DeepSummary
Brian Murphy, Emily Axford, Caldwell Tanner, and Jake Hurwitz are joined by guest Adam Conover to read and discuss a Super Mario adventure book called 'Pipe Down!' from the 1990s. The book, written by Clyde Bosco, features Princess Toadstool being cursed by magic sneakers that force her to endlessly dribble a basketball. The group solves puzzles and makes choices to progress through the story, encountering characters like Ludwig von Koopa and his pipe organ performance.
The hosts poke fun at the book's absurd plot points and indulgence in plumber tropes, but also appreciate its creativity, like turning the pipes into a pipe organ. Their attempts to solve puzzles sometimes lead to humorous dead ends where the characters get knocked out or have to return to Brooklyn. Adam frequently references his Mario knowledge to provide context.
Throughout the reading, the group engages in banter and shares personal anecdotes related to Mario, video games, and their own experiences with activity books as kids. Ultimately, after struggling with misleading puzzles, they reach an unsatisfying ending where Mario and Luigi are forced to perform in Ludwig's ballet for nine years.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The 1990s Nintendo adventure book 'Pipe Down!' has an incredibly bizarre and nonsensical plot involving Princess Toadstool being cursed to endlessly dribble a basketball.
- The book leans heavily into strange plumber tropes and imagery, like having the characters fall into a pile of flushed condoms.
- While the book's story is absurd, it displays creativity in ideas like turning the pipes into a giant pipe organ controlled by Ludwig von Koopa.
- Solving the book's puzzles is often misleading or frustrating, resulting in humorous dead ends for the characters.
- The group's commentary highlights the book's tonal conflicts between high fantasy and mundane complaints about scuffed floors.
- Guest Adam Conover provides insightful context into the book's developmental process and lore surrounding Mario.
- The experience evokes nostalgia for the hosts' childhoods reading similar bizarre adventure game books.
- The hosts find amusement in the book's ability to continuously escalate its absurdity through nonsensical plot points.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “No, Woodwig.“ by Caldwell Tanner
- “This is like the educational part. At the end of the Mario Brothers Super Show. We had a lot of fun today. Remember, don't flush your condoms. It's bad for the environment.“ by Caldwell Tanner
- “I think what actually happened here is that Nintendo really wanted that glass pipe idea, so they just, like, had to keep entertaining Clyde's other ideas. They're like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.“ by Adam Conover
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Episode Information
Not Another D&D Podcast
Headgum
3/15/24
The LoreLords are joined by Mario Master Adam Conover and also Another Guy for a reading of the Super Mario GameBook, "Pipe Down!" Can they survive their puzzle-drenched trip to the Mushroom Kingdom? Or is Princess Toadstool doomed to Ball for all eternity? Click play to find out!
Be sure to listen to Adam's podcast, Factually! and check out his Youtube Channel as well!
CREDITS:
Sound Mixing and Editing by Trevor Lyon
8-Bit Book Club Theme by Emily Axford
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