Web Animation / Power Star

A 4-part Flash series based on the Super Mario Bros. franchise, produced by Daniel Sun from May 4, 2005-September 25, 2008. While it is most certainly not the first instance of Sprite Animation to feature Mr. Video Game, it is likely one of the darkest, involving an abundance of bloodshed, dozens of corpses, and the presence of demonic entities.

The story begins with Mario being chased by boos (The Mario universe’s resident ghosts) in a dream, only to be cornered before waking up. Clutching his hat, the red-clad plumber makes his way to Peach’s Castle and proceeds to massacre some of the guards, only for Luigi to stop Mario in his tracks and drive him away from the princess.

Peach, confused at the sight of her heroic lover slaughtering her retainers before her eyes, eventually learns that Mario is being used as a physical vessel by the boos in order to steal energy-enhancing artifacts known as Power Stars. From there, the body count only continues to grow as “Mario” proceeds with his rampage. The complete series runs for roughly 22.5 minutes. It can be viewed here on YouTube.

On September 26, 2008, a parody of Power Star (More specifically Part 4) called 4.5 was uploaded by Jon Bro, excising many of the more serious aspects of the series and turning its climax into idiotic sibling rivalry antics. It can be viewed here.

A team of animators named Acilunatic have taken it upon themselves to do a Continuity Reboot of Power Star under the subtitle Reimagined, with the original series creator Daniel Sun's approval (and him providing Mario's voice). You can watch it here.

Tropes included in this video series:

• Adaptational Badass: In a stark contrast to the Cowardly Lion in the games, Luigi is depicted as a stalwart warrior who stops at nothing to prevent his corrupted brother from obtaining the Power Stars and conquering the Mushroom Kingdom.

• Adaptational Villainy: The boos, who are nothing more than cutesy ghost enemies who follow Mario around when he's not looking their way, are depicted in Daniel Sun's series as genuinely scary, no-nonsense antagonists who possess Mario and use him as an instrument to collect the Power Stars, all while having no qualms against slaughtering innocent denizens. The worst part? They intend on destroying all of creation after nabbing every Power Star in the Mushroom Kingdom region.

• Almost Dead Guy: Luigi becomes this in Part 4 as he miraculously utters his final words, despite having a sword pierced through his face by Devil Mario.

• Apocalypse How: In Part 4, the boos mention that they intend to destroy “all of creation” by the time they absorb every last Power Star, making this a Class X4 example at the bare minimum. In the end, though, their range of destruction never goes any further than a Class 0 by the time the series ends.
• Art Evolution: Besides being more fluidly animated with every Part, starting in Part 3 the Power Stars change from pre-rendered art to sprites.
• Batman Gambit: It is revealed near the end that Devil Mario took advantage of Luigi’s willingness to pursue him and fight him as long as possible so he could allow the remainder of the boo army to possess an entire crowd of toads, ordering them to gather every Power Star in the Mushroom Kingdom while the distraction was underway and grant a massive boost of stamina to their leader so he could overpower the Green Plumber.
• Bittersweet Ending: Leaning very heavily on bitter. The series ends with Luigi losing to the boos after a lengthy clash, Princess Peach getting slashed across the neck in cold blood, and the corrupted Mario having already absorbed the combined energy of all the Power Stars. The only good thing to come out of this is that Mario, after being given a short chance to look around by the boo controlling him, stabs himself in order to whisk the ghosts away, canceling out both their efforts to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom and the effects of the Power Stars that they assimilated.
• Bloodier and Gorier: In comparison to the squeaky-clean Super Mario games. Here, characters are constantly beheaded, stabbed through the chest, et cetera… resulting in puddles of blood wherever “Mario” goes. Part 4 even more so — for the first three parts, while there was blood and toads were dismembered, it had a cartoonish lack of detail and each kill was a quick affair. The final part has a number of drawn-out, messy executions that are more graphic and brutal, adding visible entrails to some of the toad kills.
• Bullet Time: At one point Mario and Luigi spend a few moments trading blows while some flung debris is still flying in slow motion around them, sometimes sluggishly bouncing off the two fighters.
• Darker and Edgier: Not just to the Mario games, but also in comparison to earlier Mario Web Animations like Randy Solem’s Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom (Plenty of violent and sad moments, but it all ends happily for the good guys), or Alxlen’s Mario Brothers (Itself dark and tragic, but does not feature any gore). Power Star, meanwhile, features an excess of blood and dismembered body parts, a very personal conflict in the form of Luigi trying to kill his brother in order to protect the people he loves, and a conclusion that is arguably even more heartbreaking than the ending of Mario Brothers.
• Deadly Gaze: A variation of this occurs in the finale, where Devil Mario is seen using optical shockwaves against several bystanders, reducing them to mere drops of blood upon contact.
• Demonic Possession: Mario spends the vast majority of the series under the unwilling seduction of malevolent spirits, the latter using the former as a vessel to slaughter passersby and gain energy from the titular artifacts to enhance their army. This also happens to an entire crowd of toads who are slowly marching toward the Mushroom Kingdom during the final battle, having come to combine all of the Power Stars in the world into one super-powerful relic for Mario to absorb.
  Luigi: [To Peach] He was possessed… by BOOS!

