Review: 'Super Mario Bros. Super Show Vol. 2' isn't so super

Posted Thursday, November 16, 2006 at 9:33 PM Central

by Tim Briscoe

We're just days away from the launch of Nintendo's new game console, Wii. As we all count down the hours to Sunday morning, it's a perfect time to reflect on Nintendo's number one guy, Mario.

What better way to pay homage to the little plumber than with the new The Super Mario Bros. Super Show Volume 2 DVD. This four-disc set includes 28 episodes from the late '80s and early '90s children's TV series. (Volume 1 was released in March of this year.)

The show featured animated shorts stitched together by live-action sequences starring Captain Lou Albano as Mario and Danny Wells as Luigi. Man, these guys really look the part of the video game duo.

This set does provides a nostalgic trip. The live-action intros are really cute and bring back a lot of memories -- especially of the rapping theme song. The animated portion doesn't really stand up to the test of time. They now seem like barely amusing clips stuffed characters from Mario's world and punctuated with sound effects from the video games. Furthermore, they look awful. The transfer is pretty bad with lots of visible dust and scratches. The live-action stuff is much cleaner and easily the better part of the show.

The bonus features contained on each disc aren't all that compelling. "Meeting Mario: A Fan's Tale," a short feature of still photographs and voice-over, documents a man's present day trek to meet Captain Lou Albano at a signing event. Yawn.

I guess I feel a little cheated by the DVD's producer, the Shout! Factory. They usually create a much more appealing package. The complete series DVDs for Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared are among their past successes.

I suggest only the most diehard of fans grab this one, and make it a rental at that. It just doesn't deserve the $29.98 suggested retail price.

If you want to reminisce about the good old '80s, you're better off downloading the classic Super Mario Bros. NES game for your new Wii console.