Super Mario Adventures (TV Show)

## Super Mario Adventures

Alex Hirsch

Thurop Van Orman

Pendleton Ward

Craig McCracken

Alex Hirsch

Cartoon Network

Season 2 - 26 episodes

Season 3 - 40 Episodes

March 10th 2020 (announced)

Super Mario Adventures is an American Action-Adventure Comedy animated TV series based on the Nintendo’s Super Mario (series) and the lesser-known comics with the same name, it aired on Cartoon Network and Netflix

The Series follows 2 Plumbers who are Brothers, Mario (Maurice LaMarche) & Luigi (Tom Kenny) as they live in the Mushroom Kingdom, a Kingdom with many mysterious friends and foes. The series received positive reviews for it’s faithfulness to the games and writing.

## Contents

* 1Production
	+ 1.1History
	+ 1.2Promotional
* 2Premise
	+ 2.1Season 2
	+ 2.2Season 3
	+ 2.3Season 4
* 3Characters
	+ 3.1Protagonists
	+ 3.2Antagonists
	+ 3.3Minor characters
* 4Power-ups
* 5Voice Cast
	+ 5.1Main
	+ 5.2Recurring
	+ 5.3Guest
* 6Episodes
	+ 6.1Season 1 (2020)
	+ 6.2Season 2 (2021)
	+ 6.3Season 3 (2022)
	+ 6.4Season 4 (2023)
	+ 6.5Specials
* 7Trivia
	+ 7.1Season 1
	+ 7.2Season 2
* 8Reception
	+ 8.1Critical Reception
	+ 8.2LGBTQ+ Representation
* 9Other Media
	+ 9.1Donkey Kong Adventures

## Production

### History

The Show was in the works from 2015 in the planning stages and finished the first and seccond season animation in mid 2019 and was planned for a early 2020 release. 4 Pilot episodes were shown to a few Nintendo & Cartoon executives and was seen as a good start but needed appropriate supervision to be a better Mario Show in general. Originally, it was going to be picked up by Nickelodeon but ended up being picked up by Cartoon Network due to Nickelodeon declining, to air the 2 pilot episodes as *"It was not what we wanted"*

The show was created to strengthen the Mario Brand in the Multi-media side as Nintendo in their eyes have perfected Mario’s Gaming side as Miyamoto said that “Everyone should recognise the Red & Blue Plumber as much as Mickey Mouse”. With this in mind, they wanted a new Mario TV show and a new Mario comic series due to the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog IDW comic series, Shigeru Miyamoto was hired as lead director and producer of the series, while Yoichi Kotabe and Kentaro Takekuma were made as the lead artists for the series. Many popular western names were also attached to the series to work on the series including Craig McCracken, Guillermo del Toro, Thurop Van Orman, Pendleton Ward and later Alex Hirch.

Animation wise, the shows took heavy cues and inspiration from the offical 2D Mario art and the Super Mario Adventures Comics as they were seen as the most expression form of Mario Media. Originally, the series was planned to use CGI akin to most 3D Mario renders and games, but was ultimately cut.

In terms of the Voice Cast, they didn't use the staple voice cast due to wanting more serious stories where Mario can speak and also how busy some of the cast members recording new lines for the Next Few games where Mario would speak full sentences. Rather they decide to sign on more popular voice Actors who are well known in the animation business.

### Promotional

The TV show was announced on a Mario Direct Mini in May, alongside Super Mario Forces, Paper Mario the Origami King and Super Mario Pixelverse as a teaser. The Teaser started with a shot of the Mushroom Kingdom in the Sunrise, It then shifts to Mario & Luigi (With a Baby Yoshi on Luigi’s back) rowing a Boat, they then leave the boat. Mario then climbs up to the surface and sees the Mushroom Kingdom saying his iconic line ***Let’sa Go!***, said by a much deeper voice from the original line, Ending the teaser with a Fall 2020 release date.

Many people speculated that this teaser was a new Mario Game, but it was clarified it wasn’t a new Mario game and was said to be *“a new way to see Mario & Friends”* confirming it was a show/multi media product of some kind. Nintendo also inferred that more info of the TV Show would come out very soon.

In June, Concept Art Leaked of the show, leaking the name as “*Super Mario Adventures*”. 6 Concept Art Pieces were shown, the first one being Yoshi’s Island, showing Baby Mario & Baby Luigi, the second one being a shot of Airships in the sky, the 3rd one being a shot of the market place of the mushroom kingdom, the 4th being a shot of Bob-omb Battlefield, the 5th being a shot of Bowser’s Castle and the final one being a character sheet of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Captain Toad & Bowser. Many people praised the fact that it was taking cues from the official 2D Mario Art. Along with the concept art also leaked a pitch styled as a premise for the show.

