Life's Ruff

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode
"Life's Ruff"
Production number	118
Airdate	November 10, 1990 (English) November 1, 1991 (French)
Writer(s)	Martha Moran
Opening curtain	Ice Land
Featured song	"It's A Dog's Life"
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"Life's Ruff" is the twentieth episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. It aired alongside another episode entitled "Crimes R Us." The title is a pun on the phrase "life's rough."

This episode is notable for being the only episode where a Lakitu and a Spiny appear. It is also notable for being the only episode of any Super Mario cartoon where Mario does not appear, making Luigi the only character to appear in every episode. Additionally, King Koopa, Princess Toadstool, and Toad also do not appear, though the former two are mentioned.

Plot synopsis

Luigi greeted by King Windbag.

Luigi has arrived at the castle of King Windbag. As Luigi enters the dining room, he believes he is being yelled at by King Windbag, and ducks from a cooked turkey that had been thrown in his direction. Luigi then realizes that King Windbag had been bossing his servant around. Right after he properly greets Luigi, King Windbag bluffs about how the floor is dirty and orders his servant to mop it up.

Luigi tells Windbag that he has been sent over by Princess Toadstool so that he could try to make him less of a bully. Windbag thinks Luigi is bluffing, then pulls out his magic wand and threatens to shoot his servant, demanding for him to serve him a cooked duck. As the servant runs off, Windbag comments that a dog would make a better servant. Overhearing this comment, the servant tells himself that he might as well be a dog due to Windbag's harshness.

As the servant walks off, Hip and Hop Koopa, who had been hiding behind a pillar, get an idea upon hearing the servant complain, noting that King Koopa had told them to follow Luigi so that they could cause trouble for him. After Windbag yells for his duck, the servant returns with a covered plate, only to be tripped by Hip. While Hip puts on the servant's hat, Hop hides on the covered plate.

Luigi after being transformed into a dog.

When Hip enters Windbag's throne room disguised as the servant, Hop leaps out from under the covered plate and steals Windbag's wand from out of his hand. As Windbag tries to get his wand back, Hop throws it over to Hip, who uses it to transform the king into a bulldog. Luigi tries to take the wand back from Hip, but Hip throws it to Hop, who in turn uses it transform Luigi into a gray mutt.

With Windbag and Luigi as dogs, the two of them chase Hip and Hop out of the castle and down several flights of stairs to the ground. A Ptooie pops out of a Warp Pipe and tries to shoot Luigi, but it misses. Luigi chases Hip and Hop up onto some platforms, but is assaulted by a Lakitu that throws a Spiny at him. As Hip and Hop climb into a pipe, Hop knocks him back with the wand before they go down it. Left with no other options, Luigi and Windbag follow Hip and Hop down the pipe.

The two dog forms Luigi and Windbag before avoiding the incoming vehicle.

At the other end of the warp, Luigi and Windbag find themselves crawling out of a manhole in the Real World, more specifically, Miami, Florida. The two of them hide in the manhole as a trackless train drives over their heads, and when they come out again, Luigi spots Hip and Hop riding on the back seat.

Following the train to a gated hotel, Luigi tells Windbag to wait for the gate to open for the next car, so that they can run inside with it. King Windbag huffs about how royalty never runs, but he goes along with Luigi's plan. When the train pulls up at the hotel, Hip and Hop steal the hats off of the two ladies sitting in front of them, and run inside, where they smell food. Windbag tries to go after them, but Luigi notes that dogs are not allowed inside and decides to sneak in through a dining room window.

Hip and Hop throwing food from the buffet table.

Hip and Hop reveal themselves by throwing all sorts of food around the room from a buffet table. As Windbag jumps onto the table, he crashes into a bowl of lobsters which pinch his body, as Hip and Hop flee. Before the transformed dogs can chase Hip and Hop into the next room, the dog catcher shows up. He chases Luigi and Windbag upstairs, where they jump out of a window, and down a slide into the pool. After crossing the pool, Windbag gets captured in his net. Luigi chases Hip and Hop to a sports car in the parking lot, but he too is captured by the dog catcher.

While Hip and Hop go for a joyride in the sports car, Luigi and Windbag are thrown into the back of the dog catcher's truck, where Windbag and Luigi comment that they will never get the wand back and that they will be stuck as dogs permanently, and be unable to return home. While Hip and Hop drive off, they listen to a report on the radio about a space shuttle launch at the Kennedy Space Center going on the next day, and decide to visit it.