• Determinator: Luigi's screen time is mostly spent either trying to chase Mario or fighting him mano a mano in order to stop the boos from completing their conquest, no matter how many times his opponent gets the upper hand. This is especially evident in Part 3, which is essentially one long fight scene between the two brothers and therefore establishes how far Luigi goes to protect his homeland.
• Dying as Yourself: Upon briefly regaining control from the Boos and seeing the devastation they wrought, Mario stabs himself to end the rampage.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • In the first segment, the leader of the boos is only shown speaking through on-screen text. By the time the fourth episode rolled around, he finally got fully-voiced lines.
  • In the first two episodes, the Power Star is represented by the 3D model from Super Mario 64. The remaining half of the series instead uses a sprite from Super Mario All-Stars.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Luigi reacts with utter devastation after losing to Mario for the final time. Downplayed in that he’s aware that Mario had no control over his actions at the time, but the pathos of the moment is in full-effect nonetheless.
  Luigi: [After being impaled through the nose] Muh... Mario?

• Evil Laugh: Devil Mario does a particularly raucous one while he slits Peach’s throat and chucks her now-lifeless body onto the floor.
• Fighting from the Inside: As revealed in the final part, Mario has been desperately fighting the boos' possession for the entire series, but to no avail. He only regains control when the boos themselves surrender it to him at the very end, to show him all they've done using his body.
• Flash Step: Starting in Part 3, both brothers have absorbed enough Power Stars to be able to blur in and out of sight in the blink of an eye.
• Flynning: The fights between Luigi and Mario turn into this whenever both of them are wielding katanas, in which their blades clash against each other repeatedly rather than make direct contact with the opponent.
• Gainax Ending: Not exactly the most difficult to understand, since it refers to Mario killing himself in order to eliminate the boos and putting an end to their treachery. Still, the on-screen text makes it unclear whether the narrator is Luigi or Mario, explaining how the demons’ aspirations never came to pass, even though both brothers have already passed on.
  Dear observers, this unique tale has come to an end. The invaders were strong and keen but blind, unable to see that their greatest threat was under their eyes. Suffering demands that they let him see his loved ones die… a fatal blunder. The host was killed along with the invaders, sailing into the depths of oblivion where they can finally rest… and so can I.

