Hooked on the Brothers

I hope everyone out there has a SUPER Mario Day!

I couldn't decide which iteration of the plumber boys I liked best, so I'm throwing several at you guys.

The SUPER Adventures of Mario & Luigi

     I really liked The Super Mario Bros. Movie and it reminded me that I once tried putting my own spin on the Mario world several years ago. 

     This was one of those things that I was really excited about at first, but after showing my progress to a few people, the reaction was always something like, "Meh. It looks different" and the whole thing lost steam.

Still, I liked the idea and figured it'd be good to go ahead and post everything I finished.

Blathering Blatherskite!

     I was feeling a little nostalgic for the DuckTales NES game, so I thought I'd revamp an old Gizmoduck drawing with his original moon look. I loved every level of that game, but I think I'm pretty well in the majority when I say that the Moon level was my favorite.

Captain N: The Game Master (1989 - 1991)

     Welcome back to the Saturday Morning Kablama Slam! - a segment where I showcase some of my favorite Saturday morning cartoon shows! This next one gets a real 1-UP on some of the other animated series. See what I did there?

The Premise: Teenager Kevin Keene and his loyal dog Duke are transported through a mysterious portal into another dimension known as Videoland. (But… let’s be clear! The dude’s INSIDE the Nintendo!) There, Kevin dons the moniker of Captain N: The Game Master and joins forces with Mega Man, Simon Belmont, and Kid Icarus to save Videoland from the evil Mother Brain!

     This is one that I absolutely loved as a kid but, in my social circles at least, is pretty obscure these days. I went as the titular character a few years ago for Halloween and spent the whole day explaining who I was supposed to be. I finally ended up just saying that I was a high school student… from Nathan High School?... who carries a laser gun? Whatever. Can I just have some candy, please?

 

     The show got its start when Nintendo Power Magazine (another cherished relic from my childhood) published a “Captain Nintendo” comic strip. The comic’s creator Randy Studdard pitched the character as the star of his own Saturday morning cartoon, as well as the company spokes-character… I guess if things somehow fell through with… you know… SUPER MARIO??? Nintendo ultimately decided to adapt the property into a cartoon series but supposedly did so without crediting or compensating Studdard. Ah, the sexy but cruel world of video game cartoon shows, amiright?!

 

     My first memory of Captain N is having to get up extra early to watch it. I loved it THAT much! I also remember there not being any merchandise for the show. There were no action figures, no playsets, certainly not any Halloween costumes! I find this odd for a Saturday morning cartoon that ran for three seasons. I guess the product the show was pushing was the Nintendo itself, along with its many games. This is funny considering that many of the show’s characters aren’t exactly on brand. Castlevania vampire-hunter Simon Belmont is a blonde narcissist, Kid Icarus has some weird speech thing where he adds a ‘-us’ suffix to random words, King Hippo is green, Donkey Kong wears a shower cap, and Mega Man is a robot child-man with a tinted visor! I mean… What is that about?!

 

     I guess if the showrunners used more direct adaptations, they would have had to give some credit where it was due, and that’s not a practice they were apparently fond of. 

...

Snap.

 

Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: Kevin Keene earned his Varsity letter jacket for swimming. Probably not at Nathan High School though. 

Mario & Luigi Trading Cards: Pack 1

It's been 35 years since the North American release of the classic Nintendo game, Duck Hunt!

     And even more momentous than that, it's the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. as well! I thought it'd be fun to imagine an animated series based on the beloved video game... well... besides that one... or that one... I thought it'd be fun to imagine ANOTHER animated series based on the beloved video game, and one that comes with a coordinating line of trading cards.

Here's the first wave, front and back. Stick around to collect them all!