Game – TV/Web Series Review: Video Game Reunion – Season One

Video Game Reunion sees the classic 80’s video game stars like Mario & Link all attending a reunion 25 years after their hey-day. With relationships strained over the years & few harbouring issues still hanging around it looks like its going to be a long weekend….

Each episode is only a few minutes, live action (documentary style) & mixes black humour with adult themes. It is bloody brilliant…

Episode 1

The first episode opens with a maid gaining access to a hotel room, inside she is shocked to see it is a wreck & there are several men slumped over furniture. A large man in the bed shouts out her to go away before he surveys’ the damage around him. This guy….this is Mario.

24 hours earlier….

2 news anchors (one of which is April O’Neil) read out some headlines that include the death of Donkey Kong in a go-kart accident after being struck by a lightening bolt. The main talking point is the much anticipated video game reunion panel that gets the classic video game characters from the 1980’s in the same room together.

Check it out!

A stretch limo arrives bringing Mario to the conference where he is accosted by an over-zealous fan & a kid who wants his picture. Before the picture can be taken Luigi arrives on a Scooter & tries to get in on the act but is embarrassed when the kid fails to recognise who he is.

It’s hard not to feel a bit sorry for Luigi here but it is in turn extremely funny. In an interview Mario sheds a little light on what went wrong for Luigi including his break-up with Daisy (it involved a chainsaw). Luigi is mad that they aren’t recognised as the Mario Brothers & they argue in the hotel room. The bell-hop that brings their luggage is a fan of the duo & offers to get them anything. Luigi asks for some ‘power-ups’ & the bell-hop pretends to be offended before agreeing to get Luigi what he wants.

The reference to Samus Aran as being the reverse ‘Crying Game’ had me choking on my coffee…

Outside the window a helicopter draws their attention & Mario’s ex-wife is seen getting out, Princess Peach…looking worse for wear & she flips them off.

Seems she might be harbouring a grudge or two.

Episode 2

It opens with Luigi talking to the camera about Mario’s divorce. It seems Peach got everything in the divorce including the mushroom kingdom brand which marked everything including condoms that ‘come in Peach’. Yep, Peach is a classy lady…

We then meet Peach talking about what went wrong with the range of condoms & referencing a bad batch…16 years ago. Mario & Peaches daughter, Lil’ Peach (Lil’ P) is 16 years old & sitting in the hotel bar. She is bought a drink by a very drunk Kung Fu Guy who tries to hit on her. Kung Fu Guy hasn’t had an easy time & has struggled for work particularly when his interview involve him describing how he killed the last person he worked for.

Mario receives a text from Lil’ P asking him to come rescue her from Kung Fu Guy so the brothers make their way downstairs. Their chat, while waiting for the lift, shows that Mario had a hard time getting over Peach & Luigi thinks him getting laid will make him feel better. The lift opens to reveal Samus Aran (out of the suit, of course) who is really happy to see Mario. They agree to meet up later & Samus acknowledges the time it’s been since they last saw each other (there seems to be a spark there).

Luigi reveals a bit more about Samus & what went wrong for her before they run into Peach in the lift. She winds up Luigi while flirting with Mario on the trip down before they are joined by Bowser. Turns out he had spent some time in jail for operating an illegal turtle fighting ring.

Bowser is bad…

This show is not; in fact it is really clever with top acting & it manages to be really funny as well. My only complaint is that each episode is really short, there are only 14 & we only have 1 season to enjoy.

Episode 3

Opens with Carman Sandiego finally being found…or maybe not.

Back with Mario, Luigi & Bowser we see that Lil’ P’s relationship with her father is somewhat strained. Mario still treats her like a baby while Bowser thinks she should be free to do what she wants. This means Mario & Bowser constantly clash over Lil’ P.

Talking with the camera it turns out the kind of relationship Mario wants is similar to what Link & Zelda have. Their voice-mail message is adorable!

Enter Link & Zelda who are married now with 2 kids & in front of the camera, happy & in love. They both come across as a bit obnoxious & oblivious to their daughters lack of ‘Zelda-ness’. Where-as the boy looks like a future Link in the making!

