DiC Mario Cartoons

[LeotheLateBloomer]

A lot of us grew up with DiC's Mario cartoons; The Super Mario Bros Super Show, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3, and Super Mario World. What were some of your fondest memories with those cartoons and do you ever go back to them?

The strangest think about them were how the Koopalings had different names in the cartoons than they did in the games. To be honest, they're what keep me entertained about the latter two shows and likely enhanced my love for them, both cartoons and games.

[CyberCubed]

They were fun in a dated 80's cartoon kind of way, and I remember watching them as a kid. I wouldn't go back and watch them now though, although I have watched some youtube clips of various parts of it over the years.

[ZariusTwo]

I remember really disliking Mario World when it aired, fortunately Youtube Poops have redeemed it for me.

Mario 3 was probably the best season they did.

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by LeotheLateBloomer

A lot of us grew up with DiC's Mario cartoons; The Super Mario Bros Super Show, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3, and Super Mario World. What were some of your fondest memories with those cartoons and do you ever go back to them?

The strangest think about them were how the Koopalings had different names in the cartoons than they did in the games. To be honest, they're what keep me entertained about the latter two shows and likely enhanced my love for them, both cartoons and games.

It was recently establish that the Koopalings are not Bowser's kids.

[Wesley]

To be honest, I don't remember much about those cartoons. I remember watching a few episodes of one of the cartoons when I was a kid (can't remember which one it was) on videotape and liked them. I watched some episodes of all three shows on the tv channel Pop nearly a decade ago and thought they were fun to watch in a "so bad, they're good" sort of way.

[Powder]

Love it. Watched it a lot as a kid, & have several DVD's of it as an adult.

[TigerClaw]

You can get all episodes of the Super Mario Bros Super Show on DVD.
https://www.amazon.com/Super-Mario-B...+show+complete

All the episodes of Super Mario Bros 3
https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Su...+show+complete

All the episodes of Super Mario World
https://www.amazon.com/Super-Mario-W...+show+complete

Also all the episodes of Super Mario World that were a part of Captain N.
https://www.amazon.com/Captain-New-S...ords=captain+n

[retr0pia75]

The only redeeming quality of these shows (other than some of the voice-work and the opening songs for Super Show and SMW) is that they helped to play a vital role in the creation of YouTube Poops.

[Allio]

I think the only one I actually cared for was an anime film; but I don't remember what it was called. Haven't watched it in years.

[Coola Yagami]

I loved them but did like Mario 3 better because it was closer to the games. The original was basically movie parody after movie parody, it was rare whenever they faced just regular King Koopa. It was also funny in the way that noone ever reacted to Koopa suddenly being a mobster today, a cowboy bandit the next day and a robot later on. They just went with it and acted as if Koopa was whatever incarnation always.

The Mario 3 cartoon did keep the actual power ups and floating blocks and whatnot (the original show had fire flowers growing like regular plants and being popped out of blocks). Plus Mario 3 had more worlds to use, so the cartoon didn't have to make up worlds like before. And hey, they even called Koopa Bowser once or twice in that version. If only Captain Lou stuck around to voice Mario in those versions the show woulda been better. I like it way more than the replacement Mario.

I didn't play the actual Mario 3 til later so I didn't know the Koopa Kids had different names. To be honest, I never knew Mario's story, such as it is, in the games when I was a kid. All I knew is you were a guy running over holes, stomping on turtles and shooting fireballs for.... whatever reason. At least the cartoons showed me who the princess and Koopa were.

[TMNT_Guy]

They were my favorite cartoons as a kid, long before I even knew what a "video game" was. I think that's why I have such a different opinion about the Mario series compared to other people. Honestly, I still enjoy the cartoons to this day, not just in a so-bad-it's-good way, but it in a "Hey, that was fun." way. For a syndicated cartoon from the 80s it's not that bad. While there are plenty of bad episodes that I recommend to nobody (Mario's Magic Carpet, Bad Rap, Star Koopa, etc) there a a lot of episodes I'd recommend to anyone that likes the Mario cast and universe.

One think that still fascinates me to this day is how well the cartoons "predicted" the personalities of the characters from the games. It predicted Mario as a hero who acts first and thinks later with a love for Italian food. It predicted Luigi as a coward with a heart of gold. It predicted Princess Peach as being able to take care of herself(Not even Mario and Luigi can take on Bowser's army all at once as shown in Super Princess Peach), it take Bowser almost the entire episode to kidnap her in "Little Red Riding Princess". I like how the cartoons all used music and sound effects from the games. I've always wished for a soundtrack release of the show because some of the remixes are pretty catchy. I also like how seriously Mario and Luigi take plumbing. There was one episode where Mario & Luigi clog some pipes to stop a volcano from erupting. Luigi is disgusted with what he had to do while Mario's voice has so much panic and dread("But we had no choice!") as he defends his actions that you'd think he was a doctor that committed physician assisted suicide. I just love how the writers took the fact that they're plumbers and just went crazy with it.