The two transformed canids meets several other dogs.

Meanwhile, the dog catcher brings Luigi and Windbag to the Florida State Poochitentiary, where they are sentenced to a kennel with several other dogs. When Windbag tries to bully one of the dogs around, he counters Luigi's bickering by stating that he is a king. Luigi tells Windbag that if they work with the dogs, they can form a pyramid to reach the air vent on the ceiling. Because the dogs will not obey the rude Windbag, Luigi politely tells them what to do, and then gets a reluctant Windbag to stand at the bottom of the pyramid. As Luigi makes his way through the vent, another dog's tail causes Windbag to sneeze, collapsing the pyramid.

Luigi travels through the vent to the dog catcher's office, where the dog catcher is asleep in front of the TV. As Luigi climbs down from the vent on a hanging light wire, a news flash appears on the TV. The reporter is on the highway, where she gives an emergency report about a sports car rampaging through Florida to the Kennedy Space Center, just as Hip and Hop drive past her.

Luigi after falling from the dangle lamp.

The light that Luigi is on falls down from the ceiling, and hits the dog catcher's head, waking him. As he tries to grab Luigi, Luigi leaps onto the control panel, and unintentionally releases all the dogs in the building. As Luigi slips out of his office, the dog catcher grabs him by the tail. However, the dog catcher lets go as all of the dogs come running over him. When Luigi meets up with Windbag, they run outside, hijack the dog catcher's truck, and drive off.

Luigi and Windbag digging their way through the fence of the Space Center.

Later, outside the Kennedy Space Center, Luigi and Windbag are unable to get over the surrounding fence by jumping. Windbag points out that they should dig, seeing as how they are dogs now. Meanwhile, as a group of astronauts makes their way to the space shuttle, Hip puts the two in the back to sleep with the wand, allowing him and Hop to change into their suits, just as Luigi and Windbag come out on the other side of the fence.

Luigi and Windbag are startled by the dog catcher, who tries to catch them with a lasso. Luigi and Windbag take care of their captor by running circles around him, and he gets tangled up in his rope, allowing them to chase after Hip and Hop. King Windbag tackles Hip and Hop and stops them from boarding the elevator to the shuttle. As Hip drops the wand, Luigi grabs it and tosses it over to Windbag.

Luigi and Windbag being reverted back into humans.

With his wand back, Windbag uses it to put all the humans nearby, including the dog catcher, to sleep. He then restores himself and Luigi back into humans. As Hip and Hop try to run off, Luigi grabs them, while Windbag creates a Warp Zone that leads back to Kastle Koopa with his wand, which Luigi drops them into. Looking at the sleeping man, Windbag feels that he would be a kinder dog catcher if he knew what it was like being a dog, so he turns him into a yapping poodle for a few seconds. Windbag then uses his wand to wake everyone up and creates another Warp Zone that he and Luigi enter. As the dog catcher wakes up, he cannot believe the "nightmare" he just had, and proceeds to scratch his ear with his foot.

Back at Windbag's castle, the king can be heard yelling "Duck!" to his servant. However, Luigi watches as Windbag presents his servant with a cooked duck, along with mashed potatoes and peas. Windbag winks to Luigi, as a reminder of what he learned on their adventure, and Luigi winks back.

Characters

• Luigi
• King Windbag
• Hip Koopa
• Hop Koopa
• Herman
• Female news reporter
• Princess Toadstool (mentioned)
• King Koopa (mentioned)

Cast

• Tony Rosato — Luigi
• Tracey Moore — Female news reporter
• Harvey Atkin — Male news reporter
• Dan Hennessey — King Windbag, Herman
• Gordon Masten — Singer
• Tara Charendoff — Hop
• Stuart Stone — Hip
• Michael Stark — servant

