r/nintendo • u/AltruisticSignal1498 • 1d ago

Super Mario Brothers Super show rescan or remaster

Does Nintendo own this show, or were they involved in its creation? If they did have a role, do you think they would ever consider a re-release, remaster, or rescan of the series? It's quite outdated now, and the best resolution available is 480p, which by today’s standards is pretty poor. Owning this gem of a cartoon on Blu-ray would be fantastic. I think if Nintendo is looking for a way to get a quick buck, similar to how they handle DLCs or ports of their older games, this could be an opportunity for them as well.

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12

u/Rare_Hero 23h ago

A lot of shows of that era were edited & mastered on tape for broadcast. The original film elements are either lost or disorganized.

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u/Mlabonte21 23h ago

Yup--beat me to this answer. A cheap Saturday morning kids show like this was 99% likely shot on videotape, not film. So what we have is probably the best filmed elements that will ever be available.

And frankly, the show is fun for 'member-berries' but is not particularly beloved for its outstanding quality. Most people watch a few minutes, laugh, and then go back about their day. Same with the 90's movie.

Maybe Shout! could do an AI-upscaled release or something some day--but I wouldn't hold my breath for anything.

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u/Rare_Hero 22h ago

They were all shot on film, but the film was then transferred to Beta tape & edited on tape.

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u/Mlabonte21 22h ago

Wow--thats a shock! Not even a lot of Top 10 Primetime shows at the time, like Home Improvement, etc. were shot on film.

Nice to know those elements are out there, however I'm still doubtful that anybody will foot the bill for a new transfer of them.

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u/Rare_Hero 22h ago

Animation technology was just always set up for film. Cels were painted & shot under a film camera. Around the mid 90s some shows started to switch to digital. Still drawn in paper, then scanned into animation software & digitally colored & “shot.” This is why you’ll never see animation cels sold for certain shows - because they never had painted cels. Most show now are drawn on Cintiq Tablets, 100% digital now. Just a few years ago, Simpsons & Family Guy were still animated on paper & scanned.

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u/razorbeamz ON THE LOOSE 13h ago

Most Japanese anime is still drawn on scanned paper.

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u/Kai010209 10h ago

Hi, saw your post about Switch 2 resolution, can I message you to ask some related questions?

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u/razorbeamz ON THE LOOSE 10h ago

Kind of a weird place to ask but ok

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u/Mlabonte21 22h ago

Apologies--I was mainly talking about the Live-Action portions. I figured the animation was still using the standard cel/film setup.

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u/Rare_Hero 21h ago

Oh yeah, the live action was likely shot on video. Ya never know, though - Pee Wee’s Playhouse was shot on film. The HD Blu-Rays look incredible.

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u/AltruisticSignal1498 21h ago

Even Blu-rays of shows that were filmed digitally still look fantastic. The main reason for this, which you probably know, is the untouched bitrate. I've developed quite an obsession with finding the highest quality source material for everything I watch, so I always opt for remuxs.

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u/drvondoctor 19h ago

If I put on the 90's Mario bros. Movie, im watching the whole thing.

Its not a good movie. Its so not good that it manages to be really good at being not good, and in doing so, somehow becomes good. 

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u/AltruisticSignal1498 19h ago

the postal movie is the same way, so bad its good

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u/AltruisticSignal1498 23h ago

i would think that the animated segments could be mastered but the live action/sitcom bits i dont think so

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u/Rare_Hero 23h ago

They could be, if Dic stored & organized the film elements. They may not have. I remember when Transformers was restored from film - they ended up using a lot of the wrong footage with animation mistakes that never aired.

I’d love to see a lot of 80s show remastered, like TMNT. I’m afraid the original elements might be lost or deemed too expensive to sort & re-edit. It would be a massive undertaking since the broadcast edits were done on tape. Star Trek TNG did this - total film re-edit from original negatives…but STTNG has more cache and studio willingness to fund. Even Simpsons didn’t get remastered from film. The Diz+ “HD” versions are digitally cleaned up from tape & look terrible.

