Web Animation / Supermarioglitchy4's Super Mario 64 Bloopers: Genesis Arc

Relinquish your grip on our hero!
3, 2, 1, 0!

"It's time we told you the full story of SMG4"

—Offical Description

SMG4's origins are finally revealed… and the cast faces off against an enemy who's been pulling the strings behind their existence all long.

The Genesis Arc (initially titled Super Meme Genesis) is the fifth major story arc in the SMG4 series, the major arc for Season 11, and the second instalment of the SMG4 Cosmology Lore trilogy.

When the Glitchy Gang recounts their pasts, SMG4 soon realizes that he can't remember his. And his attempts to figure it out soon lead to revelations about the nature of memes, the mysteries of a race known as the SMGs… and a confrontation with an Eldritch Abomination known as Zero.

The next arc, the Revelations Arc, serves as the Grand Finale of the Cosmology saga.

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Episodes

Note: Episodes marked with * are not counted as official episodes, but are still connected to the plot.

• The Pursuit of Happiness* ^note Introduces two seemingly innocuous side characters who will end up becoming important to the plot
• Perfectly Balanced
• Mario's Bed and Breakfast* ^note Sets up the setting for the event that will kick off the main plot
• Mario Babies* ^note the ending marks the official beginning of the arc
• SMG4's Origins
• The SMG4 Movie: 10 Year Anniversary Special
• SMG4 Goes Insane* ^note follows up from the revelations of the 10 Year Anniversary Special
• Into the Dark Web
• Stupid Mario Golf* ^note The driving force of the plot follows up on a reveal in the previous episode
• If Mario Was In... Newgrounds
• The Other Universe
• WHAT IF...?* ^note The Framing Device takes place after the previous episode
• She’s Back!* ^note Brings Meggy back into the cast following her temporary absence due to her vacation and sets up the core storyline of the sequel arc
• If Mario Was In… Anime* ^note Sets up a plot point for the climax
• The Day HE Arrived
• Doomsday but Mario is Okay
• Mario and the Backrooms
• MARIOS OKAY MARIOS OKAY MARIOS OKAY MARIOS OKAY MARIOS OKAY MARIOS OKAY MARIOS OKAY
• The Final Piece
• War of the Fat Italians 2021

