The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode
"Crimes R Us"
Production number	217-118
Episode	19
Airdate	November 10, 1990[1]
Writer(s)	Heidi Holicker Rick Holicker
Opening curtain	Dark Land
Featured song	"Double Crossing" "Burn, Baby, Burn" (Italian dub)
Episode chronology ← Previous "The Ugly Mermaid" Next → "Life's Ruff" List of episodes

“I wantyou to teach thesetots every illegal, underhanded, and treacherous trick you know!”

—King Bowser Koopa

"Crimes R Us" is the nineteenth episode ofThe Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. It aired alongside another episode entitled "Life's Ruff." The title of this episode is a reference to the toy store companyToys "R" Us.DIC Entertainment'sSuper Mario cartoons later parody this in an episode title again with theSuper Mario World episode "Ghosts 'R' Us."

Plot synopsis[edit]

King Koopa and hisKoopalings are all onboard theDoom Ship, and are flying over a town somewhere in thereal world.Bully Koopa announces that they are about to reach a prison, and Koopa is quite pleased, noting that a prison is the only place in the real world with their kind of people.

Down below, in the prison courtyard, a large, muscular prisoner is playing a game of basketball with some of the other prisoners. When one of the other prisoners laughs at him for failing to make a shot, the larger prisoner rolls him up into a ball, and shoots him through the net. When the large prisoner challenges the other prisoners into beating him, they run away.

Suddenly, the large prisoner experiences a tremor, and looks up to see the Doom Ship firing at a guard tower. Bully then descends down to the prisoner from the Doom Ship on a rope ladder, and asks if he isCrime Wave Clyde, Real World Public Enemy #1. The prisoner assures him that he is, or else he would not have been sentenced to jail for 12,423 years with no parole. Bully tells Clyde that his father is giving him a pardon, grabs him, and brings him onboard the Doom Ship.

Surrounded by the Koopas, Clyde wants to know who the Koopas are, and what they want with him. When they arrive atKastle Koopa, Koopa explains his background to Clyde, who can barely believe what he is hearing. He further tells Clyde that he busted him out of jail so that he could teach the Koopalings all the tactics he used to commit crimes. When Clyde wants to know what he will get out of this ordeal, Koopa tells him that he can keep half of whatever was stolen. Unaware that Koopa had crossed his fingers behind his back, Clyde agrees.

Later on, the Doom Ship pulls up above theFirst Mushroom Bank, and Clyde prepares to teach the Koopalings their first lesson in crime: bank robbery. Meanwhile,Mario andLuigi are going on a walk through theMushroom Kingdom, where Mario points out that the clouds in the sky sometimes resemble things, includingPrincess Toadstool. Luigi first spots a cloud that barely resembles theirAunt Maria, and then the Doom Ship, which he at first mistakes for a cloud.

Realizing that the Koopas are pulling a bank heist, Mario and Luigi scramble to find power-ups. Mario finds aSuper Leaf to becomeRaccoon Mario, while Luigi uses aFire Flower to becomeFire Luigi. Inside the bank, the Koopalings seize theMushroom People there and steal the valuables they have on them. Just as Bully forces the banker to toss all of hisGold Coins into a sack, Mario knocks the sack away from Bully with his tail, and it hitsHip andHop. Luigi shoots afireball atBig Mouth,Kooky, andCheatsy. However,Kootie Pie uses a fur scarf she stole to wrap up Mario with, while Bully sprays Luigi with a fire extinguisher. With the heroes down, the Koopalings retreat to the Doom Ship.

Back at Kastle Koopa, the Koopalings are beating each other up, while Clyde tells them that they failed lesson one in crime. He then proceeds to lesson two; getting rid of the good guys.

At some later point, Mario and Luigi come out of aWarp Pipe inDesert Land, where they hear a voice crying for help. The voice leads them to a Mushroom boy, who explains that some ugly monsters stole his lunch money, and directs Mario and Luigi to the pipe they escaped through. Once Mario and Luigi travel down the pipe, Cheatsy comes out of hiding, thanks the kid for leading Mario and Luigi down the pipe, and actually returns the stolen lunch money.

Mario and Luigi after running into the door from Crime Wave Clyde closing it.

Mario and Luigi come out of a pipe in a maze underneath Desert Land, which closes behind them. They then hear Clyde laugh, and turn to see him with Big Mouth, who tells them that they are trapped. Just after Big Mouth and Clyde lock them in, Big Mouth briefly opens the door to let in aBoom Boom that will "keep them company". The Boom Boom chases Mario and Luigi into some quicksand, with no visible ways of escape.

