Episode 526: The Many Adaptations of Mario
Added 2023-04-07 05:00:02 +0000 UTCIt took 30 years, but at long last we finally have another Mario movie. And while Illumination's take on this beloved Nintendo property doesn't stray far the the source material, the last 40 years' worth of adaptations weren't so lucky. Between the East and the West, there's more of these than you'd think, and the recent relevancy of Mario media raises the question: Hey, why don't we talk about them all? On this episode of Retronauts, join Bob Mackey, Henry Gilbert, and Drew Mackie (of Gayest Episode Ever and Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games) as the crew explores the vast and troubled world of Super Mario Bros. adaptations.
Comments
I have the Club Mario "peace, love and recycle" sign off catch phrase forever burned in my mind from seeing that every morning before school in 1991. Was on TV in San Diego weekday mornings.
Michael Castleberry
2023-04-21 21:08:56 +0000 UTCI will always defend the Super Mario Bros Super Show (and by extension, the Zelda cartoon). Were they great television? No. Do they hold up as an adult,? No. But, when I was 8, just seeing Nintendo characters in a cartoon, with Nintendo music and sound effects was enough. It's ok for some things to be that thing you liked as a kid, and then it stays a warm fuzzy memory from the past.
Michael Castleberry
2023-04-19 14:42:31 +0000 UTCSmall Japanese cultural correction: the animated film "Princess Kaguya" isn't based on Peach Boy (Momotaro). It's based on the classic folktale of the same name, Princess Kaguya (Kaguya-hime).
nina matsumoto
2023-04-15 21:18:58 +0000 UTCI've got some 80's OVAs from Japan that are labelled as 9800 yen so I know where you're coming from, but the Mario VHS tapes were surprisingly "only" 1480 yen each, or at least the momotaro tape was labelled as such.
Vanja
2023-04-14 01:15:19 +0000 UTCI won’t be happy until Christopher Hewitt is hitting Hoskins with the blue shell
Jay Gironimi
2023-04-12 03:58:59 +0000 UTCHunky Foreman Spike as Mario Kart DLC, I demand it
Drew Mackie
2023-04-11 18:24:01 +0000 UTCHa! Just watched the ice capades video. Shocked I’ve never seen it. Was that Henry Corden as Mario? I heard a bit of a Fred Flintstone lilt in his voice.
Alex Kazanas
2023-04-11 17:41:57 +0000 UTCThis was a lot of fun! I know it's strange to ask for more craven commercialism, but as a kid I always wished Nintendo would make video game adaptations of some of this stuff. I know a Mario movie game with digitized graphics would probably sell like 4 copies, but I would have been one of them. Of course, now that Mario is a big movie star, it remains to be seen if the Illumination stuff bleeds into the games at all.
Jay Gironimi
2023-04-11 17:25:13 +0000 UTCI started watching SMASH and it's awesome, thank you for the recommend. Watched the SMB movie tonight. Chris Pratt was passable, the Luma isn't funny, and I hate the nickname "Peaches" they slipped in. Overall, I enjoyed it.
Andrew O.
2023-04-08 05:45:18 +0000 UTCI keep saying if the 93 Mario Bros movie wasnt Mario Bros it'd be treated as a scifi classic
Langdon Alger
2023-04-08 04:03:51 +0000 UTCI mean… parodies are pretty easy to do. I think it would have been more impressive if they did what the Zelda cartoon did and flesh out the world of the games more, even if it meant creating original characters to do that
Drew Mackie
2023-04-07 23:29:32 +0000 UTCI am a defender of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. I think it's much more clever than people give it credit for, its parodies are fine considering they didn't have a whole lot of Mario lore to work with yet, it had a really memorable soundtrack that used the games' music well, and it really did give us the best voices for the whole cast of characters. The live-action segments ended up making it even more memorable in the long-run, too. The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 gets points for delving more into the actual Mario setting, and I like the use of the Koopa Kids. The voices aren't as strong this time around, though. Super Mario World... I haven't really revisited this one as much as the other two. I didn't like that they dropped Toad, and the Dinosaur Land setting, while true to SMW, just wasn't as fun to me. I am very happy that Mario is getting another go in animation, though. It's way overdue for another take.
MidnaMajora
2023-04-07 05:18:55 +0000 UTC
