YMMV / The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

• Accidental Innuendo: Everything in this sequence.
  Luigi: Like our motto always says, the customer is always wet!
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • King Koopa apparently has amazing psychic abilities, if the beginning of "Do You Princess Toadstool Take This Koopa..?" is of any indication.
  • When Mario lost his powers in "Brooklyn Bound", was it because they were temporary, or were his second thoughts about returning to Brooklyn making him lose his mojo?
• Aluminum Christmas Trees:
  • Despite how disgusting it sounds, hot pepper ice cream as shown in "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" is a real thing.
• Ass Pull: The show seems to rely on one every episode. Sometimes this happens during the songs but some examples include:
  • Luigi knowing how to speak Pidgit for some reason.
  • In "Brooklyn Bound", after Mario grabs a Fire Flower, he suddenly flies out of a pit by flapping his hands. This is especially ridiculous since no powerup from the games at the time (this was before Super Mario Bros. 3) could allow Mario to do this.^note at the time Super Mario Bros. 3 was already out in Japan for a year, but it wouldn't hit America until 1990 due to a chip shortage.
  • Mario using one of the Circling Stars that appears after hitting his head as a Starman, which gives him invincibility. Yeah...
  • In "Mario and Joliet", the heroes are all but trapped by Koopa until Princess Toadstool suddenly points out that the flowers in Joliet's bouquet are actually Fire Flowers, which Mario uses to become Fire Mario and bust down the door. Not all that crazy considering other examples, but the timing is what makes it — the discovery happens right after an elaborate scheme by Toad in order to get the key from the guard backfired.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • In the first episode, "The Bird! The Bird!", Bowser orders two mouthless ice creatures (Flurries) to lick his feet while he sits on his throne. For no reason other than because he could.
  • That one infamous error from "Two Plumbers and a Baby":
    "Good thing we used the extra pipes for this Koopa catcher, huh, Mario?" - Mario speaking in Luigi's voice to a red-capped Luigi
• Can't Un-Hear It:
  • For many older fans, Captain Lou Albano's deep-but-friendly Brooklyn-accented Mario voice still trumps the higher-pitched stereotypical-Italian-accented voice Charles Martinet gives the character in the official games. Oddly enough, every voice actor who auditioned for Mario after the DiC cartoons ended knew this trope would be in effect, and tried to imitate Captain Lou^* (Walker Boone, his replacement in 3 and World also imitated him). In fact, Charles Martinet got the role because he was the only actor who made no such attempt.^note It was his first plan for the character, and by sheer coincidence— he was unfamiliar with the Mario franchise beyond it being a family-friendly brand, and the idea of Mario sounding like a gruff Brooklyn worker seemed intuitive enough. However, he quickly decided against it because it seemed too abrasive for younger audiences, and when asked to perform at the audition, he jumped into the high-pitched paisano we know today.
  • Likewise, many can't help but read Bowser's in-game (e.g., Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi) lines with Harvey Atkin's voice.
  • Even Martinet seems to have based his performance as Luigi as basically a cross between his own take on Mario and Danny Wells' take on Luigi. Note the lower-pitched voice and the quirky vocal phrasings. Likewise, although Nintendo initially went with a higher-pitched, childlike voice for Toad, they eventually based Toad's voice on John Stocker's distinctly raspy performance from the GameCube era onwards, albeit with the N64-era's childlike pitch.
• Crossover Ship: If only because she made two live-action appearances in the show from her actual actress and has a few Ship Tease moments with him, there exists some people who ship Mario/Elvira.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Bunsen in "Robo Koopa". Her design◊ and voice are downright Moe, and she's technically the one to defeat Bowser this time around—his final defeat in the series, we might add^note at least until The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3.
  • Hooded Robin from "Hooded Robin and His Mario Men". A badass robin (or perhaps even an Albatoss) who's just as much of a charitable Lovable Rogue as his inspiration, with the added benefit of being a Voice Changeling.
