Gopher Bash

Gopher Bash is the ninth episode of the Super Mario World animated series.

Plot Synopsis
In a large field, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, Yoshi and a group of cave-people are surveying the scenery. While looking around, Mario goes on to say that, though the field is great, he doesn't think the cave-people would really want to grow crops, as they can simply grab berries off the nearby trees. As Yoshi begins eating some berries, Princess Toadstool goes on to say that she thinks Luigi's idea to teach the cave-people to grow their own is pretty good. After hearing Princess Toadstool say this, Luigi begins his food-growing lessons.

First, Luigi, with the help of Yoshi, tries to teach the cave-people how to plow the soil. Unfortunately Yoshi, upon seeing a berry, runs a bit to fast and Luigi is dragged along by the hungry dinosaur. Once Yoshi eats the berry and the field is plowed, its revealed that Bowser and Cheatsy Koopa have been spying on everyone.

Upon seeing that Luigi's efforts to teach the cave-people crop-growing is working, Bowser begins to worry; if the cave-people can grow their own food, they'll be harder to subjugate. Seeing his father worrying, Cheatsy comes up with an idea, steal all the food the cave-people grow. Without any food, the cave-people will starve and be forced to come to Bowser for food. Thinking this idea to be great, Bowser leaves Cheatsy in charge of things.

After the field is completely plowed, Luigi begins to plant seeds and tells the cave-people to do so too. Unfortunately, the cave-people don't understand to well and begin to plant any nearby objects, much to Luigi's dismay. After a while, the seeds are successfully planted, now all thats left is to water the plants.

Unfortunately, the cave-people take things out of hand and tip over a nearby well, which spills a wave of water over the field, washing Luigi and Yoshi away, much to Cheatsy's amusement. After the water washes away, Mario pulls his trapped brother out of the mud and asks how the farming is going. Luigi replies its going great and clomps away through the mud as Yoshi pulls himself from the dirt.

Surprisingly, the cave-people succeed in growing rows of crops, much to Luigi's delight. Later that night, Cheatsy and several Monty Mole sneak into the tunnels beneath the field and begin taking all the crops. While Cheatsy and the Monty Moles giggle at their deed, several other Monty Moles appear with a sack filled with Piranha Plants. The Monty Moles proceed to stick the Piranha Plants in the holes the crops used to be in.

Waking-up the next morning, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi find all the crops gone. Reaching into a hole to see if anything is left, Mario gets a dangerous surprise as a Piranha Plant almost bites him in the arm. Yoshi manages to slurp-up the Piranha Plant before it can do any damage though. Unfortunately, just as Yoshi eats this Piranha Plant, a dozen others take it's place.

Running for their lives from the Piranha Plants, who are being puppeteered by Cheatsy and the Monty Moles from underground, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi become trapped in a ring of Piranha Plants. Luckily, Yoshi manages to eat all the surrounding Piranha Plants. Still trying to beat Mario, Luigi and Yoshi, a Monty Mole grabs the roots of a nearby Piranha Plant and tries to maneuver it in for an attack, unfortunately for the Monty Mole, he is pulled up to the top of the tunnel when Yoshi tries to eat the Piranha Plant.

Trying to get their comrade down, Cheatsy and the other Monty Moles are pulled to the surface when Yoshi pulls on the Piranha Plant's stock hard enough to tear it up, with Cheatsy and the Monty Moles still hanging on to it. Flung right in front of Mario, Cheatsy taunts the two, saying they'll never see their crops again. Before either Mario or Luigi can grab him, Cheatsy leaps down a hole dug by his Monty Mole henchmen, with Mario, Luigi and Yoshi falling in afterwards.

Getting up, Luigi and Mario begin to wonder where Cheatsy has gone. Yoshi proceeds to point to a nearby Warp Tube, saying Cheatsy went that way. Preparing to jump into the Warp Tube, Luigi is stopped by Mario, who says that the cave-people don't need the food Cheatsy stole, they can just go back to picking berries. A saddened Luigi says that he told the cave-people they didn't need to pick berries anymore, since they had the crops. The cave-people listened to Luigi and didn't store any food for the winter, meaning they'll starve.

Cheering Luigi up, Mario and Yoshi say they'll help him get the food back. Going through the Warp Tube, Luigi, Mario and Yoshi are sent plummeting down a pit, luckily, Mario manages to grab a nearby Magic Balloon. Becoming inflated, Mario grabs Luigi and Yoshi and descends to the ground safely.

Seeing Cheatsy and his Monty Mole minions nearby, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi hear the Koopaling's plan to sell all the food he stole from the cave-people back to them at an outrageous price. As Cheatsy begins to sing "Cheatsy's Life", a self-praising song, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi begin to sneak-up on and grab Cheatsy's Monty Mole henchmen.

When Cheatsy finishes his song, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi reveal themselves. A surprised Cheatsy has no time to get out of the way as Luigi lets go of a rope, which drops Cheatsy's tied-up Monty Mole minions on top of him. Grabbing the sack filled with food, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi take it over to a nearby Warp Tube and stuffing it down, jump in themselves. Dragging himself out from under his bound minions, Cheatsy proceeds to say, "I hate those plumbers..."

Getting back to Dome City, Luigi reveals to all the cave-people that he got all their food back. Opening the sack of food, Luigi is horrified to find a bloated Yoshi roll out of the bag. Luigi, disappointed that all that work to get the food back was for nothing, soon tells Yoshi to get to work planting more food, much to Yoshi's dismay.

Trivia

 * In several scenes of this episode, the "L" on Luigi's hat turns white against a black background. Also, the number of spikes on Yoshi's back continually switches between three and four.


 * Oddly, one of the Piranha Plants Yoshi eats has spikes on its head, making it look like it has hair.


 * This is the only episode of any Mario cartoon that Monty Moles appear in, as Super Mario World marked their first appearance.


 * As he makes off with the stolen crops, Cheatsy utters the line "The only way you guys are gonna eat is by shopping at the Koopamart!". In certain issues of Nintendo Comics System, it is shown that the Koopamart is an actual store. However, the reference in this episode is probably coincidental.