Search - The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: The Complete Series on DVD

A great old Saturday morning series, with a moderate DVD pre

Dynamo of Eternia | 06/27/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This, by far, was my favorite of all of the Super Mario cartoons that were produced, even if it did have the most un-original title ever (the fact that the number 3 is in the title kind of makes it laughable).

It is a very fun show, and is based rather closely on the 3rd Super Mario game from the original NES. This had some very, very memorable episodes, and what I really liked about it was the presentation of the various powers that the Mario Bros. could use in the actual game.

Now, this was a show produced for kids, so if you are an adult, and didn't watch this when it was originally on, you may want to bypass it now, as it's something that you probably won't find much entertainment in at this point (with maybe the exception of anyone who is an EXTREME Super Mario fan, partiuclarly of the 3rd game, but somehow missed this show the first time around).


As far as I can tell, all of the episodes are intact, pretty much in there entirety.

There is, of course, the issue of the infamous Milli Vanilli episode, in which Mario, Luigi, the Princess, and Toad all go to the 'real world' to see their concert, and the music group gets kidnapped by King Koopa. Now, it is true that the music has been changed. In the original airing of this episode, Milli Vanilli are shown on stage performing "Blame it on the Rain". However, after the whole lip sync scandal broke out, this episode was re-edited with generic music in the place of the previous song. Unfortunately, this proved to make the concert scene make little sense because the generic music doesn't even have any lyrics, and yet Milli Vanilli are shown on stage moving their mouths and singing (or, lip syncing, if you prefer). Then, Koopa shows up to kidnap them, and makes a comment saying "Blame it on King Koopa", which is a joke that no longer makes sense in the edited version.

There's also a scene later in the episode where after being kidnapped, Milli Vanilli are supposed to do a private concert for Koopa's daughter, Kootie Pie (a.k.a Wendy, as she is known in the game.. the Koopa kid's names were different in the game and cartoon). Milli Vanilli point out that they have no back up band. In a rescue attempt, Mario, Luigi, Toad, and the Princess disguise themselves as a back up band to help rescue them. The joke here is supposed to be that none of them know how to play any instruments, so the music is supposed to sound bad with Milli Vanilli singing over it as they normally would. Unfortunately, this has also been changed, and oddly with the same generic music from earlier in the episode. So, the same music that everyone was excited about and dancing to at the concert is now supposed to sound horrible to everyone (except Kootie Pie, who is enjoying it).

It is true that the edited version is the one on this set. However, contrary to what another reviewer has posted, aside from the changes that I've listed above, everything else seems to be intact (at least as far as I can remember.. it has been years since I've seen this on TV). That other reviewer states that all references to Milli Vanilli are removed, and that is not true.

The name "Milli Vanilli" is mentioned frequently throughout the episode, and the Princess is even wearing a shirt that has their name on it. It is true that King Koopa at one point does refer to them as "Silly the Willies", but that's because he keeps messing up the name of the band and his kids have to keep correcting him.

Sorry for the long explanation for this one episode, but I thought this was important to explain for die hard fans of the show who remember this episode and are debating if they should get it or not.



The DVD presentation is a mixed bag. The menus of Discs 1 and 2 are nice. They are set up to look like the Mario 3 game. They feature Mario and Luigi respectively, and in both cases, it shows the character from the side, as if in the video game, and they hit a "?" mark block, causing things on the menu to change/happen when you make a selection. It is nicely set up.

Where the DVD disappoints (though, not suprisingly) is in the quality of the video. It has not been remastered, and there are even some brief parts (at least in a couple of the episodes I've watched so far) where it looks like the masters these were copied from may have been damaged to some degree. I noticed this damage issue in the final episode (or two episodes, if you count the fact that each one is made of 2 smaller stories). There are a couple of points where the screen just goes gray for a second. And it's not my personal disc, other people have had the same problem (apparently the master was indeed damaged, and from what I have heard there is nothing that Shout Factory can do about it).

The general video quality isn't suprising though, since most of the previous Shout Factory releases like the Mario Super Show and Captain N have not been remastered either. But, still, the video quality does knock down my review by a couple of stars. And the fact that the one episode has some damage is annoying.

The 3rd disc has some extra features, including character descriptions, and explanations about various aspects of the show. There is some interesting stuff, but is does get to be pretty redundant. While they are nice enough, the feature easily could have been split up and put on the first two discs. The total running time of them all doesn't seem to add up to enough to warrant a whole separate disc. I think they did this just to make it seem like you are getting more than you really are.

Still, all in all the cartoon is a lot of fun, so if you are a fan of Mario, and if you watched this show back in the day, I do recommend picking it up."

Loved it - brings me back to my childhood

D. Hensley | 06/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Not only do I love this show just as much as I did when I was a kid, but my son - who shares my Wii with me and plays the current games in the Mario franchise like Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Mario Strikers - really enjoys the use of these same characters in these short cartoons with very basic plots. This is not great storytelling, and the DVD set production could have used some more effort, but the cartoons themselves are overwhelmingly cute and enjoyable... I encourage you to ration the cuteness because it's very easy to get too much TV time.