  • The Quirks from "Stars in Their Eyes" are an adorable race of aliens with kazoo-like noses that not only save Mario and the gang from being slaves like they were, but are the ones to defeat King Koopa via shorting out his rocket via playing a rendition of The Legend of Zelda theme.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: The live-action segment "Goodbye Mr. Fish". Mario and Luigi petsit the beloved goldfish of a kindly old woman named Mrs. Periwinkle, only for it to die unexpectedly. Rather than explain the situation, they get her a Replacement Goldfish, and she's none the wiser, firmly believing it to be her "Kenneth". Granted, Mario declines any payment, but when Mrs. Periwinkle says that she'll spread the word about the brothers' supposed good work, Luigi starts telling her about their "rates"...
• First Installment Wins: Many fans view Super Show in a much better light than its succcessors, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.
• Harsher in Hindsight: One episode of the series had Bowser forcibly marrying Toadstool, with several members of the kingdom turned to stone. In Super Paper Mario, Peach is literally brainwashed into marrying Bowser so the Big Bad (Hint: Not Bowser) can create a Chaos Heart to completely destroy existence.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Despite the fact that the series has been disowned by Nintendo, for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Illumination reached out to the current rights holders to bring back its iconic "Plumber's Rap" theme song, meaning that Nintendo accepts it a lot more now.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Has its own page.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Though the cartoons have become prominent fodder for YouTube Poop, it's the live-action sequences that are the highlight to more unironic viewers due to them having much better comedic writing and cool guest-stars.
  • The copyrighted cover songs were so wonderful that some people flat-out refuse to watch an episode of Super Show unless it was a restored version. Good luck finding them, though.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Luigi, I'm home!"
  • How thoughtful, Luigi. has been mistaken for "Oh fuck you, Luigi" by many people.
  • A frame from this scene from "Rolling Down the River" spawned the Luigi's Chinese cowboy impression◊ meme.
  • "Do the Suicide"
  • The German dub of "Do the Mario" has become this due to being pure fodder for mishearings. It helps that the person singing it sings it in an extremely over the top manner.
  • "If you're not watching The Super Mario Brothers Super Show, you're gonna turn into a Goomba!"
  • "If you do drugs, you go to Hell before you die."
  • "When I want my feet licked, I'll ask for it! (beat) I want my feet licked!", for both the absurdity and probably accidental foot fetish undertones.
  • The show title is already kinda silly with the two instances of "Super" in it, but many YTPs have made it even sillier, like spamming a lot more "super"s, or inputting other words. One YTP uses The Super Mario Bros. Super Duper Super Pooper Super Show.
  • This exchange, for turning Luigi into a mundane, yet Memetic Badass.
    Mario: Remember, Luigi, you gotta act tough!
    Luigi: (slams bar) I'll take a milk.
• Narm: The infamous "If You Do Drugs" PSA. While the message about the dangers of drugs is there and his heart was in the right place (especially since, as a pro wrestling icon, he likely lost several friends and colleagues to the all-too-common-in-the-industry dangers of drugs), seeing Captain Lou in his Mario hat say the word "Hell" is jarring, if not hilarious for someone dressed as the squeaky clean Nintendo mascot.
• Narm Charm:
  • While many a Nintendo fan born after the 90s will likely see it as a unfaithful adaptation (made in the NES days of the series, with basically only the manual to go off of for story and designs), many have likewise admitted to admiring the goofy nature of the series, especially the opening and the live-action parts.
  • Captain Lou outright saying that drug abuse will make your life a living Hell to make his point about saying no to drugs while wearing a Mario hat is very bizarre, yes. But his points still stand regardless, and, in a way, a man playing one of the icons of childhood dropping the word "Hell" to warn kids may make it even more effective.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Count Koopula turning his Koopa Troopas into were-turtles while Thriller plays in the background is surprisingly creepy. Helped by the animation of that scene being way more fluid than the rest of the show.
  • The episode "Princess, I Shrunk The Mario Bros." where King Koopa is chasing the shrunken Mario Bros. with weed killer. Anyone who knows about herbicides like paraquat and diquat know that those chemicals are NO JOKE. Even a few drops of those herbicides will mean almost certain painful death - even with prompt medical attention. Whoever wrote that episode was either showing their work or just plain lucky.
