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Author Topic: Super Mario... Tragedy?  (Read 3567 times)
Shiver
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Super Mario... Tragedy?
« on: July 07, 2006, 07:00:01 am »

A friend of mine introduced me to this neat flash series made entirely out of sprites from the original Super Mario Brothers by some person called Alexander Leon. The dialogue isn't very well done but man alive does this guy know how to set a mood. I found them to be strangely funny, depressing and awe inspiring all at the same time. Don't expect a happy ending if you watch them...

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
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Re: Super Mario... Tragedy?
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2006, 11:43:32 am »

this is pretty good!
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Re: Super Mario... Tragedy?
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2006, 04:35:11 am »

Nice links Shiver Cheesy

I really liked.  It was Super Mario remixed with a darker storyline.  They did an amazing job with the fight scenes.

There's one called Rise of the Mushroom, but it's not as dark as this one.  Nice quality...  Uses graphics from multiple Mario games.

I liked the Dark flash vids, because it moved away from the cliche happy-go-lucky themes that have always been around, and showed a different side of conflict between Bowser and Mario.

Thanks Shiver
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Shiver
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Re: Super Mario... Tragedy?
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2006, 07:23:49 am »

Didn't like Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom. Yes the SNES graphics look better but it was too gimmicky for my tastes.
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Lance_Vader
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Re: Super Mario... Tragedy?
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2006, 05:32:39 pm »

Super Mario Tragedy... so good.  Can't... form... complete sentences.
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Death 999
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Re: Super Mario... Tragedy?
« Reply #5 on: July 13, 2006, 10:14:05 pm »

I thought it was okay.

There were three big problems, though, and they fed into each other.
First, if there is such a thing as a life mushroom, and Mario knew about it in advance, then why the heck did Mario not haul Luigi off to it ASAP instead of waiting like five hours?

Second, though this is sad, it is not a tragedy. What was Mario's tragic flaw? Failure to help the princess across the bridge well enough? Too lame. Failure to get Luigi back to proper medical treatment? Idiotic.

Third, what caused the lava to grow? The death of the princess, or of Koopa? If Koopa, then it's really self-defeating. If princess, it's utterly redundant. It would have been better for him just to walk off a ledge.

You may not think the second is really a problem; but sad stories are much better if they're proper tragedies instead of just being... sad.
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Shiver
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Re: Super Mario... Tragedy?
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2006, 04:22:00 am »

There were three big problems, though, and they fed into each other.
First, if there is such a thing as a life mushroom, and Mario knew about it in advance, then why the heck did Mario not haul Luigi off to it ASAP instead of waiting like five hours?

I don't see the point in nit-picking minor continuity errors. Originally this began with the author making the first part as a morbid standalone just for fun, and partially as a joke. The first thing that needs to change to move this series from the status of "quaint little movie" to "high art" would be the dialogue.

Quote
Second, though this is sad, it is not a tragedy. What was Mario's tragic flaw? Failure to help the princess across the bridge well enough? Too lame. Failure to get Luigi back to proper medical treatment? Idiotic.

I agree. The lack of a real character flaw on Mario's part does hamper the movie. I suppose you could say his zeal that was his downfall - Mario and Luigi charging Bowser while he's surrounded by his personal guard is a bit on the stupid side, then later Mario leads a siege on Bowser's castle instead of covertly sneaking the princess out. But my explanation is pretty sketchy at best.

Quote
Third, what caused the lava to grow? The death of the princess, or of Koopa? If Koopa, then it's really self-defeating. If princess, it's utterly redundant. It would have been better for him just to walk off a ledge.

That part at the end made perfect sense and I'm not sure what you're complaining about. It was made fairly clear that the lives of the mushroom people were were tied to Princess Toadstool like she was holy or something. I remember reading a manual for Super Mario Brothers and it vaguely implied that she was significant in this respect and not just some dumb floozy. So either her death alone or both her and Bowser dying together triggered a cataclysm.
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Zeep-Eeep
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Re: Super Mario... Tragedy?
« Reply #7 on: July 14, 2006, 08:02:44 pm »

All in all, I'd say these mini-movies were well done. Sometimes they seemed
to lag a bit, possibly because the dialog is silent. But pretty good
music/fight scenes.
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Re: Super Mario... Tragedy?
« Reply #8 on: July 14, 2006, 10:11:53 pm »

There were three big problems, though, and they fed into each other.
First, if there is such a thing as a life mushroom, and Mario knew about it in advance, then why the heck did Mario not haul Luigi off to it ASAP instead of waiting like five hours?

I don't see the point in nit-picking minor continuity errors. Originally this began with the author making the first part as a morbid standalone just for fun, and partially as a joke.
Oh, I thought that the first few frames tied exactly into the end, indicating he plotted the whole thing in advance.


Quote
Quote
Third, what caused the lava to grow? The death of the princess, or of Koopa? If Koopa, then it's really self-defeating. If princess, it's utterly redundant. It would have been better for him just to walk off a ledge.

That part at the end made perfect sense and I'm not sure what you're complaining about. It was made fairly clear that the lives of the mushroom people were were tied to Princess Toadstool like she was holy or something. I remember reading a manual for Super Mario Brothers and it vaguely implied that she was significant in this respect and not just some dumb floozy. So either her death alone or both her and Bowser dying together triggered a cataclysm.

Well, as I said, it would be redundant. Rather than having the lava flow, something much more tied into the fundamental nature of the universe would have worked; or there could have been a bunch of mushroom retainers who survived the battle, but died because of her death.

As it stands it is kind of the same WTF reaction you get at the end of Götterdamerung.
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