SMBSS 1989 Bad Rap Review

Mario The Musical: Rapping Up Volume 1.
So this wraps up Volume 1. Later on in the year we will end the SMBSS and review Volume 2. But for now let’s wrap up this Volume with a Rap Sing Off.

The Four travel to Rap land. Where, Hip Hop, Rap, and Soul lives. Must be so given who the King Of Rapland is. Anyway using hypno rap, Koopa is robbing Rap Land of its gold.

Hmmm… I didn’t know Koopa learned his larceny from major record labels. Two residents (who are no doubt famous rappers… Kid N Play? RUN DMC?) inform the Four that Koopa has kidnapped the King Of Rap. King James…

Wait. Is that James Brown?!? The King Of Soul??… Well why not. He’s certainly music royalty so I can dig it. But it just goes to show we needed the live skits with the anime. James Brown & Lou Albano? Must watch TV!

Princess Peach tries to sneak into Bowser’s stronghold in the Rap King Castle, but gets caught. She does sneak Toad in. Who saves her and James Brown from an Adam West Batman death.

The only way to defeat Koopa, it seems, is to draw him out into a fair fight. That means cutting the power to Rap Land by… Pulling the giant plug. Dangerous as the plug is electrified.

Mario does it, electrifying himself until the electricity turns him into Fire Mario… Somehow. He pulls the plug and sets the power socket on fire. Well… Good thing they won’t replug the land on screen. That might encourage dangerous behavior in kids…

What am I saying. The mere fact of pulling the plug encouraged dangerous acts in small children. Never mind. Anyway Koopa and his forces March out for a Rap Battle. They lose.

Oh yeah. They pretty much tap sing the whole episode! This is a musical episode! Nice. Anyway Koopa uses a magic potion to create a door to escape through. That’s nice. Very SMB2.

The Episode ends with Mario being declared the King Of Rap for defeating Koopa. Nice. And hey. A tapping Lou Albano? Bonus nice. So this is a rather fun episode.

We have three famous singers of Rap and Soul in this one. And it’s a fun original feeling musical episode. So hey, even a rapping Koopa throughout the episode! For the win!

Before we dive into 1990 and The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros 3 (TAofSMB3)? Let’s return to the late sixties and Giant Robo. No I haven’t forgotten about this. It’s Disc 3 starting tomorrow. See you.

SMBSS 1989 The Pied Koopa Review

Skip The Mousers, Go Straight To Mushroom Napping!
So this takes place in the land of pasta. A land seen in exactly ZERO Mario games if memory serves. Though I guess this explains why the Mushroom Kingdom is obsessed with pasta.

So wait. For funerary practices are dead mushrooms annoited in spaghetti sauce before their funeral grilling? Anyway we start the episode with Koopa, already possessing the flute, kidnapping the young.

So no scheme to trick the mushrooms with a Mouser invasion? Just go straight to the kidnapping. But then again the actual Pied Piper wasn’t much better. Bowser did it to steal spaghetti harvests. He did it because the villager tried to avoid paying him.

Tasked to save the spaghetti harvest (for Mario’s belly), the four follow Mouser to Koopa’s castle… Huh? Oh right. Bowser sent Mouser to extort the village for pasta. And a 4 coin mailing fee.

The four try to sneak in before they raise the drawbridge. Unaware the drawbridge has an emergency drop feature to stop intruders. The four end up in the moat, chased by Bob-omb dropping Albatoss. Important for later.

Diving into the moats depths to elude the bombs, Mario discovers… A LOW block from the original Mario Brothers game? Nice reference but why! That whole game took place on Earth didn’t it?!?

Also Bow its a bomb. Mario uses it to blast a hole into the castle dungeon, entering the castle that way and kinda flooding the dungeon… Kinda. For plot convenience.

They try to sneak into the castle to find the kids, but are caught by Bowser. They’re locked in the flooded dungeon with piranha fish chasing them. So now what?

How about Mario finds an undetonated Bob-Omb, and uses him to punch another hole into the castle, draining all the water into… Supposedly a lower level? What lower level? Dungeons are usually the lowest level!

