Welcome to a new edition of Gaming Entertainment and DIC is at it once again with another cartoon series of Mario. At the height of the NES, one game truly defined the console, and it was Super Mario Bros 3. The third entry was the system's crown jewel, and its overall sales would reach 18 million smashing records in the industry. With such a success DIC still held the licensing rights to Mario and produced another cartoon in 1990. The new show would be called the Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3 and would air every Saturday morning with Captain N on NBC. The story is not a direct sequel to Super Show and follows the events after SMB3. The plot is about Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad trying to stop King Bowser Koopa once again. However, this time he brings along his Koopalings to help conquer the Mushroom Kingdom. The plot would even have King Koopa try to take over countries on Earth in some form. So, will DIC redeem itself after failing miserably every time? DIC like most third party companies wanting to make a quick buck on license titles however they continue to not get it. There were many things wrong again with the universe of Mario as usual. The characters were a little more defined as they had a goal rather than being all over the place like in Super Show. Those same personalities for Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool return with slight tweaks. For once Mario and friends don’t hop to different lands, and you won’t find anything from other series existing. Instead, their true goal is stopping Koopa and his new Koopalings from their usual trouble. However, that same back story of the Mario Brothers being from Earth is still used to explain where they came from. DIC and Nintendo of America were really selling that narrative despite the fact the games never mentioned Earth. I'm sorry but this cartoon insults our intelligence and makes the series in general look stupid. The biggest improvement comes from the Plumbers not using gags of any kind within their dialogue. I know, DIC actually fixed a crappy thing from their format that doesn’t assume a certain ethnic group acts the way it does. It really is a breath of fresh air to not hear those stupid corny jokes. Mario’s leadership from the Donkey Kong Arcade show returns and he led the charge against Bowser. Even Luigi shows this level of competence especially in Mario’s absence. I had to bring these up because of the timing and of course the controversial situations. I find it interesting how DIC added skewers as an obstacle even though those don't appear until Super Mario World. They must have saw that demo in 1990 of the newest Mario game on Super NES to get an idea like this. On top of that, it’s funny how they have Toad, Toadstool and Bowser using powerups before Nintendo made these a thing. Now, we come to the elephant in the room, and the second image had Luigi and Kootie Pie lock lips. I'm pretty sure that wasn't Luigi's intent but Kootie Pie who didn't know. However, it is still a crappy idea to write this situation in a kid's show and the writers in DIC should have known better then to do this. I noticed some difference for Toad as no longer does he have a snarky attitude anymore. For once thoughts of punching him in the face were gone and he actual comes across more believable here. Toad was even more helpful on this occasion instead of acting like a greedy and snarky moron. Toadstool also saw a couple of tweaks to her personalities between her competence and willingness to try new things. The Mushroom Princess continues making Zelda from her own animated series look second rate. In fact, Toadstool comes across engaging with helping Mario and the others as well as governing her people. She is even more adventurous and into sports with equipping powerups and engaging in activities like surfing. We can’t forget about King Bowser Koopa and for once they finally got his current name at the time right. The writers get props for actually reading the instruction manual rather than inserting unnecessary narratives that doesn’t belong. Of course, I need to talk about the next thing and if you don’t know the Koopalings are not Bowser’s kids. Now guess who is at fault and no its not DIC but Nintendo who pushed that narrative. According to both the Japanese and American instruction manuals, the Koopalings are the kids to the Koopa King. For years Nintendo used that narrative within the theme but today there are two sources that conflicts with this in many ways. In an interview held by Gamer Informer in 2012, Miyamoto insisted the koopa kids weren’t. Yet, on the North American site of New Super Mario Bros U, NoA claims the Koopalings are his kids in the description. I don’t know what changed their minds, but it is simple to go by Miyamoto's statement. About Bowser's personality, even though he shows the bully side of him, there are also times his fatherly nature comes out. I noticed that when he had enough of Kootie Pie acting like a spoiled brat on a two occasions. He also would kidnap a prisoner from the “Real World” so his kids could learn to commit even more crime. It’s not really a game changer by any means but it's still interesting they went that route with him. The other villains are more of the same much like their enemies but the difference this time is Mouser, Triclyde and Fry Guy are absent. They get replaced by Koopa’s air fleet and his kids the Koopalings. For some reason DIC thought it was a fantastic idea to change their name based on the music legends with cheap nicknames. They are now called Cheatsy, Bully, Kootie Pie, Big Mouth, Kooky, Hip and Hop. You mean Larry, Roy, Wendy, Morton Jr, Ludwig and Lemmy Koopa? I can’t understand why they switched the names out to these cheesy names that were made up. Their characters reflect the nicknames they were giving, but none of them ever see development. Kootie Pie is too busy acting like a spoil brat while Bully and Big Mouth practically screw around. The