🚨 There are BIG spoilers ahead for The Super Mario Bros. Movie! 🚨
Putting a video game on the big screen is no easy feat, but The Super Mario Bros. Movie hit it out of the park. This is thanks, at least in part, to its devotion to the Nintendo fandom by way of spectacular detail and unyielding callbacks to the nostalgic franchise throughout the movie.
Even if you're not a super serious gamer, the number of hidden gems in the movie creates an amazing vibe for anyone who experienced the world of Nintendo as a child. As a parent, it was really fun to watch with my kids and see them point out Easter eggs that I might not have noticed on a first watch.
OG Nintendo fans seem to appreciate the movie's copious insider references, and the internet is absolutely aflame with The Super Mario Bros. Movie Easter eggs you may have missed. Below, I share the ones I (a bonafide gamer mom) noticed while watching with my whole Nintendo-loving family and some that the skilled eyes of internet sleuths have since brought to my attention — they're all SO good.
1. Let's start with the obvious: The classic Jumpman arcade game in the Punch-Out Pizzeria nods to both Mario's original appearance in Donkey Kong and the Punch-Out!! video game franchise.
2. Actor Charles Martinet, who has voiced Mario in the video games since 1991, makes a voice cameo as Giuseppe, an Italian man who praises the brothers' accents in the commercial, and as Mario and Luigi's dad.
3. Speaking of the commercial — THE COMMERCIAL. The plumbing company theme song is straight out of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
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4. Listen closely, and you may recognize the voice of the woman in the commercial — she's voiced by Jeannie Elias, who notably voiced Princess Toadstool.
5. Luigi's ringtone actually plays the GameCube tune. His green phone also has a cracked screen where you catch a glimpse of a Nintendo Mii character that looks like him on the home screen.
6. Mario and Luigi literally play Level 1-1 of the original Super Mario Bros. game as they leap and bound through a Brooklyn construction site on their way to their first plumbing call.
7. After completing the construction maze, Mario grabs a flag from a restaurant called Burger Castle, marking the end of the level with a castle, just like in the game. Plus, my kids recognized it thanks to the beloved fast food icon, Burger King.
8. Then, when Mario and Luigi go underground, they pass a sign that reads, "Level 1-2."
9. The bros were fired by Spike — a callback to Foreman Spike, the villain of the Wrecking Crew game franchise.
10. In Mario and Luigi's room, he's playing an old NES system with a Star Fox ship hanging above his TV. Mario even plays Kid Icarus on the system, another iconic Nintendo game that my kids actually recognized from playing his character in Super Smash Bros.
11. There's a literal Mayor Pauline — she may have been kidnapped in Donkey Kong back in the day, but she's back and has the whole city under control.
12. Just finished a world in the first Super Mario Bros. game? You'll get the same message Mario gets from the guards when he arrives at Peach's castle for the first time — the princess is at another castle.
13. Luigi's Mansion callbacks are abundant from the moment you first hear the infamous theme song: his broken flashlight, the way he calls out for Mario, those creepy trees...
14. Baby Mario and Baby Luigi are adorable. They're also a callback to the game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
15. The brand of piano that Bowser plays is Ludwig von Koopa — a nod to both the Super Mario Bros. 3 game character and famous composer Ludwig van Beethoven.
16. The DK Rap in the Kong Island Arena is featured. Need I say more?
17. Can we also talk about how much game music is in this movie? One of the best references is to the Donkey Kong arcade game during the fight scene in the Kong Island Arena.
18. Diddy Kong — aka Donkey Kong's little brother — makes an adorable cameo in the arena crowd. There's also a lot of bongo playing going on.
19. Also spotted in the arena are DK's girlfriend, Dixie Kong, Swanky Kong, and Chunky Kong, cheering from the stands.
20. Mario uses two power-ups in the arena: the mini mushroom that shrinks him and the Lucky Cat Suit, which is what ultimately allows him to take down DK, and when he collects a Lucky Bell. These power-ups are callbacks to Mario Party 4 and Super Mario 3D World respectively.
21. TOAD. There's so much adventuring with Toad. But the first callback is when the Captain Toad Treasure Tracker theme song plays when Mario first meets this adorable sidekick (hero).
22. Bowser's lair is made from a combination of various elements from the video games including copious amounts of lava and even a few Spike Traps.
23. The entire Mario Kart building scene is just beyond perfection. Just a shot-for-shot recreation of my entire childhood experience with the game, really. The menu music, the choices, hitting the A button to make a selection...all of the details are spot-on.
24. Rainbow Road is absolutely paved with Mario Kart Easter eggs as well. Funky Kong and Kiddy Kong even make appearances during the kart races when all of the Kongs jump on the karts. Then, Mario makes a secret shortcut from the game to get from one rainbow to another.
25. Mario and Donkey Kong ride a barrel rocket through the sky just like they do in Donkey Kong Country Returns.
26. When Donkey Kong and Mario are stranded in the water, the giant eel that eats them alive is a bigger, badder version of the eel from Super Mario 64.
27. Mario's moves are iconic. From helicopter jumps to his ability to bounce back and forth between walls and get sucked into pipes, the character on the screen moves just like he does in the game.
28. Let's talk about Bowser's wedding attire. He wears his white suit from Super Mario Odyssey. I won't lie, it's a pretty bold move for the groom to wear white, but in terms of Easter eggs, it works well.
29. Royal wedding attendees include King Bob-omb, King Boo, and a slough of Koopa — mostly seated on the groom's side, naturally.
30. Toward the end of the film, in a scene straight out of Super Mario 64, Mario grabs Bowser by the tail and spins him with all his might.
31. And finally, that cute little finger-waving handshake between Mario and Luigi after Bowser is defeated is a callback to the 1993 Super Mario Bros.
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Though it bombed at the box office, there's still nostalgia to be had in this '90s flick.