Super Mario Bros

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.

Wow. As a child of the 80's, I remember the craze of the Super Mario Bros, TMNT and so on. I remember rushing home from school every day that this cartoon was on and commandeering the TV. It was a great show then, and it is now. Watching it reminds me of being in elementary school, where life was simple, and all I had to worry about was simple mathematics and getting past the castle in level 7 of Super Mario Bros (that one was crazy, it still confuses me to this day!). I'm glad to see that all of the great cartoons and video games of the 80's are making a comeback, and am pretty sure that most, if not all of the "children of the 80's" will agree. This is a great tribute to our childhood and something wonderful to share with the young kids of today. 10 out of 10 stars!

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.

"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.

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.