The Yoshi Shuffle

The Yoshi Shuffle is the eleventh episode of the Super Mario World animated series.

Plot Synopsis

While watching several cave-people attempting to build something with stone slabs Mario notices how recklessly the cave-people are working. Unfortunately, whatever the cave-people were building falls apart due to the fact that the cave-people failed to cooperate in building it. As the cave-people stare blankly at the mess they've made, Luigi and Yoshi suddenly appear. Luigi proceeds to show Mario a stone football he chiseled. An excited Mario gets Luigi to throw the football to him, unfortunately the football is too heavy and Mario is knocked backwards upon catching it.

Sort-of catching this football gives Mario and idea, he'll teach the cave-people teamwork and cooperation by getting them to play football with one another. Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and several cave-people proceed to rush into a nearby field for a game, with Bully and Cheatsy Koopa watching them.

Beginning the game of football, Mario passes the ball to Yoshi and tells the cave-people to tackle him, unfortunately, the confused cave-people simply tackle each other. As the cave-people fight among themselves, Yoshi throws the football to Luigi, who is running down the field. As Luigi tries to catch the ball, he runs into a nearby Koopa Wizard. The Koopa Wizard, angered, turns Luigi into an egg; right after doing this, the Koopa Wizard is flung backwards by the soaring football and subsequently drops his wand.

Having watched the entire seen from behind a nearby tree, Bully and Cheatsy Koopa prepare to run-in and take the egg Luigi has been turned into. Before the Koopalings can grab the egg though, Yoshi appears and, mistaking the egg for the football, picks it up and begins running away with it, with Mario chasing him.

Seeing Bully and Cheatsy, Mario has Yoshi jump into a nearby Warp Tube, with Mario following him in. Coming out the other end of the Warp Tube, Mario and Yoshi are horrified to discover they're right in front of Neon Castle. Before they can react, Mario and Yoshi are tackled by a pair of Koopa Football Players. Coming out of the Warp Tube, a taunting Cheatsy orders the Koopa Football Players to take Mario and Yoshi to Neon Castle's dungeon while Bully takes "Luigi the Egg".

With Mario, Luigi and Yoshi captured, Cheatsy enters Bowser's bedroom and begins to tell his sleeping father of how he captured Mario, Luigi and Yoshi. Suddenly, Cheatsy gets an idea and leaves his father's room, believing, with his father sleeping, he is in charge. Going into the dungeons, Cheatsy proceeds to tell Mario, Yoshi and Bully that their all going to play a game of football for his amusement, with Luigi as the ball.

Brooding in his cell, Mario begins to try and explain some football plays to a panicking Yoshi, as Cheatsy watches and listens from a nearby peep-hole. On the football field, Cheatsy begins taking admission money from several Boos, Ninjis and Goombas, while Mario and Yoshi wait impatiently in their field-side cell. Suddenly, Big Mouth Koopa enters the field and begins to ramble-on about the game. Introducing Cheatsy as the game's referee, Big Mouth has a Koopa Football Player open Mario and Yoshi's cell, letting them out. As a gesture of "good will", Cheatsy allows Mario and Luigi to do the game's first throw.

Still rambling, Big Mouth is finally shut-up by Bully. After Big Mouth is quieted down, Mario and Yoshi, or team "Dome-Heads", face-down their opponents, the "Koopa Karcass Krunchers", which consists of a Koopa Football Player and Bully Koopa.

Trying to get a touchdown, Mario is knocked-out of bounds by Bully, who grabs the ball from Mario. Managing to get the ball from Bully, Mario and Yoshi, instead of running down the field, run-out a nearby hole in the wall. Dodging Koopa Football Players, Ninjis, Thwomps and Boos, Mario hits a nearby ? Block, which releases a Starman. Grabbing this Starman, Mario becomes unstoppable and returns to the football field.

Knocking Big Mouth, Bully and Cheatsy aside, Mario and Yoshi score a touchdown and began an overly-long victory dance. A fuming Cheatsy says Mario and Yoshi cheated; ignoring Cheatsy, Mario and Yoshi try to run-out a nearby door, only to come face-to-face with a gang of Koopa Football Players.

Before the Koopa Football Players can attack though, they are tackled by a group of cavemen, who had followed Mario and Yoshi's footprints to the Neon Castle. Trying to attack, Bully, Cheatsy and Big Mouth are knocked back by the cavemen. Running from Neon Castle, Mario, Yoshi and the cavemen make it back to the Warp Tube and to Dome City.

Brainstorming on how to change Luigi back to normal, one of the cave-people manages to find the wand the Koopa Wizard had dropped earlier. With this wand, Mario manages to change Luigi back to his old self. A confused Luigi proceeds to ask "Uhhh.... Did I catch the ball?".

Trivia

• In several scenes of this episode, the color, size and appearance of characters continually change and shift dramatically. Also, several details on characters, such as spikes, stars and clothing continually switch color or disappear all together.

• Cheatsy's accusation that Mario and Yoshi cheated to get a touchdown in the football game is actually true; as Mario and Yoshi went out of bounds to get that touchdown.

• The 'penalites for "excessive demonstration"' as Cheatsy says, is now an actual 15 yeard penalty assesed if a player celebrates excessively in the end zone after a touchdown.

• Luigi's egg form is surprisingly a yoshi egg. This led some to believe that if Mario did not find the wand, Luigi would hatch into a yoshi baby.

• When Luigi asks if he caught the ball, he actually ran into the wizard which would have made him miss the ball (though it is possible he forgot)