The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

I remember these cartoons (among the other Super Mario Bros. cartoons) when I was young, and have them now as fun memories. And surely the tapes I have bring back many fun, wonderful memories of my youth, and I will surely never forget them (and I am definitely not going to lose those tapes)! If these are available for purchase, be sure to pick up a few of these tapes for your children! Although brief in length, they are certain to brighten your child's day!

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.

Contrary to what many claim, Mario's first initial cartoon appearance was NOT the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. Rather, it was in an obscure Donkey Kong cartoon that aired as part of Saturday Supercade during the early-1980s, before Nintendo rose into prominence. You wouldn't have noticed, because in that cartoon, Mario was a generic guy who pursued the big dumb ape. But that's irrelevant, because before 85, Mario wasn't a big deal. After '85, he practically salvaged the video gaming industry and got a cartoon out of it.

Every Mario cartoon had the same basic plot; evil King Koopa (Bowser, although he never goes by that name in the cartoon) wrecks havoc in various worlds of the Mushroom Kingdom and it's up to Mario, faithful brother Luigi, loyal Mushroom Retainer Toad, and the Princess (when she isn't kidnapped) to spoil his nefarious plans. Rinse, lather, and repeat.

Odd thing was that this had more in common with Super Mario Bros. 2 (Mario USA to Japanese folk - the less said, the better) than it did the original game, but I'm not complaining.

The way I see it, the cartoon (and even the Captain Lou Albano live skits) was what truly defined Mario as an Italian plumber from Brooklyn who enjoyed eating pasta rather than this fat plumber who ate mushrooms, something that the games depicted. The cartoon stayed true to the original games, as opposed to the later movie which was a bastardization of what was good and wholesome. The stories are rather cheesy, crude, and cheap parodies of certain series and movies, but who cares? They were fun and back then, that's all you really needed.

The animation was decent for its time. You have some minor technical errors here and there (sometimes Mario would be speaking with Luigi's voice, or his hat would be the wrong color), but these things happens in all the old cartoons (see the old Ninja Turtles as a good example - yes, you know who you are!) The voices were pretty good; nothing great, but alright nonetheless. Characterizations were pretty good (even though it's based off a video game and you actually had no frame of reference as far as characterization goes).

Of course, the cartoon is only part of the show. Bookending the cartoon are live-action skits featuring Captain Lou as Mario and this other guy as Luigi, in their Brooklyn basement, where they have to deal with these guest stars' problems. I'm not just talking nameless hacks looking for a quick buck, but actual stars whom were popular at the time. Like the cartoons, the skits were cheesy but fun. And it's always a welcome sight to see Captain Lou make an idiot out of himself by doing the Mario. (Now, if the REAL Mario were to have done that in any of the modern Mario games, it would have actually prompted me to buy a modern Nintendo system.)

Every Friday, they'd throw in a little Zelda cartoon. Back then, when I first saw them, I never touched the original game, but still enjoyed them nonetheless... although these days, hearing Link whine "Excuse Me, Princess" every fifth minute irritates me to no end.

After some time, the Super Mario Bros. Super Show changed its format and became Club Mario. While you had the same IL' good cartoons, instead of live Mario and Luigi, you had two 'hip' guys in a messed-up apartment with lots of stuff that boggles the mind. Every once in a while, they have actual 'storylines' such as one guy's evil twin trying to take over the show. Sometimes, I wish good IL' Koopa showed up during the Mario Bros' off-day and took over the show so he could cancel it, because even back then, it was bad.

Even today, it's still a good wholesome cartoon that's good for a few laughs and maybe can be genuinely enjoyed. I think you can find them on Yahoo somewhere, who airs the shows online. Check 'em out if you have the chance.

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.