The Super Mario Bros. Cartoon Returns with a New AI Twist

Earlier this month, a channel announced it would begin airing the classic *Super Mario Bros. Super Show* on its TV and streaming platforms. Just yesterday, the beloved Mario series made its debut, but fans quickly noticed that the show had been altered and “enhanced” using AI upscaling.

On March 30, the channel aired its first episodes of *The Super Mario Bros. Super Show*. The timing is clearly strategic: with a new Mario movie on the horizon, it makes sense to draw viewers in by licensing and rebroadcasting this nostalgic cartoon-and-live-action hybrid from the ’80s. However, it seems the channel opted to run the classic series through an AI upscaler, and the results have been shared online through some rather unflattering screenshots.

The *Super Mario Super Show* has started airing with AI upscaling, and the outcome is as disappointing as you might expect.

Let’s be honest, the original series wasn’t a masterpiece. It had its share of low-budget animation, off-model drawings, and other quirks. Yet, when you compare the original show on YouTube to the AI-upscaled version, it’s clear that the AI has altered details and smoothed things out in a bizarre and unattractive manner. It even changed the show’s title in the intro from *The Super Mario Bros. Super Show* to *The Suele Mario Bros. Super Show*. Ouch!

There are plenty of examples online where fans have shared screenshots highlighting the poor quality, including some shared in a “Cartoon Research” group.

“This is why you should never use AI to ‘restore’ a cartoon,” remarked cartoon enthusiast Matt Hunter. I have to agree with him; the results are pretty rough. It almost seems like the channel didn’t have access to any original tapes and just had to upscale some YouTube videos instead. Not great at all.