P.S. It seems as though Nintendo has severely drifted away from using the koopalings in favor of Bowser, Jr. If I hadn't grown up so attached to the 7 koopa kids in SMB3, Super Mario World, and some other games, maybe I wouldn't enjoy them so much, but I think they are used very well in these cartoons. If you like them too, make it known!"

King Koopa is Great

Atli Hafsteinsson | Viborg, Denmark | 07/02/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I wish I could say the same about the rest of this short-lived cartoon. Adventures of SMB3 has a lot more to do with the games than the previous series, Super Mario Bros Super Show (SMBSS). The trouble is, it may have a little too much to do with the games, and not in the good sense. This show was made to accompany the release of SMB3 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, but it feels like a pale shadow, and often it appears as though the crew were struggling for ideas on what to do with it. It feels more like a tribute to the game than a proper series.

Just like in SMBSS, the best thing about this new cartoon series is King Koopa. Still incredibly voiced by Harvey Atkin and this time free from the restraints of alter-egos, the evil crocodilian Koopa king returns to the Mushroom Kingdom after his unspoken defeat and gets to be his own charismatic self, setting up a castle in Darkland. This would mean that he has more charm and charisma than he ever did in the alter-ego-laden SMBSS - if it weren't for his kids.

This time, he has along his 'Koopa Kids', seven children which he has mysteriously fathered. I can tell you now, I don't like the Koopa Kids at all. They seem to have been forced through personality-alterers since the NES game; Ludwig (aka Kooky) has, in a complete redesign, gone from a piano genius to a mad scientist and Morton (aka Bigmouth) is one of the most irritating and unfunny characters that I remember, and the other characters apparently agree. Roy and Wendy (aka Bully and Kootie-Pie) are the most faithful representations; Roy a big brute with a dash of cool, while Wendy makes the term 'spoiled brat' sound like a compliment. But the bad thing is how central they are to almost everything.

The thing is, while this show does attempt to create a layout of the Mushroom Kingdom, it really is an unstructured and random mess. Most of the plots are either very thin or too dependent on the elements of the game to work. A lot of the time the characters have to get particular items from '?' blocks straight out of the game. King Koopa saves most of it, but even he can't help the integrity of its series when it seems more intent on making fun of the real world. There is a universal law - never cross the imaginary world with the real one. This show does a lot of that. A lot. Come on, with 8 worlds surely you can do something with it! Fact is, the vast majority of the episodes cross over to the "real world", with Koopa incorporating some nefarious scheme or the other - or worse, caving in to pressure from his kids (mostly Kootie-Pie). The last episode, "Super Koopa", takes place in real-life Paris for the most part. Even the stories that take place in the Mushroom Kingdom feel more like parodies than anything else - with a few exceptions , of course, such as an episode where Koopa and Kooky fly the Doomship and wreak havoc on Sky Land. Too many things to name patronise the viewer's intelligence, such as when 'Kooky' Koopa falls prey to his own invention, a zombie-making helmet, and sets to attack his dad. And King Koopa flees before him. Koopa, fleeing from his own son? Very thin writing which completely negates Koopa's strength and confidence.

My favourite episode, and the best in my opinion, is "Princess Toadstool for President", where Koopa and the princess decide to run an election against each other for leadership of the Mushroom Kingdom. Yet even there, one absolutely unforgivable area in which the show fouls up is cast into clear light; King Koopa's personality. He just isn't as evil in this series like he was in SMBSS. The worst thing about it is how dependent he is on his kids; he hardly does a thing without somehow getting his kids to go along with it, or - worse - caving in to pressure from them, and this really hurts his character.

It shouldn't surprise you to hear that this series didn't last long. Super Mario 3 has one extra third disc, justifiable only by the short account on Koopa's personality. But they also have all the songs on there, and I can't for the life of me understand why they did that. It's the most incompetent score ever written, and with even worse singers; I wouldn't listen to that even in my most masochistic of moods. This does only scrape the gist of it and I am being completely serious.

Yet in spite of all that, I am unable to dislike this show, and I watch it from time to time. It's definitely because of Koopa. As I said before, there is a nice reflection on him on the third disc. If you're making a game based on Super Mario Bros 3, why not go for the red-haired, fire breathing Bowser? Well, King Koopa is at least a top-notch substitute. I can only thank goodness that King Koopa manages to keep it all from falling apart, like a pale light in a tar of pit. This goes both for the characters, story and animation. Let this be a lesson to all those who plan on making cartoons based on video games; either make it relevant in the good sense or at least make it 'good'. Bravo, King Koopa, for saving what is otherwise a very poor show. As a self-respecting cartoon lover, I can only scrape 2 stars for it, one solely for Koopa."

Another Childhood Favorite!!!

Pumpkin Man | 05/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ever since I was a kid, I've loved this show, because it's based on one of my favorite games. In fact, I still have my Super Nintendo system hooked up and I still have the game! Throughout the series Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad try to stop King Koopa and his 7 little brats from taking over the Mushroom Kingdom. The series plays music and use sounds from the game. I highly recommend THE ADVENTURES OF SUPER MARIO BROS. 3: THE COMPLETE SERIES!!!"