10 Pieces of Mario Lore Explained in The Super Mario Bros Movie
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VOICE OVER: Johnny Reynolds
WRITTEN BY: Johnny Reynolds
"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" is finally here, and it was interesting to see how the franchise lore was presented. For this list, we'll be looking at how the 2023 film adapted certain elements and how it built upon what's been shown in the games. If you haven't seen the movie yet, beware of light spoilers ahead. Our list includes Peach's Origins, Kamek's Role, Familiar Family, Warp Pipes, and more!
Script written by Johnny Reynolds
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at 10 Pieces of Mario Lore Explained in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” Like the games that inspired it, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” isn’t exactly deep when it comes to story and lore. But for this list, we’ll be looking at how it adapted certain elements and how it built upon what’s been shown in the games. Also, we’ll be talking openly about the movie, so a spoiler warning for all who haven’t seen it yet. If there are any other bits of lore you picked up on, let us know about them in the comments!
Other than Luigi, Mario’s family isn’t really talked about in the video games. In fact, they pretty much don’t exist in adaptations either. But Illumination and Nintendo wanted to ground the brothers in the real world. And so, Mario and Luigi’s family are shown in a few key scenes. Notably, before their adventure begins, the duo has dinner with their father, mother, and some other extended members. It seems Nintendo toyed around with introducing them at some point; Illumination was given unused concept art, which it adapted for the film. According to co-director Andrew Horvath, they stuck very close to Nintendo’s original mother and father designs, but tweaked features of the others. Additionally, their father is voiced by Charles Martinet, the voice actor behind the plumber in the games.
Luigi has long been best described as a scaredy cat. No shade, though; he still always gets the job done. But “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” continues with this tradition, even having him as the damsel in distress over Peach. While many players recognize “Luigi’s Mansion” as the inciting incident for Luigi’s crippling fear and timidness, the movie shows it reaches back much further. A flashback shows Baby Luigi being picked on by another child, only for his older brother to come to his defense. It plays in with Luigi’s constant reliance on Mario while also perfectly adapting their infant look into animation. If Nintendo and Illumination want to make a “Luigi’s Mansion” movie, the heroic arc has already been set up here.
At the beginning of the movie, Mario and Luigi are struggling to get their business off the ground. Having just released their first commercial, they’re immediately made fun of by Spike, their former employer at the Wrecking Crew construction company. It’s a small but important interaction as the brothers strive to make their lives better. But it also revitalizes a forgotten Nintendo character. Spike was introduced in 1984’s “Wrecking Crew,” a modest arcade hit that was eventually ported to NES. Here, the foreman would chase Mario and provide the player with obstacles. He appeared again in the 1998 sequel, which only released in Japan and, strangely, for the Super Famicom.
The adaptation has some pretty clever answers to the minor mysteries of Mario. But if you were hoping for an explanation as to where power-ups come from, you might be disappointed. Still, Peach does mention them before training Mario on her obstacle course. Just like the games, question mark blocks simply exist for anyone to snag a helpful item from. However, we see that Fire and Ice Flowers can also be picked in the wild. In addition to those two, we see a Super Mushroom, a Mini Mushroom, the Cat Suit, the Tanooki Suit, and, of course, the Super Star, which is far more rare in the movie than it is in the games. Here’s hoping we get the Bee Mushroom in a sequel because that would be adorable.
In the original “Super Mario Bros.” game, Mario is already a resident of the Mushroom Kingdom. However, in every movie adaptation, he’s reluctantly sucked into the strange land. In the 1986 anime film, a strange dog leads him and Luigi through a warp pipe. In the live-action film, they enter the Mushroom Kingdom…sorry, “Dinohattan,” through a portal. The 2023 movie goes back to the warp pipe route, with the brothers finding the entrance underneath Brooklyn. Anyone who’s played a Mario game knows pipes are constantly used to access different areas in levels. However, pipes that take you to a new world are usually well-hidden. The movie doesn’t state how many world-connecting pipes there are, but it’s still fun to see them as the mode of transportation.
If you’ve ever wondered why Peach looks like a regular person but rules over a bunch of Toads, the movie does provide an explanation. During a quieter scene, Peach tells Mario of her earliest memory: emerging from a warp pipe, having gotten lost as a baby, and coming across her future subjects. The Toads raised her, trained her, and, eventually, made her their ruler. Her place of birth is never given, though Nintendo and Illumination may be saving that for a sequel. It was nice for the movie to acknowledge this inconsistency from the games. Still doesn’t explain why she’s a Princess and not a Queen, though.
