Mama Luigi

"Mama Luigi" is the thirteenth and final episode of the Super Mario World animated series. In this episode Luigi tells Yoshi the story of how he met Yoshi. It mostly takes place at the beginning of the show's story, serving as a prequel, and is Yoshi's origin story, where Luigi takes care of Yoshi where they later find Mario where they go to King Koopa's Neon Castle to save Princess Toadstool. During the story Luigi and Yoshi commentate on the events in the story with the episode occasionally cutting back to the present. This is the last cartoon episode based on the Mario franchise since no episodes have been produced by DIC or any other company since the cancellation of Captain N: The Game Master on NBC in 1991.

Plot
Inside the Dome Castle, Luigi is in the process of putting a somewhat resistant Yoshi to bed. Yoshi, not feeling tired, asks Luigi to tell him a story, more specifically, the story of how Luigi, Mario and Princess Toadstool met Yoshi.

Luigi goes on to tell the story: after banishing King Koopa from the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool decided to go on a vacation in Dinosaur World. While exploring Dinosaur World, they visit Dome City, which is deserted. Looking around, Princess Toadstool is suddenly grabbed by a pair of Koopa Football Players. Mario gets attacked by a Koopa Wizard, who shoots magic at him as he runs away where a Magnum Bill flies after him, causing Mario to run away in a different direction. Luigi is seen directly facing a Fire Sumo when the Fire Sumo stomps the ground, causing a fissure that Luigi falls into.

Luigi is sent plummeting into the Lava Pits, where he apparently fell "for hours". Yoshi comments saying how it was a long time, which Luigi responds to saying that it seemed like he was falling for that amount of time. Seeing nothing but lava below him, Luigi begins to panic; where he lands on a magic balloon, which makes him bounce on it twice while turning him into Balloon Luigi on his second bounce for a couple of seconds, until he turns back into his regular form, which causes him to panic while falling downwards while yelling and allowing him to land on a Skull Raft. Yoshi comments on how "skulls mean bad medicine". Luigi responds saying that the skulls were good medicine for him. The Skull Raft headed towards a nearby waterfall of lava making Luigi panic, and later jump off the Skull Raft just as the Skull Raft falls of the waterfall. Luigi falls onto a small portion of land with several ? Blocks on it. Luigi hits two nearby ? Blocks. After spurting out coins, one of the blocks release a red-spotted egg. The egg falls of the Block where Luigi catches the egg, which then hatches, producing a small green Yoshisaur, which proceeds to refer to Luigi as "mama", which surprises Luigi. The scene then cuts to the present, where Yoshi laughs at how Yoshi thought that Luigi was "mama". Luigi then responds about how he did not think it was funny, where the scene cuts back to the past.

Wandering the Lava Pits, Yoshi starts crying. Luigi asks Yoshi if he is hungry. Luigi is approached by a purple T-Rex and a blue one, which surprises Luigi and Yoshi. Thinking this pair of T-Rexes to be Yoshi's parents, Luigi hands Yoshi over to the Tyrannosauruses where Yoshi grabs onto Luigi's legs yelling "mama Luigi" when the purple Tyrannosaurus attempts to eat Yoshi, where Luigi quickly pulls him away. The Tyrannosauruses then attempt to eat both Luigi and Yoshi, who escape by jumping over a river of lava, using a Blargg as a stepping-stone. They both enter a Warp Pipe.

When they enter the Warp Pipe Luigi and Yoshi are dumped into the ocean, where they sink as Yoshi yells. Underwater, they swim through a nearby tunnel, only to be chased by a recently awakened Rip Van Fish. Fleeing from the Rip Van Fish through the tunnel, Luigi and Yoshi narrowly avoid a swarm of Urchins. Exiting the underwater tunnel, Luigi and Yoshi lose the Rip Van Fish, who had fallen back asleep. While trying to swim to the surface of the water, they are attacked by a Blurp lacking goggles where they swim in an oval and stomp on the Blurp, defeating it. A Torpedo Ted is fired at Luigi and Yoshi. Trying to escape the Torpedo Ted, Luigi and Yoshi swim onto a Dolphin in a group, who swim and later jump over the Torpedo Ted, bringing them to shore. Once on a beach, Luigi begins to wring the water from his hat; as he is doing this, though, Yoshi waddles away. Noticing Yoshi had wandered away, Luigi begins to search for him.