***“Super Mario Adventures follows Mario, a charming, Heroic yet chubby and sometimes cocky Plumber who learns to be a True Hero in time, it also follows Luigi, Mario’s Younger yet more timid Brother. Together they’ll travel across the weird yet wonderful Mushroom Kingdom and will come across a few new allies including Princess Peach, the Young, Spirited yet touchy ruler of this land who secretly has a crush on the plucky plumber. Yoshi, their adoptive son who wants to follow in their father's footsteps. Toad, Peach’s best friend who provides levity in a tough situation, Captain Toad, The Arrogant leader of the Toad Brigade who is the brother of Toad, Toadette, the hyperactive girlfriend of Captain Toad and Toadsworth, Peach’s overprotective adoptive father. Meanwhile in another castle lives an evil Turtle (or Koopa), Bowser, a strong yet childish King ,who tries to come up with schemes to rule the Mushroom Kingdom and marry Princess Peach. Along with more wackier and unforgettable friends and foes, Super Mario Adventures will be a remarkable series mixed with high-octane action sequences and laugh out loud comedy, this series will serve as tribute to lovely 35 Year's for the red & Blue Plumber”***

In Early July, a cast reveal and trailer dropped on Nintendo’s social media, revealing the Voice talents of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Toadette, Captain Toad, Toadsworth, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, Bowser & Bowser Jr and stated more will come, also officially revealing the name as Super Mario Adventures. The Trailer showed off a few of the episodes in inaudible scenes and slated that the the first episode would release on the 13th of September as that would be the day of Mario’s 35th anniversary.

Over the coming months more cast members revealed their roles via Twitter or a video. In Mid August, another trailer dropped, showing off the characters and settings in the Show, it also announced that the show will be coming to Hulu & Netflix with all of Season 1 in 2021, eventually, Mini Trailers dropped with each character being shown off in their trailer.

## Premise

Set in an alternate universe and continuity from the games, The series follows Mario and Luigi, 2 Plumbers who live in the Mushroom kingdom who quickly become the bodyguards of the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach. The Bros Go on out of this world adventures with their zany group of friends, such as Toad, The Bros & Peach’s best friend who provides comedic relief for the gang and often join them on their Adventures.Captain Toad, Toad’s brother and a hero in Training who leads the Toad Brigade, Toadette, Captain Toad’s Girlfriend and Yoshi, The Bros adoptive son who is later the ruler of Yoshi’s Island. Together they battle Bowser, his children and a Wacky cast of Villains, each zanier & more sinister than the last in their multiple schemes to rule the Mushroom Kingdom, the World or too just ruin Mario & Luigi’s Day.

Most Episodes are based of a existing game/media or are based of a episode trope. The Series in the early seasons doesn't have much of a serialised story apart from some continuity here and there and few over-arching Plots. However in Season 3 & 4, the Series introduced more serialised stories with multiple episodes dedicated to one Big plot (especially the Odyssey Arc and 7 Crystal Star Arc), this also doesn't mean the end of more Stand-alone episodes.

### Season 2

A season 2 with 26 more episodes was announced in February 5th 2021 and the first episode will air on March 10th on Mar10 day. This season will continue the plot of season 1 and it will have more episodes based On video games.

Season 2 follows Mario, Luigi and their friends facing off new threats like the Koopalings, Fawful and Antasma to preserve the safety of The Mushroom kingdom and even the World now, They are also discovering new regions of The World, meeting new aliies. The Series also has a bigger focus on Bowser and his family life.

### Season 3

On April 29th, a 3rd season was accidentally leaked by Cartoon Network via a tweet but deleted it not much is known about the 3rd season but one detail is that the series will have over Arcing episodes for bigger games.

On May 20th However, the Season was officially announced with a trailer, showing new characters like Geno and Mallow leading fans to speculate a group of episodes for Super Mario RPG. It also showed us a teaser for an odyssey type arc, the season was also scheduled to have more then 26 episodes. Season 3 was planned as the final season of Super Mario Adventures but was decided it was renewed for another season due to its critical and commercial success.

Season 3 is an extension of Season 2, continuing character arcs and stories potentially left off from previous seasons while expanding on the world. The Main Story is the Grand Odyssey; the Grand Odyssey follows Mario and his new ally Cappy travelling around the world to get Power Moons to gather to Power the Odyssey and to stop the forced Royal Wedding of Bowser and Peach.