Tropes

• All for Nothing: The end of "MARIO'S OKAY" and the start of "The Final Piece" has Mario captured and Zero victorious. After saving Mario and keeping him safe for a while, the episode ends with Mario again captured and Zero again victorious, only now it's even worse as all the protagonists and SMGs are now chained up.
• Arc Words: GUARDIAN DETECTED.
• Ascended Fanon: invokedFollowing the confirmation in "Mario And The Backrooms" that Axol was being possessed by Zero, fans started to nickname the abomination "Ax0l." In "The Final Piece", after the possessed Axol transforms for the second time, his subtitles begin to label him as "Ax0l" (though the name change is subtle due to the text being rendered in Caps Lock). The official GMod workshop page for the Genesis Arc ragdolls confirms that his name has indeed changed to Ax0l.
• Ascended Meme: Ax0l's terrifying Aside Glance, which gained instant popularity at the time it was aired, was shown on the thumbnail for Meggy Reacts To The Genesis Arc. Of course, memes are what SMG4 is all about.
• Barrier Maiden: Mario is revealed to be this. As the avatar of his universe, getting killed by Zero would mean everyone in it dies. In addition, any SMGs using his form become disfigured. SMG1 and SMG2 used to have an avatar named Spudnick, who was successfully killed by Zero.
• Big Bad: Zero, an evil computer virus that’s destroyed countless worlds (or at least Spudnick's universe). He only made an active appearance in the first half of the arc during the 10 Year Anniversary Special, but really becomes a major threat in the latter half. As noted below, Zero is also revealed to have been behind many unpleasant events in the universe.
• Bittersweet Ending: The arc ends in a way that shakes up the status quo of the series significantly.
  • Bitter: Melony is forced to kill Axol, losing her best friend, her lover, and her innocence in the process.
  • Sweet: Melony takes up manga art to finish Two Piece in honor of Axol with all her friends chipping in; SMG4 and SMG3 finally bury the hatchet on their long and bitter rivalry, looking forward to mastering their roles as Super Meme Guardians and, of course, the universe was saved.
• Bleed 'Em and Weep: Melony reluctantly kills Axol at his own request to stop Zero, as Axol is too entwined to be saved and pulled out in time. She's crying even before she does it, and when she's later asked what happens and why Axol isn't with her when she returned, she breaks down bawling in a Heroic BSoD.
• Breaking Old Trends: This arc has quite a few fundamental differences from the previous ones, some of which would carry over to the Revelations Arc:
  • Unlike the previous arcs, which either had a regular Mario character (Waluigi, Francis) or a pre-existing SMG4 character (Bob, SMG3) as the Arc Villain, this arc introduces an entirely new villain in the form of Zero.
  • While the other arcs primarily focused on developing the characters, this one primarily focuses on developing the world – the nature of memes, the SMG4 universe, and SMG4 himself are thoroughly explored and given a concrete set of rules here. That's not to say there isn't any Character Development at all (Melony becomes more mature, SMG3 pulls an official Heel–Face Turn), but the Worldbuilding definitely has more emphasis.
  • It's structured very differently, with regular SMG4 episodes in between plot-relevant episodes (the former of which are excluded from the arc's playlist). As pointed out in those episodes' notes, a few of them ARE important for complete understanding because they either set up or flesh out plot points.
• Breather Episode: In a first for the series, rather than have the episodes back to back like in the first four arcs, this arc has irrelevant (or mostly irrelevant) episodes in between all the plot progression up until the last six entries:
  • After 10 Year Anniversary Special, we got "Mario goes to the Dentist..." and "If Mario Was In… Friday Night Funkin 2", before we get "SMG4 Goes Insane", which explains why SMG4 was absent in the previous two episode.
  • "Stupid Mario Golf" features little new lore and focuses on the slapstick and the memes, and while "If Mario was in... Newgrounds" has Mario and SMG4 search for the Guardian Pod, it mainly focuses on the two interacting with the Newgrounds content.
  • There’s 3 filler episodes in between "The Other Universe" and "The Day HE Arrived", the starting point of the arc’s climax:
    • "WHAT IF...?" is a What If? Vignette Episode, with the Framing Device of Mario and SMG4 finding a heap of fanfic ideas on their way home after "The Other Universe", though it does contain a handful of heavy, non-canon Downer Endings fitting the darker tone of the arc.
    • "She’s Back!" focuses on Meggy returning from Port Aurora and catching up on what her friends have been up to while she was gone.
    • "If Mario Was In… Anime" has Mario going through a wacky quest through anime to find the last piece of Inkweaver, finally allowing Axol to repair it.
• Cerebus Retcon: Several events and changes in the SMG4 world over the years are shown in retrospect to have been caused by Zero – notably SMG3's unintended landing in the Mushroom Kingdom and thus his rivalry with SMG4, the disappearance of the Mario recolors, and he's shown to be influencing SMG4's insanity in "SMG4 Goes Insane".
• Cosmic Horror Story: With the world of SMG4 being set in a ROM of Super Mario 64, a computer virus attack essentially becomes a Cosmic Horror Story on their scale.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • In "The Other Universe", it’s shown that the way Zero kills off avatars is by outright sapping their life force out, which causes them to rapidly decay.
  • Axol faces this after Zero takes possession of him, with his appearance becoming more and more mutilated as the possession goes on until Melony needs to Mercy Kill him.
• Darker and Edgier: The darkest arc in the series by far. While the Waluigi Arc was plenty grim, the Anime Arc ramped it up quite well, and the YouTube Arc pivoted back and forth, Genesis, with the exception of the filler episodes, can fully be called a horror story. While the series is no stranger to horror episodes, Genesis hearkens back to the older episodes that dealt with urban legends like the Carpenter Guy and demons like Baby Mario/The Monster, but while they had underlying comedic tones, this case is purely bleak. It also addresses a major complaint fans have had in a very dark way: the tone shift and the gradual shunting away of the Mario recolored characters like MM54321, Enzo, MCG, GM, and many others. Answer? A dimension-hopping Eldritch Abomination hiding in the Dark Web sneakily snatched them all up as the years went by and ate their souls, turning them into Faceless Mooks. Not only that, an in-story reason as to why the tone of the series is the way it is: SMG4 and SMG3 are apparently of a guild of beings called "Guardians", whom land in video game worlds and bond with a native that resembles them. And that's just the first half. Oh, and Axol dies.
