From Shrooms To Stars: The Secret Drug Culture Of 'Super Mario Bros.'

By Santiago Alonso, via El Planteo.

There are pop icons that transcend generations and are famous even outside the circle of their logical audience. You don't have to be a soccer freak to know that there is someone named Lionel Messi, you don't have to be a scholar of Japanese anime to know that Dragon Ball is the story of a powerful boy named Goku, and you don't have to have the latest video game console to know that there is an Italian plumber who arouses passions and is called Super Mario Bros.

Shigeru Miyamoto's creation was brought back to the big screen by Nintendo NTDOY, its parent company, and the animation company Illumination, responsible for My Favorite Villain and Minions, among other genre tanks.

This is the second version to hit theaters after the commercial and critical failure of the 1993 big screen adaptation Super Mario Bros with Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as Mario and Luigi respectively. The fact that the enormous Dennis Hopper participated as the villainous Koopa was not enough to overcome the movie disaster that the movie was.

The link between this character and narcotics is the order of the day. The plumber in a red suit (whose original name was going to be Jumpman) must cross fantastic worlds full of anthropomorphic creatures to rescue Princess Peach, who is kidnapped in the castle of the 8th level of the game, occupied by the dragon Koopa, renamed as Bowser in later installments.

As this is too risky an adventure for one man, Mario (or Luigi) can get hold of magic mushrooms, flowers, and stars to deal with the threat.

The Items In Question

According to the official networks of Nintendo, the company that developed the first game in 1983, the various stimuli to fight and that provide the characters with different abilities are as follows:

Mushroom: makes it possible to increase the body mass of whoever touches it and protects the player from losing a life, since if an enemy approaches, it cancels the increase in size and returns to being a standard character with the original physiognomy. That is, small in front of the opponents.

Green mushroom: Grants a new life. Unlike the previous one, which is red and brown, this one is white and green. In level 1 of the first game it is in a block of bricks hidden in the first platform.

Fire flower: In addition to modifying the player's clothing, changing the color from red to white, it gives the player powers to be able to throw fireballs and kill opponents without approaching. They can melt ice and illuminate dark spaces, depending on the title being played.

Star: Also called Star-Men or Super-Star, it is an object that provides invincibility for a limited time, when accessing it, the music speeds up and everything Mario or Luigi touches dies instantly without injuring the player. However, immunity is not much if you fall off the cliff.

Super Mario 3: A More Dangerous World

Released in 1988 and considered by specialized media as the best game for Family Game, Super Mario 3 is one of the most creative when it comes to thinking about power-ups. At the same time, it is a title that presents a greater complexity.

Unlike the two previous installments, this adventure takes place in different well-defined worlds. From a deserted hill, through a universe with giant beings, to the sky and the Dark World, led by Koopa.

In this much more complex context for those who have lived the previous adventures, new stimuli, and substances appear to save the princess:

Frog Suit: Provides the ability to swim comfortably in aquatic levels, jump higher and resist currents. This item last appeared in Super Mario Maker 2 for Nintendo Switch.

Super Blade: This was an innovative concept for the time, finally Mario and Luigi could fly. It is the most common power-up in Super Mario 3 and usually appears after the player makes contact with a mushroom. It transforms the character into a raccoon and allows them to slow down the descent so as not to fall on top of some danger.

Magic Flute: This perk is valuable to be able to jump between worlds and advance levels with speed.

Other Adaptations: The Super Mario Brothers Show

Those in their thirties will remember the times when América TV's noontime programming included El Show de Super Mario, which was nothing more than the Spanish dubbed version of The Super Mario Brothers Super Show.

The cycle had two parts. On the one hand, a recreation of the two plumbers with actors in live-action mode and, on the other hand, an animated segment. For the first part, Lou Albano and Danny Wells got into the skin of Mario and Luigi telling everyday adventures as if it were a sitcom, leaving the magical fantasy for the second, already in charge of their animated counterparts.

The Super Mario Brothers Super Show was released in 1989 and was produced by Saban Entertainment (yes, the same studio that produced Power Rangers!), Viacom Entertainment and DIC, in association with Nintendo. It is plot-wise set after the events of the first game and before

Super Mario 2 Or Super Mario: The Lost Levels.