Mario angers the Boom Boom by clucking like a chicken, and lures him into jumping into the quicksand. As the Boom Boom jumps at him, Mario jumps into the air and hits aJump Block containing aSuper Leaf. AsRaccoon Mario, Mario picks up Luigi and flies across the quicksand.

In the Mushroom Kingdom, Clyde explains to the Koopalings that he has now taught them everything he knows, and sends them out to commit crimes. Big Mouth uses aPtooie to hold up a Mushroom lady, while Kooky steals the coins in her purse. Big Mouth then threatens Kootie Pie into handing her stolen loot over to him, and they get into a fight.

After returning to Kastle Koopa, Bully reads from a list of everything that they managed to steal. When Big Mouth uses his Ptooie to demand a stolen yo-yo from Bully, Clyde gets mad, exclaiming that the Koopalings should not steal from each other. Hip and Hop take to Clyde's advice by stealing wallets from his pockets. Although Clyde is frustrated, Koopa is proud of his children, and announces that they need to pull the "crime of the Mushroom Century".

Bully wonders if they will rob the ruins of the Mushroom pharaohs, while Cheatsy thinks that they will pilfer the pyramids of the Koopahari Desert. Kootie Pie thinks it is getting rid of Princess Toadstool, but Koopa shakes his head at all their ideas before unveiling his plan: stealing one billion gold coins from theMushroom Kingdom Treasury.

Mario and Luigi after finding two Thwomps.

Down in the maze, Mario and Luigi are finding themselves chased byPtooies andSledge Brothers, and find themselves locked in a room with twoThwomps. Luigi is fairly worried, because he is certain that there is no possible way out of the maze.

At the entrance to the Mushroom Kingdom Treasury, Crime Wave Clyde hands aBob-omb to Kooky, telling him not to light it until he says go. Kooky then lights the Bob-omb and handcuffs it to Clyde's ankle. When Clyde asks what is going on, the Koopalings explain that they are following Koopa's orders, and that they did not plan on giving him anything. Not able to take the Koopalings' antics, Clyde jumps into a pond, dousing the Bob-omb's lit fuse.

In the maze, Mario and Luigi are trying to dodge theThwomps. Just when Luigi tells Mario that they are finished, Clyde busts down the door, begging for Mario and Luigi to get him back home. Although they are angry at Clyde, he promises to help Mario and Luigi in stopping the Koopalings from robbing the Mushroom Treasury.

At the treasury, Bully uses a Bob-omb to blast open the front door, while Hip and Hop use aChain Chomp to open a barred window. Kooky unleashes aFiresnake, which busts a hole on the roof, while Big Mouth blasts a hole in the wall with his Ptooie. Once the Koopalings enter the treasury, they begin loading up bags with coins. When Bully and Kootie Pie open a vault door, they are shocked to see Mario, Luigi, and Clyde waiting for them on the other side.

Up aboard the Doom Ship, King Koopa hoists up a platform supporting two money sacks. However, upon opening one sack he sees his children all tied up and gagged. The second sack falls open on its own, revealing a litbig Bob-omb, which blows away part of the Doom Ship, creatingfireworks around it, causing it to retreat from the Mushroom Kingdom, and Clyde smiles.

Later on, Mario and Luigi return Clyde to his jail cell. Luigi remarks that he is never seen anyone so happy to actually be behind bars. Clyde responds by stating that his 12,423 year sentence with no parole is a lot better than one more day with the Koopas. Upon hearing Clyde's remark, Mario mentions that Clyde's lucky because he did not have to face the Koopalings on a bad day.

Gallery[edit]

• 

  Title card

• 

  Arabic title card

• 

  Korean title card

Animation and continuity errors[edit]

