Pedro Pascal's Mario SNL Skit Is The Video Game Adaptation We Need More Than Ever

"Saturday Night Live" made quite the hoopla earlier this weekend when they aired a faux-trailer for HBO's (totally not real) adaptation of "Mario Kart," the hit Nintendo video game franchise.

Serving as host for Season 48 Episode 12 of the NBC variety series was Pedro Pascal, who currently spearheads HBO's highly-lauded "The Last of Us" series. An adaptation of the PlayStation franchise of the same name, Pascal's critically-acclaimed series has received admiration from both gamers and non-gamers alike. With confidence, many are dubbing it the "best video game adaptation of all time."

"SNL," being the creative mavericks that they are, imagined what HBO's next major video game adaptation could be. Naturally, they landed on a "Mario Kart" series. Keeping with HBO's gritty and adult-oriented nature, the "SNL" digital short imagined what "Mario Kart" would be like as a gritty, post-apocalyptic-like drama. Pedro Pascal stars in the parody trailer as Mario, on a mission to transport Peach (Chloe Fineman) through the treacherous wasteland. The pre-recorded short, which comes in at three minutes, is obviously a play on the core concept of "The Last of Us." Joining Mario and Peach on their perilous journey to evade Bowser (Kenan Thompson) is Yoshi (Bowen Yang) and Toad (Marcello Hernández). Luigi, played by Mikey Day, also makes an appearance, making Pascal's "Mario" sketch a true family affair.  

From Mario serving as an exhausted smuggler, to Rainbow Road being a banana-riddled hellscape, the "SNL" sketch provides hilarious insight into what a gritty and mature adaptation of the Nintendo franchise would be. Of course, it'll probably never happen, and the sketch even points out how ridiculous it would be to give "Mario Kart" the HBO treatment. Nevertheless, the idea of having a Goomba function as a zombie from "The Last of Us" is quite compelling. Perhaps the biggest highlight of the "SNL" short is seeing Pascal wield a shotgun in his Mario outfit.

As expected, the Mario and "SNL" crossover became an immediate viral sensation on social media. Pascal's sketch is trending on various social media and video sharing sites, including YouTube, where it received over 3 million views in 24 hours. The sketch even received a nod from the official "Last of Us" HBO Twitter account. Neil Druckmann, who co-created both the game and series, shared Pascal's sketch on social media as well.

"To be honest, I think Pedro Pascal was a great choice to portray Mario," says reddit user u/Yummie23. Others, like u/TheSeventhAnimorph expressed genuine interest in seeing a gritty take on "Mario Kart." While it's doubtful that Nintendo will ever commission a mature take on their beloved franchise, audiences have the upcoming "Super Mario Bros. Movie" to look forward to, which features Chris Pratt as the voice of everyone's favorite red hat-wearing plumber.