only Koopalings that contributes anything meaningful is Kooky as he exercised his high IQ to produce plans and devices for his father. In the Super Koopa episode, Kooky creates a magic device to help his dad copy the power ups, so he could use them. Of course, we need to talk about the one-off characters and the writers used more than the ones based off the Mario series. You have the mushroom people, goombas and koopas getting used in the plot as background characters. It was a bit odd to include humans from Earth when none of them ever appeared in the series (those learning games don’t count). Like I said, DIC tried to fill in the gaps as to why two Italians plumbers were in a fantasy type world. I mean, that is one thing to do a John Carter type arc for one or two protagonists. However, it’s another to use such an arc repeatedly through the series. There were three different times the writers went back to this between a brat, an American family and a prisoner. What do humans and Earth have to do with SMB3 and the Mushroom World? Out of all these, the American prisoner was the only one to have any meaning. Bowser recruited him because he wanted the convict to teach his kids tough lessons in crime. That makes sense as what better way to develop his kids into even bigger bad guys then asking those behind bars to train them. However, why are the Mario Bros taking care of a bratty six year old from Brooklyn? Here’s another one but why is an American family coming to the Mushroom Kingdom by accident is being used as a plot device. I can’t comprehend how stupid the arc comes across and really had no basis of happening. That’s not funny, and it wasn’t creative aside recycling another arc from an earlier episode. The stupidity of the writing continues as for some reason, the Mushroom people and the Koopas thought they were aliens. They are human like the Mario Brothers and you are telling me these people are not going see their heroes as aliens too. The episode from the first image comes from Mush Rumors where Bowser stupidly mistakes them for aliens and even thinks they are in a disguise. The writers probably thought we were idiots because why would he think this family are aliens when they dress and look like humans from Earth. I mean he's been to Earth in previous episodes and what makes this even more stupid is both of these worlds to each other are already alien like. Even Norman (yes, that's his name) acted as dumb as Bowser when they clearly were now in a magical world. That's like me entering Equestria and seeing magical ponies walking around but then proceed to think they are animatronics. The second image shows the American convict teaching the Koopalings lessons in robbing banks. It’s too bad it took DIC three times to get this right and probably is Bowser's smartest plan he thought up through the season. It’s hard for me to admit the next part that DIC managed not to screw up and the show’s opening was one of those. The new intro opens to a decent narration explaining the events of SMB3 and how the Mario Brother foiled Bowser's plans the last time. That was the best idea DIC could've done to redeem the intro in the last cartoon. It’s a surprise that DIC managed to do a decent job with the opening this time and not resort to forceful lyrics. I mean, for once there was no obnoxious rap theme song to start the show. NBC sure ramped up the production budget for SMB3 as the soundtrack wasn’t remixed terribly. The music I'll admit was done right and the remix songs from the game sounded more defined. The best presentation is the title card screen and I loved how they included a clip of the overworlds from the gameplay. Once again, DIC gets props for including this feature and gives some relevance to Mario. However, in this studio’s fashion, they continue making those mistakes the animators are often known to do. There were countless times the colors of the Koopalings changed at random from green to orange. Even the Doom Ship would change from grey in one scene then to its traditional orange hull in the next. It’s like these artists from DIC didn't learn anything from the last three times. The first image has Toad being held by Mario but in the next scene the Plumbers are running from their home without the little guy nowhere in sight. Then we have the colors changing randomly on the characters and objects. It’s one thing to make this mistake once or twice as even DHX made these once in a while in FIM and EQG from My Little Pony. However, these were constantly happening through the series as seen from Luigi changing into Mario in the first episode. The Doom Ship's hull is supposed to have an orange color. Yet in the third image it appears grey and even the statue on the front was missing its usual detail. Now, we come to the art, and DIC continues not to learn from their mistakes again. Yes, the production and the artwork saw improvements compared to its predecessor, but it’s still using the 70s Hanna-Barbara style again. I could never figure out why this studio continued using that same art style as the go to for production. The reason I always have a problem with this is it comes off cheap and not professionally designed. There’s a reason shows like Duck Tales is so highly regarded today and these gaming cartoons are not. The designs of each character are similar to its predecessor with a few small tweaks. It’s a pleasure to see this company get the enemies' designs right and the majority were downright accurate. I did find them to come off bit too wide (except for the big hammer brothers) but credit still goes to DIC. However, the animators still made their mistakes as many designs just didn't match the backgrounds or the characters. The animators would get the mushroom people's designs wrong as they are not the same size as humans. In both SMB and SMB3 they are small even compared to Princess Toadstool and the Mario Bros. Where did the drawers get the idea the Mushroom people are as tall as humans? Yeah, they got some of them at