Princess Toadstool for President Episode Guide

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 Episode 05 – Princess Toadstool for President

Toad comes running out of his house to find Mario, Luigi, and Princess Toadstool, who are fishing at a pond, and warns them about how King Koopa has brought a plague of Para-Goombas to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Koopa and Cheatsy wheel a cage full of Giant Land Para-Goombas to the top of a hill. Koopa tells Cheatsy that he intends to have the Para-Goombas eat up the local crops so that the Mushroom People will have no food and so that Princess Toadstool will be forced into giving him her kingdom in exchange for his food.

As soon as the Para-Goombas are unleashed, Mario and Luigi arrive and order Koopa to put the Para-Goombas back in the cage, but he instead throws the cage at them, saying it is for them. Mario and Luigi manage to jump on the cage and make quick work of four of the Para-Goombas, while the last two run away and shut themselves in the cage. Princess Toadstool then confronts Koopa, telling him that if he is so desperate to rule her kingdom, that he should do it properly. She informs him of an upcoming election, and that he should run in it. That way, the citizens will be able to elect their next leader, and the loser will agree to leave the kingdom. Mario doubts that Koopa would actually enter the running, but he surprises him by agreeing to Princess Toadstool's suggestion, and shakes her hand.

Having returned to his throne room at Castle Koopa, Koopa whines to Cheatsy about how nobody in the Mushroom Kingdom would ever vote for him over Princess Toadstool because she is a "goody-goody." Cheatsy suggests being nice, but Koopa claims that he has never been nice in his life, stating that he is "allergic to nice." Kooky then enters and sprays his dad with a strange, blue chemical, which suddenly forces him to act nicely. Kooky explains that the substance is a Nice Guy Potion, and with it, Koopa stands a chance against Princess Toadstool.

Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Toadstool is giving a one-sided debate against Koopa, when Koopa and his kids arrive as a marching band. Koopa tosses Gold Coins out to everyone, telling them all to have a nice day. He then goes on to toss more freebies down to the Mushroom People from his Doomship: free toys for the children, free flea collars for the pets, and free false teeth for the elderly. Back at Toad's House, Mario and Toad (the latter of whom is wearing a Koopa T-shirt himself) worry that all of Koopa's offerings will persuade people into voting for him, so Princess Toadstool plans to give a speech about what Koopa has done in the past at the Mushroom Kingdom Founder's Day Picnic. Cheatsy and Kooky, who are spying on them through a window, realize that they need to deal with Princess Toadstool's plan.

At the picnic, Princess Toadstool starts to give her speech, when Kooky sets off a firecracker, which hits a mountain of blocks, causing it to collapse. The blocks scare Princess Toadstool into falling off a cliff, but when Mario and Luigi go down to find her, they learn that she hid in a Warp Pipe.

Trivia & Bloopers

In the original version, modern releases contain a poorly mixed music and effects track; the entire track is muffled and lacks many sound effects such as the scene transition sound effect. This does not occur in the original NBC airing[2] and is fixed in some dubs such as the Latin American Spanish dub.
Toad can be seen smiling for a brief moment before he alerts his friends.
When Mario fishes, a shot of Princess Toadstool is shown twice. After the first shot, Toad is missing, and shortly after, the second shot zooms out for a split-second before cutting to the next scene.
While pulling the cage, King Koopa constantly switches between two designs while Cheatsy's animation loops incorrectly.
This episode marks the first appearance of the Big Paragoomba, which would debut in the games in Super Mario Galaxy 2, almost 20 years later. It also the first episode where Mario's hair is colored brown instead of black, based on the later Super Mario games.
King Koopa is referred to as "Bowser Koopa" twice in this episode; the first instance is when Luigi remarks about King Koopa's reaction to the Nice Guy Potion being gone, and the second instance is when Princess Toadstool calls out King Koopa for using a Nice Guy Potion to win the election.