Also with this freewheeling flooding of the castle it’s a lucky thing no little mushroom died from drowning in this episode! The Four find the young ones… And initiate a stupid plan.

Somehow they cobble together a pipe trumpet and trombone. These two unenchanted instruments are enough to hypnotize the Hard Shells into following the brothers. Somehow.

They match the Hard Shells out of the castle, who stay hypnotized despite the pair stopping the music briefly to stop Mouser from intefereing. Peach and Toad follow with the freed children.

Bowser grabs his flute, intending to stick Mouser with child duty when he gets back. But Mouser is sick of children, and apparently Bowser. He dumps him in the moat, where he loses the flute.

Anyway happy ending, Mario and the others is fed pasta, the end. Hmmm… We have a Mario Brothers reference in the POW Block. And we have Mouser turn on Bowser for the first time!

The flute? It’s a standard metal flute. MAYBE you can say In Before the Warp Flute of SMB3… But we are reviewing that series next so we can do the comparison then.

So another episode tomorrow. As we move towards the end of Volume 1. Cool. Anyway see you tomorrow.

SMBSS 1989 The Toad Warriors Review

No Max But Plenty Of References
So let’s see. This episode is mostly based on The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2). But maybe it has a bit of Mad Max 1 and Beyond Thunderdome too for good measure.

The Four are aiding a group of spaghetti sauce making mushrooms in the desert. Because Mad Max. We find out that they’re terrorized by Koopa and his State Koopa Troopers…

Well that kinda makes sense. Kinda. Instead of making Koopa and his lot fuel bandits, they’re cops. Like Mad Max at the very start. So that makes sense… Kids show.

So no naked lady in the desert. No murder. No implied rape. Nothing like that… I just pity the young people who later sought info on Mad Max after seeing this.

Theyre pulled over by a hard shell and detained for a bit. A mushroom in the role of the strange flyer guy from Road Warrior & Thunderdome saves Peach. The guys escape eventually.

She’s taken to a mushroom spaghetti sauce bottling factory in the desert. Replacing the nearly depleted oil refinery from the Road Warrior. They are under siege by Koopa’s road thugs… Who are now utilizing Birdos as mobile weapons placements.

This is the first time Evil Birdos have been used. Especially the giant Birdo machine thing attached to one vehicle driven by Mouser. Codenamed ThunderBirdo… There. Your Thunderdome reference.

Reaching the besieged factory, the boys are launched into space when they crash with a random fuel carrier reference from The Road Warrior. In space Toad nabs an Invincibility star. Which he doesn’t use yet. They somehow survive a call from near orbit.

They reenact the plan from The Road Warrior. Mario and Princess does battle with Koopa’s forces as they’re chased in a spaghetti sauce carrier. Luigi flies the mini copter. And Toad?

He goes through a needlessly dramatic transformation to become… Easy Rider. Bike and all… Except later it turns out may be he’s really Evil Knieval.

Anyway they take on and wipe out the villains with ba-bombs. Everyone has a moment to shine, especially Toad who races Koopa for the sauce. Then switches to a game of canyon jumping chicken because Koopa wouldn’t respect a race of he lost.

Koopa crashes into the side of the canyon, but escapes unharmed. Toad loses his invincibility shapeshifting and his bike become a a trike. And unlike the movie its based on they were really driving the Spaghetti Sauce. Not a decoy vehicle. Right.

So that’s the Toad Warriors. A kidified version of a most adult Mel Gibson movie trilogy. It’s ok. First time they used the Birdos for evil. Also first time we seem Mario Kart looking vehicles. In before Super Mario Kart 1992 on the SNES.

