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(More customer reviews)I like to describe the cartoons Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World as a set of scales, completely mirrored, in which one scale is always rock bottom. Super Mario World does some things right that Super Mario 3 did wrong - Koopa properly evil, no real world crossovers. This time there's no crossing over to the real world, thank god, something that really made Super Mario 3 suck. But everything Super Mario 3 did right, Super Mario World does wrong. Nonsensical premise... And yet some of the worst things Super Mario 3 did remain; the annoying Koopalings, the audio-torture music etc. In some ways, Super Mario World manages to be even worse thanks to those stupid cave people, especially the insufferable Oogtar.
The main Achilles heel of this cartoon series is the stupidity of the premise. It's Dinosaur World, which works fine in the game, but for some reason somebody had the bright idea that dinosaurs equals cave people. Instead of Dinosaur World, it becomes the Stone Age. This makes the whole premise just putrid. Those cave people are horrible and completely drag everything down. Peach feels responsible for them, which probably means I should file my letter of complaint to her.
The very best thing about Super Mario World is, you guessed it, King Koopa. He's much better here than in the Super Mario 3 cartoon. Here, he gets to be his evil self again without being overdependent on his kids. In fact, there are many times, here, when they are submissive to him. He has a lot of nefarious schemes like getting everyone hooked on spruced-up snacks ("King Scoopa Koopa") and even pay-per-view television ("Rock TV"). He's definitely the shining star. When he appears, that is.
A mixed blessing comes in the form of Yoshi, a little kid trapped in a dinosaur's body. You would think he could easily be irritating, but he's actually loveable and you root for him.
The worst thing about the ensemble is that the main cast really are kept in the background. They hardly ever save the day - that virtue is mostly handed to Yoshi. When Koopa's rock tv has everyone zombified, it's Yoshi that stands up and saves the day. God forbid, sometimes it's the horrible, horrible cave boy Oogtar who's the hero. The princess spends more time parenting those two than doing anything in character with her role - apart from managing to be a damsel in distress for once. Not once did Koopa kidnap her in Super Mario Bros 3 (and here I thought that's what he enjoys best), so that's good. But Mario saving her? Nope, that would rob "Yoshi the Superstar" of his title, now wouldn't it?
Super Mario World is not totally horrible. King Koopa is the saving grace of the show, and properly so, unlike in Super Mario Bros 3. His evil schemes and overwhelming personality keep this ship from sinking. Harvey Atkin has to be commended for believing in the character enough to stick with it till the bitter end. Koopa's animators also deserve an applause; once again, he's the most engaging character visually as well as characteristically. Some of the episodes are worth a peek, some are not, all thanks to him. You could do worse than take a chance with this one, but probably only the smallest kiddies can watch this and not feel just a little judgemental. This set does feature the series' best episodes (nudging the rating up) so if you've gotta buy a Super Mario World DVD, make it this one.
RATING: 2.5/5
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