Princess Toadstool for President

"Princess Toadstool for President" is the fifth episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3; it aired alongside another episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 entitled "Never Koop a Koopa".

Plot synopsis
Toad comes running out of his house to find Mario, Luigi, and Princess Toadstool, who are fishing at a pond, and warns them about how King Koopa has brought a plague of Paragoombas to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Koopa and Cheatsy wheel a cage full of Giant Land Paragoombas to the top of a hill. Koopa tells Cheatsy that he intends to have the Paragoombas eat up the local crops so that the Mushroom People will have no food and so that Princess Toadstool will be forced into giving him her kingdom in exchange for his food.

As soon as the Paragoombas are unleashed, Mario and Luigi arrive and try to tell Koopa to put the Paragoombas back in the cage, but he instead throws the cage at them. Mario and Luigi manage to jump on the cage and make quick work of 4 of the Paragoombas, while the last 2 shut themselves in the cage. Princess Toadstool then confronts Koopa, telling him that if he's so desperate to rule her kingdom, that he should do it properly. She informs him of an upcoming election, and that he should run in it. That way, the citizens will be able to elect their next leader, and the loser will agree to leave the kingdom. Mario doubts that Koopa would actually enter the running, but he surprises him by agreeing to Princess Toadstool's suggestion, and shakes her hand.

Having returned to his throne room at Castle Koopa, Koopa whines to Cheatsy about how nobody in the Mushroom Kingdom would ever vote for him, because Princess Toadstool is a "goody-goody." Cheatsy suggests being nice, but Koopa claims that he's never been nice in his life, stating that he is "allergic to nice." Kooky then enters and sprays his dad with a strange, blue chemical, which suddenly forces him to act nicely. Kooky explains that the substance is a Nice Guy Potion, and with it, Koopa stands a chance against Princess Toadstool.

Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Toadstool is giving a one-sided debate against Koopa, when Koopa and his kids arrive as a marching band. Koopa tosses Gold Coins out to everyone, telling them all to have a nice day. He then goes on to toss more freebies down to the Mushroom People from his Doomship: free toys for the children, free flea collars for the pets, and free false teeth for the elderly. Back at Toad's House, Mario and Toad worry that all of Koopa's offerings will persuade people into voting for him, so Princess Toadstool plans to give a speech about what she's done in the past at the Mushroom Kingdom Founder's Day Picnic. Cheatsy and Kooky, who are spying on them through a window, realize that they need to deal with Princess Toadstool's plan.

At the picnic, Princess Toadstool starts to give her speech, when Kooky sets off a firecracker, which hits a mountain of blocks, causing it to collapse. The blocks scare Princess Toadstool into falling off a cliff, but when Mario and Luigi go down to find her, they learn that she hid in a Warp Pipe.

Meanwhile, Koopa is sweet-talking to a baby, when he slowly stops acting nice. Kooky figures that the Nice Guy Potion is wearing off, so Koopa orders him and Cheatsy to return home and create some more before his final election speech. Mario and Luigi, who were spying on the Koopas, head after them.

Mario and Luigi soon arrive in Dark Land, where they are ambushed by Tanks and Rocky Wrenches. They escape into a Warp Pipe leading underground, but find themselves in a fire pit. In the pit, the brothers are chased around by Fire Chomps, Hot Foots and a Firesnake, but they manage to avoid them and get to the other side.

Mario and Luigi soon make it inside Castle Koopa, and arrive at the entrance to Kooky’s lab, where Kooky and Cheatsy are preparing more Nice Guy Potion. Luigi gets the Koopalings' attention by dropping a glass beaker on the floor, and they chase him out of the lab. While they’re gone, Mario walks into the lab and pours the Nice Guy Potion down the drain. Cheatsy and Kooky return to the lab without finding Luigi to see that the potion is gone. When Koopa finds out, he's furious, because the election is about to start.

After Princess Toadstool gives her final speech, Koopa is reluctant to give his, as he is still angry. Kooky and Cheatsy tell him to fake his way through his speech, so he attempts to do so. As he gives his speech, Princess Toadstool claims that he used a Nice Guy Potion to try to win the election. Koopa claims that he would never need such a potion to be nice, and ironically threatens to pound anyone who opposes him into mush.

Afterwards, Mario reveals the final vote count, announcing that Princess Toadstool won by a landslide, and Koopa is shocked to learn that out of 6,436,213 voters, he only received one vote: his very own. When Koopa ponders as to how that is possible, Cheatsy and Kooky explain that Princess Toadstool was so nice, that they had to vote for her. Koopa growls, and chases his kids as they run away.

