New Game

Chapter 1 - Episode 1: Press Start

(We start the episode in the sky above skyscrapers. We hear car horns, signifying that something isn't right. We cut to the closed eye of Mario as it slowly opens. It cuts to him getting up in the middle of an intersection.)

Mario: Huh… what the? Where am I?

Man: Get out of the road you freak!

Mario: Wha...huh?

(A man on the sidewalk signals to Mario to come join him and Mario confusedly walks onto the sidewalk. I don’t have a name for this man so I will call him Brian.)

Brian: Hey. What’re you doing in the middle of the…

Mario: (Interrupting) Where is the princess? Where am I? Where is Master Mind?

Brian: Huh? You’re in Albany, New York. What do you mean by princess and Master Mind?

Mario: Do you know where the Mushroom Kingdom is?

Brian: Oh, you’re one of those people. Just who are you anyway? (Mario slowly looks down, saddened and worried.)

(We now cut to a dingy back alleyway. Here we meet our second hero, Aiden Pearce, as he too slowly wakes up in this strange new world. He clutches his head and looks around, confused, and reaches into his pocket for his phone.)

Aiden: What the h***? Where am I? (He pulls his hand out of his pocket without his phone. It is then that he sees a homeless man sitting by a wall with Aiden’s phone in his hands.)

Aiden: Hey! That’s my phone!

Homeless Man: Finders keepers ya weirdo, and if you have a problem with it you can take it up with me!

Aiden: (Takes out a small pistol.) You wanna rethink that? (The Homeless Man punches Aiden in the stomach and runs out into the sidewalk.)

Aiden: (Gives chase.) Stop! Thief! (The two of them run up the sidewalk with the homeless man pushing pedestrians out of his way.)

(We cut back to Mario and Brian walking down a sidewalk.)

Brian: So you're, like, from a whole other world. One with giant turtles, princesses, and magic sewer systems?

Mario: When you-a put it like that you make it sound-a so weird.

Brian: And now there's some weird shadow man wandering the streets of New York.

Mario: For now.

Brian: (Stops.) You don't mean to tell me that you're going to try and stop this thing. You've told me what he's done, that's a suicide mission.

Mario: I’ve-a seen worse.

Brian: (Catching up.) Man, your world really is different isn't it. (The sound of propellers fills the air.)

(We cut to a side view of the Koopa Cruiser and a bullet bill flies out of the cannon towards the city below.)

Brian: Do you hear a helicopter?

Mario: Huh? (Looks up.) Look out! (Mario pushes Brian out of the way and the Bullet Bill hits the ground and explodes.)

(The Koopa Cruiser comes down from the sky with Bowser and Master Mind on the deck.)

Mario: (Whispering.) Bowser…

Bowser: Well, well, well, if it isn't Mario. Didn't think that I’d be seeing you here. To be honest, I thought that the lightning had ended your game.

Master Mind: This is the so-called “hero” that always triumphs over you? Look at him. He is nothing but a man. The fact that you have failed to kill him baffles me. The fact that he has never killed you baffles me more so.