In 1988, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. 3 for
the Famicom
in Japan, while the American release for the Nintendo
Entertainment System was delayed until early 1990 due to a shortage
of ROM chips. For American audiences, it was a return to the classic
gameplay established in the original as the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 was
a reskinned version of the game Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic, since Nintendo felt the true sequel was too
difficult for them (it would eventually see a release in America as The Lost Levels).
Once again, two-players were able to play by alternating turns each level as
Mario or Luigi. It was also the first game in the series to feature an
overworld map where players could select a stage to play, rather than just
proceed into each successive level upon the previous one’s completion.
Mario 3 sees Mario and Luigi
back in their pallet-swapped glory attempting to save the Mushroom Kingdom from the
forces of Bowser and his
minions. However, this time around, Bowser is joined by some new allies: his
children, the Koopalings. The
Koopalings resemble shorter versions of Bowser, each with their own
personality, fashion sense and hair style to distinguish them.
 |
| Iggy, Lemmy, Ludwig, Morton, Wendy, Larry and Roy. |
Originally unnamed, Nintendo
of America gave them names based on musicians and celebrities: Larry, with
a Mohawk, was named after Larry Mullen, Jr.;
Morton, who had a white head with a star over one eye, was named after Morton Downey, Jr.; Wendy O.,
with feminine accessories including a polka-dotted bow, high heels, bracelets
and lipstick, was named after Wendy O.
Williams; Roy, with sunglasses and no visible hair, was named after Roy Orbison;
Lemmy, with a rainbow Mohawk, crazy eyes, and balancing on a ball, was named
after Lemmy Kilmister; Ludwig Von, with a
single fang and Beethoven-style hair, was named after Ludwig van
Beethoven; and Iggy, with large glasses and a Mohawk, was named after Iggy Pop. Each Koopaling served as the boss of
one of seven worlds, with Bowser as the eighth and final. Their primary weapons
were magic wands that fired out different harmful spells, but could also attack
with their shells after they were jumped on.
 |
| New power-ups! |
While all of the familiar power-ups returned—including the size-increasing Super Mushroom, fire throwing Fire Flower and invincibility-granting Starmen—a new assortment was provided for the Mario brothers. The Super Leaf gave them raccoon ears and a tail that allowed them to attack with it, fly up a great distance with a running charge, or slow their descent. The Tanooki Suit gave them the same abilities as the Super Leaf, but also allowed them to briefly turn themselves into invulnerable (and immobile) statues. The Frog Suit gave them greater speed and maneuverability in the water, as well as a higher jump. The Hammer Suit turned them into versions of The Hammer Brothers, allowing them to fling hammers at enemies. Finally, the P-Wing granted them indefinite flight for an entire level until an enemy made contact or another power-up was grabbed. A less-common power-up was the Goomba Shoe; a large green shoe with a wind-up key that could be taken from the Goomba riding in it and worn to prevent damage from spikes and spiked enemies. Power-ups could also be won in mini-games and saved for later use in one of three slots accessible on the map, allowing a player to begin a level with their chosen power-up active.
 |
| King Koopa surveys things from his Doom Ship. |
A hit in Japan, the game
was adapted into three direct-to-video
OVAs by Studio Juno. Anticipating it would have the same reception in
America, production began on a new Mario Bros. cartoon developed by Bruce and Reed Shelly
called The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. Once again produced by DiC Entertainment,
the series served as a sequel to their previous one that aired in
syndication as part of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! That
meant that Mario and Luigi retained their respective original red and green
coveralls despite the games having turned them blue with only their hats and
shirts keeping the color scheme; however, when using fire powers they assumed
the orange and red color scheme of the game rather than the white hats and
coveralls of the previous version. Bowser was also once again replaced by King
Koopa.