• Older Than They Think:
  • Most people would have you believe Luigi being a Cowardly Lion was established in Super Show. In reality, a commercial for Mario Bros. on Atari systems established it about 6 years prior.
  • Many people think the name of the Sherlock Holmes Captain Ersatz Herlock Slomes originated from the episode "The Adventures of Sherlock Mario" and later got used in the Ace Attorney games. This parody of Holmes has actually existed since 1908 in the Arsène Lupin novels.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Several episodes of Super Show^note "The Fire of Hercufleas", "Hooded Robin and His Mario Men", "The Trojan Koopa", "Mario of the Apes" and "The Provolone Ranger" were written by Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley, who would go on to create Kim Possible.
  • Many of the live-action guest stars would go onto have breakout careers later down the line (if they weren't famous already that is). Jim Ward and Gary Schwartz were recurring guest stars.
• The Scrappy: Patty in "Day of the Orphan". She's a bossy and whiny Manipulative Bastard to Mario and Luigi, and it turns out she's such a Spoiled Brat that she's repeatedly run away from home and lied about her parents whenever she hasn't gotten her way. No wonder her parents ground her "till the end of the century."
• So Bad, It's Good: This is how many people see the cartoon today. While it was very popular in its time and there are plenty still willing to admit to genuinely liking it, even they can’t overlook its many animation and continuity errors.
• Tear Jerker: As silly and ridiculous as the show could be, it did have a couple of sad moments.
  • "Brooklyn Bound" in general is a powerful episode. In it, our heroes come across Salvodor Drainado, a famous plumber Mario and Luigi looked up to, who had disappeared into the Mushroom Kingdom. Now he's found a way back... only it's a one-way trip. This leaves Mario torn between going back home or staying and saving Princess Toadstool's kingdom. The princess herself insists they go, as "[they] already helped [her] more than [she] deserved," and they share a touching moment or two before (supposedly) leaving.
  • In "Quest for Pizza" Koopa poisons Mario via a snake bite. This leaves him in a death-like coma. Luigi tries every food they have to try and wake Mario up to no avail:
    Luigi: Pepperoni cheesecake, meatball sandwiches, garlic ravioli and prosciutto spaghetti! Wake up, Mario! PLEASE, WAKE UP! (Luigi begins to cry)
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • The show doesn't have a lot of main villains that have no ties to King Koopa. There was only one episode ("Love 'Em & Leave 'Em") where Koopa was absent—with Queen Rotunda as the villain in his stead—while Sultan Pashbah was the initial antagonist of "Mario's Magic Carpet", before Koopa took over.
  • Vampa White from "On Her Majesty's Sewer Service" was only seen in that episode and nowhere else. So much for female variety in the Koopa Pack.
• Unintentional Period Piece: It's already obvious that the series was made when both the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda franchises were still practically in their infancies by today's standards, but the drum machine-heavy soundtrack and occasional nods to Soviet communism, right down to a caricatured Mikhail Gorbachev making a guest appearance in an episode titled "Glasnuts", will definitely hammer it in. The Gorbachev episode would only become more dated following the real-life politician's death in 2022.
• Values Dissonance:
  • While Dr. Sheldon, Butterfingers, and the residents of their village in "Jungle Fever" don't act stereotypical, the visual depiction of their native village is very outdated, complete with grass huts, voodoo masks, and Dr. Sheldon being a Witch Doctor.
  • In "Mario Meets Koop-Zilla", King Koopa refers to Mario and Luigi as midgets. "Midget" is an antiquated term to refer to people with dwarfism, and as of The New '20s, has generally been accepted as being a slur.
  • The depiction of Sayonara in "Karate Koopa" is relatively tame, but what's jarring to modern viewers is Misaki and the Ninjis speaking in nothing but Asian Speekee Engrish.
  • Much like his inspiration, Pronto from "The Provolone Ranger" is an incredibly outdated representation of Native Americans, having the trifecta of Tonto Talk, Tipis and Totem Poles, and Braids, Beads and Buckskins.

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