Zelda explaining that her maid just doesn’t get what she is supposed to do even when she speaks ‘slowly & loudly’ is so funny. Zelda is also best-friends with Mega-man something that clearly bothers Link. Zelda talks as if Mega-man is the most important man in her life even more so then Link.

Mega-man is now a hugely popular pop star with legions of adoring fans & his friendship with Zelda is borderline in-appropriate. Neither of them seem to notice & Link does an admirable job of explaining it but you can tell he isn’t exactly convinced.

The introduction of Link & Zelda in this episode just improves the show ten-fold, they are hilarious & you can see the car-crash situation involving Mega & them coming a mile off but its going to be a hell of a ride!

Episode 4

Link & Mario are lounging around watching Bowser & Peach messing around in the pool. Link doesn’t exactly mince his words (your ex is slut) when talking about Peach & the duo reminisce over Mario not seeing the warning signs. Turns out Peach cheated on Mario with Bowser & he really should have seen it coming.

Link is trying to get Mario hooked up with a chick & suggest internet dating but that has proved to be a problem in the past for him.

The idea of Mario internet dating some of the lesser characters from his games is a great idea & very funny.

They are soon joined by Zelda & Mega-man who reveals that he is being stalked by Solid Snake & that he thinks Snake is trying to kill him. One night while drunk at a night club Mega-man went out to the alley behind the club & took a wizz on an innocent card-board box that promptly threw a knife at him.

Link thinks he is being stupid & tries to wind him up but when Mega-man sees Snakes box reclining on a nearby sun-lounger he begins to have a panic attack & tries to use Zelda as shield. Link & Mario try to wind Mega-man up & it descends into an argument over what Mario actually did in his games. Turns out he didn’t smash boxes with his face…

It is frustrating that the episodes are so short that as soon as you’re getting in to them they seem to end. Thankfully while it is on it is very funny & so well done. What blows me away is just how natural it feels to see Link & Mario talking about the CGI of their games or Link referencing an early game he appeared in!

It just gets better…

Episode 5

The episode opens with Luigi trying to pay for his pool drinks with a cheque that gets rejected. He lists his out of date credit cards that don’t get the reaction he was hoping for before an adoring fan agrees to pay it for him.

She’s a bit off…

Turns out she is a stalker that has previously sent him a jar full of nail clippings that was accompanied by a picture of him sleeping at home.

It also turns out that Luigi talks in his sleep. Creepy…

Back at the pool we see Lil’ P on Bowser’s shoulders fighting against the Contra guys on each others shoulders. Mario is worried that Lil’ P might be taken advantage of by the Contra guys & fails to understand what ‘playing for the other team’ means.

Bowser & Lil’ P try to spell it out to Mario but the conversation gets complicated & Mario ends up explaining the difference between anal beads & a butt plug to his 16 year old daughter.

Bowser struggles to be to mean about Mario while speaking to the camera & his “a few coins short of a 1-up” killed me. He also makes it perfectly clear that the Contra guys are gay…together.

At the pool Link points out the very sexy Samus Aran getting out of the pool & asks Mario about what went on with them.

Luigi joins them in time to see Kung Fu Guy getting out…it’s not so sexy.

Mario explains to the guys that he wouldn’t make a move on Samus even if he wanted to as she is still married to that Castlevania guy. Turns out that they have split up now though…

This is easily one of the funniest episodes. Luigi having a stalker was a great idea & his reaction to who she is hilarious.

Episode 6

An April O’Neil newsflash opens explaining that Grandma has died of dysentery on The Oregon Trail.

Samus is talking at a bar with female ninja about her anger issues & her vow of non-violence that cost her, her job. Enemy Approaches…

Peach walks in prompting the ninja to disappear leaving Samus alone. Peach takes up the seat next to her & they make small talk that quickly leads into Peach talking about Samus not having kids & that her biological clock is ticking away.

Peach, knowing Samus won’t hurt her, leans over & takes a long drink of Samus’s beer before leaving with a smile. Samus vents her anger to the camera & references how their feud has always existed. We then see a clip of Samus as kid giving Mario a Valentines card that young Peach tears up.

Mario & Link watched the whole thing from a seat to the side prompting Mario to decide to go & talk to Samus. Link tries to gee him up by telling him to “be super Mario”.