Admiring some flowers, a Caterpillar walks towards Yoshi. Luigi jumps on the Caterpillar where he picks up Yoshi. The Caterpillar growls at them and walks towards them, when several other growling Caterpillars also walk towards Luigi and Yoshi. Luigi cries for help. The scene cuts back to the present where Yoshi comments on how he loves Caterpillars. Luigi then replies saying how he is telling the story as the scene cuts back to the past. Suddenly, Yoshi, unable to hold back his appetite, begins to eat all the Caterpillars, defeating them.

Suddenly, Mario appears, having heard his brother's cries for help. Mario slides forward as he is quickly eaten by Yoshi. Panicking, Luigi convinces Yoshi that Mario is not an enemy, and he spits him out. Luigi and Mario clean off the saliva on Mario. After Luigi tells Mario to not mess with Yoshi, Yoshi proceeds to leap into Luigi's arms and licks his face, calling him "mama" again, much to Mario's amusement. After he is finished laughing, Mario tells Luigi that he had escaped King Koopa's Coney Island Disco Palace, but was unable to aid the princess in escaping as well. Reaching the castle, Mario leads the others in through a nearby Warp Tube, which takes them the basement of Neon Castle, but it is dark inside. Mario asks Luigi to hit a ? Block. Luigi gives Yoshi to Mario and jumps at the ? Block and misses. Luigi asks for a boost so Mario puts Yoshi on the ground and lifts Luigi up as Luigi jumps off Mario, making him hit the ? Block, which activates a spotlight over them as Luigi falls on top of Mario. Unfortunately, Yoshi wanders off while Mario and Luigi had worked on turning on the light.

Tracking Yoshi down, Mario and Luigi find Yoshi near a fireball-belching Bowser Statue. As Mario and Luigi attempt to dodge the fireballs, Yoshi eats them and manages to shut down the statue by breathing fire on it. After destroying the statue, a secret passageway opens, which Yoshi ventures down, with Mario and Luigi following him. Entering a hallway, Yoshi nonchalantly walks down it, unaware of the large spikes shooting out of the ceiling. Pushing Yoshi out of the way of a spike, Luigi becomes flattened. As Yoshi runs off, Mario grabs the paper-thin Luigi and manages to return him to normal using a nearby magic balloon, then continue chasing Yoshi, who has leaped through the gate of a fence and opens a nearby door, meeting a Koopa Football Player.

Quickly climbing over the fence, Mario bashes the football player on the head, only for it to split into three. Tackling Mario and knocking him into Luigi making them roll into a ball, the Koopa Football Players are all eaten at once and subsequently spat out by Yoshi, who enters Bowser's throne room. Following Yoshi, who eats a piece of tapestry on the wall, into King Koopa's personal chambers, Mario and Luigi are attacked by a gang of Mechkoopas, who are directed by King Koopa, who had appeared from behind a pillar. While running from the Mechkoopas, Mario and Luigi discover Yoshi, who has eaten everything in King Koopa's throne room. Koopa enters, and, angered at them for his throne room being ruined, orders the Mechkoopas to attack them. However, they are saved by Yoshi, who eats the Mechkoopas. Seeing how much Yoshi has eaten, Mario threatens King Koopa, saying that if he doesn't hand-over Princess Toadstool, Yoshi is going to eat all of Neon Castle, "piece by piece".

King Koopa states that he can build another castle, but Mario and Luigi cannot build another princess, as he is unfazed by their threat due to them being unable to gain the key needed to release Princess Toadstool. Just then Yoshi eats it out of his hand. Without the key, King Koopa vows revenge and flees into a nearby Warp Pipe. Praising Yoshi, Luigi quickly asks him if he can spit out the key, which he does, right into a nearby keyhole. Once the key enters this keyhole, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Princess Toadstool are suddenly transported to Dome City, safe and sound.

Having finished his story, Luigi notices Yoshi has fallen asleep. Tucking Yoshi in, Luigi says goodnight to him, with Yoshi mumbling, "Goodnight, Mama Luigi...hehe." Luigi then shrugs.

