In time for the start of Season 2, the SMG4 cast star in a wacky retelling of the first season of Meta Runner.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Swagmaster calls Tari "Terry".
- Adaptational Villainy: Without Lucinia’s apparent death motivating her, Belle antagonizes Tari seemingly out of sheer spite.
- Adapted Out: The entire subplot with Lucinia, Dr. Sheridan and Project Blue is ignored. Justified, as the eleven minute runtime doesn't have room for it.
- All Just a Dream: The whole thing turns out to be a crazy dream Tari was describing to Mario and SMG4.
- Artifact Title: Despite being an "If Mario was in..." episode, Tari has a larger role than Mario.
- As Himself: Whereas the other Meta Runner characters have the Glitchy Gang portraying them, Tari and Belle appear as themselves.
- Casting Gag:
- Mario as Theo makes perfect sense, as "Ultra Jump Mania" was obviously inspired by platforming video games, namely the Super Mario Bros. series.
- Fishy Boopkins is perfect for Lamar, since they both love waifu pillows.
- Compressed Adaptation: Basically, this is Meta Runner Season 1 Abridged due to being an 11 minute video.
- Denser and Wackier: The episode is basically a recap of Meta Runner's first season with the same wacky, cartoony humor as SMG4.
- Downer Ending: Despite this being a spoof, it ends the exact same way the actual first season does with Lucks/Bob having Tari under his thumb. Subverted due to the whole episode being All Just a Dream.
- Foreshadowing: There are a few hints that the episode is All Just a Dream scattered throughout:
- Mario being a Refugee from TV Land is treated as incredibly shocking at first, but things stop adding up with he says hi to Luigi (who isn't a video game character) and how he and MD-5 already know each other.
- In this episode, Tari meets Belle and Mario for the first time and has no prior experience with video games, yet she, like Mario, already knows who the others are.
- Monster of the Week: Bob plays the role of Lucks, the Big Bad of Meta Runner, and thus serves as the episode's antagonist.
- Mood Whiplash: Happens in rapid succession near the end. Meggy is forced to surrender the tablet with the hacked data to Bob to prevent Shroomy from being killed, followed immediately by Bob celebrating by shooting the tablet to bits and then crushing Mario's cartridge as he says "Something something collateral damage," then Mario "dies" and everything's sad again when Tari surrenders herself to TasCorp, then right after she disappears through the door, the scene immediately changes to Tari explaining to Mario and SMG4 that everything she told them was from her crazy dream.
- Only Sane Man: Meggy, filing the role of Sofia, seems to be the only one playing her part 100% straight.
- Self-Parody: Glitch Productions takes their usual "If Mario Was in..." parody series and points it at one of their own series.
- Shapeshifting: Belle is able to turn into a Teletubby Mook this way. In the original version of this scene, she merely uses a disguise.
- Super-Strength: Somehow, Tari is able to break doors open by smashing into them.
- Ungrateful Bitch: After Belle loses the tournament, a sympathetic Tari goes to say hi to cheer her up, only to receive a Death Glare.
- Universal-Adaptor Cast: Apart from Tari and Belle playing themselves, the rest of the Meta Runner cast are portrayed by SMG4 characters: Mario is Theo, Bob is Lucks, Boopkins is Lamar, Meggy is Sofia, and Shroomy is Masa. Swagmaster also fills Dr. Sheridan's role as Character Narrator at the beginning (getting corrections from Chris), the Teletubbies as TASCorp Mooks, and the rest as random citizens of Silica City.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The entire episode is an abridged, beat-for-beat retelling of Meta Runner Season 1 with SMG4 characters, which makes sense once it turns out to have all been a crazy dream SMG4 Tari had.