Before Mario can get to Samus he runs into Kid Icarus who has turned into a movie villain style character. Mario thinks he has worked out what is wrong with the Kid (it involves eggplants).

Kid winds Mario up about Bowser’s influence with Lil’ P & points out Bowser giving her a cigarette. Mario goes over & confronts Bowser about it & they get into an argument that reveals more information then Mario expected (she is having sex).

Luigi confirms it all before Lil’ P comes back & is mad about the discussion. Mario tells Bowser to shut up several times before Bowser gets in his face. Mario then hits Bowser over the head with a beer bottle knocking him out.

Almost at the halfway point the series is heating up. Getting to see the real nasty side of Peach was great & the eventual face-off between her & Samus should be a lot of fun. Mario & Link continue to be very funny together & I was willing him to take Bowser out at the end.

Episode 7

So it opens with Mario having not actually hit Bowser but rather something he had fantasised (a bit of a cop-out) about. Bowser picks up on that & accuses Mario of wanting to hit him with the bottle.

To the camera Bowser shares his frustration with Mario’s pacifist ways & compares him to his father who was at Tiananmen Square.

He tries to encourage Mario to hit him telling him to ‘dig deep & find his power animal’ which confuses Mario. It turns out Luigi’s is a truck-asauras, a car with legs that eats other cars & entertains millions….

As Mario walks off Bowser says one of the best lines in the show… “Did you leave your balls in another castle?”

In the hallway back to their room Mario & Luigi argue over Mario’s pacifist ways & Luigi remembers when Mario cried for a week over Aeries death in FF7. Mario storms off leaving Luigi alone with his naked stalker.

She wants more of his hair (‘more? You mean you already have some?’) & he agrees once she offers him 100 dollars. Luigi then runs into the bell-boy who has his ‘power-ups’.

Meanwhile in a bathroom Samus, Zelda & Megaman are hanging out. Zelda is sitting on Megaman’s lap teasing Samus about taking it to the next level with Mario. Unknown to them they are being watched by Snake through a hole in the ceiling. The reference to what Zelda does to Link when he freezes up is brilliant…we’ve all been there.

Megaman & Link want Samus to do the ‘ball-thing’ to deal with Peach when they are interrupted by a very drunk Kung Fu Guy coming in. He promptly wets himself while trying to flirt with Samus before giving Megaman & Zelda the finger & then leaving.

Peach then steps out of a cubicle where she has been all along. Her nose & gun rubbing suggest that she might have been ‘powdering her nose’ in there. She doesn’t say anything, eats Zelda’s lipstick before sticking her tongue out at Samus & giving her the evil eye.

She then leaves where-upon Snake takes his chance & shoots at Megaman. He misses only managing to pop his balloon hat.

Back in the hotel room Link & Luigi are waiting for Mario to get out of the shower so they can go out. Luigi is spiking their drinks with the power-ups & the trio toast to a good night out together.

Although Link’s outburst about not wanting Megaman to fuck his wife startles the other 2. “It’s dangerous to go alone – take this.”

Even though they are very short you can’t help but feel connected to the characters & the constant game references really help. The anticipation for a Samus/Peach showdown is tops & the trio of Luigi; Mario & Link are so funny together.

Episode 8

The episode opens with the news story about Peach stabbing a guy in a restaurant. A Tonberry (Final Fantasy) was coming towards her (according to Peach) & she stabbed him in self defence.

It’s the morning after the guy’s booze-filled bender & the hotel room has been trashed. We are back to the opening scene in Episode 1 as Mario shouts at the maid who runs off after seeing the mess.

Take a good look at the mess as there are loads of subtle jokes lying about such as the power glove & game cartridges stuck to walls. Mario accuses Luigi of drugging them but Luigi is more interested in where his half of a handcuff came from (the other half is on his stalker).

As the guys survey the damage Link wakes up to reveal he has Kiss make-up on. Luigi has a phone number written on his forehead, a gun loaded with jellybeans down his pants & a bonus level ‘tramp-stamp’. Seeing that Link begins to freak out about having a tattoo on his ass while Luigi calls the number on his head in the bathroom.