Quotes

 * "Aw, do I have to go to bed so soon?" - Yoshi
 * "Well, like they say in Brooklyn, early to bed, early to catch the worm. Or is it the bagel?" - Luigi
 * "Mmmmm. Worm's good. Tell Yoshi bedtime story now. Tell how Luigi find Yoshi and Yoshi rescue princess." - Yoshi
 * "Okay, okay. Well, it all started when Mario, the princess and I came to Dinosaur World for a vacation. We banished King Koopa from Princess Toadstool's Mushroom Kingdom. But, he found a way to escape into the Dinosaur World. And when we got to Dome City, the place was deserted! Koopa Football Players grabbed the princess!" - Luigi
 * "Huh!" - Princess Toadstool
 * "Mario is attacked, by a Koopa Wizard! And a Magnum Bill! And I found myself, face to face with a Fire Sumo!" - Luigi
 * "I fell for hours!" - Luigi
 * "Oh hours, long time!" - Yoshi
 * "Well, It seemed like I was! Anyways, I was falling, nothing below me but boiling lava. Good thing I found a Magic Balloon! Luckily, a Skull Raft came by!" - Luigi
 * "Shulls? Skulls mean bad medicine!" - Yoshi
 * "These skulls were good medicine for me! Unfortunately they were heading straight for a lava waterfall! I locked up and landed on a Block ledge." - Luigi
 * "Luigi bash Blocks now!" - Yoshi
 * "Alright wise guy! So, what happened next?" - Luigi
 * "Huhahaha, Luigi find Yoshi egg!" - Yoshi
 * "How'd you know?" - Luigi
 * "Mama" - Yoshi
 * "Huh?" - Luigi
 * "Yoshi think Luigi mama! (laughs)" - Yoshi
 * "Yeah, well I didn't think it was so funny." - Luigi
 * "Oh, what's the matter baby? Are you hungry?" - Luigi
 * "Hi. Uh, looking for your baby? Here. Fed and burped. Ready to go." - Luigi
 * "Mama Luigi! Mama Luigi!" - Yoshi
 * "Yoshisaur... so good! Eat!" - T-Rex
 * "Get back, you despicable dinovores! You're dealing with a licensed plumber here!" - Luigi
 * "We eat plumber, too!" - T-Rex
 * "Yum! Yum, yum yum!" - T-Rex
 * "Hold on Yoshisaur! I'll get us to the surface!" - Luigi
 * "Yikes!" - Luigi
 * "Yow! Woah!" - Luigi
 * "Oh see Yoshisaur, nothing to be scared of in the water! Except that! Hang on, we're outta here!" - Luigi
 * "We're not gonna make it!" - Luigi
 * "Whoa! Dolphins! Hey, thanks for the airlift guys!" - Luigi
 * "We gotta find Mario and Princess Toadstool! Stay here while I wring out my cap!" - Luigi
 * "Hey, were'd he go? Come back here you scamp! It's dangerous in there!" - Luigi
 * "Well, heads off Yoshskins when I tell you to stay, you stay!" - Luigi
 * "Look, Caterpillar mama Luigi" - Yoshi
 * "I'm not your... was it something I said?" - Luigi
 * "Mario! Wherever you are, HEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!" - Luigi
 * "Oh, Yoshi loves Caterpillars!" - Yoshi
 * "Hey, who's telling this story? So anyway, there we were, about to become worm food." - Luigi
 * "Yoshi hungry!" - Yoshi
 * "You'll have to wait, those Caterpillars are hungrier." - Luigi
 * "Yoshi no wait, Yoshi hungrier!" - Yoshi
 * "This kid makes Mario look like he's on a diet! Chow down, Yoshi!" - Luigi
 * "I'm-a coming, Luigi! Hey. This wee dinosaur giving you a hard time, little brother? I'll fix him for ya." - Mario
 * "No, Yoshi! That's my brother, Mario!" - Luigi
 * "Now I know how a meatball feels." - Mario
 * "Eugh, Yoshi no like meatballs!" - Yoshi
 * "Eh yuck! I've been slobbered!" - Mario
 * "That will teach you to not mess with my new little buddy Yoshi!" - Luigi
 * "Cool it, caterpillar breath! I'm not your..." - Luigi
 * "Mama? MAMA LUIGI?! Ah ha ha ha ha!"- Mario
 * "Luigi, King Koopa has the princess locked up in his Coney Island Disco Palace. I fought my way out, and I've been looking for you ever since. Now we gotta go back and rescue her!" - Mario
 * "Then we better go now before I get scared just thinking about it!" - Luigi
 * "Mama Luigi no leave Yoshi?" - Yoshi
 * "No, I won't leave you, but you have to promise to behave yourself and stop calling me mama."- Luigi
 * "And so we found ourselves overlooking King Koopa's neon castle. Luckily, Mario was able to get us in the same way that he got out. That's when the real fun started!" - Luigi
 * "Yikes! Where's the light switch?" - Luigi
 * "On the ceiling! You see that block up there? You bash it Luigi! You're taller!" - Mario
 * "Okay, but you hold Yoshi. Hey, give me a boost Mario!" - Luigi
 * "You stay, Yoshi." - Mario
 * "Hey, watch the landing, Luigi!" - Mario
 * "No, it's the liftoff that got me. Uh oh, where's Yoshi?" - Luigi
 * "My throne! My throne room! You'll pay for this, plumbers! Get them!" - King Koopa
 * "Watch out Luigi, these Mechakoopa robots will eat you alive!" - Mario
 * "Aw robots no eat Luigi, Yoshi eat robots!" - Yoshi
 * "That dino twerp is eating me out of house at all!" - King Koopa
 * "You didn't tell me you were bringing a secret weapon, Luigi." - Mario
 * "That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!" - Luigi
 * "Alright, Koopa, free the princess or Yoshi here will eat your castle piece by piece until we find her!" - Mario
 * "I can build a new castle, but you can't build another princess!" - King Koopa
 * "Wow!" - King Koopa
 * "Ah, I'll be back, and when I do, that little monster of yours in going on a crash diet!" - King Koopa
 * "Hey good work Yoshi um, you didn't swallow that key, did ya?" - Luigi
 * "Key no taste good!" - Yoshi
 * "And so, we found ourselves back in Bone City safe and sound thanks to you Yoshi!" - Luigi
 * "Good night, Yoshi. (giggles)" - Luigi
 * "Good night, Mama Luigi." - Yoshi

