MeTV's AI Upscaling Turns Classic Super Mario Bros. Cartoon Into Visual Disaster
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The Super Mario Bros. cartoon is back, but looks really weird thanks to AI
Adults of a certain age will no doubt remember The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, a cartoon from 1989 that starred our favorite sibling plumbers decades before they would take over multiplexes with an animated film franchise. The broadcast channel MeTV Toons has begun airing old episodes of the show, likely to trade on the buzz emanating from the pending theatrical release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. There's just one problem. The episodes seem to have been sloppified by AI, according to a report by Kotaku. The original series wasn't exactly a visual delight. It was a cash grab cartoon from the 1980s. However, it looks even worse now. MeTV seems to have run the footage through a bargain bin AI upscaler and the results are, in a word, weird. Everything looks smoothed over in an off-putting way, with some characters looking markedly different from the original footage. Many of the episodes , so it's easy to do your own comparisons. The AI also seems to have changed the title card to "The Suele Mario Bros. Super Show." These AI tools have never been great with visual representations of written text, but you'd think someone at the station would have given things a look over. Engadget has reached out to MeTV to ask what happened and we'll update this post when we find out. For the uninitiated, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show ran for just a single season. But this was 1989, so a full 65 episodes aired throughout the year. Seasons didn't mess around back then. It was famous for its live-action segments that starred professional wrestler "Captain" Lou Albano as Mario. It also turned into a Legend of Zelda cartoon every Friday. There's where the famous comes from.
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They Brought Back The Super Mario Bros. Cartoon And Sloppified It With AI
Earlier this month, MeTV announced that it would start airing the classic Super Mario Bros Super Show on its TV and streaming channels. And yesterday, the station began airing the beloved Mario series, but fans quickly noticed that the show has been slopped up and "improved" using AI upscaling. On March 30, MeTV Toons aired its first episodes of the Super Mario Bros Super Show. The timing is obvious: There's a new Mario movie coming out, so why not get people watching MeTV by spending money to license and rebroadcast the classic Mario cartoon-and-live-action hybrid show from the '80s? Seems reasonable! However, MeTV seems to have decided to run the classic series through some AI upscaler, and the end results have been spread online via some awful-looking screenshots. Let's be clear, the original series wasn't some incredible production. It featured cheap animation, off-model drawings, and other issues. Still, comparing the original show on YouTube with the AI-upscaled version on MeTV shows that the AI has straight-up changed details and smoothed everything over in a weird, ugly way. It even changed the show's name in the intro sequence from The Super Mario Bros Super Show to The Suele Mario Bros Super Show. Yikes! You can find more examples online of people sharing screenshots of how bad it all looks, like these screenshots shared by a user in the "Cartoon Research" Facebook group. "This is why you should never use AI to 'restore' a cartoon. From The Super Mario Bros. Super Show as aired on MeTV Toons today," said cartoon fan Matt Hunter. And I have to agree with Matt, because this shit looks bad. It almost looks like MeTV wasn't given any original tapes or anything like that and just had to AI upscale some YouTube videos instead. Rough stuff.
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AI "upgraded" versions of the 1989 Super Mario Bros. cartoon are airing now on MeTV, and the results aren't pretty
Ahead of the release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, MeTV announced that it would air all 65 episodes of The Super Mario Bros. cartoon. What they didn't disclose, however, is that they would be "upgraded" with AI. Per Kotaku, the results are just about as bad as you'd expect. In a video shared by a fan, the once sharp, crisp, and lively animation looks like overly smooth, lifeless AI slop. You can check it out below. Given that MeTV is a hub for classic TV shows and movies... you think they would've left the animation alone and simply used tech to upgrade the quality a touch... not change it completely. The short-lived animated series premiered in 1989, with WWE Hall of Fame wrestler "Captain" Lou Albano and Danny Wells providing the voices of Mario and Luigi, respectively... and also playing them in campy live-action segments. There was also a plethora of live-action guest stars, including Cyndi Lauper, Ernie Hudson, Magic Johnson, and even "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. The Legend of Zelda also had their own special animated segments (which have also been retouched with AI). There are also several other animated Mario shows, including The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, King Koopa's Kool Kartoons, and Super Mario World. If these start streaming, we hope the original, grainy 90s quality is retained. Fingers crossed. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie releases in theaters on April 1. For everything else coming soon, check out our guide to all the upcoming movies in 2026 and beyond.
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The broadcast channel MeTV Toons began airing The Super Mario Bros. Super Show on March 30, but fans immediately noticed something was wrong. The 1989 Super Mario Bros. cartoon had been processed through AI upscaling tools, resulting in smoothed-over visuals, distorted original details, and even a mangled title card that reads "The Suele Mario Bros. Super Show" instead of the original name.
MeTV Brings Back Classic Cartoon With Controversial AI Treatment
The broadcast channel MeTV Toons started airing The Super Mario Bros. Super Show on March 30, timing the release to capitalize on buzz from the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy Movie hitting theaters April 1. However, what should have been a nostalgic trip for fans quickly turned into a source of criticism from fans when viewers noticed the episodes had been processed through AI upscaling
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. The 1989 Super Mario Bros. cartoon, which originally ran for 65 episodes in a single season, now features a weird and smoothed over appearance that has sparked immediate backlash across social media and animation communities.
Source: GamesRadar
Poor Implementation of AI Creates Visual Disasters
The AI-upgraded versions showcase numerous problems that highlight the poor implementation of AI in video restoration. Characters look markedly different from the original animation, with details smoothed over in an off-putting way that removes the charm of the classic cartoon sloppified by the technology
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. Most egregiously, the AI changed the show's title card to read "The Suele Mario Bros. Super Show," demonstrating the well-known weakness of AI tools in handling text within images. Cartoon fan Matt Hunter shared screenshots in the Cartoon Research Facebook group, stating: "This is why you should never use AI to 'restore' a cartoon." Kotaku reported that the results suggest MeTV may have processed low-quality source material, possibly even YouTube videos, rather than working from original tapes.
Source: Engadget
Animation Quality Suffers Despite Original Show's Limitations
While The Super Mario Bros. Super Show wasn't known for exceptional animation quality—it was, after all, a cash-grab cartoon from the 1980s with cheap animation and off-model drawings—the AI processing has made it look demonstrably worse. Comparisons between episodes available on YouTube and the versions airing on MeTV Toons reveal how the AI has straight-up changed details and created visual artifacts throughout
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. The once sharp, crisp original animation now appears lifeless and overly smooth, stripping away the character of the hand-drawn work.Related Stories
Fan Backlash Highlights Broader AI Concerns
The fan backlash extends beyond mere aesthetic complaints. For many viewers, the distorted original details represent a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes classic media valuable. The show originally featured live-action segments starring professional wrestler Lou Albano as Mario and Danny Wells as Luigi, along with guest stars including Cyndi Lauper, Ernie Hudson, and Magic Johnson. It also transformed into a Legend of Zelda cartoon every Friday, producing the famous "Well, excuse me, Princess!" line. Both Engadget and Kotaku have covered the controversy, with Engadget reaching out to MeTV for comment on what happened during the restoration process. The incident raises questions about whether other classic animated Mario shows, including The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, might receive similar treatment if they begin streaming on the platform.
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