Next? We go from Australian Cinema to fairy tales. Mainly the adaptation of The Pied Piper of Hamlet… The Pied Koopa. They’re in Italy aka the Land Of Pasta so… Koopa is going to trick people into allowing him to fix their kingdom of Mousers?!? Hmm…

So what scam with a recorder flute and some form of rodent is Koopa plotting? Guess we find out gomorrow. See you…

SMBSS 1989 Hooded Robin And His Mario Men Review

A Couple Of In Befores Highlight This One
Not too interesting an episode, but this one does sport a few in befores. Also it’s linked to Robin Hood… Barely. No Merry Men. No Maid Marion. Just Peasant Mushrooms and Sheriff of Koopingham.

Arriving in Sherwood Forest, the Four are captured by the comment group of hard shells from SMB2. They are easily tricked by ventriloquism into following the orders of Koopa’s voice.

Turns out to be the outlaw Hooded Robin. A… Well he says Robin. But he looks like Male Kazooie. Also in before Kazooie existed in 1997. Great job episode.

They attempt to rob the coach of stolen gold carrying the Koopa. But they underestimated the tenancy of stupid hard shells. They show up to give Koopa the Daisys they picked on his orders.

Hmm… A reference to Princess Daisy maybe? Also in before Princess Daisy? Considering she won’t show up until the Game Boy handheld era… Maybe? She’s in the movie, but…

Anyway that eliminates the possibility of surprise attack. And so when they finally attack? An overtly confident Robin is captured. The Four break into Koopa Castle to save him.

How? They use a magic door creating potion… Hey. Second reference to the door making potion from SMB2??… And at one point use golf against the enemy hard shells.

Well, in before Mario Golf aka NES Golf from 1992. And definitely in before the golf this actually represents (golf from Wario Land 3 on the Game Boy Color). Nice.

They break Robin out of his cell… Oh. Almost forgot. When Koopa is tormenting Robin in his cage they accidentually out Robin’s words in Koopa’s mouth. Second time this mistake happened.

They don’t run yet. They still need to get the golf back for the mushrooms. This involves disguising Robin & Toad as a hot female Frygirl… Peach does love seducing her enemies!

In the end they cannot steal the gold in its present form. But after they lock Fryguy in the money room he turns all the gold into molten liquid in a fiery temper tantrum. They pipe the gold out because Plumbers, and… Reform it back into coins later?

That’s that. An episode with the possible inspiration for Kazooie, the first time Luigi golfs, and a possible Princess Daisy reference. Nice. Next time? The references might not be so nice.

We travel to Mel Gibson/Tom Hardy Mad Max Australia. Mainly the non existent realm of Cars. Koopa has stolen all the spaghetti sauce in the Wasteland. So we need some Toad Warriors.

Hey! Wouldn’t it be funny if Mel Gibson was the first doing a voiceover in this episode? Probably not but… Maybe a young Tom Hardy watched this episode? Eh. Mario goes Mad… Tomorrow. See you then.

SMBSS 1989 The Adventures Of Sherlock Mario Review

You’ve Unlocked Sexy Princess Toadstool As Witchblade 2001…
Yes. She’s in full armor. And yet… Anyway welcome to London. Or, in this world, Victoria. The Great Britain world of the Victorian era.

So this has the Four hunting for Sherlock Holmes… So Herlock Solmes. Because why. Holmes is Public Domain. Anyone can use him. Just in the past few years he was in The Real Ghostbustets!

It’s !ondon, the streets are foggy, they’re riding a Victorian Coach. Yup. We have full stereotypes in play. They hear a scream, and discover someone has kidnapped Sherlock.

How do they know? They stumble upon his hat & magnifying glass. Who grabbed him? King Koopa. Aka Bowser. Aka Professor Koopiarty… Whatever.

His bench sub-bosses today? Try-clyde, Mouser & a random enemy. No. We can’t make Birdo a villain! Remember she spits eggs,hence she’s a mama… And you can’t make mamas evil! Mr. T forbids it!!

Why is Bowser kidnapping Holmes? He won’t say… Like he has to. Holmes tells us that Koopa wants to rob the Tower Of Victoria of a strange plumbing weapon developed by the Victorian Government. Something Koopa will use to flood London is sewer water.