In there he finds Kung Fu Guy lying in a shower of ice looking a bit…dead. Meanwhile Link wants to know how they managed to get to California & who carried the huge sign back.

During all of this Mario has been taking a call & now reveals that Peach has been arrested again & that he has to pick her up. Link is less then impressed that Mario is going to help her. He leaves & goes back to his room.

He is shocked to find Megaman in his bed wearing only pants & with an erect penis. Megaman’s answer that ‘of course he is erect, it’s the morning’ confuses Link & Zelda dismisses Link’s concern.

Back in the hotel Mario has left & Luigi is panicking so he calls his bell-hop friend. The bell-hop wants none of what has gone on in the room especially when Luigi reveals he shot Kung Fu Guy thinking he was the Duck Hunt dog.

They are both pretty impressed by just how good the power-ups were & come up with a plan to walk Kung Fu Guy out of the hotel. On his way out Luigi makes the mistake of calling his stalker pretty without thinking.

It’s the funniest episode by far & filled to the rafters with references to so many games. It’s the morning of the convention & the mess everyone finds themselves in means we are sure to get some serious fireworks. I love that Link is trying his hardest to be understanding about his wife’s relationship with Megaman but you can see the explosion coming. The standout character/actor is Luigi by far though…constantly funny with great interactions.

Episode 9

So Peach got arrested for throwing a green tortoise shell at a police officer. Her statement that ‘it is useless & she just wanted another item’ made me laugh; I was always a dab hand with the green shells!

Mario picks her up from the police station & on the drive back they argue about Peach’s out of control behaviour before realising neither knows where Lil’ P is. They both go to Bowsers & find her there. As the three of them argue Lil’ P storms out…

To the camera Bowser talks about Peach, they go way back & he is still into her but he knows she is a damaged person.

Meanwhile the bell-hop & Luigi are still carrying Kung Fu Guy through the hotel when they run into 3 super-fans who are super into Kung Fu Guy. They fail to notice that he is dead & plead with Luigi to take a picture with him.

Before they can escape though Kid Icarus blocks the way & convinces the fans that Kung Fu Guy should break some wood for them. Handily he happens to have one on him so feeling cornered & not knowing what to do Luigi & the bell-hop slam Kung Fu Guys face into the board where-upon he wakes up. Everyone panics…

Episode 10

Its convention time & everyone is slipping into their outfits. Luigi is in his but Mario doesn’t want to get in his. Turns out the measurements are wrong & it is too tight. Mario isn’t happy about the fit of his & snaps at Lil’ P sending her away.

Peach runs into Lil’ P in the hallway & tries to act like a caring mother before dropping the revelation that Lil’ P is her dealer!

In Link & Zelda’s room they are just about ready except Link’s sword is jammed in a golf caddy & he can’t get it out. As Zelda says…how ironic! Along comes Megaman who is also having a fitting problem, his blaster won’t go on his hand. Zelda admires his muscular forearms before setting about helping him squeeze into it.

The actions, sound effects & running commentary during this scene is brilliant & that it ends with Zelda getting squirted in the eye is even better.

Links face as this all takes place is a picture & you can see he is one step away from exploding.

Back with Mario, he is feeling bad & calls Lil P to apologise. Samus comes to the door & they joke about Mario’s tight costume. She wants Mario to zip her up so comes in. Inside they continue their awkward ‘we like each other but don’t know how to go about it’ dance before Peach interrupts them.

The tension between Samus & Peach seems ready to snap when Luigi arrives with Mario’s new suit.

The episode ends as the convention begins & the group pile into a lift together. I love that Bowser is wearing tux as his outfit…

The endgame of the series is in sight with only 4 more episodes left!

Episode 11

The conference has been rolling for a while now & the cast are looking a bit tired as fans continue to bombard them with questions. A fan dressed as Lakitu steps up & asks about the whereabouts of Yoshi.

Turns out Yoshi went feral & attacked hunters in a scene very similar to Jurassic Park. Not wanting to admit this, the group say he got ill & had to be put down but the group can’t quite get their story right. Eventually they agree on a vet giving him a shot of poison.