After Peach agrees to team up with Mario and Toad, the trio heads to the Jungle Kingdom to enlist the Kongs for help. However, this land is far different from DK Island of the video games. There are only a handful of Kongs that reside on the island, yet here Cranky Kong rules over an entire nation, strong enough to provide an army and advanced enough to build vehicles and host actual “Mario Kart” races. It’s interesting to see these characters in such a grand setting considering all they normally want for are more bananas and less crocodiles. Cranky is still pretty disappointed in his dense son, DK, but everything else about the Jungle Kingdom is pretty different.
There are several threads in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” that could be followed for sequels and spin-offs. Illumination have already begun work on a “Donkey Kong” movie. But there are a couple of references to Mario’s space-faring adventures we’d love to see come to fruition. At a certain point, Peach mentions the possibility of different galaxies. During Luigi’s time in captivity, he’s introduced to a Luma with a rather grim outlook on life. Both of these point to “Super Mario Galaxy,” where Bowser tries to take over the cosmos. The Wii game begins with Mario teaming up with one of the little star creatures, who has gotten lost from his family. If Mario and Luigi have to team up with the one seen here, we wouldn’t be mad about it.
Bowser has a lot of minions. Like, a LOT. Yet Kamek the Magikoopa is one-of-a-kind. In the movie, the evil little wizard is the villain’s right hand turtle, using his magic to benefit King Koopa. Their relationship and why Kamek is so devoted to Bowser is never explored, but it is in the games. In “Yoshi’s Island,” Kamek tries to kidnap the brothers as babies as he foresaw how problematic they’d be in Bowser’s future. Although the baddie was also only a baby, Kamek believed in the Koopa cause. Additionally, there’s a scene in which the two roleplay, with Kamek being dressed as Peach. This calls back to a slightly less disturbing scene in “New Super Mario Bros. Wii,” in which he tricks you into thinking you’ve defeated Bowser.
As Peach, Mario, and Toad head to the Jungle Kingdom, we see several locales in a traveling montage. One of them shows a herd of Yoshi running next to a river. Notably, none of them are the standard green color of the main Yoshi from the games, first introduced in “Super Mario World.” However, during the climax at Bowser’s would-be wedding to Peach, a green Yoshi egg is seen as a wedding present. After the battle in Brooklyn, during a post-credits scene, we see the egg begin to hatch. If we had to guess, it seems Nintendo and Illumination are going to make the green variant rare instead of common. That would differentiate this dino as the one who helps Mario and Luigi.
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at 10 Pieces of Mario Lore Explained in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” Like the games that inspired it, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” isn’t exactly deep when it comes to story and lore. But for this list, we’ll be looking at how it adapted certain elements and how it built upon what’s been shown in the games. Also, we’ll be talking openly about the movie, so a spoiler warning for all who haven’t seen it yet. If there are any other bits of lore you picked up on, let us know about them in the comments!
Familiar Family
Other than Luigi, Mario’s family isn’t really talked about in the video games. In fact, they pretty much don’t exist in adaptations either. But Illumination and Nintendo wanted to ground the brothers in the real world. And so, Mario and Luigi’s family are shown in a few key scenes. Notably, before their adventure begins, the duo has dinner with their father, mother, and some other extended members. It seems Nintendo toyed around with introducing them at some point; Illumination was given unused concept art, which it adapted for the film. According to co-director Andrew Horvath, they stuck very close to Nintendo’s original mother and father designs, but tweaked features of the others. Additionally, their father is voiced by Charles Martinet, the voice actor behind the plumber in the games.
Baby Bros.
Luigi has long been best described as a scaredy cat. No shade, though; he still always gets the job done. But “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” continues with this tradition, even having him as the damsel in distress over Peach. While many players recognize “Luigi’s Mansion” as the inciting incident for Luigi’s crippling fear and timidness, the movie shows it reaches back much further. A flashback shows Baby Luigi being picked on by another child, only for his older brother to come to his defense. It plays in with Luigi’s constant reliance on Mario while also perfectly adapting their infant look into animation. If Nintendo and Illumination want to make a “Luigi’s Mansion” movie, the heroic arc has already been set up here.
Former Work
At the beginning of the movie, Mario and Luigi are struggling to get their business off the ground. Having just released their first commercial, they’re immediately made fun of by Spike, their former employer at the Wrecking Crew construction company. It’s a small but important interaction as the brothers strive to make their lives better. But it also revitalizes a forgotten Nintendo character. Spike was introduced in 1984’s “Wrecking Crew,” a modest arcade hit that was eventually ported to NES. Here, the foreman would chase Mario and provide the player with obstacles. He appeared again in the 1998 sequel, which only released in Japan and, strangely, for the Super Famicom.
