In 1989 video game magnate Nintendo and syndicated animation consortium DIC brought the Super Mario Brothers world to television with The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. Every Monday-Thursday a brief 15-minute cartoon featuring Mario and friends would air, but on Fridays an animated adventure based on The Legend of Zelda took center stage. The cartoon segments were sandwiched with horribly embarrassing live action segments depicting Mario (Captain Lou Albano) and Luigi (Danny Wells) in their Brooklyn plumbing shop.
The Mario animated segments took elements from both Super Mario Brothers and Super Mario Brothers 2 and crafted new adventures for the plumbing duo. Bowser was always behind some chaos (Wart from SMB2 never appeared). The Zelda segments featured Link, crazily in love with the aloof Princess Zelda, as they protected the Triforce from Ganon and his minions.
After running for two years the shows were recycled into reruns with the live action segments being replaced by "Club Mario" segments in which a "Dr. Know-It-All" would spoof other kiddie shows of the day. Mario and Luigi would occasionally appear in these segments. The animated portions of the show remained the same as their earlier incarnation. The series was bought by the now-defunct Family Channel in the 1990s and old episodes were run daily until the network was purchased by FOX. To my knowledge the show no longer airs anywhere. As for the animated adventures of Mario, they continued in the NBC Saturday morning cartoon The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. Selected episodes of the series are currently available on DVD.
Mario Episode List
- The Bird! The Bird!
- King Mario of Cramalot
- Butch Mario & the Luigi Kid
- Mario's Magic Carpet
- Rolling Down the River
- The Great Gladiator Gig
- Mario and the Beanstalk
- Love 'Em and Leave 'Em
- The Great BMX Race
- Stars in Their Eyes
- Jungle Feaver
- Brooklyn Bound
- The Fire of Hercufleas
- Count Koopa
- Pirates of Koopa
- Two Plumbers and a Baby
- Do You, Princess Toadstool, Take This Koopa...
- The Pied Koopa
- Koopenstein
- Mario and Joilet
- Too Hot to Handle
- Hooded Mario and his Robin Men
- 20,000 Koopas Under the Sea
- Might McMario and the Pot of Golf
- Mario Meets Koop-Zilla
- Koopa Klaus
- Mario and the Red Baron Koopa
- The Unzappables
- Bad Rap
- Underworld Connections
- The Mark of Zero
- The Ten Koopmandments
- The Koopas Are Coming! The Koopas Are Coming!
- The Trojan Koopa
- Stinging a Stinger
- Quest for Pizza
- The Great Gold Coin Rush
- Elvin Lives
- Plumbers Academy
- Karate Koopa
- Mario of the Apes
- Princess, I Shrunk the Mario Brothers
- Little Red Riding Princess
- The Provolone Ranger
- Escape from Koopatraz
- Mario of the Deep
- Flatbush Koopa
- Raiders of the Lost Mushroom
- Crocodile Mario
- Star Koopa
- Robo Koopa
Zelda Episode List
- The Ringer
- Cold Spells
- The White Night
- Kiss 'N Tell
- Sing for the Unicorn
- That Sinking Feeling
- Doppelganger
- Underworld Connections
- Stinging a Stinger
- A Hitch in the Woods
- Fairies in the Spring
- The Missing Link
- The Moblins Are Revolting
References:
Memories of watching the show
http://www.classicgaming.com/tmk/
http://loz.zeldalegends.net/other/cartoons/