Originally, Another arc, The Legend of the 7 Crystal Star would have aired in 2022, but was delayed to early 2023 for more work too be done on it and to let Donkey Kong Adventures air. For this, This Arc would air as it own Season with some cut episodes being redone for the new season.

### Season 4

Originally Season 3 was planned as the final season, however due to the critical & commercial success of the series and also the delaying of The Legend of 7 Crystal Stars due to Covid and to ensure a better quality season overall, A Season 4 was renewed for 2023, with half of season’s 3 episodes also airing.

The Legend of the 7 Crystal Stars follows Mario, Peach, Bowser, Luigi and a new allies Mallow and Geno in a universal race against time from stopping the inter-dimensional evil, Count Bleck and his allies, the Smithy Gang, Dimentio, Mimi, O’Chunks and more. This arc is based on multiple RPG games, specifically Super Mario RPG & Super Paper Mario.

## Power-ups

Many power ups appear in the show that the gang use, since the show isn’t based on any game in particular the show has a wide variety of power ups

Super Mushroom

Fire Flower

Superstar

Super Leaf

Super Bell

Ice Flower

Boomerang Flower

Mini Mushroom

Mega Mushroom

Boo Mushroom

Frog Suit

Rock Mushroom

Double Cherry

Blue shell

Spring Mushroom

Penguin Suit

## Voice Cast

Unlike most of the recent Mario Media, The Cast of Character are voiced by new people. This lead to minor backlash, however the Voice Acting of the show was received well by fans and critics alike.

### Main

* Mario - Maurice LaMarche
* Luigi - Tom Kenny
* Peach - Kari Wahlgren
* Daisy - Tara Strong
* Yoshi - Dee Bradley Baker
* Toad - Chris Diamantopoulos
* Toadette - Hynden Walch
* Captain Toad - Travis Willngham
* Toadsworth - Fred Tatsciore
* Bowser - John DiMaggio
* Bowser Jr. - Steven Yeun

### Recurring

* Donkey Kong - Frank Welker
* Diddy Kong - Dee Bradley Baker
* Kamek, Toadbert - Tom Kenny
* Wario, King Boo - Kevin Michael Richardson
* Waluigi - Billy West
* Rosalina, Pauline - Grey Griffen
* Lubba - Phil Lamar
* E. Gadd - Gilbert Gottfried
* Buckenberry, Private Goomp - Ben Schwartz
* Ala-Gold, Corporal Paraplonk - Bobby Moynihan
* Sergeant Guy - Danny Pudi
* Larry - Greg Cipes
* Morton - John Dimaggio
* Wendy, Birdo - Stephanie Sheh
* Iggy, Stanley, - Rob Paulsen
* Roy, Boshi - Roger Craig Smith
* Lemmy - Jessica DiCicco
* Ludwig - Liam O’Brien

### Guest

* Cranky Kong - J.K Simmons
* King K. Rool - Clancey Brown
* Petey Piranha - Jim Cummings
* King Bob-omb, Sir Grodus - Maurice LaMarche
* Tatanga - Richard Steven Horvitz
* Nabbit - Alex Hirsch
* Queen Bean Bean - Megan Cavanagh
* Prince Peasley - James Arnold Taylor
* Cackletta, Princess Shroob - Wendie Malick
* Stanley’s Wife - Grey Griffen
* Fawful - Dee Bradley Baker
* Midbus, Wart, - John DiMaggio
* Lord Crump - Patrick Warburton
* RawkHawk - Roger Craig Smith
* Mighty Plumber - Travis Willingham
* Funky Kong - Greg Eagles
* Captain Syurp - Kari Wahlgren
* Cappy - Jack McBrayer
* Mcballyho - Andy Daly
* Geno - Kelsey Grammer
* Mallow, Mack - Justin Roiland
* Tippi - Alison Brie
* Count Bleck, Exor, Merlon - Mark Hamill
* Dimentio - Stuart Scott Bullock
* O'Chunks - David Tennant
* Mimi - Hynden Walch
* Smithy - Ron Pearlman
* Yaridovich - Steve Blum
* Bowyer - Jess Harnell

## Episodes

Most episodes are 22 minutes long some having 11 minute segments.The show creators wanted to have their own spin on things yet still wants it to Respect the series. Specials are Episodes with a seasonal link or are episodes that have something do to with something big.

