Kids Klassics

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Kids Klassics
Logo of Kids Klassics Home Video
Founded 1985[1]
Defunct 1993[?]
First Super Mario home video The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!: The Bird! The Bird! (1989)
Final Super Mario home video Super Mario Bros. Super Show!: 90 Minutes Of Super Fun & Games! (1993)

Kids Klassics, also known as Kids Klassics Home Video, was the children's division of budget home video distributor GoodTimes Home Video, launched at Summer CES 1985.[1] The division is most well-known for releasing public domain children's products, but it has also released budget-priced products based on licensed content, one of which was a range of VHS tapes of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! from 1989 until 1991. These titles were released in association with DIC Video.

Kids Klassics and GoodTimes merged their distribution arms to form Goodtimes/Kids Klassics Distribution Corp. in 1987,[2] while the label was phased out in 1993. Despite this, they continued to release children's content on the mainstream GoodTimes Home Video label, including an additional Super Show! tape in 1993.

Format[edit]

Super Show! tapes by Kids Klassics were released in three different formats over three years.

  • The 1989 run of tapes consisted of a single animated segment with two live-action segments in between. There is no "The Super Mario Bros." intro preceding the animated segment, however. This run of tapes was sponsored by Nestlé Quik chocolate drink, and so, each Super Show! release featured an advertisement for the product before the Super Show! intro sequence (although later reissues would remove it). Two of these tapes—The Bird! The Bird! and Pirates of the Koopa—were sold exclusively through mail-order via purchases of Nestlé Quik.
  • The 1990 run of tapes consists of a single live-action segment at the beginning, followed by three animated segments. These releases once again do not contain the "The Super Mario Bros." opening, nor do they include any credits. After the last animated segment ends, it goes straight to Kids Klassics' logo sequence.
  • The 1991 run of tapes contains four animated segments. These continue to utilize the standard Super Show! intro despite not containing live-action segments. The credits are also inserted back at the end.

As with most GoodTimes/Kids Klassics releases, the Super Show! tapes were recorded in "LP" mode. Due to this, it is not uncommon for them to degrade or wear out faster than higher-quality tapes. In some cases, the existing content would be recorded over other tapes (mainly unsold stock of other releases), an example of which is a copy of "Butch Mario and the Luigi Kid" containing the last minute of the public domain animated film Gulliver's Travels at the end of the tape after the actual program finishes.

Releases[edit]

1989[edit]

1990[edit]

1991[edit]

1993 (GoodTimes)[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b June 8, 1985. Heavy accent on video, CD, hardware at Summer CES. Billboard. Page 96. Retrieved December 27, 2021. (Archived December 27, 2021 via Wayback Machine.)
  2. ^ July 22, 1987. Goodtimes In A Merger With Kids Klassics; Will Keep Low Price Policy. Variety. Page 47. Retrieved December 27, 2025.