• Gorn: Practically anyone not named Luigi or Peach instantly perishes at Devil Mario’s behest, almost always resulting in an abundance of blood. Even then, the former two are brutally slashed to death in the ending and the latter stabs himself after the boo inside gives him one last chance to see the carnage he’s caused.
• Grenade Launcher: In episode 2, one of the toads in Mushroom City (unsuccessfully) fires a bullet bill at “Mario,” exploding on impact as it instead hits a pile of cadavers.
• Gun Fu: The very beginning of the series shows Mario dreaming about a crowd of demons chasing him through a tunnel, all while doing backflips and pulling out a handgun to keep them at bay. Sadly, this element is not present in the main plot, with the action being relegated to swordplay and hand-to-hand combat.
• Heroic Sacrifice: The leader of the boos gives Mario a brief moment of self-awareness to view the destruction he caused while he was under the their control as a way of rubbing in his face. Needless to say, this gives Mario a pivotal opportunity to stab himself in the abdomen, defeating the boos so as to prevent them from expanding their reign.
• Heroic Second Wind: At "Mario"'s mercy and just having learned the full extent of the boos' goals, Luigi summons more energy from his absorbed Power Star to get back into the fight. It is to no avail. Mario stole and absorbed one of Luigi's Power Stars, giving him two to Luigi's one remaining, and so Mario is just too powerful for his brother to defeat. Luigi can't keep up forever and is overwhelmed, allowing the boos to execute their plan.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: During Mario’s dream in part 1, the plumber manages to fire a pistol at a handful of boos while somersaulting, then again a few seconds later as he shoots a few more enemies while plummeting diagonally to the floor.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Sometimes a katana shows up, brought by a toad to try to stop "Mario" only to get taken off its corpse. In parts 2 and 4 the brothers spend part of their fight dueling with katanas.
• Kick the Dog: After absorbing all Power Stars and killing Luigi and Peach, out of sadism the boos release Mario so he can see all his dead loved ones. This bites them hard.
• Magic Enhancement: Power Stars are shown to substantially augment the stamina and brawling prowess of those who absorb their essence, demonstrated by the Mario Bros when they use their energy during some of their fights.
• Mythology Gag: In Part 2 (4:30), Devil Mario swings a yoshi full-circle by grabbing its tongue, in the same manner he swung Bowser by his tail in Super Mario 64.
• Near-Villain Victory: The boos succeed in collecting every Power Star and gain ultimate power, despite Luigi's best efforts. It's their own cruelty and pettiness that allows them to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
• Neck Snap: At one point in part 3, Devil Mario clutches a hapless toad standing in his way and kills him with a swipe before turning his attention back to Luigi.
• No-Sell: In Part 4, a toad finally gets a couple of hits in! Too bad Mario just absorbed his second Power Star, and he literally ignores it before dismembering the toad with a glare.
• Offstage Villainy: Mario wasn't the boo's only plan. While Peach and Luigi were only paying attention to Mario, other boos attacked all over the Mushroom Kingdom and captured every other Power Star. By Part 4 there is an army of possessed toads marching over the horizon.
• Omnicidal Maniac: In 4 Devil Mario reveals this is the boo's end goal.
• One-Man Army: An evil variation with Devil Mario, who is single-handedly shown butchering dozens of people and is perfectly capable of punching through walls and ceilings if prompted. It gets worse as he absorbs every Power Star in existence, theoretically giving him the ability to obliterate the universe at his whim.
• Power Glows: Mario displays a lurid red aura around his body after collecting a Power Star, and it only expands in size as he absorbs more of them.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Mario’s normally-black pupils are given a piercing vermilion color to signify that his psyche has been corrupted. In the ending, when the boo commander forces Mario to look around and comprehend how badly his life has been torn apart, his eyes revert to normal, which signifies his regain of self-control before committing suicide to stop the chaos.
• Red Shirt Army: All those toads (and a few yoshis) never stood a chance.
• Skyward Scream: Devil Mario lets out a final howl of rage and pain after Mario commits suicide, taking them both down for good and being bested by the plumber one final time.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Even though the series does not contain anything particularly known for exploding other than a measly bullet bill being used as a rocket launcher, things still tend to fulminate violently simply because of Rule of Cool. A particularly awesome example occurs when "Mario” uses his Power Star energy to make a colossal burst of smoke and fire to eradicate Luigi, only for the latter to somehow survive and continue battling his brother even with the odds stacked against him.
• Suddenly Speaking: After spending the first three episodes silent, Devil Mario finally gets vocal in part 4, complete with a demonic echo to indicate that the demon inside is the one doing the speaking.
• Super-Strength: The Power Stars give this when absorbed. Both the Mario Brothers have no trouble smashing through castle walls, and at one point Mario punches a castle in half.
• Taking You with Me: This is what brings the boos’ invasion to an end, via Mario thrusting his katana directly through his stomach after being given a short gasp of consciousness.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Not long after murdering Peach and Luigi, the ghosts briefly give Mario one last chance to look around as a means of humiliating the hapless plumber with the casualties that resulted from his corruption. Frankly for them, this proves fatal as it provides Mario a golden opportunity to commit suicide, thus canceling out everything the enemy had worked hard for.
  Devil Mario: [To Mario] Is there anything more painful than seeing those you love… die?