Animation and continuity errors

• The reporter mentions that the Koopalings drive a red car, but the car is actually blue. This is fixed in the Italian and Latin American Spanish dubs.
• Throughout the episode, King Windbag's snout changes from brown to orange several times.
• When Hip and Hop take the women's hats, the hats change color between shots.
• When King Windbag orders his servant to mop the floor, his right cheek flashes. This also occurs when he takes out his wand when demanding him to get his food, along with his forehead being the same color as his hair.
• When the servant screams, he has Toad's voice.
• In his initial appearance, Hop's hair turns completely pink.
• When Hop says that there is no duck, King Windbag's shoes are colored brown like Luigi's instead of purple. This also happens when he is turned into a dog.
  • In the same scene, part of King Windbag is briefly missing.
• When Hip says, "Now King Windbag...", his mouth does not move.
• In several scenes, Hop's hair turns completely yellow.
• In several scenes, Hop's head is colored orange like his body instead of green.
• When Hip tosses the wand to Hop, part of the background is colored in like his head.
• When Luigi dodges the Spike Balls, they are green instead of black.
• When Hip and Hop run up the stairs outside King Windbag's castle, Hop's glasses are green instead of black.
• When Hop knocks Luigi back with the wand while he and King Windbag chase Hip and Hop outside the castle, they are shown inside it instead.
• In its initial appearance, the manhole has lines on it, but in the next shot, the lines disappear.
• When Hip says that King Koopa will be proud of the trouble he and Hop are causing Luigi, Hop's mouth moves, but no sound can be heard.
• In some scenes, King Windbag's collar is missing.
• When Luigi and King Windbah run over to the side of a car, they are layered over a bush.
• When Hip and Hop start throwing food in the hotel, Hip's head is orange. This also happens when he and Hop run out of the dining room.
• When Herman asks if someone called him, his net is layered behind his arm.
• Throughout the episode, the number of fingers Herman has switches from four to five several times.
• When Luigi and King Windbag land on the cactus, the lobsters fall off King Windbag, but when Herman is about to catch him, the lobsters are back on him.
• When Hip and Hop drive away in the sports car, Hop's glasses are missing.
  • Initially, Hip is driving and Hop is by him, but when they head to the Kennedy Space Center, they swap places.
• When Hip and Hop head to the Kennedy Space Center, Hip's hair turns completely blue.
• In its initial appearance, the sign in front of the Florida State Poochitentiary misspells it as "Florida State Poochitentary."
• When Luigi grabs onto the cable, it is black, but in the next shot, it turns brown.
• When Herman blocks the exits, his stubble is colored yellow instead of skin-color.
• When the dogs escape, they are all similar to the brown dog in Luigi and King Windbag's cage.
• After Luigi and King Windbag steal Herman's truck, Herman's hat is brown instead of white.
• When Luigi and King Windbag are at the space center, Herman's truck is layered over a tree.
• When King Windbag says, "What do dogs do best...Dig!", his pupils are larger than normal.
• Despite Hip peeking out from the side of the girder, he cannot be seen behind them. This also happens to Hop when they pull some astronauts behind there.
• When Luigi and King Windbag tie up Herman, his pockets turn the same color as his skin.
• When the astronauts step inside the elevator, their suits become darker.
• When Herman runs to Luigi and King Windbag, his shoes are colored brown instead of gray.
• In some scenes, the "L" on Luigi's cap is missing.
• In the Korean dub, the title is given as "개로볜한 마리오" (Openminded Mario), despite Mario never appearing in the episode. This was likely meant to refer to Luigi instead.

• 

  Hip and Hop's miscolored heads

• 

  The incorrectly layered net

• 

  Herman's miscolored shoes

Dub edits

• In the Latin American Spanish dub, the news reporter specifies that Hip and Hip are heading to the Kennedy Space Center's launchpad. In the original, she just says they are heading to the space center.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
French	Une vie de Chien	A Dog's Life
German	Ein Hundeleben[?]	A Dog's Life
Italian	Vita da cani	A Dog's Life
Korean	개로볜한 마리오 Kaero Byeonha Mario	Openminded Mario
Polish	Pieskie życie	A puppy's life
Portuguese	Vida de Cachorro	A Dog's Life
Spanish (NOA)	La vida es difícil	Life's rough
Spanish (NOE)	La vida es dura	Life's rough

Trivia

• This episode has a similar plot to Super Mario Bros. 3. Like the game, a king has his wand stolen and is turned into an animal, and a Mario brother has to get the wand back. The episode even features the same Koopaling who took over Ice Land in Super Mario Bros. 3, Lemmy Koopa, though in the game, he was not accompanied by Iggy Koopa.
• In the original NBC airings, Luigi narrates the trailer promo saying, "If you think your life's rough, today I got turned into a dog. And had to stop the Koopas from hijacking a real-world space shuttle!"