the right size like Toad but to draw the other one’s wrong is an obvious mistake. They even drawn the ruler of Giant Island wrong and in fact his name is never revealed. So how can he be a prince when the ruler of Giant Island is a king? The guy is human, but they make him a Godzilla sized mushroom person. I can't understand how they get the common enemies' concept right but proceed to make the background characters on the heroes' side look weird. At least the drawers got the areas from the games right and for once have consistent designs. The biggest issue from Super Show was how each location didn’t fit what was supposed to exist in the Mushroom world. It also didn’t help the landscape in each episode had these bizarre architects and natural areas that looked odd. On this occasion, the show actually takes place in the game's location like the Mushroom Kingdom and the eight other lands. I’ll give them credit again, at least the studio did some form of research as they got these places right instead of using satire. Now, just as they get the world of Mario right DIC then proceeds to screw this up in ways unimaginable. However, that part I’m saving for the writing portion so let’s focus on the designs of the “Real World” places. It’s like they do one thing right for once but then take several steps back and that’s by adding Earth into the equation. The locations of Washington DC, NASA’s Space Station in Florida, Paris and Brooklyn were spot on. Even though no buildings twist in different angels this is still a mismatch between fantasy and realistic environments. Of course, most probably see this as me being hypocritical especially when I have no problems with the concept in Equestria Girls. There’s a difference and Hasbro made that work between fantasy and real-world settings. They did the mirror world concept where ponies are humans in this alternate world. There was no mismatch between both, and humans have appeared in the series before. Mario in comparison had Earth never appear or ever mentioned once. On top of that Hasbro and DHX followed its art style but DIC decided to create its own instead of using Nintendo’s. The themes of each episode were quite questionable as it would involve Earth or both ethic and social problems. I always asked what's the purposes of Earth’s countries such as the United States have to do with Koopa's goals? The places in the "Real World" should have never been used considering these locations in the game are never said or implied. It’s a complete mismatch as the majority of episodes should’ve been in places from the game only. Maybe even Sarasaland from Super Mario Land would have also been a good choice too. There were already enough places after SMB3 to use in the show so what is this studio’s excuse? In the episodes of Dadzilla and Kootie Pie Rocks, these are unrelated to the main antagonists’ true goal. It's about Kootie Pie, and Big Mouth (Morton Jr) has had enough of their father’s bossy attitude. They would bring a Godzilla like monster creature from Hollywood to life using magic. How is this related to SMB3? Then there’s Misadventures in Babysitting where the Mario Brothers accidentally look after a human kid from Brooklyn. It’s because the Plumbers went to an American family home by accident using the warp system and the mother of the kid named Junior thought, they were the babysitters. The next one is from Recycled Koopa and involves Bowser’s Kingdom dumping their trash into the Real World of Brooklyn. Basically, the episode’s plot was the typical today’s lesson BS disguised as a misadventure arc. If you didn't know this was a thing for cartoons to have during the 80s and 90s regarding social issues. Most of them always inserted what I liked to call "the today's lesson" BS and they come off forced. The first image is from True Colors and Kooky and Big Mouth use the Doom Ship to paint the Mushroom people so they could turn them against each other. It was bad enough for Captain Planet to use these "today's lessons" garbage because there are better ways to get the point across then forcing this. As mentioned, the designs of the Mushroom People look so weird its almost nightmare fuel. In the second image was the six year old brat the Plumbers were forced to take care of and is the typical filler episode. The writers could've done a better job with the narrative and a better setup is needed. It’s because I don't need to see the heroes take care of a brat as their main objective. We then have episodes that have the Plumbers head to Venice and Paris to battle King Koopa. The Venice Menace was about the Reptilian King trying to bring the city to the Dark Lands, so he could turn it into a water park for Kootie Pie. DIC sure is showing its lack of creativity there because they used a similar plot from episode 12 of the Zelda cartoon. Then again they were lazy so of course they are going to recycle an old story arc from another show. The only good thing that came from this was the Doom Sub which would have worked as a level for a boss. That leads me to Super Koopa, and the theme has Bowser try to the defeat the Mario Bros in Paris. Kooky created a magic pendant that has the Reptilian king use his enemy’s powerups. There is a catch, and he could only operate it on Earth for some odd reason. I could tell the writers didn’t give a damn about their writing with using the powerups. In the earlier episodes, Toadstool and Toad were able to utilize the powerups in their world without any problems. According to the writers these special abilities didn’t just work with the Plumbers, but anyone could weird the powerups. So, why does Bowser need a special device to use the powers when anyone regardless what world they are in could utilize them? That doesn’t make any sense and later games reflect such a concept especially when the Reptilian King uses these easily. That isn’t the first inconsistency (technically it’s the last one as this is the final episode) but they continue throughout the series. The Koopa