Super Mario Bros has actually had some representation in anime around the same time that the DIC Super Mario Bros cartoons were airing in the rest of the world. The quality ranges from good to bad but in general they’re all pretty decent and in some ways really cool to see. Here we take a look at all the different anime that Super Mario Bros has appeared in and luckily for us this can be seen as a new canon Timeline of events, for the Super Mario Anime.
Super Mario Bros: The Great mission to Rescue Princess Peach 1986
I was never too interested in this since it didn’t look like it’d be too interesting being very early in the franchise and it getting no love but I was surprised since it’s Very soulful. Surprisingly I actually found many of the Mario characters are in model for the most part especially being this early in the franchise. Sure there are plenty of off model ones as well like many enemies being mega sized. It’s also one of the first origin stories Mario ever got. I love how he was playing a Famicom in the beginning before the adventure begins, it’s not explicit if the Mushroom Kingdom is in the game world like Captain N or just a general Magical Place. Luigi has the totally wrong colors but ooks good here in blue and yellow and he has a nice role and isnt forgotten quickly. I like how they incorporated many elements like the coins, enemies and even power ups. Bowser Koopa wants to marry Peach so it’s something that really started from the very beginning.
There are some odd things like the random wizard that gives the Mario brothers their roles, Toads in general look creepy but we get an awesome blue dog called Kibidango. I like to hear the Mario soundtrack of the first game with real instruments and how the rest of the iconic sounds are taken from the games. We see most of the enemies from the first two Japanese games though some with some tweaks like the giant flying Paratroopa Mario becomes really huge and gigantic with the muschrooms so it’s more like those super mushrooms from the New Super Mario Bros. The movie has a little too many songs though which are a bit boring. Not everything is represented accurately but it does a fine enough job. Toad is treated like a female I think and I guess the princess is in another castle gimmick is changed ot Mario getting an item even if they aren’t really castles. Toads I guess really are trapped in the blocks like the isntruction manual says. We get a flying ship like in Super Mario Bros 3 and having Mario swing throw Bowser from his tail like in Super Mario 64. I like those aspects that coincidentally appear in later games. THe dog is an awesome character that I would’ve loved to have seen again though I’m not a fan of the twist in the end of him being a prince that steals Peach so perhaps it’s for the best we dont’ see him. Great.
Amada Anime Series: Super Mario Bros 3 OVAS
These OVAs of Super Mario Bros 3 remind me a lot of the Super Mario Super Bros sho since they adapt random fairy tales with Mario at the helm. For the most part they are Japanese folk stories. In general these OVAs don’t have a lot of animation so there are tons of still shots but that’s ok. The first story is Momotaro and well not being familiar with the story it’s totally crazy. Bowser comes from he stars like in Mario galaxy, goes to here the pricness Peach lives which is a peasant house with Hammer Bros as her Grandparents. Though Mario still wants to Marry her and is a dork around her. Mario is born from a peach and the Mushroom Kingdom came from Space. BBowser goes around galaxies conquering stars and planets oh and baby Mario is raised by Peaches Grandparents as well before going to rescue her from getting married with Bowser. Mario gets tons of Koopa allies to fight Bowser and his Koopalings All this Mario galaxy style.
The next one is also Japanese but a little bit less weird called Dwarf. Here it’s a shooting star that carried a baby that was Mario, only here he’s tiny, and pocket sized. He wants to go outside to the world and his parents finally let him. He meets a giant well I guess a normal sized Peach Bowser wants to Marry Peach of course and Mario has to fight him and succeeds. The third and last one is Snow White. It’s Queen Koopa here for BOwser and wants to get rid of Peach for being prettier so Super Mario goes to rescue her with the help of the 7 Toad Dwarves (normal sized toads and no gimmicks) Mario doesn’t kiss peach and only gives her a potion. Mario ha a cool fight at the end with the Koopalings and Bowser despite the little animation. Luigi even shows up in the end finally. The end credits include the Super Mario Land theme which is surprising and very welcome. In general not great short OVAS but they do fit in a way as part of the canon just like the DIC Mario Cartoons parodied different popular stories.
Super Mario World Mario and Yoshi’s Adventure Land 1991
This anime was some type of ‘game’ for a telephone like service called Terebikko phone which I am not familiar with except it seems fairly low tech and not too intersting. You have Mario and Luigi in the Mushroom Kingdom and they get a letter where Princess Peach Mario 64 style and says she’s in Dinosaur Land, so the Mario bros take a plane Mario Sunshine Style. The map they show is accurate to SNES game. As always I like the sounds of the game being incorporated to the cartoon. It’s very accurate to the games in the levesl and lands that they go thorugh and we get the entire Super Mario World adventure basically in just 30 minutes roughly of Bowser wanting to Marry Peach even if he’s a bit more antagonistic here.
During the anime you have Luigi or Mario for example call the viewer to ask questions, they can be educational or just game trivia in a way but nothing too difficult and it’s more to just have you interact with the movie though it’s a bit annoying though I get it that it’s the gimmick. As I mentioned there is tons of Mario World stuff like music, enemies, levels etc. It’s quick but gets the main points across of each of the part of the Dinosaur Island. We see Mario use a feather, Luigi get a red Yoshi, and the brohters fighting and complaining that Mario gets all the credit. Fun. Can totally be seen as an Mario Anime Canon.
Super Mario no Koutsuu Anzen
Super Mario Traffic Safety and Fire Bregade. Are two more anime made for school to teach kids basic safety. The Mario Bros jump from the Famicom to the real world apparently and go on a small adventure against Bowser that teachers kids how to be safe. The few clips you can find online make it seem like higher budget than the previous two and better made even if it’s Mario edutainment. But as of now it’s considered Lost media, at least two of them exist and were around 10 mins each.