Why?… Dunno. There doesn’t seem to be a plan past flood London, be the absolute worst villain ever. Ugh. Also Holmes insults Koopa by… Reading back his whole past life. Mostly to say he’s a failure.

Except Holmes does call Bowser a cross between a reptile (which he is) and a Toad… Your maybe one and only reference acknowledging the missing Wart Jr. The giant toad villain.

The gang strikes at the Tower Of Victoria, and are caught off guard by the Four dressed in knight armor. Peach too. Which is the rare instance this show dresses Peach in form fitting sleek clothes… Armor.

Bowser captures them. Strips them of their armor… How Peach was wearing her giant peach dress under that armor nobody knows. Dunno. Maybe this is an Adam West Batman reference. Why? They’re being menaced in the Tower. Just !ike Batman once.

We kill a few minutes in a pointless having the Four track Koopa’s claw prints all the way back to his underground lair. They confront Koopa but he manages to begin flooding London.

Mario defeats Koopa, he wrecks the machine he stole, the flooding is revetsed. Koopa escapes via a Warp Zone. The other villains… Just leave I guess. They’ll be back.

There’s a reference to the Hound Of The Baskerville (The Killer Kitten Of The Katskerville)… And the end. An ok episode. Holmes? Maybe it’s a guest star. But only those who’ve watched the live skits for this episode knows.

Tomorrow? We stay in the UK, and go from a completely fictional person to one maybe based on a real human. Robin Of Locksley, aka Robin Hood. Oh great. A Robin Hood episode… Ok.

The Hooded Robin And His Mario Men? Ugh. Fine. We’re going there. What kind of Robin Hood will we gst? Prince Of Thieves or Men In Tights? Guess we find out tomorrow. See you.

SMBSS 1989 Brooklyn Bound Review

There’s No Place Like Brooklyn?
Stuck in the frozen wasteland, till fleeing from Koopa/Bowser… Not consistently despite Mario implying otherwise… The brothers become homesick.

Escaping Koopa while in the middle of an icy section that looks like a set piece from The Day After Tomorrow, the Four end up in a vast underground network of pipes.

There surely must be a Master Plumber to have set all these up, Mario surmises. No. Mario isn’t turning into a Plumbing Apologist. There is indeed a Master Plumber. Today’s guest star, Salvatori.

Apparently he wound up in the Mushroom Kingdom like Mario & Luigi, 13 years ago. He thinks he found a way back to Brooklyn. Hence why he built all these pipes.

How he survive in the frozen wasteland while building this set up for 13 years? Dunno. But he did. Peach decides she needs to send the homesick brothers home.

A random Sniffit somehow ends up in the underground with the five. He goes back to Bowser’s base camp to interrupt giant toast eating. To tell Bowser that the Four have escaped… Huh?

I’m pretty sure he was meaning to tell Koopa that he discovered where the Four were. Eh. Is this a failure of the script? Or a one take experimenter didn’t fix? Not a big goof but sit a goof.

Bowser and his ostrich riding Sniffits show up and try to stop the five from reaching the escape pipe. By trying to kill them via a long drop down a chasm.

Suddenly it’s a literal cliffhanger, everyone hanging into Mario. Mario manages to grab a precariously placed fire flower. What good is that while hanging off a small precipice? Didn’t you know? Fire Flowers now let you fly!

Seriously. Mario starts flapping his arms and flies the group to safety. Well… In before SMB3 and P-Wings. No it doesn’t make sense, but whatever, Fire Mario flies. This one time only?

Peach convinces the brothers to go back to Brooklyn. But when they see Peach & Toad captured by Bowser they decide to stay. Rushing to save them. Which they do easily.

Salvatori? Apparently his one time pipe trick worked, hence why the live action first star is visiting the brothers in Brooklyn. Ok. That’s fine. Anyway they return home at series end… As probably implied by all the live action skits every episode.

An ok episode highlighting how good princess Peach is, putting the brothers first. Also we briefly have another plumber from Brooklyn. Never seen again after this. Oh well…

Tomorrow is another tribute to Classic lit. This time it’s Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Homes. I’m The Adventures Of Sherlock Mario. Apparently a mystery is afoot. And this time the only powder Mario is addicted to is 100% pure mozzarella cheese. See you.