My favorite of the three shows is the Super Mario Bros Super Show, though I did like Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World better as a kid. Just everything about the latter two shows feels toned down. Mario's love of Italian food is toned down, Luigi's cowardice is toned down, etc. I still love the other two and there are some good episodes in the others like Tag Team Trouble or The Venice Menace. My niece likes Super Mario World the best, because Yoshi is her favorite Mario character.

Although I have my doubts, I do hope we some day get a new Super Mario Bros cartoon or at the very least a comic series. Mario's world is to big and interesting to keep confined to simple video game excuse plots.

Some of my favorite episodes:

The Bird! The Bird!
Butch Mario and the Luigi Kid
Little Red Riding Princess
Brooklyn Bound
The Trojan Koopa
Plumber's Academy
Send in the Clowns

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

It was recently establish that the Koopalings are not Bowser's kids.

I've never understood why Mario, a series so simple that Sesame Street has a stronger mythology, needed a retcon like this. To me it takes away what made those characters interesting in the first place, now they're no more special then a Goomba or Boom-Boom.

Originally Posted by Allio

I think the only one I actually cared for was an anime film; but I don't remember what it was called. Haven't watched it in years.

I'm assuming you're talking about Super Mario Bros the Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach. Nothing to special about it, but it has it's moments. I think my favorite part is the blatant product placement where Mario & Luigi hit a block and get Mario brand ramen, complete with Mario saying "This is yummy stuff, folks." and winking at the audience. I wonder if the "dog" in the movie was an inspiration for the caterpillar-like Wigglers in the games. It's interesting how Luigi has a blue yellow color scheme in the movie while the production art for the movie had him with a green red color scheme. He even has his more game accurate colors on the VHS cover.

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

I didn't play the actual Mario 3 til later so I didn't know the Koopa Kids had different names.

They had different names in the cartoon due to the fact that they didn't have names yet when the cartoon was in production. The Koopalings were unnamed in the Japanese SMB3 manual, they weren't given names until the USA release. Since the cartoon was in production before the localization of the game they had to come up with their own names, though they must of been aware of the game names later on because Toad does call the one with blue hair "Kooky von Koopa"(A combination of his cartoon name "Kooky" and his game name "Ludwig von Koopa") in "Reign Storm".

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by TMNT_Guy

They were my favorite cartoons as a kid, long before I even knew what a "video game" was. I think that's why I have such a different opinion about the Mario series compared to other people. Honestly, I still enjoy the cartoons to this day, not just in a so-bad-it's-good way, but it in a "Hey, that was fun." way. For a syndicated cartoon from the 80s it's not that bad. While there are plenty of bad episodes that I recommend to nobody (Mario's Magic Carpet, Bad Rap, Star Koopa, etc) there a a lot of episodes I'd recommend to anyone that likes the Mario cast and universe.

One think that still fascinates me to this day is how well the cartoons "predicted" the personalities of the characters from the games. It predicted Mario as a hero who acts first and thinks later with a love for Italian food. It predicted Luigi as a coward with a heart of gold. It predicted Princess Peach as being able to take care of herself(Not even Mario and Luigi can take on Bowser's army all at once as shown in Super Princess Peach), it take Bowser almost the entire episode to kidnap her in "Little Red Riding Princess". I like how the cartoons all used music and sound effects from the games. I've always wished for a soundtrack release of the show because some of the remixes are pretty catchy. I also like how seriously Mario and Luigi take plumbing. There was one episode where Mario & Luigi clog some pipes to stop a volcano from erupting. Luigi is disgusted with what he had to do while Mario's voice has so much panic and dread("But we had no choice!") as he defends his actions that you'd think he was a doctor that committed physician assisted suicide. I just love how the writers took the fact that they're plumbers and just went crazy with it.

My favorite of the three shows is the Super Mario Bros Super Show, though I did like Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World better as a kid. Just everything about the latter two shows feels toned down. Mario's love of Italian food is toned down, Luigi's cowardice is toned down, etc. I still love the other two and there are some good episodes in the others like Tag Team Trouble or The Venice Menace. My niece likes Super Mario World the best, because Yoshi is her favorite Mario character.

Although I have my doubts, I do hope we some day get a new Super Mario Bros cartoon or at the very least a comic series. Mario's world is to big and interesting to keep confined to simple video game excuse plots.

Some of my favorite episodes:

The Bird! The Bird!
Butch Mario and the Luigi Kid
Little Red Riding Princess
Brooklyn Bound
The Trojan Koopa
Plumber's Academy
Send in the Clowns

I've never understood why Mario, a series so simple that Sesame Street has a stronger mythology, needed a retcon like this. To me it takes away what made those characters interesting in the first place, now they're no more special then a Goomba or Boom-Boom.

I'm assuming you're talking about Super Mario Bros the Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach. Nothing to special about it, but it has it's moments. I think my favorite part is the blatant product placement where Mario & Luigi hit a block and get Mario brand ramen, complete with Mario saying "This is yummy stuff, folks." and winking at the audience. I wonder if the "dog" in the movie was an inspiration for the caterpillar-like Wigglers in the games. It's interesting how Luigi has a blue yellow color scheme in the movie while the production art for the movie had him with a green red color scheme. He even has his more game accurate colors on the VHS cover.

