Who are all still using the same name as the previous cartoon) are causing problems in Dome City for the cave people and the Mario Bros. to help. This is all during their vacation I assume. (If you play super Mario advance 2, the game shows a opening cinematic of the story before playing) This show tends to focus on teaching viewers a life lesson rather than entertaining the viewers or sticking to the source material presented to them. Sure it features many of the enemies and even the cape power up from the game, but it just went too far. Do I have to remind you there was no cave people in the game? Most of the episodes are hardly about trying to stop Koopa from doing something harmful and when it is, it's usually a lesson to learn, introducing new concepts like the telephone to cave people turns them into phone addicts, Koopa owning a restaurant turns them into obese junkies. Oh, and this show also has musical songs in every episode.
Yes I know stuff like that happens in real life but this just isn't the type of show that should focus on those things. It's a show based on a video game, and it should be entertaining not a learning experience for children. Sure the Sonic cartoon also on around the same time did teach people lessons, but it wasn't a whole episode dedicated to it, it was just a short portion at the end of every episode, like He-man and She-ra. Other than the confusing story decisions, this show might easily be the worst of the 3.
In the end, the shows was something to watch back in the day, it help boost the increasing popularity of the games in the early start of it's life. There was some good decisions and bad ones. Video game sound effects and music arrangements based on the game, good. The first one using parodies was not bad and included some original stuff too. The second one as mentioned, constant use of Mario Bros. "Real World" travel through warp pipes, the constant singing songs. When did video game cartoons focus on songs or better yet, when did they have time to write and perform all of them for a show airing on weekly basis? And the third one having a very different direction all together. Is all interesting, like a trip into the past.
But you know what, I learned something. Maybe the writers didn't really know what kind of show to make based on a video game, let alone one from Japan, probably something unfamiliar to them at the time. It was probably just as much of a challenge for them than it was for play these games. Also it would have probably been boring to have them be too precise with the source material to be anything entertaining or worth watching cause we would have seen all of it before playing the game. After the first series, they slowly got burned out over time producing more content that it just got a bit too simple and less original. They probably worked hard on this like any other new challenge and being fair, there is worst media based on video games than these three. It stopped while it could have gotten worst, perhaps new ones will show up soon and will be better.
Some of you may remember a week ago, about Mario Day, well it was just a Saturday except celebrating Mario for the dumbest reason ever... Because March 10, exactly cause star wars days is May 4. Anyway while you think about that, the day wasn't all bad. A twitch channel was broadcasting Super Mario Cartoons that day, there is a total of 3 that was made years ago produced by DIC Entertainment.
- Super Mario Bros. Super Show
- The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
- The New Super Mario World
Super Mario Bros. Super Show
This show was the first to be produced. It combines live actors action segments Lou Albano and Danny Wells playing Mario & Luigi working at their basement workshop in Brooklyn New York, every episode they get a visitor by a celebrity and get into various antics with them. The show aired five days a week, every Friday would be Legend of Zelda cartoon instead of Mario. This part was nothing more than to sandwich the cartoons with poorly scripted humor and shenanigans. These segments lead up to the cartoons (Which I'm sure was the reason why everyone watched in the first place.) Mario & Luigi was also voiced by those two.
When you actually get to the cartoon, you will find somethings potentially worth watching. The general story here is that Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool (Peach) and Toad travel across different lands, in attempts to stop King Koopa (Bowser) from trying to cause trouble, with help from enemies from Super Mario bros 2 like Mousers, Fryguy, Tryclide, Pidgets, and any other enemies, there is no Wart at all, while this show doesn't really put emphasis on the first game, some enemies from it shows up but not as often or prominent. The thing that made this unique is that each episode would try to parody another form of media, including Godzilla, Hercules, Merlin, star wars and more, but also sometimes the story would feature their own unique plot.
One thing I find funny about the cartoons is the use of the video game sound effects during the show. Also the shows theme features two parts of a lyrical rap, and the cartoon's music has arrangements... or remixes (which ever you wanna call it) of the music from the games. Basically this show takes elements from the first 2 games and uses them in various ways to make the show last as long as it did.
