I'm sure Mario is just fine 🙂
Exactly What It Says on the Tin, as Mario forces his way into a round of Pokémon GO and gets unhealthily hooked on the game, even heading off to catch some Pokemon himself. Swagmaster eventually busts him trying to illegally catch a Pikachu and jokingly suggests he captures humans instead. Naturally, all hell breaks loose as Mario hunts down his friends one by one, until only Bob and Tari are left...
Tropes:
- Butt-Monkey: Meggy gets the short end of the stick during most of her appearances in this episode. She suffers two harsh bites from the Crocodile Dentist toy that require bandages, Mario captures her in a Pokéball as the "short gremlin Pokemon" (something she takes offense to), and whatever she suffered inside the Pokeball – apparently involving Monster Clowns – traumatized her badly.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Crocodile Dentist toy initially appears as a gag, but if it weren't for it coming to life and talking Mario down, he wouldn't have undone his damage.
- Call-Back:
- Luigi and Tari are initially reluctant to let Mario play Pokemon GO with them, as the last time he got his hands on the game in "Mario Plays Pokemon GO", he went on an Earth-ending catching spree.
- Mario going bonkers over a fad and Bob and Tari having to stop him is very similar to what happened a year back, only with Pokemon instead of NFTs.
- Deadpan Snarker: Tari, of all people, gets one in when Bob suggests locking Mario in the basement forever.Bob: Come on! Why can't we lock him down there forever? I do that with people all the time!
Tari: I shouldn't have to answer that. - Death Glare: SMG3 and SMG4 gives murderous ones to Mario for trapping them in Pokéballs before their payback. Even Meggy gives Mario a look that practically screams "You've done it now, dumbass".
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: After Mario captures Luigi in a Pokéball and goes coo-coo crazy, we cut to him wearing aviator shades and headphones while the Galaxy remix of "Bob-Omb Battlefield" plays. What makes it this trope is that we quickly cut to SMG4 in his office and the music disappears until Mario barges in.
- Epic Fail: Meggy isn't a very good Crocodile Dentist player, to say the least, having been bitten twice by picking the same wrong tooth on both of her attempts.
- Funny Background Event: During the four straight days and nights (minimum) Mario plays Pokémon, we see outside the window, amongst other things Mario never notices…
- Kermit, SMGs 1 and 2 in their shopping cart, "Leggy", and Satan (in his K-Pop phase) all run past.
- SMG4 waving to the window then getting reduced to a skeleton by a bomb dropped out of a plane by SMG3.
- Depresso building a "Hobo Paradise" from scratch then its swift and violent destruction by police.
- Marty slowly and menacingly approaching the window but then floating up into space.
- Hypocritical Humor: Swag stops Mario from capturing a Pikachu because they're endangered. While speaking to him, Swag squishes said Pikachu beneath his tank tread. His response? "Whoops…"
- Laser-Guided Karma: Much like the last time Mario targeted his friends over a fad, the plumber gets his due when an enraged SMG4 and SMG3 drag him out, stuff him in a Pokéball, and shoot the whole thing down a volcano.
- Pet the Dog: While selling Tari out to Mario is still a Bob move, the ex-Garo at least has the decency to tend to Tari when the latter runs smack into his bear traps and sets them all off, right after they've temporarily incapacitated Mario, of course.
- Shout-Out: As Mario prepares to catch SMG3, he acts out the first part of the famous Christian Bale murder scene from American Psycho. Immediately after that, when Boopkins tries to talk sense into him, he turns into the "Booty Warrior" from S3E09 of The Boondocks.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Two in this episode…
- After Mario caught every single Pokémon in the game, he demands more. Melony (briefly) wakes up and tells him to go outside and catch some himself, leading to…
- Swag jokingly suggesting Mario "go capture some humans instead" because apparently Pokémon are endangered in the Mushroom Kingdom. Unfortunately, the Literal-Minded Mario took it in the worst way possible, and soon only Bob and Tari are safe from his onslaught.
- Villain Protagonist: Mario, yet again, targeting his friends to catch them as his Pokémon against their will, even going full-on Soft-Spoken Sadist on several occasions.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Meggy, once she sees what Mario's up to, immediately assures the surviving cast she'll take care of it – a reasonable assumption since she's usually the only one Mario ever even pretends to listen to. Unfortunately, she forgot how dangerous Mario can get when under Sanity Slippage, so she isn't able to get a full sentence out before he traps her in a Pokéball.
