If you thought Nintendo’s Mario couldn’t get any weirder than what we find on TerminalMontage, think again.
Because over on Luke Lerdwichagul’s YouTube channel SMG4 (short for SuperMemeGuardian4 or SuperMarioGlitchy4), his version of the red plumber may give TerminalMontage a run for its money.
While not exclusively about on Mario’s exploits alone, the channel’s animated stories primarily focus on the realm of Nintendo—most often, the castle within Super Mario 64. In the videos, famous franchise characters such as Mario and Luigi cause chaos wherever they go, though these versions act far more insane than their original counterparts. And their frequently distorting faces certainly don’t help, either.
They’re joined by a number of original SMG4 characters in their escapades, including a human named Tari, “ghostlike creature” Bob Bobowski and the titular SMG4 himself.
Originally, the channel churned out chaotic, self-contained stories focused on randomness, loud noises and goofy antics. Those elements are still certainly a part of Lerdwichagul’s more recent uploads. But as his storytelling and animation abilities improved, the characters began receiving actual story arcs dealing with more complex themes than before. Increasingly, the focus has shifted from Nintendo characters to SMG4 characters. As the channel has grown in both tone and popularity, it has even allowed Lerdwichagul to spawn another channel—GLITCH—wherein he posts other animated stories.
Note: SMG4 was requested by a user of Plugged In. Do you have a YouTube channel you’d like us to review? Submit your request by sending it to [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram so we can check it out!
Some of the stories touch on sacrificing for others. We also see some nice examples of friendship and teamwork. There are some moments where characters own up to their mistakes. In the newer videos, there’s more of an emphasis on characters growing and changing over time, too.
We hear a variety of sexual references. There are some jokes about masturbation and sex. Mario occasionally appears naked, though nothing is visible. Some moments imply that Luigi is attracted to men. Someone threatens to “cut off [Mario’s] ‘salami,’” and one character uses an ability that causes “testicular torsion.”
In a couple of videos, animated characters react to a few sensual memes. These include one character attempting to hide his browser history from others. And when they see it, it causes them to glitch out due to disgust.
While most characters sustain life-threatening injuries, they typically survive. We don’t often see blood (save for a few instances), but characters still receive severe injuries via bullets, blades and various super-powered attacks. On one character’s ID, it lists his occupation as “Chinese abortioner.” We see and hear references to suicide.
In one story, characters must deal with a cult who worships the “god box.” We see them offer human sacrifices to the box placed in a pentagram. Mario works to provide as many sacrifices to the cult as possible (he’s been promised a supply of spaghetti as payment). Later, people absorb the auras of others.
We hear many profanities, including the f-word, s-word, “a–,” “d–n,” “h—,” “b–ch,” “b–tard” and “t-t.” God’s name is used in vain, including instances paired with “d–n.” Jesus’ name is also misused.
SMG4’s original target audience was reportedly those ages 13 to 18 years old. In some ways, that makes sense.
The content is definitely childish; I think many adults would describe the videos as, at best, toeing the line of teenage brainrot.
In terms of the channel’s content, however, it can quickly become inappropriate for that age range; crude language alone would earn these stories an R-rating at the movie theater, and that’s certainly not helped by the frequent sexual innuendos, either.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