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
This is the second series produced by DIC Entertainment. Obviously this is based on what could be considered everyone's favorite Nes game of all time, Super Mario Bros 3. This had total of 26 episodes, each one was aired Saturday morning in pairs of 2. This has no live segments so is all in for the cartoons, straight to the point which is good! It features the same plot of Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool (Peach) trying to stop King Koopa and his minions from trying to cause trouble. At various times, they would travel between Mushroom Land and the fictional Real world (Still animated like a cartoon, not live actors) all to stop them from their silly desires, which lead to one more known episodes featuring performers Milli Vanilli.
This show features the 7 Koopalings from the game, but instead they are King Koopa's children. Remember, this was produced at the time where the writers didn't have enough of the official information about the game to give them the accurate depiction they was meant to have originally. This also lead to each of them having silly names that explains their personality.
- Larry > Cheatsy (doesn't play fair)
- Morton > Big Mouth (talks way too much to many lose patience)
- Wendy > Kootie Pie (spoiled brat who whines when she doesn't get her way)
- Roy > Bully (very brute offender to anyone in his way)
- Ludwig > Kooky (very experimental on his projects like mad scientist)
- Lemmy > Hip (Twin Brother of Hop acting in unison)
- Iggy > Hop (Twin Brother of Hip acting in unison)
Super Mario World
This is the third and last of the 3 cartoons made by DIC. There is a total of 13 episodes which half was shared in a half our time slot with last season of Captain N and the Game Masters before ending. It was program block called "Captain N and the New Super Mario World" Which is another cartoon based on NES games which I may discuss later.
Obviously this one was based on Super Mario World, and I say that with the most sarcasm I possibly can cause it's almost a constant reminder that it hardly is worthy of the title it represents. This one went way too far in my opinion. This show focuses on Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool (Peach) and Yoshi in Dinosaur land just like the game, but with one huge plot twist. They are specifically in Dome City, a place where prehistoric cavemen people live. "Did that happen in the game?" Toad is gone, instead there is Oogtar the caveboy, but when did the Mario Bros cross over into Chuck Rock or Bonk's Adventure!?
The show features the same formula plot as the previous ones. King Koopa and his koopalings (Who are all still using the same name as the previous cartoon) are causing problems in Dome City for the cave people and the Mario Bros. to help. This is all during their vacation I assume. (If you play super Mario advance 2, the game shows a opening cinematic of the story before playing) This show tends to focus on teaching viewers a life lesson rather than entertaining the viewers or sticking to the source material presented to them. Sure it features many of the enemies and even the cape power up from the game, but it just went too far. Do I have to remind you there was no cave people in the game? Most of the episodes are hardly about trying to stop Koopa from doing something harmful and when it is, it's usually a lesson to learn, introducing new concepts like the telephone to cave people turns them into phone addicts, Koopa owning a restaurant turns them into obese junkies. Oh, and this show also has musical songs in every episode.
Yes I know stuff like that happens in real life but this just isn't the type of show that should focus on those things. It's a show based on a video game, and it should be entertaining not a learning experience for children. Sure the Sonic cartoon also on around the same time did teach people lessons, but it wasn't a whole episode dedicated to it, it was just a short portion at the end of every episode, like He-man and She-ra. Other than the confusing story decisions, this show might easily be the worst of the 3.
Closing
In the end, the shows was something to watch back in the day, it help boost the increasing popularity of the games in the early start of it's life. There was some good decisions and bad ones. Video game sound effects and music arrangements based on the game, good. The first one using parodies was not bad and included some original stuff too. The second one as mentioned, constant use of Mario Bros. "Real World" travel through warp pipes, the constant singing songs. When did video game cartoons focus on songs or better yet, when did they have time to write and perform all of them for a show airing on weekly basis? And the third one having a very different direction all together. Is all interesting, like a trip into the past.
But you know what, I learned something. Maybe the writers didn't really know what kind of show to make based on a video game, let alone one from Japan, probably something unfamiliar to them at the time. It was probably just as much of a challenge for them than it was for play these games. Also it would have probably been boring to have them be too precise with the source material to be anything entertaining or worth watching cause we would have seen all of it before playing the game. After the first series, they slowly got burned out over time producing more content that it just got a bit too simple and less original. They probably worked hard on this like any other new challenge and being fair, there is worst media based on video games than these three. It stopped while it could have gotten worst, perhaps new ones will show up soon and will be better.
