Mario's BALLIN in today's episode (didn't know he had it in him)
SMG4 and SMG3 lead two different teams of their friends against each other in a high-stakes basketball game to see which one of them is "ballin"... which soon escalates into events that are quite literally out of this world.
- Animation Bump: The basketball game is animated rather fluidly for this show, with the usual Super Mario 64 and ragdoll animation being downplayed throughout most of the episode.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: None of the cast has any difficulty breathing on the surface of the moon.
- Berserk Button:
- Meggy is goaded into playing after her initial disinterest when SMG4 rejects her for being too short.
- SMG3 pisses off Michael Jordan by claiming that Space Jam: A New Legacy was better than the first.
- Melony, having been The Load for most of the game, finally gets serious when her bed is destroyed by the moon dropping, complete with a transformation into her Fierce Diety form.
- The Bus Came Back: Toast Guy returns after a several-year absence.
- Calvinball: By the end of the episode, the players have all but dropped any rules except "get the ball in the hoop".
- Competition Freak: Meggy initially wants nothing to do with SMG4 and SMG3's contest, but immediately changes her tune when she's not picked for SMG4's team.
- Downer Ending: Played for Laughs. Luigi wins the game for SMG3, proving that SMG4 ain't ballin'. Unfortunately, SMG3 ain't ballin' either; Luigi is. Also, Michael Jordan destroyed the world by crashing the moon into it.
- Gretzky Has the Ball: Mario, being Mario, has a moment of this at the beginning, claiming he can play tennis, then proceeding to kick the basketball with his foot. Of course, the game itself quickly devolves into something far removed from traditional basketball thanks to Rule of Funny.
- The Load: Melony, at least at first. She spends the entire game asleep, not even being disturbed by the moon falling towards the Earth. Once her bed is destroyed in all the carnage, however...
- Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: Meggy uses this excuse after shooting the basketball mid-flight with her Splattershot. A referee suddenly appears out of nowhere to call her out for this, only for her to immediately shoot him. From that point onward, both teams start cheating so blatantly that it practically turns into an entirely different sport.
- Serial Escalation: The game starts out as a fairly normal (if zany) bout of basketball, but it doesn't take long for both teams to start cheating in increasingly ridiculous ways. This eventually takes their match to the moon, and culminates in a basketball showdown between Fierce Deity Melony and a super-basketball-powered Luigi.
- Smug Super: Surprisingly, Melony has picked up some shades of this, if her coy smirk while hovering just out of Meggy's reach is any indication.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Once the game moves to the moon, it looks like the awesomeness will be cranked up to eleven in the low-gravity atmosphere. Instead, the low gravity only makes it harder to move around, and the inertia of doing any fancy jumps and tricks causes them to float off helplessly into space.
- Shout-Out: Luigi grinding the basketball on Melony's beam is a direct reference to how Goku was able to defeat Kefla.
- Talking with Signs: Mario pulls out a sign that reads "HELP!!" in lieu of talking when Michael Jordan drills to the center of the moon, turning it into a different kind of moon.
- Team Rocket Wins: Even though he's had a Heel–Face Turn as per the Revelations Arc, SMG3 is still the Token Evil Teammate and The Rival of SMG4. Also, thanks to Luigi, he actually WINS the basketball game.
- We Need a Distraction: At one point during the game, SMG3 distracts SMG4 with a derogatory tweet to get past him and reach the net.