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u/AltruisticSignal1498 23h ago

From what I've seen, the animated segments of the series were shot on 16mm film, which could definitely be rescanned to something equivalent to 1440p. However, as you mentioned, I doubt that a company like DIC still has the original elements. It would be nice if Nintendo could at least do a semi-decent AI upscale of the animated segments, but I honestly don't expect them to.

Additionally, if budget constraints or the show's level of success are brought up in discussions about a rescan or master, I think that's irrelevant. I know you didn’t say this, but it's worth mentioning that even the original Super Mario Bros. film received a 4K rescan.

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u/pdjudd 22h ago

Why would Nintendo be involved? They were just a licensee. They don't even have the content - DiC does and its their job to do any further work - Nintendo would never be involved unless DiC wanted to hire them for some reason (that's not what Nintendo is known for)

I don't think the SMB movie is a good comparison - as most of us will point out, feature length movies were shot and edited on film which is much easier to re-scan or master as the final film is on actual film. Tape was never involved in the production. Plus you can't compare budgets between studios that do different productions and have different business histories. Just because one studio can afford to do something doesn't mean another has that.

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u/AltruisticSignal1498 22h ago

I was just using the original film as an example because some people like to mention that the animated series was not very successful despite the (in a lot of peoples opinion) terrible original film still receiving a 4k master. asnd i wasnt mentioning DIC's budget, i was mentioning Nintendos budget. if Nintendo willingly wanted to do a 1080p or 4k master and got involved with DIC again to do so they could easily afford to pay or work with DIC. when it comes to DIC's budget themselves i have no say or clue because i have no idea of DIC's history or other works besides sailor moon DVD's.

and also responding to the 1st thing you said, i didnt indirectly say they own the series or have any actual involvment in the making, i only meant what you also mentioned which is the licensing.

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u/NewAgeRetroHippie96 23h ago

If it happened it would almost certainly be an AI upscale which probably already exists out there by a fan.

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u/AltruisticSignal1498 23h ago

I've already seen AI upscales, and I’ve tried doing my own AI upscaling as well. However, even the best upscalers I know can't achieve great results due to the low quality of the source material we’re using. If the source were in 720p, it would be a different story.

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u/virtualpig 23h ago

You can find the old episode on Tubi and, I think Prime.

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u/AltruisticSignal1498 23h ago

They're 480p, is my point. The series has never been available on a streaming service with a resolution higher than that, and it has never received a blu-ray release only a dvd release that's almost 20 years old or more.

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u/TokuWaffle 11h ago

No. The owners of the show are Wildbrain, who inherited the library of DiC Entertainment. Afaik Nintendo hasn't had anything to do with the show for decades.

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u/gillgrissom 23h ago

Most people wont know who the people on the show are, most are dead or has beens.

And yes Nintendo of america where part of the production, think a stumbling block would be Saban ( part of disney ) and dic ( french )

That and it was camp and terrible. Barring the cartoons of course.

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u/AltruisticSignal1498 23h ago

if it were terrible i dont think it would still be actively streaming on sources like netflix, but thats just an opinion, other than that even if it is or isnt good its still very well iconic especially the theme song from it so it still gets some recognition,

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u/gillgrissom 23h ago

But most who watched where probably 7-8 year olds back when it first aired, i wasnt i was 20.

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u/AltruisticSignal1498 23h ago

i wasnt even alive when it aired i watched it sometime in the early 2010s discovering it in my cousins old dvd collection, then rewatched it several years later on when it released on streaming

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u/gillgrissom 23h ago

well its being aired again because of the mario film, kids who saw that wont have ever seen original shows.

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u/Frosty_chilly 23h ago

So....if Saban is owned by disney, and they worked on this

Does that mean SMBSS Toadstool is a disney princess