The third and final cartoon based on the Super Mario Bros. franchise, and the game Super Mario World in particular. It relocates the action to Dinosaur World, removed the Real World, dropped Toad (since he wasn't in the game), and expanded the cast to include Yoshi and various cave people, most prominently Oogtar.
This show has achieved high levels of Memetic Mutation from the final episode, "Mama Luigi", in which Luigi tells of how he found Yoshi.
Not to be confused with The Super Mario Bros Super Show or The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3.
- Angrish: "Don't just help him! Stand there!"
- Alter Kocker: Wizenheimer the Magikoopa.
- Animation Bump: The animation for the Theme Tune (see below) was done by a different studio then the episodes proper, and it uses a clear, smooth, professional style. The animation for the rest of the show was anything but clear, smooth and professional, with errors that don't even need frame-by-frame analysis to spot.
- Badass Boast: "Oogtar eat ghosts for breakfast!"
- Big Eater: Yoshi, obviously.
- Casting Gag: Since Toad was left out of this series, production had John Stocker voice the replacement, Oogtar.
- Christmas Episode: "The Night Before Cave Christmas".
- Heel Face Turn: Hip and Hop seem to have one of these in "Little Learning"... however, they soon turn out to be Devils in Plain Sight who throw fireballs at children.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: At the end of "Gopher Bash", Luigi punishes Yoshi for eating the crops, telling him, "Since you ate the whole thing, now you can do the hoe thing!" Although he obviously means "hoe" as in the gardening utensil, it's pretty easy for one to joke about what it sounds like.
- Gilligan Cut:
Mario: What're they gonna do, banish us to the lava pits? |
- Grand Finale: "Mama Luigi" serves as a fitting finale for the cartoons as a whole.
- Hand Wave: One episode provides an explanation for why Yoshi doesn't eat certain enemies in the game, like Chargin' Chuck: They taste nasty to him.
- I Fell for Hours: The Trope Namer, named for Luigi's overly long fall down a chasm in "Mama Luigi", with nothing below him but boiling lava. Luckily, he fell on a skull raft.
- If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: "How come everything I don't like is good for me, and everything I do isn't?!"
- It's All My Fault: "Emo" Luigi says this after Cheatsy steals the crops.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Not quite jerky, but...
Oogtar: Me know Oogtar bad. Cause Santa big trouble. Me no deserve present. But Oogtar thankful Santa save him from dinosaur. That present enough. |
- Lame Comeback: "Who's an egghead, eggface?"
- Large Ham: Luigi. "A MAAAGIC BALLOON!" "I came face to face with a FIIIYA SUMO!"
- Leitmotif: Since the show re-arranges most of the music from the first two Mario games, the tunes are indicative of the character or type of environment that is currently on-screen. Examples: The Valley of Bowser theme playing when Koopa's castle is shown.
- Limited Animation: Sometimes it gets to the point where you can't tell if what's happening is intentional or not.
- Mind Screw: The episode in which Luigi is turned into a football. He didn't make it, he is it.
- My Name Is Not Durwood: "That's WIZARDHEIMER!!!" [1]
- Off-Model: The animation quality of the show was rock bottom to begin with, but was brought down ever further by outrageous animation errors that frequently pop up in the shorts, some of which are so blatant that you don't even need to freeze frame the cartoon to notice them.
- Paper-Thin Disguise:
- Happens in "Send In the Clowns", where Mario and the cavemen don't realize the clowns in King Koopa's circus are actually Rexes until one of their noses falls off.
- Also happens in "Rock TV" when Koopa is in a paper thin disguise promoting the titular product. No one can tell it's him even though several of the shows he mentions even have the name Koopa in the title.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: While not for the whole series, the episode "Send In the Clowns" explains why someone as mean and nasty as King Koopa would have a helicopter with a clown.
- Shockingly Expensive Bill: "Phone bill, amount due: $1,295.31!"
- Show Within a Show: Subverted/parodied by having Bowser make up several shows of his own, such as his own exercise program, in "Rock TV."
- Space Whale Aesop: "King Scoopa Koopa". Better stay away from fast food; if you don't, you'll turn into a crazed chicken-zombie thing.
- Split-Screen Phone Call: Parodied with Yoshi and Oogtar.
- Team Rocket Wins: "King Scoopa Koopa" ends with Bowser actually getting away with the money he made off his restaurant.
- They Call Me Mister Tibbs: "That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!"[2]
- Too Dumb to Live: It's a miracle those cave-people got through regular non-Koopa problems before the Mario Bros. and the Princess showed up.
- Villain Song: Larry/Cheatsy gets one in "Gopher Bash."
- "The Villain Sucks" Song: Kootie Pie Rah!
- Whole-Episode Flashback: "Mama Luigi". Notably, the story told in the flashback is an adaptation of the game, told from Luigi's perspective.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Unsurprisingly, Yoshi is terrified of ghosts.
- Wild Take: Cheatsy Koopa in the episode "Golpher Bash".
- You Are Not Ready: Every single attempt Mario, Luigi or the Princess make to improve the cave-people's lives end this way; the Fantastic Aesop seems to be that, when it comes to stuff like agriculture and the wheel, that These Are Things Neanderthal Man Was Not Meant to Know.
- You No Take Candle: The cave people and any dinosaur that talks.