Super Mario World (television series)

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This article is about the television series. For the SNES game, see Super Mario World. For further uses, see Super Mario World (disambiguation).
Super Mario World
The title intro for the Super Mario World television series
The Super Mario World intro screen
General information
Director(s) John Grusd
Seasons 1
Episodes 13
Production
Production company DIC Entertainment
Distributor(s) WildBrain[1]
Runtime 20–23 minutes
Broadcast
First aired September 14, 1991
Last aired December 7, 1991
Chronology
Predecessor The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990)

Super Mario World was the third and final of DIC Entertainment’s animated Super Mario trilogy, loosely based on the game of the same name, premiering a month after its North American release. The cartoon chronicles the adventures of Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool in Dinosaur Land. Yoshi and several new characters, such as Oogtar, a blond-haired caveboy, make an appearance as well. Super Mario World was the last of DIC's Super Mario cartoons and originally aired from September 14th, 1991 to December 7th, 1991. The series lasted for only 13 episodes.

Overview[edit]

Sometime after the events of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, having banished King Bowser Koopa, the Koopalings, and their minions from the Mushroom Kingdom for good, Princess Toadstool, Mario, and Luigi decide to take a vacation to the Dinosaur World. However, King Koopa and his minions manage to follow them there and kidnap the princess yet again. After adventuring and befriending Yoshi, Mario and Luigi managed to rescue Princess Toadstool from King Koopa's Neon Castle and subsequently decided to stay in Dinosaur Land's Dome City with the cave-people.

Several episodes of Super Mario World often had Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Princess Toadstool, and occasionally Oogtar, a show-exclusive character, trying to stop the schemes of King Koopa and the Koopalings, as well as other villains such as Wizenheimer or the Dino Riders. Toad, who appeared in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, does not appear in the series (nor did he appear in the game it was based on), making it the only Super Mario cartoon where he does not appear. Because of his absence in the show, he is replaced by both Yoshi and Oogtar, the latter of whom having the same voice actor. Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, King Koopa, and the Koopalings retain their designs from The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, although the "L" on Luigi's cap is black instead of green in early episodes, Princess Toadstool has lighter skin and blue eyes instead of black eyes, and Cheatsy's hair is yellow/white instead of dark blue. Also, Mario and Luigi's Fire forms in the show are based on their Fire form sprites from the game. Walker Boone, Tony Rosato, Tracey Moore, and Harvey Atkin reprised their roles as Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and King Koopa respectively in the show.

Social issues[edit]

Super Mario World's title screen, when it aired alongside Captain N: The Game Master.
Super Mario World's title screen, when it aired alongside Captain N: The Game Master.

Due to the introduction of the Children's Television Act in 1990, some social commentary and edutainment was added into the series. Some episodes of Super Mario World can be seen as social commentary for controversial issues, such as street gangs ("Born to Ride"), addiction ("Rock TV"), bullying in school ("A Little Learning"), obesity and capitalism ("King Scoopa Koopa"). Several episodes such as "The Wheel Thing" and "Party Line" deal with the introduction and consequences of introducing new concepts and technologies to others without thinking ahead, in this case, the cave-people of Dome City. One of the more noticable changes made to the series in light of the CTA is the change made to Princess Toadstool's personality, where she is now more of a role model and parental figure for Mario, Luigi and Yoshi.

Differences from the game[edit]

Super Mario World, though based on the video game of the same name, included several creative licenses. The cave people and Dome City are both introduced in the television series. Characters retained their color differences from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! King Koopa was only once referred to as "Bowser" and the Koopalings retained their alternate names from The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. Many locations and enemies were referred to by different names, likely due to the fact the production studio relied on the Japanese version of Super Mario World as reference material:

Airing history[edit]

The modified title for the Super Mario World TV series, as shown at the end of the intro sequence.
Super Mario World's title screen, as seen at the end of the intro sequence

Super Mario World originally aired alongside Captain N: The Game Master on NBC, where it was referred to as Super Mario Bros. 4 in end credit promos and Super Mario Bros. World in commercial bumpers. Super Mario World was also the only Mario cartoon to air in Australia on Network Ten and Cheez TV, though only on Mondays to Wednesdays on the latter. Oddly, in both the United Kingdom and Australia, the episode "King Scoopa Koopa" aired before "The Night Before Cave Christmas", due to a mishap involving the show's production order and the production order of Captain N: The Game Master.

Along with Captain N, Super Mario World was one of the last cartoons to air on NBC as that network began to gradually phase out cartoons on Saturdays. Both were canceled by the fall of 1992 and replaced with a Saturday version of Today, along with their TNBC block, which included such shows as Saved by the Bell and California Dreams. In the mid-nineties, the Super Mario World episodes aired on USA Network, without the Captain N episodes. Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, another cartoon based on a video game franchise by DIC, and Street Fighter, based on the popular fighting game, were also aired on USA Network around the same time.

Due to the nature of its production, Super Mario World is actually one half of a series entitled Captain N and the New Super Mario World, which also consists of the third season of Captain N: The Game Master. Although the "New" suffix was used to promote the Super Mario World game when the show first aired, it is part of the series' proper title, and was never dropped. An episode of this half hour series consists of a Super Mario World cartoon and either a Captain N cartoon, or a second Super Mario World cartoon. Due to legal issues, the third season episodes of Captain N and the Super Mario World episodes are inseparable, and have to be released on DVD in the same set. This also explains why the first two seasons of Captain N: The Game Master were released in a "complete series" set; the third season is part of a separate show. The show can also be seen on Starz Encore’s Kids and Family channel on weekday afternoons since 2019 as well as on its WildBrain YouTube channels, Paramount+ (US only), The Roku Channel and NCircle TV (US only).