## Trivia

### Season 1

* Mario and Luigi are fully voiced for the first time since the super Mario world show
* Star children in this show are 8 of them instead of 7
* The Paper Mario Book is referenced serval times
* in the games it’s confirmed that wario and waluigi are not brothers where as in the show they are brothers
* The Main theme is a variation of the main Super Mario Bros 1 theme, underground theme and castle theme
* Bowser Jr backstory is explained in the show unlike the games
* Many games and media are referenced, big or small
* The koopalings are adopted in this show and not in the games.
* The Karts in Race o Rama are based on Mario Kart 8 ones
* A Donkey Kong country is the only episode that Mario and Luigi don’t appear in
* Honey I shrunk a Mario is a word play on Honey I shrunk the Kids
* Oh brother is the same name to a episode in AOSMB3 and has the same basic plot
* Even though the show has the same name as the comics it doesn’t have a lot to do with game with the exception of Koopaling chaos and some references

### Season 2

* The colours of the ninja koopa are red,blue,green and yellow instead of red,blue, black and yellow
	+ This may be a reference to the original artwork for Paper Mario 64 instead of the sprites
* Stanley in the show is Mario and Luigi’s Cousin, but in the Games there is no confirmed correlation between them
* Multiple times Mario and Luigi’s last name is Segale which is seen in Ray of Sunshine when boarding on the Plane and Bean Bean Kingdom with Mario and Luigi Passport
	+ Both of the Bros Middle Name is Mario
* Groundplumber day is a reference to Groundhog Day
* How to Train your Yoshi is a reference to the hit book/movie series how to train your Dragon
* The Amazing Mr L may be a reference to The Amazing Spider-Man
* Hotel Mario is packed full of the titular name with the music in the start of the episode being the same in the game, many of the infamous quotes from the series like All Toast Toast Toast and I hope she made lot of spaghetti
* Most specials in this season are based on Mario and Luigi games
* Mighty Plumber was a character featured in AOSMB3 with the same purpose
* Diary of a wimpy hero is a parody of Diary of a wimpy kid.
* in the original airing of the Bean Bean Kingdom, Bowlette had her original design however in reairs, the design was changed a bit to be more appealing to viewers
* In one galaxy-wide adventure, 6 galaxies from the game are featured
* in Split personality, peach emotions are not the ones from Super Princess Peach despite in the title card having them
	+ In the Episode the emotions that Peach were split in were Happiness, Saddness,Angry,Romanticises and Laziness

## Reception

### Critical Reception

 Rotten Tomatoes
 (Season 4) 95%

Super Mario Adventures Received Average to Positive Reviews for Season 1, positive reviews for Seasons 2, 3 and Half of Season 4 and received Critical Acclaim for Grand Odyssey Arc & The Legend of the Crystal Star Arc. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 80% approval rating with an average rating of 8/10, based on 20 critic reviews and a Metacritic Score of 85. Common Sense Media described the show as a “delightful adaptation of the beloved series.” Praising the Tone, Characters and animation but criticised some generic storylines being used.

### LGBTQ+ Representation

In the Episode “Love Island” Yoshi falls in love with a Transgender Birdo to the dismay of the villagers of Yoshi Island and Boshi, kicking them out of the Island. After visting Mario & Luigi and getting advice from them, Yoshi says to the Islanders that it matters what’s in the inside and what they want in life and that if they choose to be Transgender, it's fine. The other Yoshi's (except Boshi) and the Birdo's realise it's fine and accept both of them back into the Island. Many Showrunners have stated that Yoshi is Pansexual and have also decided to bring back the Birdo Transgender plot point for the USA Manual which is supposedly a mistake.

In the Episode "Valentine Royale" Buckenberry and Ala-Gold are dating, comfirming 2 Gay Characters, In the Episode “Bounce Back” Rosalina is currently in a same sex relationship with Princess Shokara confirming 2 other Lesbian characters, a show creator also jokingly said that Luigi is Bisexual but in the Episode “Dream Team”. It’s shown Luigi has feelings for a Heroes Dirk-Drain Head & Mighty Plumber.

Most of the decisions have been received well by fans and the LGBTQ community alike, prasing the plot points advancing the Mario canon.

## Other Media

The show got a lot of merchandise as it was hit, the show also got some books based on episodes of the show like the first 3 episodes.The Show got a tie game of the same name called Super Mario Adventures! The game and An Untitled sequel.

### Donkey Kong Adventures

*Main Article: Donkey Kong Adventures*

The Show got a Spin-off in 2021 for Donkey Kong’s 40th anniversary, dubbed Donkey Kong Adventures, the spin-off follows Donkey Kong, now crowned the King of Kongo Island, having to deal with kingly duties while trying to maintain a relationship with his best friend and cousin Diddy Kong and challenging Cranky Kong’s (his grandfather) old ways and methods of being King. Donkey Kong throughout the series will have adventures of Self-discovery while defeating Villains like King K.rool