king's plans on paper sounds so dumb it’s no wonder why the other Nintendo villains don't take him seriously. His plan was to lure Mario on to Earth, so he could use a device that gives those same powerups for him. The lack of logic from the main villain is astounding when all it took was Toad to bring the powerup to them. I mean he knew their little friend always did this in the past so why he didn't take this into consideration is anyone's guess. The second image is Milli Vanilli getting rescued by Mario and friends. I still can't get over the fact DIC thought putting in this band was some brilliant idea. It only gets worse as even a couple of celebrities make an appearance once again but not like the last time. There are no live segments this time, so DIC didn’t have to break the bank to get an A lister. In Kootie Pie Rocks has Bowser Kidnap Milli Vanilli (yes, you read that right) just to sing to his daughter. Really, kidnapping Milli Vanilli? That's related to the game in what form? If you are wondering why they got added to the show as guest stars is because this was before the public knew the band lipped sync their songs. The two singers saw massive success in the late 80s until the year 1990. The episode of Kootie Pie Rock aired on October 4th, 1990, a month before Frank Farian came clean. Frank was their producer and fired them on November 14th, 1990, after the public asked frequent questions about their performance. In 1993, the Family Channel got rights from DIC to re-air the show on their afternoon cartoon block. Surprisingly, DIC and the Family Channel removed the songs and lyrics from the original airing on NBC. The band is still there but one track from Captain N replaced their songs. I can’t deal with the fact that Milli Vanilli was green lighted to get featured in the show. The facts about this band do make DIC look very stupid now especially for the Family Channel. Since we are on the subject of music, I have failed to mention this in my Captain N Season One review. I always found it odd for DIC to add crappy remixes to official produced songs from real singers. It sounded out of places especially during the situations where the heroes confronted their enemies. Just like with Milli Vanilli these were also removed from the Fam TV re-airings and when the show released on DVD. There are more episodes like these as seen from Reptiles in the Rose Garden and 7 continents for 7 Koopas that take place on Earth. In Reptiles in the Rose Garden, it has Bowser capture America as a gift for Kootie Pie. First off, how did Bowser overtake the most powerful nation on Earth without any resistance? Of course, some of you are probably going say it’s because they have magic. So, the United States has weapons of mass destruction, anti-aircraft vehicles and automatic rapid firing guns. The Kingdom of Koopa shouldn’t be a match for the United States if they could easily get beaten by the Mushroom people. The Mushroom people weren’t even using magic or had anything like the Doom Ship. Yet, these writers expect me to believe the Kingdom of Koopa could beat a superpower like the United States. Another thing that makes the story even more dumb is how humans on Earth don’t see those floating magical pipes in the sky. You will find such a finer example then in 7 Continents for 7 Koopas where at the end a massive pipe is shown in the sky. How the hell do you not notice something that big in the sky?! Weren’t the United States and Soviet Union see these anomalies on their radars? There should be a worldwide crisis especially when King Koopa invades so often. Do you see how bad the writing is in this cartoon? It is making me overthink about these inconsistencies and try to insert logic. Even if I am overthinking, it still doesn’t stop these arcs from being inconsistent and a cartoon needs to follow its own narrative. These are the inconsistent plots that happens often in the narrative and involving Earth makes it obvious. How the Pentagon doesn't see or acknowledge these anomalies in the sky makes the theme look stupid. You can tell me it is a kids cartoon but even shows like this has to follow some consistent logic. When it involves a superpower nation like the United States then something has to make sense. Bowser invades Earth and the US President doesn't act along with the rest of the world leaders? DIC pulled the same crap as they did for Super Show and reverted to the cartoon being all over the place. It proves DIC didn't learn anything from its predecessors, and the plots half the time isn't in areas related to the game. The true problem was the use of themes and places that has nothing to do with Mario. The idea to use Milli Vanilli as a plot device was just stupid but I give DIC one thing. They removed their songs in later releases like when it aired on the Family Channel in 1993. The problem lies within the writing as it was often poorly executed with inconsistencies and non-logical moments. The fact the many nations of Earth don’t react to Bowser’s invasions when in reality they would’ve didn’t make any sense. Using this world when it’s never mentioned from the Mario titles was a complete mismatch between fantasy and reality. For the production NBC did give DIC a bigger budget and its shown through the art with the characters and locations. However, that didn’t stop the animators from screwing up and there were many errors happening often. The characters and things like the Doom Ship would have the colors swapped out for some reason. Then there was an episode where King Kooper's crown was missing and how could they leave out such a simple accessory. If the animators made these mistakes once or twice like DHX did with FIM then that’s one thing, but doing it repeatedly is another. Unfortunately, DIC wasn’t done with Nintendo’s licensing as they still would produce two more seasons of Captain N and Mario World. Rating: 5.5/10 Mediocre
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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