Saturday Supercade?

[Retro]

Does anyone know if Saturday Supercade will ever make it to DVD? For those unfamiliar with this, it was a show that aired during the late 1980s that consisted of cartoons of video games that were popular at the time - Frogger, Q-Bert, Pitfall, Donkey Kong, etc. As far as I know, this has never been released to VHS or DVD.

[Marty26]

Wasn't it technically from 1983-1985?

[Retro]

Wasn't it technically from 1983-1985?

You're right. For some reason I thought at first that I remembered watching this during the late 1980s.

[Bradskey]

Nobody around here knows for sure, but the conventional guess would probably be no, not any time soon. Who knows though, we might be pleasantly surprised some day, stranger things have happened. I think it may have had a couple episodes on VHS a couple decades ago, but I could be wrong. Strange how so many obscure shows could make at least a partial showing on VHS back in the day but get held up for years (or forever) on DVD because of rights and licensing and assorted BS. I'd buy it but a lot of others would probably sneer at it. I like it myself, but mostly for nostalgia. Some of the cartoons have only the loosest basis in the original video games.

[larriva9/11]

With the potential "natural" market for stuff like this, we're probably effectively entering the "post-DVD" era, anyway. Wait 'til it's released for download, or whatever.

[That 70s Mom]

If G4 can run reruns of Starcade, anything's possible.

[Studio Toledo]

If G4 can run reruns of Starcade, anything's possible.
Though that was a different thing altogether (let alone they haven't ran it since the Tech TV merger anyway). I personally feel the cartoons that make up Saturday Supercade are owned through different companies nowadays than through one place (namely Time Warner). There was already an abridged episode of Q-bert that showed up on YouTube recently that came through a Sony-based viral web thing called "Minisode", while at some point in time, MCA handled distributing the Donkey Kong cartoons for TV distribution, so I have the impression the rights are sort of up in the air.

[Marty26]

Remember, too, that Mario later got his own series with The Super Mario Brothers Super Show (and then, afterwards, Super Mario Brothers 3 and Super Mario World). That might have taken him out of the hands of the original producers of The Saturday Morning Supercade.

[Studio Toledo]

Remember, too, that Mario later got his own series with The Super Mario Brothers Super Show (and then, afterwards, Super Mario Brothers 3 and Super Mario World). That might have taken him out of the hands of the original producers of The Saturday Morning Supercade.
I don't think that was the case since that was a separate entity anyway.

[Marty26]

I don't think that was the case since that was a separate entity anyway.

Just out of curiosity, on TSMS, was Mario actually referred to as "Mario" or as "Jumpman"?

(for those who don't know, Jumpman was Mario's name in the original Donkey Kong)

[Bradskey]

Just out of curiosity, on TSMS, was Mario actually referred to as "Mario" or as "Jumpman"?

(for those who don't know, Jumpman was Mario's name in the original Donkey Kong)

I have a cruddy-quality episode somewhere, and I think it may be on Youtube also -- I'm pretty sure he's called Mario. I've never actually heard of Jumpman, I always knew him as Mario rescuing Pauline, but then I was a pretty small tyke when DK was originally released in arcades.

[Marty26]

It's not a particularly well-known fact, but yeah. Mario was originally named Jumpman. He was later named "Mario" because, I believe, Nintendo's warehouse manager was named Mario. And because the character looked so Italian.

[Studio Toledo]

Just out of curiosity, on TSMS, was Mario actually referred to as "Mario" or as "Jumpman"?

(for those who don't know, Jumpman was Mario's name in the original Donkey Kong)
That show came out in '89, and by then, the first two Super Mario Bros. games were already out.

[Bradskey]

That show came out in '89, and by then, the first two Super Mario Bros. games were already out.

I don't know what TSMS equals exactly, but I assumed he meant to ask about the Saturday Morning Supercade. Obviously Mario was "Mario" on the various Mario Brothers shows. LOL

[Marty26]

Yeah, TSMS stood for The Saturday Morning Supercade. I know the first two Mario games came out before The Super Mario Brothers Super Show.

[ThePeterNetwork]

There was already an abridged episode of Q-bert that showed up on YouTube recently that came through a Sony-based viral web thing called "Minisode"

And here it is, for your own corny enjoyment: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMnJwPbX1fA)

[Niagara Fool]

The likelihood of Saturday Supercade ever being released on DVD is probably slim to none. :(

The biggest issue holding back a release is getting the rights to the various video games that were used in the show. There's also the issue as to whether there's a large enough market for a DVD release of this show.

As for the show itself, I used to watch it back in the day and it ran for two seasons (1983-1985). The first season featured Frogger, Donkey Kong, Pitfall, Q-Bert and Donkey Kong Jr. Frogger was shown first, followed by DK, followed by Pitfall or Q-Bert (these two would alternate weekly) and end with DK, Jr.

DK was, by far, the best segment, and featured Soupy Sales (!) as the voice of Donkey Kong. Of the other segments, Q-Bert and Pitfall were all right while Frogger and DK, Jr were rather dull.

With the second and final season, DK and Q-Bert stuck around, while Frogger, Pitfall and DK, Jr. were dropped. To replace those segments, segments based on Kangaroo and Space Ace were added. Space Ace was excellent, while Kangaroo was probably the worst of all the various segments.

Would I buy a DVD of the show? Sure, but I think it's more likely that some of the segments might receive releases. Nintendo, for example, might decide to release the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr shows, much like they did with the later Super Mario Brothers shows. Whoever owns the rights to Space Ace might decide to put out that show separately.

[Studio Toledo]

Yeah, TSMS stood for The Saturday Morning Supercade. I know the first two Mario games came out before The Super Mario Brothers Super Show.
Sorry, I thought you meant the other show. The abbreviation you gave didn't clue it with me since I never heard of it that way. In '83, the video game, "Mario Bros." was in the arcades otherwise, so he probably got called Mario by this point from this point from the time he was Jumpman originally in DK.

[Studio Toledo]

Would I buy a DVD of the show? Sure, but I think it's more likely that some of the segments might receive releases. Nintendo, for example, might decide to release the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr shows, much like they did with the later Super Mario Brothers shows. Whoever owns the rights to Space Ace might decide to put out that show separately.
The Space Ace episodes got seen on CN's Boomerang for a number of years, so I would assume Time Warner owns it along with the half-hour Dragon's Lair program that also showed up a few times on Boomerang I think.

[nickramer]

The Space Ace episodes got seen on CN's Boomerang for a number of years, so I would assume Time Warner owns it along with the half-hour Dragon's Lair program that also showed up a few times on Boomerang I think.
Yeah, I remember they played the Space Ace cartoons on Cartoon Network in the mids-90s. I liked those then, but I was just young and foolish then. Now I'm just old and naive.