SMBSS 1989 Too Hot To Handle! Review

Too Stereotyped To Handle!
Ugh. Why do the Japanese have such an awkward view of Hawaii?!? You know, a ton of Japanese people call Hawaii home. Part of our rich good culture is Japanese… Why! Japan why!!

The Four head to Hawaii… Sorry… They’re going to Wacky Wacky… Oh. I get it. That’s silly for Waikiki, pronounced Wah-Key-Key. Because apparently Waikiki on Oahu is the whole of Hawaii.

Why stop there. The island is a tiny island. Even smaller than the island from Super Mario Sunshine. Also in before Super Mario Sunshine. Sigh.

The island is inhabited by dark Polynesian Mushroom… Hippies. Because EVERYBODY knows Fake Hawaiians are secretly hippies. Also we’re part of the Mushroom Kingdom? Why.

The village is a set piece from the Polynesian Cultural Center. The volcano is a standard cone shaped Volcano. Odd since Hawaii is known for its Shield/Dome shaped Volcanoes…

I’m going out on a limb here. But the guy who designed the visuals for this never left Waikiki or the Polynesian Cultural Center while researching Hawaii. Didn’t he.

The volcano is a sham anyway. An artificial construct filled with heavy duty pipes that funnels magma from beneath the surface into the volcano. Why? Dunno. This isn’t an arctic area island. If this was benevolent it has no purpose.

Bowser built it? Really? How long was he building this on Wacky Wacky? And WHY?!? To terrorize the small group of islanders in the one island?!? This plot makes no sense.

Bowser wants to kidnap Princess Toadstool/Peach. A plot he only occasionally remembers when the scripts calls for him to. He tricks the islanders into thinking he’s their Fire God. He orders them to sacrifice Peach to the volcano before sunset.

The Real Fire God… Aka the village Kahuna? He’s captured, frozen in ice in stasis… How? Bowser only brought a Fryguy and some Shyguys with him. Who froze the chief aka Fire God??

Because the villagers are dumber than advertised (because Hippie Polynesians), they do as Bowser commands. They stick the guys into a pit, and they must jump to get out.

Huh? Oh you think Luigi is going to do the jumping? After all in SMB2 he has a longer higher jump. His unique skill… Nope. Not even close. Wasted opportunity.

They race to the top of the volcano with the help of a local ostrich… Wait! That’s a rideable beast from Donkey Kong Country! Why!! Anyway by the time they arrive Peach is thrown in, and captured.

Yes. There is a stupid joke here about how the natives refuse to sacrifice Peach until it’s literally sundown. Despite Koopa NOT saying any such thing. It’s a stupid joke that just goes nowhere.

The guys end up running away from an eruption, only to discover that the statue of the God near the village is said Elder/God’s passage into the volcano. They discover the fake nature of the volcano.

Somehow Mario & Luigi completely mess up the internal magma piping, causing the magma machine to explode, and destroy the artificial volcano system within the volcano. Everyone escapes, the Chief is freed when he’s thawed out, Bowser escapes.

I’m the end the Chief/God orders a spaghetti luau in honor of the Four… Well… Ok that’s not far fetched an idea. Also it means our Japanese researcher went to the cheapest Luau he could go to.

Anyway is the next episode the moment they bring Peach & Toadstool to… Brooklyn? The episode is called Brooklyn Bound. And to date only Not Really Princess Daisy has been to Brooklyn (the live action Mario movie).

Oh well. From a frozen wasteland to Brooklyn? We will see. That’s tomorrow so, you know, see you then.

SMBSS 1989 Mario & Joliet Review

Tale Of Two Easily Dupped Fathers
So let’s see. The episode starts with the Four walking into… Every conflict from 1989 to present day! That’s a ton of death, destruction and misery to be before!

Note. The is the first time you ever hear Bowser mention Wart Jr.’s minions by designation. Beezos, Albatoss mainly. Other than Mouser and Hydclyde he never really said any of their names.

