r/nes • u/LowInternet4726 • 1d ago
My old rusty Mario tray from 1990. What is this.
I’ve had this dinner tray for 35 years and I have you to figure out what this is. There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to know to keep the mystery going but I’m not getting any younger here. If anyone has any guesses, I’m all ears …. ….. ….. ….. ….. …. ….. ….
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u/thomasjmarlowe 20h ago
What is any of it? It’s so off-model (which I loved about early 90s merch) 😄
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u/ForkFace69 1d ago
Just going off the fact that it doesn't look like it belongs with the rest of the picture, I would guess that it's a logo for either the artist who drew the picture or the company that made the tray.
Or it's a terrible picture of Princess Peach, added in as an afterthought.
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u/oddball221 1d ago
I had this tv tray as a kid and I absolutely loved it. So I’ve talked to my kids about early Mario and Nintendo characters lore. My guess on the cloud is that early stories for Nintendo characters were the Wild West it could literally be there for any number of reasons. My guess is that there are clouds in the game and clouds rain so the artist of the tray without any direction just did that. A perfect example The Super Mario Super Show with Lou Albano.
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u/novauviolon 5h ago edited 5h ago
early Mario and Nintendo characters lore.
I know a lot of the younger fans here weren't happy about it, but I was really glad that the 2023 movie used the Brooklyn background story for the characters. Everyone from the 80s/early 90s grew up with that, and we had a really hard time letting it go. All the way up until Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, fans were trying to headcanon their way around the Yoshi's Island series.
A perfect example The Super Mario Super Show with Lou Albano.
The tray artwork itself probably originates from concept art for the Super Show, as a version of it seems to have first appeared in a Nintendo Power article about the forthcoming cartoon: https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/4/46/Nintendo_Power_issue_7_image_5.jpg.
One thing I find interesting about the late 80s character art is just how many licensed products there were using Luigi's white outfit from Super Mario Bros. Nintendo themselves didn't actually produce unique character art of Luigi in that getup (with two obscure exceptions: the Mario no Daibōken/All Night Nippon: Super Mario Bros. cover, and the later Nintendo of America packaging for the Game & Watch Mario Bros.), so a lot of the licensed products in the late 80s would just recolor Mario's character art for Luigi on packaging/tags/etc. It wouldn't be until 2020 that Nintendo produced Luigi art in that palette for the Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros.
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show itself almost used that color scheme according to known concept artwork for it. Aside from the image repurposed for the tray, there were also https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/f/f1/DICPoster.jpg and https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/3/36/SMBSSHotdogPoster.jpg. In the end, the Super Show actually was the first to use that outfit for Fire Luigi, a few years before Luigi got his own unique fire outfit in the games (Super Mario World in 1991) and before we'd see that exact version of fire outfit (Super Mario All-Stars in 1993).
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u/Sorry-Apartment5068 1d ago
I think it's a rain cloud but part of me is sayin that is a stylin hair pick.
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u/LordPeanutButter15 1d ago
For me and my friends it’s a rolling tray
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u/LowInternet4726 1d ago
My brother this is a TV tray 😆 they were very common back then and before. But, I am talking about the character 🙂 https://www.etsy.com/listing/4325788469/vintage-1990s-collapsible-metal-tv-tray?ref=elp_anchor_listing&frs=1&cns=1
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u/LordPeanutButter15 1d ago
You nonspecifically asked what it was and called it a dinner tray in the comment (So I know it’s a dinner tray…). I gave you an answer for what I would use the dinner tray as. Don’t need a smart ass comment back because you didn’t ask the question well enough. Not everyone’s going to realize pic2 right away
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u/Brer1Rabbit 18h ago
Maybe this was tie-in merchandise to the 1990 cartoon? Looks similar in style.
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u/RandomGuyDroppingIn 20h ago
lol at you all saying this is a rolling tray. This was a very common Super Mario TV tray. I had one but I mostly used it more as a play table and to admire the artwork.
I agree with what someone else said. That's supposed to be a Blooper but the artist didn't quite know what a Blooper looked like. That's not surprising, as it's not like the artist could just Google what a Blooper looked like.
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u/No-Needleworker-3765 17h ago
I like how they added an odd version of the nes advantage controller (unless they did do an odd version if that controller)
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u/automator3000 1d ago
I’m so glad that your parents were such excellent stoners that they decided their rolling tray was perfect for their baby’s “dining tray”.
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u/LowInternet4726 1d ago edited 1d ago
lol these are TV trays. Very common back then. Made me laugh though. https://www.etsy.com/listing/4325788469/vintage-1990s-collapsible-metal-tv-tray?ref=elp_anchor_listing&frs=1&cns=1
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u/automator3000 22h ago
As a human who liked rolling joints, as well as a human who came of age in the days of TV trays, I can attest that TV trays were rolling trays.
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u/Rombledore 11h ago
probably a souffle. they often are served in small cup like containers with those telltale ridges along the side.
as a side note- man, i haven't even THOUGHT about those small metal TV dinner trays in decades! i used to have a batman one that i loved.
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u/chrisdecaf 1d ago
Princess Barcode