User blog:WikiSchm2000/The MarioMario54321 Review Marathon - Part 42

'''Mario’s Raceway Takeover! (Episode 5) (February 26th, 2008) [Runtime: 6:01. Total Runtime: 15:00]'''

Prelude:

I just realized that this is the very first 5-parter that I’ve covered in this review series. Granted three of the parts were under three minutes long, so this might as well have been a three-parter. Not that I’m saying there’s anything wrong with it being in five parts, because where MM54321 has split the videos up definitely makes sense.

So for the final part of this series, we’re done with seeing other characters getting their courses taken from them. It’s finally time for Mario to get his comeuppance, and I for one like how this is going to end. As I’ve said before, there are often too many times where Mario feels like a designated hero more than he does a character I’d actually root for. And I said that I liked how Cerulean Cave ended primarily because it made Mario pay for his crimes. Well, I like this ending for much the same reasons. Sure it’s completely out of character for Mario to be doing any of this, but I’d rather have him learn from his mistakes than see him be treated as right for doing evil things.

Also, this final part has a delicious bit of karma that I’ll be describing once I actually get into the review. So let’s get into this final part and see what diabolical things happen to Mario.

See this video first before reading on to get your own properly informed opinion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHn06Le0IQc&list=PLNPi6H0sXYaCHQG4Br4q5yZJp8uxhid2B&index=42

The Main Video:

We start with Mario going to rest at Block Fort after conquering three race courses. Why did he only stop at three instead of doing the entire cast since all four of the other characters still have courses needing to be conquered? I’m guessing it’s because Mario Kart 64 only supports 4 players, and he couldn’t be bothered to do the rest without them being on-screen. Still, I would have been interested to see how the other courses changed from Mario’s influence and maybe had the others as background text much like how the Pokemon Gym Leaders were basically just text in the Cerulean Cave videos. But in fairness, I can’t see how MM would have topped Wario’s legendary video so maybe it’s for the best we only have these three.

Speaking of those three, Mario finds himself surrounded by them at Block Fort.

That actually brings me to a rather important question. Why did Mario come here of all places to rest? I suppose he was sick of his own course, yes, but did he have to pick a zone that is usually reserved for balloon battles? Are you legally obligated to have balloons to get into this area and participate in a battle? Because he has balloons on his kart and is subjecting himself to who knows what from the others, so this place really doesn’t seem like the best place to be. Mario’s kind of an idiot for picking this place. And sure enough, the three people he meets are rather angered people who he stole courses from. And for once I get to say something that I haven’t said for a while.

Oh no, it’s the Bad Revenge music!

Yep, the Bad Revenge music plays as everyone scolds Mario for stealing their courses, with Toad escaping from jail to hunt down Mario. I suppose Toad still has very shady connections with the cops if he’s able to do that. But, as always, Wario has the best lines as he threatens Mario to both prepare for pain and that it’s hurting time. He’s also the very first to inch up towards Mario, which is a nice touch since realistically Wario would be the first one to try and hit Mario in this sort of situation.

Mario begs for Luigi to help him, somehow thinking that vandalizing his brother’s course and making it the very first course that he vandalized would earn him any favors with his brother. Of course it doesn’t work since Luigi actually functions like a rational human being, with Luigi being stern enough to tell Mario exactly what he shouldn’t do. And Toad doesn’t really have any backbone to him from his dialogue, with him sounding more betrayed than Luigi does. I like that there’s different reactions amongst these characters to Mario stealing their courses and aren’t just reacting the exact same, it helps keep things fresh. Understandably, Mario gets something done to him offscreen, which he describes as "cruel". Just that word alone makes me wonder how badly Wario messed him up during...whatever he did.

After that, Mario ends up being dumped right back into his own course to view what the others have done to it. Yes, as punishment for his crimes, they took over his own course with their own redesigns. Now it’s no longer Mario’s course, it’s the Luigi/Wario/Toad hybrid that I guess they only own one third of each. And Mario is incredibly distraught at his course being taken over, even reacting the exact same way towards the emblem of his giant hat being replaced but the color not so (which is also a good piece of consistency). Honestly, seeing him drive through his own course like this is cathartic, and it’s a real nice punishment for what he did.

That being said, though, there are so many jokes that I can make here that I’m just going to have to give you an image gallery. So enjoy:

Mario ends up facing the other three again, who tell him that this is his punishment for messing with their courses, and they offer to restore it should he restore their courses. Mario agrees without any hesitation, which I think is rather notable. It’s nice seeing that Mario values his own course over anyone else’s enough to change them all back despite there being more, showing that for all his talk from the first video Mario clearly values his own stuff first and foremost. And I feel that it better shows that he took his lesson to heart with him knowing the pain of what’s been done to his own property.

The rest of the video involves the other three driving in their own tracks, restored. MM feels the need to show great bits of these tracks, though, and I have to say this is the weakest part of the whole series along with the beginning. This is just Mario Kart 64 footage, not an actual story, and this honestly could have been done with ten second clips each.

After that, MM narrates how he enjoyed this specific part before saying goodbye. Notice that this is the only part that he says he enjoyed, probably because of the diabolical things that Wario did to Mario. And that’s the entire Mario’s Raceway Takeover series! So, what did I think about it?

It definitely had its purpose. It was consistent throughout, and it had a clear lesson that the main character had to learn by the end. Nothing too fancy, though it had an interesting format and I liked the diversity of the different ways Mario took over the courses and the reactions of the others. The ending two minutes was just about the only truly bad thing since it dragged, but other than that it was solid all the way through. Plus it had the memeable Wario part of it which automatically makes it MM’s best series thus far.

The Extra Bonus Stuff:

Evil Mario - 22 lines [56] (Well given how horrified he was at seeing his own course, of course he was going to have the most lines)

MarySue54321 - 0 lines [3]

Lakitu - 0 lines [0]

Luigi - 4 lines [25] (Understandable why he’s here)

Wario/Diabolical Fat Guy - 5 lines [23] (Just about every line Wario has contains an insult or anger and I love it)

Toad - 4 lines [11] (Okay are we seriously not going to talk about how concerning it is that Toad can apparently get himself out of any legal trouble? How corrupt is this government?)

Police - 0 lines [3]

Total Lines - 121 (Still doesn’t beat Secret of the Waterfall, dang. We really are going to have to wait until Igiul to see this record overtaken aren’t we)

Part Biggest Chad: Wario - He got to do his diabolical things to Mario.

Part Biggest Loser: Toad - Imagine painting over Mario’s raceway, only to take the mushroom and the pipe instead of the walls, his signs and his giant hat.

Overall Biggest Chad: Wario - He spoke one of the most hilarious and meme-able quotes in the entire MM54321 universe, so much so that I have to give him a Medal of Honor for his service to our entertainment.

Overall Biggest Loser: Toad - He got the short end of the stick when it came to redecorations, with only his pictures being changed, and he was the only one of the cast who got arrested. Also his redesign for Mario’s raceway was lackluster compared to the other two, although granted it may have been because of how lackluster Mario was with him.

Favorite Quote: “you don’t wanna see this” - The offscreen parenthesis of wisdom. (Paired with the “diabolical things” quote from Wario, it makes you wonder just what happened to Mario and I love it.)

Next time, we’re going away from Mario Kart 64 and back into…Mario Party 3…ugh. But hey, at least the title of the next one is going to lead to a lot of innuendo jokes so…