I wish I could say the same about the rest of this short-lived cartoon. Adventures of SMB3 has a lot more to do with the games than the previous series, Super Mario Bros Super Show (SMBSS). The trouble is, it may have a little too much to do with the games, and not in the good sense. This show was made to accompany the release of SMB3 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, but it feels like a pale shadow, and often it appears as though the crew were struggling for ideas on what to do with it. It feels more like a tribute to the game than a proper series.
Just like in SMBSS, the best thing about this new cartoon series is King Koopa. Still incredibly voiced by Harvey Atkin and this time free from the restraints of alter-egos, the evil crocodilian Koopa king returns to the Mushroom Kingdom after his unspoken defeat and gets to be his own charismatic self, setting up a castle in Darkland. This would mean that he has more charm and charisma than he ever did in the alter-ego-laden SMBSS - if it weren't for his kids.
This time, he has along his 'Koopa Kids', seven children which he has mysteriously fathered. I can tell you now, I don't like the Koopa Kids at all. They seem to have been forced through personality-alterers since the NES game; Ludwig (aka Kooky) has, in a complete redesign, gone from a piano genius to a mad scientist and Morton (aka Bigmouth) is one of the most irritating and unfunny characters that I remember, and the other characters apparently agree. Roy and Wendy (aka Bully and Kootie-Pie) are the most faithful representations; Roy a big brute with a dash of cool, while Wendy makes the term 'spoiled brat' sound like a compliment. But the bad thing is how central they are to almost everything.
The thing is, while this show does attempt to create a layout of the Mushroom Kingdom, it really is an unstructured and random mess. Most of the plots are either very thin or too dependent on the elements of the game to work. A lot of the time the characters have to get particular items from '?' blocks straight out of the game. King Koopa saves most of it, but even he can't help the integrity of its series when it seems more intent on making fun of the real world. There is a universal law - never cross the imaginary world with the real one. This show does a lot of that. A lot. Come on, with 8 worlds surely you can do something with it! Fact is, the vast majority of the episodes cross over to the "real world", with Koopa incorporating some nefarious scheme or the other - or worse, caving in to pressure from his kids (mostly Kootie-Pie). The last episode, "Super Koopa", takes place in real-life Paris for the most part. Even the stories that take place in the Mushroom Kingdom feel more like parodies than anything else - with a few exceptions , of course, such as an episode where Koopa and Kooky fly the Doomship and wreak havoc on Sky Land. Too many things to name patronise the viewer's intelligence, such as when 'Kooky' Koopa falls prey to his own invention, a zombie-making helmet, and sets to attack his dad. And King Koopa flees before him. Koopa, fleeing from his own son? Very thin writing which completely negates Koopa's strength and confidence.
My favourite episode, and the best in my opinion, is "Princess Toadstool for President", where Koopa and the princess decide to run an election against each other for leadership of the Mushroom Kingdom. Yet even there, one absolutely unforgivable area in which the show fouls up is cast into clear light; King Koopa's personality. He just isn't as evil in this series like he was in SMBSS. The worst thing about it is how dependent he is on his kids; he hardly does a thing without somehow getting his kids to go along with it, or - worse - caving in to pressure from them, and this really hurts his character.
It shouldn't surprise you to hear that this series didn't last long. Super Mario 3 has one extra third disc, justifiable only by the short account on Koopa's personality. But they also have all the songs on there, and I can't for the life of me understand why they did that. It's the most incompetent score ever written, and with even worse singers; I wouldn't listen to that even in my most masochistic of moods. This does only scrape the gist of it and I am being completely serious.
Yet in spite of all that, I am unable to dislike this show, and I watch it from time to time. It's definitely because of Koopa. As I said before, there is a nice reflection on him on the third disc. If you're making a game based on Super Mario Bros 3, why not go for the red-haired, fire breathing Bowser? Well, King Koopa is at least a top-notch substitute. I can only thank goodness that King Koopa manages to keep it all from falling apart, like a pale light in a tar of pit. This goes both for the characters, story and animation. Let this be a lesson to all those who plan on making cartoons based on video games; either make it relevant in the good sense or at least make it 'good'. Bravo, King Koopa, for saving what is otherwise a very poor show. As a self-respecting cartoon lover, I can only scrape 2 stars for it, one solely for Koopa.
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