• Digital Avatar: Mario himself is apparently the "Avatar" for both SMG3 and SMG4, which is why they're recolors of Mario, and by extension, every other Super Mario 64 machinimist as well, namely MarioMario54321, Starman3, Nintendofan997, FightingMario54321, among others. Mario thinks this makes him another kind of avatar as he uses "earthbending" on SMG3 (i.e. throwing a rock at him). In reality, being an "Avatar" means that Mario is a Barrier Maiden.
• Driven to Madness: SMG4 does this in his titular episode, "SMG4 Goes Insane", trying to figure out what the SMGs are. It's implied that his insanity was also influenced by Zero.
• Fun with Acronyms: Super Meme Genesis has the same acronym as Super Mario Glitchy.
• Living Macguffin:
  • As an SMG, SMG4 is one of the only people who can open the Guardian Pods. Zero exploits this by using SMG4 to unlock his Guardian Pod, disabling the anti-virus keeping his full body locked up and does it again as Axol to trap Mario and the two SMGs in SMG3's USB.
  • Mario, and any avatars really. They are essentially the core of the universe, and the entire point of the SMGs is to protect them from harm. It's for a good reason, as their death would cause the entire universe to break and corrupt. The corruption even spreads to the people in the universe, and it's implied being corrupted is a painful process.
• Locked into Strangeness: Despite the Glitchy Gang preventing Mario's turning into another Zero during the 10th Anniversary Special, in "SMG4 Goes Insane", his arm notably turns into Zero's again when the manifestation of SMG4's madness shows up.
• Knight of Cerebus: Zero is the biggest example of this in the entire series. His one comedic moment can be considered more gross than funny, and every other time he is on screen, literally all comedy is yeeted out the window. Plus, unlike most other characters, he has successfully wiped out countless universes before the series even began and came the closest one can get to killing Mario not once, but TWICE.
• Origins Episode: For SMG4 as a whole, both the series and the character.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Swag and Chris serve as this like they did in the Anime Arc, as they’re the sources of most of the comedy during the darkest episodes of the arc.
• Redemption Quest: For SMG3. Not only does he find his true calling as lord of the Internet Graveyard, where he rules peacefully without having to bother SMG4, but the two mortal enemies learn to get along with each other and use the power they share together to save both Mario and the universe.
• The Reveal: Quite a big one. Both SMG4 and 3 aren't human, but from a race called the SMG (which is short for "Super Meme Guardians"). Zero meanwhile is a virus trying to destroy their reality while he’s been pursuing Mario, this world's "avatar", for the entire series. He's also behind the disappearances of the Mario recolors.
• Riddle for the Ages: Why does SMG1 look rectangular instead of resembling his avatar? And if SMG3 and SMG4's Mario-like appearances are explained by them being SMGs, then where do the other Mario recolors come from? We may never get the answer.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Played with. Just about every main character could count as a "clown" but as Swagmaster and Chris don't have any personal attachment to the plot and are purely comic relief, they are swatted away by Zero at the start of the final episode.
• Spotting the Thread: What kicks off the arc – after everyone else recounts their early years during "Mario Babies", when it's SMG4's turn, he finds that he can't remember anything before his first appearance. This also happens with SMG3 next episode when SMG4 questions him on his past.
• Suddenly Speaking:
  • This arc marks the beginning of an era where Melony is more talkative than usual, whether she's narrating a story she fabricates with Li'l Chonks in a Breather Episode or showing concern for Axol in the arc's main episodes.
  • In his first few appearances, SMG1 stays silent. Once he does start speaking partway through the 10th Anniversary Special, things turn very serious very quickly.
  • After being almost entirely mute the entire arc, merely saying disjointed words such as "Witness...", Zero has a lot of full sentence dialogue in "The Final Piece". He also has full lines in the rap at the end of the WotFI.
• The End... Or Is It?: The opening advertisement of the first video after the end of the Genesis Arc reveals that while the arc itself has come to an end, there's still more to the story.
• Token Evil Teammate: After being the villain of the previous arc, SMG3 finds himself forced to team up with his enemies to oppose Zero.
• The Unreveal: We never learn anymore about Zero's past beyond the fact that he lost his avatar and was corrupted by an unknown force. At least, at first.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Bob, as always. In "Into the Dark Web", while trying to find SMG4's USB drive/Guardian Pod, he ditches the party to follow a Dark Web stream he's infatuated with. He ends up lost, not realizing that the pod he found was SMG3's containing Zero rather than SMG4's, and refuses to extend the anti-virus subscription, unleashing Zero once again. Zero then secretly follows Bob home where he would find SMG4...
  • SMG4 finding SMG1's Guardian Pod is exactly what Zero needed to reenter it, allowing him to use it to remotely activate the interdimensional travel feature on his own Guardian Pod, sending it to Mario's universe...
  • SMG1 and SMG2 manage to really screw it up twice, but they're able to fix it.
    • First, they accidentally brought Zero (parts of him anyway) to the Mushroom Kingdom to begin with – also, they must have arrived before SMG3 at the very least since Zero was able to throw SMG3's Guardian Pod off-course from its intended destination in the Internet Graveyard. SMG2 explicitly apologizes for this one.
    • Second, while training SMG4 and SMG3 on how to transmute memes and channel the power into their avatar, the younger SMGs pass out from exhaustion since it was their first attempt. Normally, a botched training session wouldn't be a big deal, but in this case the blowback left Mario unconscious, allowing Zero to capture him.
• Wham Episode: This arc alone reveals so much about the series and how it came to be.
• Wham Line: This arc drops two of the biggest ones in the whole series.
  • At the end of "Mario Babies", when it's SMG4's turn to talk about his past;
    SMG4: I... don't remember...
  • During the final battle of "SMG4 Movie: 10 Year Anniversary Special", before Hobo 1 and Hobo 2 take out Zero, SMG4 notes how they still don’t know the former two’s names, to which the two drop a massive bombshell.
    Hobo 1: What, really? I thought it was obvious by now. My name is SMG1!
    Hobo 2: And I’m SMG2!
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The Guardian Pod that SMG1 and SMG2 came to Brazil in belonged to SMG1. SMG2's original Guardian Pod is never mentioned nor referenced.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Axol was finally able to repair Inkweaver and restore his art prowess but he only had one episode to enjoy it before getting possessed by Zero. And he dies at the hands of his beloved Melony with the universe on the line.