Bowser, because it’s not hard to dupe people filled with hate, tricked the warring families of this Shakespearean adapt into buying Wart Jr minions and weapons. All to kill each other.

So they are basically burning down their own town because easily duped by Koopa. Ohkay… In the underground waterways aka the sewers they meet the lovers of this story. Romero & Joliet.

No. Romero isn’t the one who made DOOM and Daikatana. Nor is he the Living Dead Romero. He’s just Romero. And his love is… Sending mixed signals. Why? Her face… Wait. Is this meaning a famous actress is voicing her?

Also why is it Joliet is rather well endowed for a female character in this cartoon? That’s also a first for this cartoon I think. Sigh. Anyway Princess Toadstool stops the fighting and orders peace.

Upset that his plans to steal from the warring families by selling them troops and arms might fall apart… Huh? A really your plan is done. You sold them all they’ll buy. Why keep going?!?

Anyway he kidnaps Joliet. Since the fathers of the couple are on hair triggers in terms of not killing each other? They go back to trying to kill each other. Romero help the Four escape.

Yeah. Now suddenly the pair stop listening to Peach. Why? So they go to Bowser’s castle to save Joliet. Which involves finding out her wedding bouquet is Fire Flowers. Instant upgrade… For Mario.

Really? There’s enough flowers for everyone to upgrade. Anyway suddenly the gang assembles a makeshift kart to escape on. I’m before Super Mario Kart 1993. Anyway the wedding happens. Yay.

The episode ends with the fathers still hating each otner, now reduced to trying to hit each other’s with pixza. What a waste of the wedding catering. The end.

So let’s aim up. Another Mario Kart reference years before Mario Kart. Boeser says Beezos by name. A lady shows up with pronounced breasts. And that’s all the noteworthy things.

Ok? Ok! Tomorrow the episode angers me by going to Hawaii… Maybe… To consult a God of Fire. Uh… Ok maybe it’s just Tonga or Guam or something. We have a Goddess of Fire. Not a God.

I sense bad Polynesian stereotypes not seen since Gamera The Early Years are on their way. Ugh. Seriously?!? Why. Sigh. Tomorrow. See you then.

SMBSS 1989 Mario Meets Koop-zilla Review

A Very Chinese Kaiju Rampage…
So wrap your thoughts about this. In this episode? The Four travel to Asia to stop Koopa. How? They need the growth mutating aid of a scientific creation. Super Sushi.

Makes sense because Japan yes? Well.. This Super Sushi is made in some sort of science oven. Like all good sushi is… Not made. But why stop there? It’s made in the city of Sayonara…

Sayonara? What Japanese city is… Wait… Did they mean Shanghai? In China? Why? Also Super Sushi. Because sure. Anyway the Four arrive to find Sayonara being destroyed by Koop-zilla… Koopa.

Fleeing Koop-zilla, the four arrive at the land of the Scientist behind Super Sushi. Via regenerating surveillance systems he shows  the Four how Bowser are a full tray of Super Sushi. Turning Kaiju.

They try conventional means to stop Koop-zilla. Also Mario & Luigi riding a motorbike with sidecar at the same time as Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. Conventional means don’t work.

Except somehow Mario injures Bowser’s claw by jabbing him with a sharp metal pipe. How?!? His body is covered in a leathery armor hide. How was he harmed? I’m calling Hijinxs on that.

Well… I would like to, but that’s necessary so later on they can stab him with a hypodermic needle filled with antidote. Anyway Professor ovens up a fresh batch of Super Sushi for Mario. Which he eats mixed into a bowl of pasta… Because huh.

So Mario wrestles with Bowser for a while as giant over weight Kaiju Wrestlers. It’s an ok fight but it’s mostly the cliche of the city getting destroyed in a Kaiju fight. If course it is. Why not.

Professor makes an antidote, the gang inject Koopa and shrinks him down. He flees via his ability to create warp zones… Yeah. It’s been a long while since Koopa last fled using a Warp Zone portal.