• Voice of the Legion: In Episode 4, Mario is given an ominous, reverberating voice as a sign of his mind being corrupted by the demon dwelling within. It’s especially terrifying when he berates Luigi for his inability to fight properly immediately before the final battle.
  Devil Mario: Your struggle is pointless. We have already won. The vulnerable state your kingdom is in now... only invites attack. [Screen fades to a legion of corrupted toads marching unto Mushroom City] While your focus has been on saving your brother, our army has already attacked and acquired every Power Star in the Mushroom Kingdom. They’re near. And once they arrive, the combined force of all Power Stars will be unleashed and our final purpose will be fulfilled! The destruction of all of creation…
• Worf Had the Flu: Luigi can't stand up to Mario at all in Part 1, and fails to defeat him even after absorbing a Power Star in Part 2's intro. Luigi claims that he held back to avoid hurting his brother, and he fights much better in the remaining three Parts.
• You Shall Not Pass!: When Mario seemingly has Peach and her Power Star in his grasp, Luigi appears from a pipe and sends them away, saying he'll hold his brother off. He barely slows Mario down but successfully keeps the star out of Mario's hands.

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Power Star 4.5 contains examples of…

• Adoption Diss: Played for laughs when Luigi says this to Mario to end the scuffle between them, causing Mario to commit suicide and Luigi to laugh disrespectfully in front of his brother’s grave. Then it turns out Luigi’s adoption statement is a lie.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: The ending narration initially hints at a Sudden Downer Ending, then turns into Luigi bringing back a random kitchen blade to the store because it was too dull to slice mushrooms.

After laughing for hours, Luigi realized what he had done. The next day, Luigi took his knife…and returned it to Wal-Mart.

• Battle Aura: Subverted. The title screen is based on the one from Part 4, but instead of a demonic red aura of power, Mario is just on fire and does not like it one bit.
• Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: The dramatic dialogue from the original is reduced to Mario telling Luigi he sucks, and Luigi responding No, You.
• The Cameo:
  • The King of Grass Land from Super Mario Bros. 3 makes an appearance, briefly being smacked around in his throne room by Mario during the plumber’s tussle with Luigi.
  • Also from Super Mario Bros. 3 are a large crowd of Boom-Boom minibosses. Although they seemingly replace the Demonic Toad Army from part 4, they have no relevance to the conflict going on between Mario and Luigi and never show up again after the first few seconds of the video.
• Comedic Sociopathy: After Luigi (falsely) tells Mario that he was adopted, the latter ends his life as a result of what he thinks is the embarrassing truth. Luigi’s response once he arrives at Mario’s grave? He laughs uncontrollably before later heading home and returning his inefficient knife to Wal-Mart.
• Epic Fail: Mario's attempts to attack Luigi in the opening mostly just result in him flailing around and hurting himself. Even in the battle proper, Mario tries a Flash Step tackle against an unmoving Luigi, only to miss and slam himself into the ground hard.
• Grave-Marking Scene: Rare Played for Laughs example, in which Luigi, having caused Mario to kill himself after telling a falsehood about him being adopted, irreverently guffaws in front of the burial site with no regard for the consequences of his actions. While the epilogue initially leads the viewer to believe that Luigi was about to deeply regret his behavior toward his brother’s death, it turns out he was simply bringing a knife back to Wal-Mart because it wasn’t sharp enough to slice mushrooms, thereby preserving the comedy of that moment.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: While fighting in the King of Grass Land's throne room, Mario tries throwing the King at Luigi, only for Luigi to catch him, spin around and toss him back, hitting Mario.
• Kicking My Own Butt: Near the beginning of the video, Mario displays strong traces of this by wasting most of his energy by punching himself in the face and slamming his mug against the floor, and not putting in too much elbow grease whenever he actually tries to hurt Luigi.
• Lighter and Softer: On top of the scenario itself being Played for Laughs, the fighting is a lot closer to slapstick than a brutal martial-arts slugfest, the music is a quiet and bouncy song from Animal Crossing, and there isn't even any gore (including the falling blood globs from the opening sequence, which are replaced by flowers).
• Soundtrack Dissonance: The epic final battle is scored by the Brawl version of Town Hall and Tom Nook's Store.
• Spoofed with Their Own Words: The audio of the first scene (Mario with Luigi at his mercy) is lifted exactly from Part 4, with the same music and all the same sounds in the same order. But here he's mostly beating the crap out of himself.
• Take That!: To counter Mario's claim that he sucks, Luigi responds that it is Mario who sucks, and he specifically sucks almost as much as Superman 64.
• Wimp Fight: At one point the battle devolves into ineffectual slapping while both their faces are turned away. They're still perfectly capable of their super-powered brawling, as they demonstrate when their wimp fight approaches a pit and they both Flash Step across it without breaking their stride to continue slapping on the other side.