The “Heads Up” Flash game that was featured on Nintendo of America’s official site for Super Mario Strikers, consisting of Mario very angrily bouncing a ball on his head. (Source)
Luigi proves time and time again that he has more courage than any Nintendo hero. Yeah he’s scared, but not just anyone can do what he does. Not just anyone can do things like infiltrate Dracula’s Castle – let alone reach throne room.
People think Nintendo keeps being mean to or abusing Luigi, but I see it as showing that Luigi is tough, confident, and courageous despite his timidness. Seeing him face his fears and setbacks is really inspiring.
Freaking superb you funky little ghost-hunter!
OK, so… I feel that not enough people are aware of or appreciate the lighthearted hilarity that is The Super Mario Bros Super Show.
“But, Rose!” I hear you say, “It’s just one of those cheesy, meme-filled ‘80s cartoons based on video games!!”
Well… yes and no. Yes, it’s clearly ‘80s and a bit cheesy, but up until this point, all we had of the Mario Bros were 8-bit sprites. People complain that Mario is written as a flat character today (which isn’t really true, but that’s a post for another time)–but back then, for him and Luigi? Nothing, until this show came around. And the show ended up giving them aspects of their personalities that ended up staying through the current day portrayals–Mario’s naive and leap-before-looking nature and Luigi’s natural-coward-but-will-still-do-the-thing-even-if-scared-of-the-thing nature, for starters.
Now, I absolutely love how Charles Martinet portrays the bros today–no complaints whatsoever. But my heart still holds a special place for Lou Albano and Danny Wells, who played the bros in this show–they were the first portrayals of the bros I saw, and I love their versions of the bros as much as I love Charles’s.
As for the cartoon itself, it’s your basic Mushroom Kingdom romp with the Bros, Peach, and Toad dealing with Bowser causing the crisis du jour. While Peach does get kidnapped frequently, she does, however, also hold her own on several occasions, and plenty of eps show her actively governing and being a Royal Who Actually Does Something.
BUT, in addition to these animated plotlines, there is also a short, live-action sketch where Lou and Danny portray the brothers IRL, which can essentially be described as “What if Super Mario Bros was a sitcom?”
It’s actually fun and amusing. And the slice-of-life setting allows for the bros to be seen in everyday situations that don’t involve dealing with their usual Mushroom Kingdom duties–family hiccups and work misadventures, though sometimes other shenanigans do happen.
But it’s also endearing to see the bros acting like typical siblings in a casual setting. Like, there’s an ep where Mario is on the phone and is saying too much, so Luigi does the Typical Sibling Response of throwing pillows at him while he’s talking–
Or when Luigi notices Mario having a bad dream, he dutifully wakes his brother up… with a feather duster to the face–
Basically, when there are no monsters or enemies around, Luigi can be a sassy little smart-alec (Mario has his moments of sass in this show, too)–but since we rarely see them in casual settings in the games, aside from spinoffs, we don’t get to see that side.
There are also a lot of unintentional call-forwards and parallels to future games in both the animated segments and the live-action ones (this is just one example).
And, in case you’re wondering, the bros are every bit as close in this show as they are in the games. For all the sass Luigi gives Mario, all it takes is Mario coming home late one time for Luigi to break out a periscope and try to find him–
And you know those adorable bro hugs from the Mario & Luigi RPG series that are so good and pure?
Yeah, those bro hugs started with this show–
So, TL, DR; if you’re looking for some amusing and lighthearted Mario Bros content (especially in the light of what the recent Smash trailers have been doing to those poor boys–#JusticeForTheBros), I recommend giving the SMB Super Show a look!
As many of you are aware, I have been flipping out like crazy over today’s Smash Direct, as well as the prominence of Luigi in the beginning. Additionally, like many others before me, I have also spotted a rather controversial point of contention during Luigi’s appearance, which is none other than his trusty Poltergust, a vacuum specifically designed to trap and contain ghosts indefinitely.
This nifty invention is typically only found in the “Luigi’s Mansion” games, a spin-off of the Super Mario series as a whole. It has also taken several different forms over the years since it first debuted in 2001:
(Pictured: Screenshots from “Luigi’s Mansion” on the GameCube, “Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon”, the 3DS sequel, and the 3DS remake of the original “Luigi’s Mansion”, which is set to release later this year.)
From a general standpoint, the Poltergust is typically displayed as a portable vacuum with a giant red storage unit. Although it has wheels on the side, it has brown straps that enable the wielder to carry it like a backpack. Aside from the vacuum nozzle, it also carries a flashlight function. The earliest Poltergust model, the 3000, could also expel fire, water, or ice, depending on what kind of elemental ghost the wielder has captured. However, the newer model, the 5000, is much stronger with more powerful suction abilities. While it loses its elemental power, it instead utilizes a powerful strobe light that stuns ghosts and a “Dark-Light” that reveals trapped objects or hidden objects previously rendered invisible.
With this in mind, fans have noted a few visual changes in the Poltergust’s appearance in the Smash Direct video:
(Screenshots taken from the Smash Direct trailer for “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” set to release in early December this year.)
Right off the bat, we can see that this Poltergust model looks considerably less bulky than past incarnations, and a lot less red. Instead, we notice that all of its parts are built around a transparent green storage unit that possibly makes the whole vacuum pack much lighter. Secondly, we can also observe how much longer the tube connecting the vacuum nozzle to the storage compartment is, which can easily help Luigi reach ghosts that are farther out of reach. It’s now so long that it drags on the floor. Even its positioning is different; instead of the center, the tube now comes out of the right side. Another cool detail I found is that the wheels glow in the dark, a feature that past Poltergust models did not have. (Whether this is a functional or cosmetic change is currently unknown). But that’s not all…
(More screenshots from the Smash Direct video)
The vacuum nozzle itself is longer, too! Apparently the front compartment of the nozzle is so long, it’s deep enough to fit a plunger inside, but only up until the top of the rubber head. Not only that, but it can be seen that this Poltergust has an ejection function similar to the 3000. However, the latter model seems to pack stronger ejection power, since it can shoot a plunger as a projectile with what looks like considerable speed, enough to latch onto the victim’s face for at least a few seconds.
So at least we know that this Poltergust has taken inspiration from at least the 3000 model. Even so, it’s not the only model that lent itself as an inspirational source.
(Yet another Smash Direct screenshot)
That’s right! The 5000’s strobe light feature is back, too, packing a much brighter punch and what looks to be a much larger radius all around.
In conclusion, with improvements on all of the past models’ features, combined with a more practical design, this is probably the most powerful, high-tech Poltergust we’ve seen yet.
But one question still remains: why would Sakurai approve this design if the first game it’s appeared in WASN’T a Luigi’s Mansion game? After all, this is the only portable Poltergust model so far where that was the case.
Some theories are floating around saying that it might be a teaser for a brand new “Luigi’s Mansion” game. While the idea itself is a bit of a stretch, I’m electing to stay cautiously optimistic on the matter. The visual differences that this particular vacuum possesses are noticeable enough to suggest that perhaps this redesign is not an accident, and the fact that we haven’t seen this new model actually catch any ghosts yet is telling.
Perhaps we WILL see some Boos in that cool new transparent green storage container. Eventually.
So yeah, after that last Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Direct (which you should definitely go watch as soon as you can), the only negative thing I can sa about it is: JUSTICE TO THE BROTHERS!!
Only Seven Acres of Rose of Pollux's Musings & Daydreams 