 |
| From plumbers to janitors as the brothers try to clean up Brooklyn. |
Opting for an entirely Canadian voice cast, Harvey Atkin was retained as
Koopa’s voice, as was John Stocker as Toad, the plumbers’ friend, while Walker
Boone replaced Captain Lou
Albano as the voice of Mario, Tony Rosato replaced Danny Wells as Luigi, and Tracey
Moore replaced Jeannie Elias as
Princess Toadstool, ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. Sei Young
Animation Co., Ltd. was again retained to handle the animation, however
this time around they were joined by Italian studio Reteitalia
S.P.A., resulting in slightly different character models. Because
production on the series began before the game was released in America, the
Koopalings were given different names based on their personalities. Larry
became Cheatsy (James Rankin); Morton became Big Mouth (Dan Hennessey); Wendy
became Kootie Pie (Tabitha St. Germain); Lemmy and Iggy became Hip and Hop,
respectively (both Tara Strong); Roy became Bully (Gordon Masten); and Ludwig
became Kooky Von (Michael Stark).
 |
| Promo image for Super Mario Bros. 3. |
As with the previous series, Super Mario Bros. 3 made liberal use of music, elements, locations and sound effects from the game. Each episode was comprised of two segments whose title screens were modeled after the game’s with a curtain that rose up from a stage. The background of the title would be an image of the overworld map with the game’s music by Koji Kondo. Scene transitions would mimic entering a level in the game with the same sound effect. Koopa’s primary transportation was his Doom Ship, which was based on the airships where you would encounter each Koopaling in the game. Further, his throne room had a collection of magic wands whose functions were dictated by the needs of a particular episode. Despite the presence of Question Mark Blocks in the game, the cartoon almost exclusively used the newly-introduced Note Blocks as repositories for the Mario Bros.’ power-ups. An all-new element exclusive to this show was the characters’ ability to travel freely back and forth from the Mario Bros.’ home on Earth via warp pipes; known as the “Real World” by the characters. This often led to plots dealing with the Koopas attempting to conquer Earth or Earthlings finding their way into the Mushroom Kingdom on accident or via kidnapping.
 |
| Kootie Pie with Milli Vanilli. |
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros.
3 debuted on NBC on September 8, 1990. It
originally aired in an hour-long block alongside the second season of Captain N: The Game Master as Captain
N & The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. It remained that way until
Weekend
Today split the shows apart
on the schedule. It was written by Doug Booth, Martha Moran, Matt Uitz, Rowby Goren, Phil Harnage, Perry Martin, Sean Roche, David Ehrman, Steven J. Fisher, Steve Hayes, Heidi Holicker, Rick Holicker, Michael Maurer and Ted Pedersen, with Lori Crawford serving as
script supervisor. The series’ music was composed by Michael Tavera, but for its initial
run it featured some licensed songs in several episodes. The episode “Kootie
Pie Rocks” not only used Milli Vanilli
songs, but the actual duo made an appearance; having been kidnapped from the
Real World for Kootie’s pleasure (the episode was later pulled from syndication
following their lip-synching
scandal). For rebroadcasts and most home releases, the licensed music was
replaced by the song “Mega
Move” from Captain N. Following
its sole season, Mario 3 was included in the syndication package Capin N & The Video Game
Masters.
 |
| The animated Koopalings. |
In 2003, the complete series was released by MRA Entertainment, Europe for
Australia; one volume of which was released in Germany. Disky Entertainment released three
volumes of 6 episodes each in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Sterling Entertainment Group released a 6
episode VHS collection called King Koopa Katastrophe for the United States. In 2004, General Mills teamed up with DiC and
offered DVDs on various boxes of cereal that contained episodes from DiC’s
various programs. One disc featured an episode of Mario 3 and two episodes of Heathcliff.
 |
| The DVD box (below) modeled after the game box. |
In 2007, Shout! Factory and Vivendi Entertainment released the complete
series on its own and as a double
pack with The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog volume
1 as a promotional tie-in for the release of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. NCircle
Entertainment re-released King Koopa Katastrophe as a DVD under the Super Show! title and is the only DVD to feature the original
licensed music on three of the six episodes. In 2009, NCircle released two more
collections titled The Trouble With Koopas and What A Wonderful Warp, and a third in 2010 called Koopas Rock! In 2013, they re-released the complete series as a special
collector’s edition, although the cover art for it features Cape Mario from the sequel
game and series Super Mario World.
A decade later in 2023, NCircle re-released the complete series again—this time featuring Yoshi from World on the packaging—but
without any of the special features from their last one. WildBrain,
the current rights holders of the DiC library, have uploaded the entire series
to YouTube on their
official channel. Additionally, the series has been made available to stream on
Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video.
Originally posted in 2015. Updated in 2024.
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