The next fan asks the question we’ve all wondered at some point or another…why is it called Legend of Zelda & not Legend of Link considering Link is the star. Link loves that this has been asked & when Zelda suggests she hasn’t given it much thought he reveals he has thought about it a lot.

He reveals that Zelda was only on set for a day compared to his months. Zelda is not happy…

Samus gets a question next from a stalker that she has a restraining order against, 100ft to be exact which he has measured already. He reveals he has a big chest tattoo of her before being dragged off.

Lil’ P stands up & bluntly asks Mega Man if he is gay. Mega Man stutters & stammers his way around the question while Lil’ P uses lots of examples as to why he is gay.

Next up is a fan who asks Bowser about his charity work (a planted fan) & Bowser reveals his ‘Koopa Kids Kamp’ where under-privileged kids will learn all the life skills to send them to prison later in life. He is really proud of it but is humiliated when the crowd believe it to be a joke & start laughing.

Lastly a little girl tells Mario that her mother says her father will come home if he gets back with Peach. It kills the mood & as Kung Fu Guy throws up everywhere Luigi decides that they are done & ends the conference.

As always the best parts of this episode involve Link & Zelda but it has be mentioned just how funny Mega Man is as he tries to dodge the gay question. The ending acts as a stark reminder of just how much history Mario & Peach have.

Episode 12

So the episode opens with an April O’Neil news re-cap of what took place at the conference. We then see Mario, Link & Mega Man having a drink in the bar. It went bad according to them & Mega Man still can’t believe Lil’ P thinks he is gay!

Mega Man then talks to the camera about his love of gay people & the life-style while tripping over references he doesn’t mean to make. Mario compares Mega Man to the Contra guys who we see bathing each other…

A short while later Mario brings Samus a drink at the bar, drinks made for him by Kung Fu Guy. Not the best person to trust with alcohol, it makes them bleed from the nose &  instantly drunk. Kung Fu Guys gets his drinks for free….

From across the bar Zelda watches & excitedly tells the cameraman how happy she is for them. She then goes on to talk about how she lacks that excitement before Link interrupts. He drags Zelda out of the bar telling the cameramen to leave them alone.

They don’t of course & we catch up with Link & Zelda arguing in the backstage.

Zelda knowing she has been rumbled admits to her secret that Link believes is her affair with Mega Man. In fact Zelda thinks he has found out that the game was going to be called The Adventures of Link but she got it changed.

When they realise they are talking about separate things Link blurts out that she is cheating on him to her shock. It turns to laughter when he says it’s with Mega Man & Zelda reveals what we’ve all known all along, Mega Man is gay. Yep, he likes boys….

Link is stunned especially when he sees everyone else already knew but he is also over-joyed that Zelda isn’t cheating on him.

Bowser, angry at what happened to him during the conference is going back to his bad ways. As he sees it, that’s what the people expect of him so why not? He begins by attacking Luigi in the hallway with a bottle leaving him with concussion & a Donkey Kong story.

Meanwhile Peach is getting drunk at the bar when she is joined by Kid Icarus who winds her up about Samus & Mario. A drunken Peach confronts the pair just as they were about to head back to Samus’ room to help her out of her outfit!

Peach taunts Samus over how she always wins in the end & that Mario saves the princess not Samus. Finally having enough, Samus breaks her vow of non-violence & punches Peach in the face knocking her out.

As everyone stands around stunned Link runs in, takes up that famous pose & announces that Mega Man is gay to even Mega Man’s surprise although his drink suggest otherwise.

So here we are then…the story is almost played out fully & all the character arcs are coming to a conclusion. It’s a double episode that left me feeling sad for Bowser, happy for Link & optimistic for Mario & Samus. We’re almost done…

Episode 13

So the fallout from Samus punching Peach out of her shoes opens the episode as Peach tries to stem the flow of blood from her nose with…tampons. She’s a bit of a mess…

Bowser is playing pool & puzzled as to why she even got into it with Samus. Peach wants things to go back to the way things were which infuriates Bowser. He spells it out to her that Mario isn’t going to take her back & that he has moved on, so she should too.

As his tirade continues Lil’ P tries to intervene resulting in her taking the brunt of his rage.