Power-Ups
The adaptation has some pretty clever answers to the minor mysteries of Mario. But if you were hoping for an explanation as to where power-ups come from, you might be disappointed. Still, Peach does mention them before training Mario on her obstacle course. Just like the games, question mark blocks simply exist for anyone to snag a helpful item from. However, we see that Fire and Ice Flowers can also be picked in the wild. In addition to those two, we see a Super Mushroom, a Mini Mushroom, the Cat Suit, the Tanooki Suit, and, of course, the Super Star, which is far more rare in the movie than it is in the games. Here’s hoping we get the Bee Mushroom in a sequel because that would be adorable.
Warp Pipes
In the original “Super Mario Bros.” game, Mario is already a resident of the Mushroom Kingdom. However, in every movie adaptation, he’s reluctantly sucked into the strange land. In the 1986 anime film, a strange dog leads him and Luigi through a warp pipe. In the live-action film, they enter the Mushroom Kingdom…sorry, “Dinohattan,” through a portal. The 2023 movie goes back to the warp pipe route, with the brothers finding the entrance underneath Brooklyn. Anyone who’s played a Mario game knows pipes are constantly used to access different areas in levels. However, pipes that take you to a new world are usually well-hidden. The movie doesn’t state how many world-connecting pipes there are, but it’s still fun to see them as the mode of transportation.
Peach’s Origins
If you’ve ever wondered why Peach looks like a regular person but rules over a bunch of Toads, the movie does provide an explanation. During a quieter scene, Peach tells Mario of her earliest memory: emerging from a warp pipe, having gotten lost as a baby, and coming across her future subjects. The Toads raised her, trained her, and, eventually, made her their ruler. Her place of birth is never given, though Nintendo and Illumination may be saving that for a sequel. It was nice for the movie to acknowledge this inconsistency from the games. Still doesn’t explain why she’s a Princess and not a Queen, though.
The Jungle Kingdom
After Peach agrees to team up with Mario and Toad, the trio heads to the Jungle Kingdom to enlist the Kongs for help. However, this land is far different from DK Island of the video games. There are only a handful of Kongs that reside on the island, yet here Cranky Kong rules over an entire nation, strong enough to provide an army and advanced enough to build vehicles and host actual “Mario Kart” races. It’s interesting to see these characters in such a grand setting considering all they normally want for are more bananas and less crocodiles. Cranky is still pretty disappointed in his dense son, DK, but everything else about the Jungle Kingdom is pretty different.
Different Galaxies
There are several threads in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” that could be followed for sequels and spin-offs. Illumination have already begun work on a “Donkey Kong” movie. But there are a couple of references to Mario’s space-faring adventures we’d love to see come to fruition. At a certain point, Peach mentions the possibility of different galaxies. During Luigi’s time in captivity, he’s introduced to a Luma with a rather grim outlook on life. Both of these point to “Super Mario Galaxy,” where Bowser tries to take over the cosmos. The Wii game begins with Mario teaming up with one of the little star creatures, who has gotten lost from his family. If Mario and Luigi have to team up with the one seen here, we wouldn’t be mad about it.
Kamek’s Role
Bowser has a lot of minions. Like, a LOT. Yet Kamek the Magikoopa is one-of-a-kind. In the movie, the evil little wizard is the villain’s right hand turtle, using his magic to benefit King Koopa. Their relationship and why Kamek is so devoted to Bowser is never explored, but it is in the games. In “Yoshi’s Island,” Kamek tries to kidnap the brothers as babies as he foresaw how problematic they’d be in Bowser’s future. Although the baddie was also only a baby, Kamek believed in the Koopa cause. Additionally, there’s a scene in which the two roleplay, with Kamek being dressed as Peach. This calls back to a slightly less disturbing scene in “New Super Mario Bros. Wii,” in which he tricks you into thinking you’ve defeated Bowser.
Yoshi Incoming
As Peach, Mario, and Toad head to the Jungle Kingdom, we see several locales in a traveling montage. One of them shows a herd of Yoshi running next to a river. Notably, none of them are the standard green color of the main Yoshi from the games, first introduced in “Super Mario World.” However, during the climax at Bowser’s would-be wedding to Peach, a green Yoshi egg is seen as a wedding present. After the battle in Brooklyn, during a post-credits scene, we see the egg begin to hatch. If we had to guess, it seems Nintendo and Illumination are going to make the green variant rare instead of common. That would differentiate this dino as the one who helps Mario and Luigi.
