Mama Luigi
Mama Luigi is the thirteenth and final episode of the Super Mario World animated series. This is the first episode that takes place all the way back to the beginning of the story.
Plot Synopsis
Inside the Dome Castle, Luigi is in the process of putting a somewhat resistant Yoshi to bed. Yoshi, not feeling tired, asks Luigi to tell him a story, more specifically, the story of how Luigi, Mario and Princess Toadstool met Yoshi.
Luigi goes on to tell the story; After banishing King Koopa from the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool decided to go on a vacation in Dinosaur World. While exploring Dinosaur World, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool visit Dome City, which is oddly deserted. Looking around, Princess Toadstool is suddenly grabbed by a pair of Koopa Football Players. Before Mario or Luigi could save the Princess, they are attacked by a gang of enemies, consisting of a Koopa Wizard, Magnum Bill and Fire Sumo.
As Mario evades the Koopa Wizard and Magnum Bill, Luigi is attacked by the Fire Sumo, who proceeds to stomp the ground with enough force to tear open a large fissure. Unable to leap out of the way, Luigi accidentally stumbles into this fissure and is sent plummeting into the Lava Pits, where he apparently fell "for hours".
Seeing nothing but lava below him, Luigi begins to panic; luckily, Luigi manages to land on a Magic Balloon, which slows his descent and allows him to land on a Skull Raft. Unfortunately, this Skull Raft falls down a nearby waterfall of lava, plunging Luigi onto a small portion of land with several ? Blocks on it. Looking for an item that could perhaps help him, Luigi hits a nearby ? Block. After spurting out coins, the block does something unexpected, it releases a red-spotted egg. Grabbing this egg, Luigi is is surprised when the egg hatches, producing a small green Yoshisaur, which proceeds to refer to Luigi as "mama".
Wandering the Lava Pits, Luigi feebly attempts to comfort the sobbing baby Yoshi. As he attempts to find out what is wrong with Yoshi, Luigi is approached by a purple Tyrannosaurus and a blue one. Thinking this pair of T-Rexs to be Yoshi's parents, Luigi hands the panicking Yoshi over to the Tyrannosauruses, only to quickly pull Yoshi away when the purple Tyrannosaurus attempts to eat him. The Tyrannosauruses, angered, try to eat both Luigi and Yoshi, who narrowly escape by jumping over a river of lava, using a Blargg as a stepping-stone.
Entering a Warp Pipe, Luigi and Yoshi find themselves dumped into the ocean. Underwater, Luigi and Yoshi begin swimming through a nearby tunnel, only to be chased by a recently awakened Rip Van Fish. Fleeing from the angered Rip Van Fish through the tunnel, Luigi and Yoshi narrowly avoid a swarm of Urchins. Exiting the underwater tunnel, Luigi and Yoshi lose the Rip Van Fish, who had fallen back to sleep. While trying to swim to the surface of the water, Luigi and Yoshi are attacked by a large, Boss Bass-like fish and a Torpedo Ted. Trying to escape this Torpedo Ted, Luigi and Yoshi are aided by several friendly Dolphins, who swim the two to shore. Once on a beach, Luigi begins to rinse the water from his hat, as Luigi is doing this though, the curious Yoshi waddles away. Realizing Yoshi has wandered away, Luigi begins to search for him.
Admiring some flowers, Yoshi fails to realize that a hungry Caterpillar is preparing to lunge at him. Jumping-in just in time, Luigi manages to save Yoshi, only to be besieged by a swarm of Caterpillars moments later. Oblivious to the danger present, Yoshi begins to complain he's hungry while Luigi yells for Mario's help by yelling "Mario, wherever you are, HEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!". Suddenly Yoshi, unable to hold back his appetite, begins to slurp-up all the Caterpillars, defeating them, much to Luigi's relief.
Suddenly, Mario appears, having heard his brother's cries for help. Mistaking Yoshi for a dangerous beast, Mario lunges at him, only to be quickly eaten by Yoshi. A panicking Luigi manages to convince Yoshi to spit Mario out, Yoshi proceeds to do so, regurgitating a slobber-covered Mario. After telling Mario Yoshi is a friend, Yoshi proceeds to leap into Luigi's arms, calling Luigi "mama", much to Mario's amusement.
After he is finished laughing, Mario tells Luigi that he has only just escaped Bowser's Coney Island Disco Palace, but was unable to aid the Princess in escaping as well. After some traveling, Mario, Yoshi and Luigi manage to reach Bowser's Neon Castle, which is guarded by a Big Boo and several Gray Bowser Statues. Luckily, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi manage to pass these guards using a nearby Warp Tube, which leads into the basement of Neon Castle. Entering the dark basement, Mario and Luigi, working together, manage to hit a ? Block which floods the area in light. Unfortunately, Yoshi wanders-off while Mario and Luigi had worked on turning on the light.