Meanwhile Samus & Mario are arguing over the fact that Mario is now looking for Peach to make sure she is ok. Samus can’t believe that even now he will still look after her rather then himself. She is sick of waiting for Mario to come & rescue her & storms off leaving Mario to take advice from…Kung Fu Guy.

Mega Man is drunk & heart-broken. He staggers out into a nearby alley in tears where he comes across Snake’s box. Giving up he demands that Snake should just go ahead & kill him as what chance does a gay pop star have (Oh, the irony).

He then pours his heart out to Snake about being gay & finally accepts it. He is sick of all the lies & most of all he is sick of boobs. Unfortunately for Mega Man the box is actually a rigged bomb & Snake isn’t inside.

Mario runs into Lil’ P who tells him what took place between her & Bowser. Mario being the good father he is takes the time to explain what a rusty trombone is before Lil’ P tells him to stop trying to save Peach & save himself.

As luck would have it, Bowser at that exact moment is running off with Peach on his shoulder. This forces Mario to act & Peach’s screams draw all of the panel’s attention outside as well as interrupting Link & Zelda’s special time together.

Everyone watches waiting for Mario to do something so he lights a tennis ball & throws it past Bowser & Peach to Bowser’s van causing it to explode in a pretty spectacular way.

This felt like a stop-gap episode to the final events of the last episode. I’m not sure exactly why after Bowser went on his tirade at Peach he then decided to kidnap her, maybe he was trying to force Mario to react. This episode had a lack of the best characters (Link & Luigi) but Mega Man’s rant about boobs was funny.

Episode 14 – The Finale

Carrying off where the last ended we see the van exploding again knocking Bowser & Peach to the floor. Bowser is shocked & scared so runs off leaving Peach on the floor.

In the cheesiest moment of the entire 14 episode run the crowd impressed, give Mario a round of applause.

Peach is stunned that Mario saved her & thinks it’s a precursor to their getting back together. Mario stops her in her tracks & tells her he is done with her, that it is; raise the flag time, that he is off to another castle… 6 fireworks style before walking away.

We see Samus packing her stuff up in her room clearly hurt by Mario as he runs to try & stop her leaving. He is too late to stop her getting in the lift but manages to intercept her in lobby where they embrace & kiss.

We are treated to some clips of them as kids having fun & her doing the ball thing. Zelda & Link talk about how they totally saw it coming & Link makes a bad joke about Helen Keller having seen that plot twist coming.

The credits start to roll here & I initially thought that was it, 3 minutes that could have been fitted onto the end of Episode 13. However the credits are interrupted by clips of the characters talking starting with April O’Neil who talks about Luigi having gone missing & who was last seen getting into his stalkers van. Her co-host makes a joke about finding him with a game genie which causes her to react furiously.

We then see Mario & Samus talking about the future for them & Mario describes it as having held down the B button (in the original game that made Mario run faster) all weekend. To them it is a whole new game, Super Mario Lovers.

Their joy is short-lived as Kid Icarus gets Mario arrested for the van explosion earlier.

The final scenes are left to Bowser who talks about his lack of regrets & how he should take his own advice before getting into a car with Daisy.

Peach is shocked & infuriated, she ignores a tied up Luigi who appears to have escaped & makes a call to an old friend.

Somewhere else we see a woman answer who calls herself, Carmen.

The End…

Overall (The entire show): 7/10

It’s been difficult to review a series of episodes that barely last 5 minutes (taking credits sequences out) as not a lot happens. It’s arguable the need to have stretched out the entire thing over 14 episodes particularly as there were a few where nothing happened at all. It was hard not to disappointed that the actual panel section was over & done within 1 episode as I would have liked to see more questions from fans.

That being said I find it hard to be negative about a show that really used its imagination & had some tremendous casting. The actors involved all do a really good job (although Bowser can come off a tad cheesy on occasion) relaying the gaming character they are supposed to be with my favourite being Link by far.

The shows subtle nods to gaming are some of its strengths as it has you believing the creators really take the whole gaming thing seriously. It also manages to stay consistently amusing & heart-felt. I cared what happened to Mario & Samus in the end & really loved Link & Zelda’s interactions.

It looks unlikely that we’re ever going to see a sequel sadly.