In the Middle East, Super Mario World aired on Spacetoon along with Earthworm Jim starting in 2005, but in 2007, both it and Earthworm Jim were replaced by The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. Super Mario World also aired on the Middle East version of Nickelodeon but is no longer on that channel's schedule. It was also still airing on Spacetoon as of January 1, 2011, along with Earthworm Jim, The Land Before Time, Make Way for Noddy, and The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! after Spacetoon English shut down.

Since 2009, the show sometimes airs on KidsCo in Australia and since 2010 it has aired on the same channel in Spain and Portugal. It has also aired on Boomerang in South Korea.[2]

Distribution[edit]

Super Mario World (television series)
Captain N and the New Super Mario World DVD set, released November 13, 2007.

The Super Mario World episode "The Night Before Cave Christmas" was released sometime in 1993 for a VHS tape entitled "Super Mario Bros. Super Christmas Adventures"; along with "Koopa Klaus".

Currently, DVDs of every single Super Mario World episode are available in Australia; the episode "A Little Learning" was also available on a VHS tape for a time in the UK.

Due to complications involving the use of Yoshi, it was originally thought that DVD box sets of Super Mario World weren't going to be made. However, those issues were resolved, and Shout! Factory has released a box set containing the complete series, along with the third season of Captain N: The Game Master. The DVD was discontinued in 2012, along with The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: The Complete Series and The Super Mario Bros. Super Show Volume 1 and 2, when Cookie Jar Entertainment merged with WildBrain (formerly DHX Media).

As of 2014, the episodes along with the Captain N segments have been streamed on WildBrain's YouTube Channel "WildBrain - Cartoon Super Heroes". As of 2023, it is available to stream on Paramount+ (US only), The Roku Channel and NCircle TV (US only).

Voice cast[edit]

The voice acting was done in Canada.

Staff[edit]

Main article: List of Super Mario World (television series) staff

As with the previous show, Super Mario World was produced and directed by John Grusd, with DiC president Andy Heyward acting as the executive producer and creative supervisor. Animation was done by the Chinese studio Pacific Rim Productions, Inc. rather than Sei Young Animation Co., Ltd., except for the opening which was done by Canvas. Inc. The series is coproduced by Reteitalia S.P.A. and Telecinco.

Production[edit]

Unlike previous Super Mario cartoons where scripts were produced in a three-steps fashion (starting with the writer submitting an episode premise to the show's story editors, then a multi-page outline, then the full script), all of the episode premises for Super Mario World were written by the show's story editor Phil Harnage and then assigned to various writers of the previous series for the full script, skipping the outline stage - something that writer Perry Martin noted was "never a good idea"[3].

Episodes[edit]

Air Date Episodes
September 14, 1991
"Fire Sale"
September 21, 1991
"The Wheel Thing"
September 28, 1991
"Send in the Clown"
October 5, 1991
"Ghosts 'R' Us"
October 12, 1991
"The Night Before Cave Christmas"
October 19, 1991
"King Scoopa Koopa"
October 26, 1991
"Born to Ride"
November 2, 1991
"Party Line"
November 9, 1991
"Gopher Bash"
November 16, 1991
"Rock TV"
November 23, 1991
"The Yoshi Shuffle"
November 30, 1991
"A Little Learning"
December 7, 1991
"Mama Luigi"

Songs[edit]

Main article: List of Super Mario World (television series) songs
Episode Song
Fire Sale Kootie Pie Rap
The Wheel Thing Motor City
Send in the Clown At the Circus
Ghosts 'R' Us Wizard
The Night Before Cave Christmas Rockin' With the Sleigh Bells
King Scoopa Koopa Time to Run
Born to Ride Time to Get Wild
Party Line Listen to the Grapevine
Gopher Bash Cheatsy's Life
Rock TV Tail of the Dinosaur
The Yoshi Shuffle Rah-Rah
A Little Learning Rockin' the High School
Mama Luigi Looking for You

Gallery[edit]

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Super Mario World (television series).

Quotes[edit]

Main article: List of Super Mario World (television series) quotes

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning
German Super Mario World
-
Hungarian Super Mario világa
Super Mario's world
Italian Le avventure di Super Mario
The Adventures of Super Mario
Korean 마리오4부
Malio4bu
Mario Part 4

Polish Nowe przygody braci Mario (TV)
Fantastyczny świat braci Super Mario (VHS)
New Adventures of the Mario Brothers (TV)
The Fantastic world of the Super Mario brothers (VHS)
Portuguese Super Mario Brothers
-
Romanian Lumea lui Super Mario
Super Mario's world
Russian Мир Супер Марио
Mir Super Mario
Super Mario's World

Spanish El mundo de Super Mario
Super Mario world
Turkish Süper Mario
Super Mario

Trivia[edit]

  • For the German dub, the intro sequence originally used the German Plumber Rap from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
  • The show's theme song was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh, frontman of the American post-punk group Devo. Mothersbaugh would go on to compose theme music for a number of other cartoons throughout the 1990's.

External links[edit]

References[edit]