I love anime, and I couldn't believe when I read somewhere that "Super Mario Bros." was made into an anime film in 1986, namely this!
Anyone else want to see it? Currently only about 40 % of the film can be seen on youtube.com ( type in "Bowser and peach", "Mario in love" and "Mario anime" ).
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Wow, I was surprised to discover this. Titles like Castlevania, Zelda, and Metroid always seemed ripe for live action films, but Super Mario and Megaman never seemed to me that they would work. B/c of the Famicom box art, Megaman anime always seemed the best way to go for that character. It never donned on me that Super Mario anime would be the obvious medium. Brilliant!
"Anything with a ball: no good." - Martin Scorsese on sports.
So...did you actually see it?
shareI saw the first few clips posted on youtube before I went to bed the other night. I'll watch the rest another night. I think it was you who mentioned them on here elsewhere. If so, thanks. Even with no subtitles it was hilarious and easy to follow. Quite a charming little cartoon.
I hope one day Nintendo (or whomever owns the rights) get their heads out of their asses and releases this on DVD one day with subtitles.
I remember reading somewhere that Nintendo regrets doing any animations with their characters, but they seemed to be referring to the US Mario and Zelda cartoons. I wonder how they feel about this?
"Anything with a ball: no good." - Martin Scorsese on sports.
I own an original VHS copy of this film - one of only a handful still in existance - that cost me quite a pretty penny. After watching it, it isn't hard to see why Nintendo is reluctant to release it on DVD. The continuity is quite screwy in relation to the other Mario canon. As you saw from the clips that used to be on Youtube, this movie was released when the only background on the SMB series was what you got in the game and the instruction book, so the producers took quite a few liberties with it. There isn't really anything inappropriate in the film, unless you count the Luigi/poison mushroom sequence as offensive, or Mario dressing as a ballerina and a shirtless Luigi in a hot tub.
The story is so far off though, with the old wizard of the mushroom kingdom, Peach ending up with the Mushroom Prince rather than Mario, and Toad as an adult female - larger than M&L -(Miss Endless) who helps them along the way. Luigi is portrayed as very cynical and greedy: he is a good guy, but solely along for the coins... think current Wario.
There are elements from later Mario games that pop up here, such as Mario comandeering Lakitu's cloud, and the brothers traveling to Bowser's castle via an airship they raised from the water. Unforunately, the power-ups never see much use: Mario only grows larger and throws fireballs briefly in montages of their journey. Movie tie-in noodle cups and furikake are randomly promoted throughout the film.
If you have any questions at all regarding the film, let me know and I'll be glad to help piece it together for you.
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One of the most fascinating things about this movie is the fact that they do leave it open for a sequel. After the credits roll, Bowser pops up behind the counter of the grocery store the Mario Bros. worked at, indicating that he has found his way into our world.
Nintendave, I have a few questions regarding this Anime (I think you can call it that since it was made in Japan). I also saw the first 3 (or were it 4?) parts on youtube. It was so unusual and fascinating.
1) I was watching the film and came up to the spot where Mario was hanging off some cliff and was just about to get the magic mushroom - when it suddenly ended! What happened next? Did he get it? You mentioned above Mario got larger. How much larger?
2)Could you do the summary of the whole story from that point. I'm relly curious as to how they got from point A to point B. Try to give as much detail as you can.
3) Toad as an aduld female? What were they thinking! Maybe they wanted to spice up the story! Where did they meet him/her?
P.S. I also really wished they made a sequel.
you should tell this to mario fansites, & try uploading it on youtube (dividing it ten minutes each) or google video (since dividng vids don't matter there) people will go nutty.
also, if you know anyone japanese, get him/her to translate the whole movie so it can be subtitled.
I would love to translate it, but my Japanese is very shaky. I am still looking for someone I could trust to help with that without them bootlegging it. Fansub communities tend to be a little shady at times.
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Do you know how to use BitTorrent, Nintendave?
That way you wouldn't have to chop it up into pieces.