Tracking Yoshi down, Mario and Luigi find Yoshi near a fireball-belching Gray Bowser Statue. As Mario and Luigi attempt to dodge the fireballs launched by the Gray Bowser Statue, Yoshi eats them and manages to shut-down the statue by breathing fire on it. After destroying the Gray Bowser Statue, a secret passageway opens, which Yoshi ventures down, with Mario and Luigi following him.
Entering a hallway, Yoshi nonchalantly walks down it, unaware of the large spikes shooting out of the ceiling. Pushing Yoshi out of the way of a flat-bottomed spike, Luigi becomes flattened. As Yoshi runs-off, Mario grabs the paper thin Luigi and manages to return him to normal using a nearby Magic Balloon. With Luigi returned to normal, Mario and him begin chasing Yoshi, who has leaped through the gate of a fence and is about to be attacked by a Koopa Football Player.
Bashing this Koopa Football Player on the head, Mario is knocked backwards when the Koopa Football Player splits into three. Preparing to tackle Mario and Luigi, this Koopa Football Player is quickly eaten and subsequently spat-out by Yoshi, who enters Bowser's throne room. Following Yoshi into King Koopa's personal chambers, Mario and Luigi are attacked by a gang of Mechkoopas, who are directed by King Koopa, who had appeared from behind a pillar.
While running from the Mechkoopas, Mario and Luigi discover Yoshi, who has eaten everything in King Koopa's throne room. A shocked and angered King Koopa suddenly orders the Mechkoopas to attack Yoshi, who quickly gobbles-up the Koopa robots. Seeing how much Yoshi has eaten, Mario threatens King Koopa, saying that if he doesn't hand-over Princess Toadstool, Yoshi will eat all of Neon Castle, "piece by piece".
King Koopa, unfazed by this threat, says Mario and Luigi will never gain the key needed to release Princess Toadstool. Yoshi, eyeing the key, slurps it up with his tongue. King Koopa, realizing without the key, he has no bargaining chip, quickly flees into a nearby Warp Pipe. Praising Yoshi, Luigi quickly asks if Yoshi can spit-up the key, which Yoshi does, right into a nearby keyhole. Once the key enters this keyhole, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Princess Toadstool are suddenly transported to Dome City, safe and sound.
Having finished his story, Luigi notices Yoshi has fallen asleep. Tucking Yoshi in, Luigi says goodnight to him, with Yoshi mumbling "Goodnight Mama Luigi...hehe." Luigi then shrugs.
Trivia
- Instead of having green spots on it, like in the Super Mario World game, Yoshi's egg has red spots on it. Additionally, in the game, a Baby Yoshi must be fed five enemies to mature; Yoshi is shown eating five Caterpillars, four Mecha-Koopas, and various decorations and furniture in Koopa's throne room yet remains small in size. He also slurped up and spat out Mario, two fire balls, three Koopa Football Players, and Koopa's key.
- "Mama Luigi" can be seen as an adaptation of Super Mario World's storyline, though the episode is lacking the game's climactic final battle, which had earlier been adapted in the episode "Send in the Clown".
- In the original Super Mario World, Chargin' Chuck could not fit into Yoshi's mouth; however, in this episode, Yoshi can swallow the Chargin' Chuck into his mouth.
- Baby Yoshis normally have shoes when they hatch, but Yoshi had no shoes.
- This is the only Super Mario World cartoon that doesn't have any cavemen or Koopalings in it.
- This particular episode is the subject of many internet memes.
Quotes
- “Yoshi think Luigi Mama!”
- —Yoshi
- “You see that block up there? You bash it Luigi, you're taller!”
- —Mario
- “Look! Catapillas, Mama Luigi!”
- —Yoshi
- “Mario, wherever you are, HEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!”
- —Luigi
- “Good thing I found a Magic Balloon!”
- —Luigi
- “I fell for hours!”
- —Luigi
- “Mama? Mama Luigi!...ha ha ha ha ha!”
- —Mario
- “Now I know how a meatball feels!”
- —Mario
- “This kid makes Mario look like he's on a diet!”
- —Luigi
- “Well, like they say in Brooklyn, early to bed early to catch the worm, or is it the bagel?”
- —Luigi
- “My throne! My throne room! You'll pay for this, plumbers! Get them!”
- —King Koopa
- “You didn't tell me you were bringing a secret weapon Luigi!”
- —Mario
- “That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario! *wheeze*”
- —Luigi
