Title- Life’s Ruff (11/10/1990)
Worlds- Ice Land
Why did it have to be this way? Luigi has been in every episode of this show, and even has this, his solo episode. I’ve always liked Luigi, even in this show, so I expected a great episode. This one had everything. It followed the game as the King of the land was turned into an animal by Hip and Hop (one of which was actually the boss of this world in the game) The only appearance of Lakitu, and not even Koopa (don’t get my wrong, the guy’s great but in every episode?) And yet this episode sucks so bad, that it’s unfunny.
Heck the King even has depth, he’s a miserable bully who feels superior to all, although he seems to respect Luigi. But that is all thrown out the window once the pair get turned into dogs. Actually I tell a lie. The chase through Ice land is pretty good, as dogs or not, it’s after that the real suckage comes in.
Luigi and the King basically spend the rest of the episode running around the real world after Hip and Hop. They have some random dog catcher chasing them, and that’s about it. They go into some country club, then the Koopalings hijack a car to try to get on board some random rocketship. Then at the end Luigi uses the wand to make everyone around fall asleep and the dog catcher gets turned into a dog, before being turned back. I guess at least the King changes his ways, so something feels achieved, but other than that? I mean I know this is a little kids show, so I’m expecting too much, but the names Super Mario Bros, not Super Luigi Dog, so I expect to at least have a Mario plotline take up the majority of the episode.
Overall I’d say this episode really reminds me of Sonic Unleashed. There’s everything you want here, but it’s drowned out by the main character being changed into something they’re not and it taking over the whole episode(/game).
