Neglected Mario Characters is a webcomic made by Jay Resop about, well, Neglected Mario Characters. It may, in fact, be the very first Sprite Comic ever, as it was first posted to the Internet in 1997. It also has a handful of original characters and often talks about non-Mario characters. It has a very random, twisted sense of humor and is really worth checking out if you're a gamer.
The comic came to an end and its domain expired, but you can find it on a mirror address here.
Has a little "president" system going. The first one was Bill the Extra Guy, then Captain Churro, than Metal Man himself, and now... a poker machine?
Provides examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: Silence. I mean, Steve.
- Adaptational Villainy: As one might expect, Luigi is the villain in The EVIL-Luigi Story.
- Adventure Duo: Bill and Fred. The title of their adventure together is based on Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
- Affably Evil: Dr. Donez, who is "good-evil", not "bad-evil".
- Ambiguously Gay: Pretty much everyone now and then.
- Anti-Hero: Fred.
- Author Avatar: Jay Resop's is a stick figure whose head is a low-res picture of Bob Dole's head.
- Ax-Crazy: Fred.
- Big Bad: One for each story arc. Darth Butch in "The Evil Luigi" story, Bowser in "Mushroom Wars", Dark Fahlz in "Mario Busters", Jay Reesop in "Bill and Fred's Quazi Mediocre Adventure" and many more.
- Calling Your Attacks: Pretty much every single attack in the series.
- Cataclysm Climax: At the end of The Mushroom Wars, Jay runs out of ideas and can't think of a way to end the story, so he just blows up the Earth.
- Catchphrase: "Al Gore?"
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Captain Churro.
- Crossover: With Super Smash Stadium twice. And CodieKitty.com, sort of.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Deathly Deathray of Deathly Deathness!
- Distaff Counterpart: Jill the Extra Gal for Bill the Extra Guy.
- Duel to the Death: One of the staples of the site for a while was NC Character Death Match. This would take two rather obscure Nintendo characters and have them battle to the death for our pleasure. Oddly enough, the first of these was made right around the time the original Super Smash Bros. was released in Japan.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: One of the running gags.
- Felony Misdemeanor: The reason Jay Reesop and Jay Respo hate Donez is because when they were young, Donez stole Reesop's shoe.
- Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: Dr. Donez had his own column titled "Ask Dr. Donez", in which he would answer any questions sent via e-mail and often provide bizarre advice/commentary for them.
- Got Me Doing It: Steve bellowing out "Silence!" often results in Bill and Fred mistakenly referring to him as "Silence", which prompts him to correct them. At one point, he introduces himself as Silence and corrects himself, while cursing Bill and Fred under his breath.
- Hidden Depths: In "The First Annual VGF Telethon!", Fred ultimately resorts to delivering a heartfelt speech to get people to donate for the site's original host, VGF.Bill: Wow, Fred. I didn't know you had a soft side.
Fred: Tell this to anyone and I'll Deathray you to the moon. - Mad Libs Catch Phrase: Captain Churro. "I am defender of all that is (adjective) and (adjective)! I stand for (noun), (noun), and a (adjective), (adjective) glass of (liquid)!"
- Man Behind the Man: Dark Fahlz in "Mario Busters".
- Mad Doctor: Dr. Donez
- Mathematician's Answer: Dr. Donez was fond of using these from time to time, in the "Ask Dr. Donez" section.
- Officially Shortened Title: Neglected Mario Characters is NC. 'No one knows why the "M" is missing.'
- Orphaned Series: Several of the stories Jay started were not finished for several years, until a new author appeared and finished them. The most notorious was the NC/SSS Crossover Mach 2, which was left unfinished on the second to last chapter for over 5 years before being concluded in early 2011.
- Pokémon Speak: The Eco-Weenies.
- Product Placement: The site is currently absolutely plastered with ads for a poker-playing website. Presumably, they were put in place so that the site could stay up despite Jay's absence.
- Rage Against the Author: Bill and Fred start off one of the storylines with murdering Jay.
- Reset Button: The first NC & Super Smash Stadium crossover ended up going absolutely nowhere. It was abruptly canned and started anew as NC/SSS Mach 2.
- Running Gag: There are several, as follows:
- Mario always get the short end of the stick by everyone.
- The world exploding in three frames.
- The Extra Move being learned on the Discovery Channel.
- VG Warrior smells like Toad.
- Fred's love for tacos (being a Spanyard and all).
- Dr. Donez close-ups whenever his full name is mentioned, to the point where he grows weary of it himself.
- Bill saying "Al Gore?" when being asked about an unknown person.
- Mario becoming Citrus Man from the Crystal of Reststop. (It also has similar effects on other characters)
- A literal example from Captain Churro at one point too.
- Mocking the authors of the site for the lack of updates.
- Dr. Donez and Prof. Executrain's rivalry at conquering the world.
- The Ditz: Mario is not held in high regard.
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Schedule Slip: As Jay grew up and eventually left for college, he updated the site less and less. He hasn't updated himself in about six years. No one seems to know what became of him. But dedicated fans took up the torch to continue making comics for the website in his style, so as to keep themselves and any possible newcomers entertained. - Sprite Comic: The Ur-Example, dating back to 1997.
- Suckiness Is Painful: In Mario Busters, Dark Fahlz is defeated by Dr. Donez inventing the Crapper, which shoots crappy video games. After shrugging off ActRaiser 2 and Hydlide, he's finally defeated by Phantasy Star III. In the stinger, Chrono gets shot at with Chrono Cross.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: Short comics are called "Comix", and Fred is a "Spanyard". Jay's reason for "comix" was that it was a silly attempt to sound "cool".