• When theDoomship attacks the prison, the sky is that of theMushroom Kingdom instead of the real world.
• WhenBully points toCrime Wave Clyde, one of his claws is colored orange like his hands instead of white.
• When King Koopa introduces himself, Clyde's shoes turn completely brown. This also happens whenKooky ties theBob-omb to him.
• In several scenes,Hop's hair turns completely yellow.
• When the Mario Bros. realize that they have to stop the bank robbery, twoCheatsys can be seen.
• WhenLuigi becomesFire Luigi, his clothes do not change color.
• In one scene, the scarf thatKootie Pie stole is a coin sack instead.
• As the Koopalings are lifted up the ladder after the bank robbery, large smudges on the animation cel move up with them.
• When Cheatsy approaches theMushroom boy after the Mario Bros. enter theWarp Pipe, his underbelly is colored orange instead of cream. This also occurs when he says that he is following orders.
• When Bully trips Clyde, the background moves behind them.
  • In the same scene, the stripes on Clyde's uniform are darker than normal.
• When Bully reviews the stolen goods, his mouth does not move.
  • In the same scene,Hip and Hop's hair turns completely pink.
• When Bully pulls out the yo-yo, it is aCoin on a string, but whenBig Mouth plays with it, it is an actual yo-yo.
• When Clyde starts the second lesson, the number on his uniform disappears briefly.
• WhenMario and Luigi are in the mud, Luigi has four fingers on each hand instead of five.
• When Big Mouth steals Kootie Pie's money, the rim around his shell is colored white instead of yellow. This also happens when he steals the yo-yo.
  • In the same scene, the bow on Kootie Pie's tail disappears, and shortly after, spots appear on the bow.
• When Clyde says, "This is giving me a headache...", Cheatsy's head is orange instead of green. This also happens when Kooky ties Clyde to the Bob-omb.
• When Mario flies in the air when Kootie Pie wraps him in the cloth, his raccoon ears and tail are missing.
• In several scenes, Kootie Pie's shoes are missing.
• When Clyde explains the tactics of bank robbery, his skin is much darker than normal.
• As Mario and Luigi run through the door while fleeing thePtooies andSledge Brothers, the wall closest to the screen shakes.
• Initially, the prisoner that Clyde turns into a ball has dark-orange skin.
• When King Koopa says that it is time for the big finale, Clyde's belt is colored blue like his uniform instead of yellow, while Hop has one spike on his shell instead of two.
• When Big Mouth uses a Ptooie to open a hole in a wall, his snout is tan instead of brown.
• When Cheatsy and Kooky are on top of thetreasury, its sign misspells it as "tbeasury".
  • In the same scene, Cheatsy's hair is yellow instead of blue.
• When the Mario Bros. dodge aThwomp, a VHS glitch appears for a moment.
• When the Mario Bros. are suspicious of Clyde, the background is the treasury instead of the maze.
• When the Koopalings steal the money in the treasury, Hop's sclerae disappear.
  • In the same scene, Kootie Pie appears from thin air and spikes appear on her bracelets.
• In the Italian dub, theBurn, Baby, Burn instrumental is used instead ofDouble Crossing instrumental.

• 

  Kootie Pie's missing shoes

• 

  The incorrect background

• 

  The misspelled sign

Characters[edit]

• Mario
• Luigi
• King Koopa
• Cheatsy Koopa
• Kootie Pie Koopa
• Big Mouth Koopa
• Bully Koopa
• Kooky von Koopa
• Hip Koopa (no dialogue, but laughs in one scene)
• Hop Koopa (no dialogue)
• Crime Wave Clyde
• Prisoner

Cast[edit]

• Walker Boone —Mario
• Tony Rosato —Luigi
• John Stocker — Prisoner
• Harvey Atkin —King Bowser Koopa
• Dan Hennessey —Bully Koopa,Crime Wave Clyde, banker, Singer #2
• Gordon Masten —Big Mouth Koopa, Singer #1
• Michael Stark —Kooky von Koopa, Singer #3
• James Rankin —Cheatsy Koopa, Singer #4
• Paulina Gillis —Kootie Pie Koopa, Female singer
• Stuart Stone —Hip Koopa
• Tara Charendoff —Hop Koopa, Mushroom boy

Dub edits[edit]

• The scene whereMario acts like a chicken to coax theBoom Boom into the quicksand is a reference to "chicken," a term used to refer to a coward. However, this scene has no context in many dubs, such as German (Huhn, "chicken" versusAngsthase, literally "fear hare"), Hungarian (csirke, "chicken" versusnyuszi, literally "bunny"), Polish (kurczak, "chicken" versustchórz, literally "European polecat"), Portuguese (galinha, "chicken" versuscovarde ("coward"), and Russian ("курица,"kuritsa, "chicken" versus "трус,"trus, literally "earthquake").

Names in other languages[edit]

Notes[edit]

• Toad andPrincess Toadstool do not appear in this episode orits sister episode.
• King Koopa calls himself "Bowser Koopa" when he introduces himself toCrime Wave Clyde.
• WhenBig Mouth says that he is a poor dancer, he performs theMoonwalk.

References[edit]

• The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episodes