They had different names in the cartoon due to the fact that they didn't have names yet when the cartoon was in production. The Koopalings were unnamed in the Japanese SMB3 manual, they weren't given names until the USA release. Since the cartoon was in production before the localization of the game they had to come up with their own names, though they must of been aware of the game names later on because Toad does call the one with blue hair "Kooky von Koopa"(A combination of his cartoon name "Kooky" and his game name "Ludwig von Koopa") in "Reign Storm".

In an interview from Miyamoto back in 2012.
https://gamingreinvented.com/news/ni...wser-any-more/

“Our current story is that the seven Koopalings are not Bowser’s children. Bower’s only child is Bowser Jr. and we don’t know who the the mother is.”

[sdp]

From memory which is hazy:

Super Mario Bros Super Show: Boring, mostly parodies.

Super Mario Bros 3: Amusing, they go crazy here.

Super Mario All-Stars: Never watched.

They were all alright for the time they were from. It's worth noting I watched SMBSS as an adult and SMB3 a few episodes on VHS when I was around 11. I plan to watch them all one of these days.

[CyberCubed]

Its really hard to believe there's never been a new Mario cartoon in over 25 years. Why has Nintendo never tried to make another Mario cartoon again? Or an anime even?

You would have thought Mario would get a long running anime in Japan or something like Pokemon....but nothing. Its really strange when you think about it.

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Its really hard to believe there's never been a new Mario cartoon in over 25 years. Why has Nintendo never tried to make another Mario cartoon again? Or an anime even?

You would have thought Mario would get a long running anime in Japan or something like Pokemon....but nothing. Its really strange when you think about it.

I remember about a year or so ago, something about Sony Pictures getting the movie rights to make an animated Super Mario Bros movie.

[sdp]

We actually know the reason, when Nintendo of America was founded they had a lot of permission to license stuff and whatnot and NOA did what America does best and that is marketing. That's why there are tons of Nintendo stuff in the 80s from Donkey Kong plush toys to Nintendo Cereal in the NES days. However after the failure of the Super Mario Bros. movie which looks nothing like its source material, Nintendo of Japan decided to strip the power away from NOA for the most part and they really couldn't license stuff like before. By the Gamecube era NOA had almost no real power. Why is there no anime in Japan? Well Mario did have an OVA years before but I guess it wasn't very popular so they discontinued it. Pokemon is another thing since Nintendo doesn't own it outright.

But after many years of wanting to protect their IP they finally decided to not only relax but actively pursue it, this happened what barely 2 years ago? We're already seeing plenty of those things like the upcoming Nintendo park at Universal and the Pokemon movie with many other rumored things in the works. We've been getting tons of Nintendo merchandise the last few years as well so it's actually a great time to be a Nintendo fan.


About the Koopalings, they didn't have names so the cartoon gave them some but then Nintendo gave them names which were not the ones from the cartoon since that wasn't official.


If you ask me The Legend of Zelda and Captain N cartoons are pretty good and better than the Mario. They kind of count in this topic since they're also by DIC and TLOZ aired alongside SMBSS and SMW with Captain N, not to mention Captain N is in continuity with TLOZ.

[CyberCubed]

But there's been a ton of stuff for other Nintendo properities since. Donkey Kong Country got a CG cartoon in the 90's. The Kirby anime made 100 episodes. The F-zero anime made 65 episodes or so. There's also been Animal Crossing OVA's in Japan.

Really makes no sense that Mario never got a long running anime. Its mind boggling, because it could have covered every single new major Mario game the same way Pokemon does when a new game comes out.

[sdp]

True but Nintendo in general was more careful, it's not the same to have a Kirby cartoon where nothing is at stake than to have a show with their mascot be a dud which could actually hurt Nintendo's image.

Also Mario games have never been about story which makes it difficult to translate into other mediums, since they've always been about gameplay first. Think of it how Disney doesn't really make Mickey Mouse cartoons even if he's one of the most iconic characters ever.

I mean do you really want a Mario cartoon? I sure don't. Then again I never would've thought a Kirby cartoon would work but the anime was pretty damn entertaining.

[CyberCubed]

Well another Mario anime/cartoon would likely be another fun comedy show with just a little action. Basically an updated version of the 90's show, just better written and more true to the games.

Probably something as simple as Bowser and the Koopalings coming up with a new scheme to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom every episode, just like true Saturday Morning fare.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Its really hard to believe there's never been a new Mario cartoon in over 25 years. Why has Nintendo never tried to make another Mario cartoon again? Or an anime even?

You would have thought Mario would get a long running anime in Japan or something like Pokemon....but nothing. Its really strange when you think about it.

Right?! You'd think Mario would have an anime tv series during the GameCube era since Sonic had one. It would have been nice competition.