Cast

 * Walker Boone &mdash; Mario
 * Tony Rosato &mdash; Luigi, Man #2
 * Tracey Moore &mdash; Princess Toadstool, Lady
 * John Stocker &mdash; Toad, Man #1
 * Harvey Atkin &mdash; King Bowser Koopa, Man #3
 * James Rankin &mdash; Cheasty Koopa
 * Michael Stark &mdash; Kooky von Koopa

Animation and continuity errors

 * Throughout the entire episode during each transition, no sound is played until the results scene.
 * As Princess Toadstool tells King Koopa that the election is coming up, there is a scenery background right in front of her where it shouldn't be.
 * If the Mushroom Kingdom is ruled by a true monarchy, then it would never have any primary elections; all leaders would be decided by birth.
 * When Cheatsy says, "I'm not rushing! I'm helping!", his entire face is green.
 * In Koopa's final speech, when he thanks the Mushroom People, nothing is in front of him, but after he is confronted with the Nice Guy Potion rumor, a mushroom is in front of him.
 * When Kooky holds the potion (when making another) his hands are similar to King Koopa's.
 * In the scene where Mario is fishing, a shot of Princess Toadstool is shown repeatedly.
 * When King Koopa and Cheatsy are pulling a cage, the lock flashes.
 * In one shot where King Koopa and Cheatsy are pulling a cage, part of the cage is already open.
 * In one shot that shows the Paragoombas, they are repeating.
 * In this episode, the lock on the Paragoomba cage is grey, but in one shot, it is yellow like the rest of the cage.
 * When Cheatsy is opening the cage of Paragoombas, one has no eyebrows.
 * The cage noticeably gets bigger and smaller in size throughout shots.
 * When Cheatsy says "Are you kidding?" at the beginning of this episode, his shell spikes are flashing.
 * The same thing happens when King Koopa talks, but instead of shell spikes, it is his tooth.
 * When King Koopa sits down in his throne at the beginning of the episode the screen is blurry.
 * When Princess Toadstool is making her speech at the start of the episode, her earrings are black.
 * There is a big error with the Koopaling marching parade, Cheatsy's head is flashing orange, same with Big Mouth, Kooky and Bully, Hop's glasses are flashing blue, and Hip's drum is flashing purple.
 * When King Koopa is tossing coins to the Mushroom People, his basket of coins, is automatically filling back up.
 * When Kooky and Cheatsy peak into Toad's window, Kooky's head is all tan.
 * When Kooky and Cheatsy are laughing because they ruined the Founder's Day fireworks, Kooky's shell is flashing.
 * In one scene during the Mushroom Kingdom Founder's Day Picnic, Toad isn't wearing a T-shirt.
 * After King Koopa says "I hate little mushroom brats." Cheatsy's head turns orange.
 * When King Koopa tells Kooky and Cheatsy to go back to Castle Koopa, his tummy flashes.
 * When Mario and Luigi come out from the blocks, Luigi's neck is long.
 * When the tanks are chasing Mario and Luigi, the background is shaking.
 * When Mario and Luigi are getting attacked by the Firesnake, the fire at the bottom of the screen immediately stops.
 * When Mario and Luigi trapped the Firesnake in the pipes, the pipes had no detail on them.
 * After King Koopa finds out that the potion is gone, his shell is flashing.
 * When Cheatsy says, "Sure, you're the biggest fake around!", he has no nostrils.

Profiles

 * WildBrain - Cartoon Super Heroes/Super Mario Bros. Super Show! - WildBrain: Princess Toadstool is fed up with Koopa's antics and challenges him to try and win the Kingdom from her fair and square in a democratic election. Koopa gets goaded into accepting the dare then panics, knowing very well that he could never battle the popular Princess with his nasty reputation.

Trivia

 * This is the first appearance of the Big Paragoomba (which is called "Giant Land Paragoomba" in the episode), which would much later make an official debut in the games in Super Mario Galaxy 2, almost 20 years later.
 * King Koopa is referred to as "Bowser Koopa" twice in this episode.
 * In the Swedish dub, when King Koopa gets smacked by the kid, he says "Din jäv...", but stops himself. In Swedish, "jäv" is the first part of the Swedish word jävla (with the "v" being where the person in question stops, if they do so), which is considered profanity and comparable to the English word "fuck" when the latter is used as such.
 * From this episode onward, Mario has brown hair from the later Mario games. Previously in the first four episodes of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and throughout The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, his hair color was black. Unlike Mario, Luigi's hair color remains black.
 * This is one of two episodes that weren't included in any The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 single DVDs (King Koopa Katastrophe, The Trouble With Koopas, Koopas Rock, and What a Wonderful Warp). The other is Mind Your Mummy Mommy, Mario.
 * The plot synopsis is similar to that of "Sonic is Running" from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, another show produced by DIC Entertainment. In both cases, the villains (Koopa and Dr. Robotnik respectively) decide to run for President and use unfair advantages to gain support: Koopa with a Nice Guy Potion, and Robotnik with Hypnovision. However, both Mario and Sonic catch up with the scheme and their actions eventually cause the villains to ruin their final speeches. In both cases in the end, the villains are beaten by landslides and received only one vote (their own), and it is then revealed that their own family voted for the other side instead of them.