Mario, still hungry, accidentually eats something that shrinks him down tiny… The first reference of Mario shrinking small. That’s fine. He’ll spend the week gorging on pasta bowls bigger than him.

That’s the time Mario referenced Kaiju & Godzilla. Memes kinda intact. The military attacking Koop-zilla, the Scientist out to stop Koop-zilla, the destruction of a city… In China??

If you were hoping they’d think outside of the box in this Kaiju tribute? Maybe they kinda did with Super Sushi… But not much. Anyway from Japanese Pop Culture let’s head to Classic UK lit.

It’s time to travel to the land of Romance, and be inspired by William Shakesprare, in the SMBSS production of Mario & Joliet. Wait. Joliet? Is Mario going to prison in Illinois?!? Is this a Blues Brothers crossover?

So… Who’s going to be the excessively Italian Joliet this time out? That’s of course if Joliet is a lady and not a State Of Illinois Prison. Huh. I’m confused. Anyway that’s tomorrow. See you.

SMBSS 1989 The Fire Of Hercufleas Review

Toad Is The Hero!
But hey. Is that John Candy voicing Hercufleas? Maybe not. But if you want to hear John Candy voice a manly man hero? Watch the original Heavy Metal animated movie!

Hmmm… I still need to find a DVD bootleg or otherwise that collects the 2019 one season series Love & Robots (the Heavy Metal brief series). Anyway Hercufleas.

The four have come to Mythopolis (aka Ancient Greece) to find the Legendary Hercufleas. A great hero who is also good friends with Toad. However it seems Boeser is already here. So is Mouser.

For a so so sub boss in SMB2 this series sure likes using him as one of Boeser’s lieutenants in this show. Why the German accent? It’s not a Nazi reference. It’s because he’s Mouser. A play on words as Mauser is mouse in German if I remember right.

Why is Bowser here? Because he’s EVERYWHERE the Four go. If they went to Pink My Little Pony Land he would be there. Anyway he wants the Great Balls Of Fire. Yeah. They turned Fire into a classic rock song reference.

Problem. Hercufleas is now assigned to guard the Great Balls Of Fire. And since nobody in Greece wants them? He’s kinda gotten out of shape while idling in his guardian position.

He declines helping fight Bowser. But it’s not like he will have a choice, as Bowser has his Beez steal the Great Balls Of Fire. Mario and the gang has to train Hercufleas back into shape to stop Bowser. Especially since the balls of fire use cheat codes.

Suddenly we have a Rocky musical montage of Hercufleas getting back into shape. This isn’t a long cartoon so this goes by fast. Anyway with Hercufleas back in shape they go to fight Bowser.

During the fight Toad is knocked down a hill, where he’s powered up by a Fire Flower… Finally. Glad gets an upgrade. First time this series. Toad returns to help fight Bowser.

Bowser somehow ends up depleting all the Great Balls Of Fire. He and Mouser flee. So… Toad saves the day by recharging the Great Balls Of Fire with his Super Toad fire power.

Earlier in the episode Hercufleas statue is destroyed. Instead of restoring it, Hercufleas honors his friend Toad by creating a statue in his honor. That’s awesome.

I’m guessing the moral of this episode is that even the little guy can be the hero. That’s awesome. Sorry. No Greek Gods in this one. But if that is John Candy as Hercufleas? That’s all the star power I need.

So from a great legendary comedian actor? We next go… And slap Japan in the face. It’s ok though. The Japanese made this Anime so it’s ok… Anyway travel of Japan tomorrow to fight… Koop-zilla.

Oh. So NOW we are making Godzilla references… Wait! Why!! He’s a giant turtle!! Why isn’t he Koop-era?!? Enemy Of Children??.. Oh right. It’s 1989-1990 America. Everyone knows Godzilla. Few know of Gamera. Right.

The battle nobody asked for. Mario vs Not Godzilla. Probably timely because… GodzillaXKong. Would be more timely if Donkey Kong showed up but ok. Koop-zilla is attacking the power plant… Bye.