In Argentina, it was broadcasted on Telefe, Azul Televisión and América TV, as well as on several local channels, depending on each Latin American country.

Thanks to the efforts of an unknown guardian angel of retro television, the episodes are uploaded in their entirety on a YouTube channel.

Fidelity And Consistency, Magic And Adventure: Super Mario 3 - The Series.

"This is a legend no one will forget. Everyone thought King Koopa was gone from the Mushroom Kingdom, but then he attacked with his Calamity Ship. King Koopa returned more dangerous than ever with his Koopa Kids. Forced to use their powers, the Mario Superbrothers rescue Princess Zeta and defeat the evil Koopa Family", with these words, the narrator details the idea-force of this sequel.

Super Mario 3 was released in 1990 and consisted of 26 chapters of 13 minutes each, counting only one season. It portrays the events that took place in the game of the same name using the same power ups, villains and sounds taken from its 8-bit version. Like the previous one, it was broadcasted in Argentina on Telefe, América, Canal 9, Big Channel and Ciudad Magazine.

The Disaster Movie: Super Mario Bros (1993)

Only ten years after the first game, Buena Vista Entertainment, in alliance with Hollywood Pictures, Lightmotive Films and Nintendo, releases one of the most resounding commercial failures of the 90's: Super Mario Bros - The Movie.

It took not one but two people to gestate this endless series of misfires: Anabel Jankel and Rocky Morton were the pair of directors in charge of the feature film.

Mario and Luigi are two plumbers who meet a paleontologist named Daisy, who is kidnapped by a businessman named Bowser Koopa, portrayed by Dennis Hopper with blond hair and a black suit. In this story, a meteorite fell 65 million years ago on Earth, forcing mankind and genetically mutated dinosaurs to coexist. The action takes place in Dinohattan, a place ruled by the antagonist.

The plumbers are about to be fired from the construction company they work for called Scapelli Construction, run by a local capo mafia.

The film's only positive point was the choice of Bob Hoskins, who seemed to have been born to play Mario. Both specialized critics were directly lapidary: nothing made sense and the aesthetics were not reminiscent at all of the video game. It had a 90s cyberpunk tone that mixed scenarios of Mad Max, Fist of the North Star and some video clips more similar to those of Madonna Sado than to the colorful fantasy world that Shigeru Miyamoto knew how to devise.

It is in this work that Mario's apparent last name is known and it is... Mario. Mario Mario and Luigi Mario are the full names of the most famous plumbers in the world. Or at least in this version, as verified by one of the scenes. Nintendo officially declared that the characters do not have last names.

Super Mario Bros: The Movie had a budget of $48 million and grossed $20 million, closing any possibility of a sequel despite the cliffhanger of its final scene. One was enough. "The worst job I've ever done? Super Mario Bros. It was a nightmare," Hoskins declared. Miyamoto-san, who in his eagerness to be polite, revealed that he liked the film despite the difference in tone.

Super Mario Bros: The Movie (2023)

This year will be a year of full vindication for Mario and Luigi in the cinema. The trailers for the recent production immerse us in the world we already know from the hundreds of video games that have come out since 1983. This time, Miyamoto-san will be the film's producer, so there can't possibly be any random artistic twists to upset fans.

The plot is the same as always: Mario and Luigi rescue the princess and tangle with Goombas and other creatures in the process until they reach Koopa. It's not so much the what as the how in this story recreated in the third dimension.

Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, Passengers, Jurassic World) will voice Mario, with Charlie Day (I Wanna Kill My Boss, Titans of the Pacific) voicing Luigi. Anya Taylor-Joy (Lady Gambit, The New Mutants) will give her talent to Princess Peach, Jack Black (School of Rock, Tenacious D) will be Bowser and Seth Rogen (Superbad, Pineapple Express) will play Donkey Kong. Special mention deserves Charles Martinet, the historic voice of video games, who will play an undisclosed role.

Vivid colors, music and effects along with the essence of the work are present in the trailers. The movie doesn't look like it will disappoint. Wouldn't it be great if before the end credits there was some reference to Super Mash Bros, Nintendo's Avengers?

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