Characters

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Yoshi
 * Princess Toadstool (no dialogue)
 * King Koopa
 * T-Rex
 * Caterpillars
 * Dolphins

Cast

 * Walker Boone &mdash; Mario
 * Tony Rosato &mdash; Luigi
 * Andrew Sabiston &mdash; Yoshi
 * Harvey Atkin &mdash; King Bowser Koopa
 * Dan Hennessey &mdash; Purple Dinosaur, Blue Dinosaur, Caterpillar #3
 * John Stocker &mdash; Caterpillar #1, dolphin, fish
 * Gordon Masten &mdash; singer, Caterpillar #2

Animation and continuity errors

 * Instead of having green spots on it, like in the Super Mario World game, Yoshi's egg has red spots on it.
 * Baby Yoshis normally have shoes when they hatch, but Yoshi had no shoes.
 * When the Spike Pillar crushes Luigi, it has a flat end instead of a pointy one.
 * When Luigi says "That's my brother, Mario!" the "L" on his cap does not appear.
 * Luigi stomps on a Blurp to defeat it, something that is not possible in the game.
 * Unlike the other episodes, the "L" on Luigi's hat is green instead of black. It turns into black once when he is encountered by Wigglers, then it changes back to green for the rest of the episode.
 * The ? Blocks do not have eyes as they do in the game, and also give more coins than one with each hit.

Deleted and trimmed scenes
There are several animation cels and sketches for the episode that have been found and sold online that do not go to any scene of the episode and some cut from certain scenes. In the episode when Luigi is walking and asks Baby Yoshi if he is hungry, there is a strange cut off during the scene and it transitions to the dinosaurs walking up to him while Baby Yoshi is still talking. The animation cel has a scene code of "A-52" on it, meaning that is the 52nd scene in the episode. When the dinosaurs appear on screen, the scene numbers of those are A-63 - this is known because of the scene of Luigi holding Baby Yoshi - and turning around is A-64, meaning that nine scenes of animation are missing from the episode.
 * All the cels that have backgrounds are either not original, not from the cartoon or not from the same scene/episode.
 * Unused cels from the deleted scenes.


 * Scene 53.

Trivia

 * In the game, a Baby Yoshi must be fed five enemies to mature; Yoshi is shown eating five Caterpillars, four Mechakoopas, and various decorations and furniture in Koopa's throne room yet remains small in size. He also slurped up and spat out Mario, two fire balls, three Koopa Football Players, and Koopa's key, which he could not do in the game.
 * Several lines from this episode, including the "That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!" line, have become an internet meme, even to the point of "Mama Luigi" being a standalone character from the normal Luigi.
 * The line "That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!" was inspired by an argument writer Phil Harnage had with the show's producer.

"I was having an argument with one of the Producers about something they left out of the storyboard that was in the script, and he accused me of being OCD. So I said, “That’s Mister OCD to you, bud.” He cracked up. Having gotten a laugh, first opportunity I had I used it in a script."


 * This episode foreshadows a few of Yoshi's traits in previous episodes. While escaping the dinosaurs in the lava pits, Luigi and Yoshi end up in the ocean and encounter various enemies, which is the cause of Yoshi's future fear of water. Also, Yoshi spitting out Mario and the Koopa Football Players shows that Yoshi can't digest humanoid enemies.