Sûpâ Mario burazâzu: Pîchi-hime kyushutsu dai sakusen!

The very first Japanimation of the Super Mario Bros. hits the big screen!!! This short, 60-minute movie was released to theaters on July 20, 1986 in Japan. The title, translated as "Super Mario Bros: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach" pretty much outlines the plot. This film was never released outside of Japan, and therefore has no English translation or subtitles. It is by now out-of-print and extremely difficult to find. In the opening segment, Mario and Luigi (Luigi's color scheme is different, the first and only time this is shown) are employees at a grocery. Mario is seen holding an emerald necklace, which we are lead to believe belongs to Princess Peach. (The Princess' name in Japan was always Peach, later changed to Toadstool while the games were being marketed in the U.S.) While he and Luigi discuss the value of this gem, some weird little creature walks in and steals the necklace. Mario and Luigi are seen giving chase until getting sucked into a Warp Zone. Once they arrive in the Time Warp they encounter the Mushroom Hermit, who tells them that Princess Peach has been captured by King Bowser Koopa. The rest of the movie shows the Bros. on their journey to save the Princess. One of the highlights is when Mario is asleep and Luigi looks for food before being tricked by two goombas into eating wild mushrooms. These of course turn out to be poisonous mushrooms, causing Luigi to become hysterical. Another incident is where Mario is asleep again and dreams about Princess Peach and him dancing together.The music that plays in the background is simply called "I Love You", the remaining lyrics sung in Japanese by Princess Peach, voiced by Mami Yamase. All in all, the movie is quite tastefully done. It is full of laughs as well as romance. The scenes of Mario and the Princess together are very touching. I have only seen a few clips of this movie on a website. I highly recommend it to be viewed by all Mario fans. This is a truly revolutionary piece of Mario history!!!!

Well, I honestly didn't know this existed to begin with. Obviously because of it only airing in Japan, but also because I didn't think they'd actually make an anime movie based on Super Mario Bros. But when I did find out and saw it, I was pleasantly surprised. While it's weird and strange, it's honestly pretty enjoyable with nice animation which looks a lot like the games, humorous (but weird) moments, and a decent plot (despite the rushed and out-of-nowhere ending). Overall, I think this movie is still pretty enjoyable. Definitely more enjoyable than the later 1993 movie. If you like anime and Mario, then this film is for you.

After the original video game achieved great popularity in a short time, the decision was made to make this adaptation just a year after the video game was born. It can be seen that this film was made to learn more about the lore of the Mario universe when it was still in its early stages. This film takes all the characteristic elements of the original game and you can even notice that it has some ideas that would be reused in the video games that would come later. The film gives the opportunity to know the personality of the characters and what they are like. What it offers is a fun cartoon that knew how to materialize the video game universe, making it clear what was behind the pixels. The soundtrack is the same as the video game, but adding original songs that are quite good. There is no doubt that this film is a gem that has remained anonymous for a long time until it was discovered by the magic of the internet. This Super Mario Bros. Movie was the franchise's worthy big break on the big screen before the 1993 version put the franchise to sleep for 30 years and was then resurrected by the Illumination version. My final rating for this movie is a 9/10.

While the 1993 Mario Bros movie has garnered a cult fanbase and the upcoming Illumination movie has drawn polarizing feedback, another Mario movie remains in obscurity. Released in 1986, one year after the original Super Mario Bros NES game, Nintendo and Shochiku presented a feature length Japanese animated movie entitled Super Mario Bros: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach. Despite never having an official international release outside of the internet, the film has often been regarded as a personal favorite in the Mario community. So being the first ever movie based on a video game, how does it hold up today?

The main story centers on Mario and Luigi, who embark on an alternate dimensional quest to save Princess Peach from the villainous King Koopa. As cliche as that premise sounds, it's all that is needed for an adventure like this, since the original video game was a straightforward rescue journey to save a hostage princess. Similarly to the original game as well, the obstacles that Mario and Luigi face along their journey range from frightening monsters to surrealistic landscapes, commonplace in all sorts of hero journeys. The film opts for a more lighthearted comedic tone to fit with the video game's upbeat gameplay, even in lieu of the occasional dramatic obstacle or scary opponent. It does work in its favor for the most part, although some scenes do drag to the point of losing focus from the main plot. The film is usually at its most emotionally resonative whenever it revolves around Mario mourning over Peach, and even those moments are often leftover for the brother's crazy foes and chapters along their way. It's a good thing the story feels like a video game, if not for detracting reasons.

In terms of other notable qualities, the animation direction of Masami Hata goes in a more cartoony format reminiscent of 40s Western cartoons, which also works for the comedic hijinks that ensue on Mario and Luigi's quest. This direction also suits Luigi's hammy persona that contrasts with his greed, not unlike many of the original Looney Tunes shorts. Perhaps the most creative of all visual spectacle in the film would have to be the many worlds throughout our hero's journey, varying in dynamic colors, set pieces and imaginative landscapes. The animators, layout artists and background painters managed to bring creatures from the original game into animation by distinguishing their appearances just enough to work on their own. As for the voice cast, they manage to bring their own spin to the characters through emotive performances, especially Akiko Wada as the diluted King Koopa. It's still bizarre that this never had a proper English release, because one would imagine the game's huge popularity would have made that inevitable. That being said, subtitles never hurt.

As a film adaptation of the original Mario Bros game, this feature works just enough on its own for what it's going for. It might not work as an introduction to newcomers due to its heavily specific plotline, but for Mario fans, it's a solid tribute to the games with just enough wacky obstacles and fun animation to go around. I would recommend this with a grain of salt due to its limited availability and general appeal remaining amongst a niche audience. Thanks to a lot of hard work from fans and historians, the film could get even more attention than ever before.

This is very hard to find, but I found it! Most of the characters have matured in design since Super Mario Bros. the game, released just one year earlier. It seems safe for me to say that with some exceptions, Bowser and Luigi (only because of his color scheme), the characters' designs and personalities are very well developed. Princess Peach is dead on.

The story flows nicely throughout, I happen to be someone who thinks that Mario is very hard to write stories for because the games' storyline as a whole is weak and has no cinematic potential. In this case I was treated to a pretty solid story and some weird and sometimes unfitting J-pop.

If you're not a die-hard Mario fan, this probably isn't for you. Once you finish watching it, you're gonna want to break out your old NES.