Super Mario Bros

There are a few things I remember from my childhood. One of them is this show.

I remember the Christmas morning I received an NES thus thrusting me into the world of Video Games. A few years later this show premiered and I loved it from the start. Maybe the jokes from the live action sequences seem cheesy now, but back then they were entertainment to a 9 year old.

I watched this show religiously and got real disappointed when it wasn't on those few rare times. The cartoon was my favorite part. I would love each episode Monday through Thursday. But wasn't really that big into Zelda having never played it, so at first the Zelda cartoon didn't interest me, but eventually I grew to love it. Of course when I finally played Zelda for the first time and noticed the huge differences between the cartoon and the game, (Think the Triforce of Wisdom and the Triforce of Power. Where were THOSE in the Zelda game?) I was confused.

Back to Mario.. I watched this show religiously, but when it turned into the horrific "Club Mario", I knew the end was coming. That was the worst part. The live action sequences of Mario and Luigi were replaced by two Bill and Ted-esque Teens. (Though, Bill and Ted didn?t suck. These two did. I prefer not to talk about them.) Thank GOD the cartoon was still there.

Fortunately I still had Captain N and the Super Mario Brothers 3 and Super Mario World cartoons to keep me happy for the next couple years... until they all just stopped. Thus the end of the golden age of games.

What I wouldn't give for a box of Nintendo Cereal and a couple tapes of the Super Show.

"Swing your arms, from side to side/Come on it's time to go do the MARIO!/Take one step, and then again/Let's do the MARIO all together now!/Everybody!/ Do the Mario!/ Just like thaaaaaat!". What a pathetic little dance. Swing your arms and take two steps, one at a time. Wow, I have to assume that it was written the night before the show aired and was crafted with very...hmmm..."physically un-taxing" moves to accommodate ex-pro wrestler Lou Albano, who played Mario. Incidentally, if you grew up in the 80's like I did, you might remember that Lou Albano used to be in all of Cyndi Laupers videos. Remember how at the end of the song, the "just like thaaaaat!" part, how he went down on one knee, and it looked like he was about to fall over? Sigh - I love nostalgia. I used to watch this show while I ate my Nintendo Cereal (NIN-TEN-DO it's a cereal, wow!) from an actual Super Mario Bros. bowl, no joke. What a terrific show, I have the episode where Princess Toadstool got kidnaped by Koopa (go figure) and Mario, Luigi, and Toad have to go to the desert oasis to save her. And it had the irritable genie, and the flying carpets, and PIDGETS (Luigi spoke pidget, actually). This show was followed up by the strange Super Mario 3 based cartoon and the completely strange and horrible Super Mario World based cartoon.

This show is so damn cheesy and corny that it's unintentionally hilarious and OH BOY IT'S A JOY TO WATCH for that alone.

You'd have to have been born somewhere between the late seventies and early eighties to have fully appreciated Oldschool Nintendo. Even though the major Nintendo stars such as Mario and Link are still with us today, their innocence doesn't hold up any more in a gaming world full of violence and mature themes. I remember watching this show religiously every day after school, during a time of my life when anything Nintendo was sacred.

I had the opportunity recently to watch some of the episodes, and found it a fun experience to relive that bit of nostalgia. Even though cartoons have vastly improved over the years, I believe that the episodes still hold up pretty well. Memories of the time I had a crush on Princess Toadstool and Zelda, sang along to the Mario song, and pretended I was Link dueling with bad guys in my back yard seem to come back to me as I watched.

The style of the cartoons is outdated in comparison to the superb quality we have today, but if you fit into that age range I mentioned previously, you'll find some great nostalgic value in these cartoons.

While I haven't seen every episode (compared to the other Mario cartoons) and also the Legend of Zelda segments, I still think that the show is good. The show was split into two, a live action part with guest stars from the era (the 80s) and the cartoon. I didn't mind and even liked some of the live action parts with goofy Lou Albano and Danny Wells as Mario & Luigi but I enjoyed the cartoon better. There are parodies of film, books and legends in the show, but I only seen some of the parody episodes but I liked them but not as much as the earlier produced episodes which give a vintage charm due to better plotting.

I don't know why, but I find this series better animated than the next 2 Mario cartoons due to less colouring goofs and better voice acting, especially from Princess Toadstool (compared with SMB3 and Super Mario World) and the Mario Brothers sound more courageous (even Luigi, believe or not) which also introduced their Brooklyn accent. Even Mouser in the show has a good Pseudo German accent and character as well as King Koopa, my favourite character due to his lines and actions however he looks different compared to the games. During an episode, there would be a music track in the background that are covers from real bands and singers like Michael Jackson's Bad or Proud Mary. It is a shame that the US DVD releases have these omitted, while it doesn't make much difference in Super Mario Bros. 3 (except the Milli Vanilli episode) this is like a huge difference in mood and setting. I even compared King Mario of Cramelot US when it was aired on Yahooligans with the UK DVD which has the original music and I found the UK one more enjoyable with the Mario and King Koopa scenes, the US one was far less exciting, however it still had the remixed soundtrack of the Mario games as well in all episodes. One thing that's legendary is Do The Mario which still shows the test of time and is quite fun to dance to for the kids.

This is probably the best Mario cartoon since it started it all and is such a timeless classic that you should buy it or if it is aired somewhere, watch it.