Super Mario Bros: This ’80s Movie You’ll Never See

Maria. A character that has become so famous, transgenerational, known to everyone, even non-gamers, that it has rightfully entered the world of pop culture through the front door.

Created by the great Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka for the first time in 1983 on the arcade terminal, its first adventure on the NES console in 1985 was a date in the history of video game culture.

To date, the Mario license is one of the few that can stand on its own sSystem vendor, that is, can sell the console. In Super Mario Bros.The player controlled Mario there and traveled to the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue Princess Peach from the clutches of Mario’s antagonist Bowser.

If the title subsequently spawns many sequels and derivatives, Super Mario Bros. set an authentic model level design Since then it has been repeated over and over again from absolutely brilliant, simple but not simplistic gameplay, horizontal scrolling, bosses and sub-bosses, secret areas… to the iconic theme music composed by Koji Kondo. In short: (Super) Mario is simply a monument to video games.

Animated theatrical version in 1986

You may have seen its live-action adaptation, released in 1993 and directed by the tandem of Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo, one of the first big-screen adaptations of a video game license. A colossal flop in theaters, the film also left deep scars at Nintendo. Injured, the Japanese firm has never produced a live-action film adapted from one of its licenses.

If the mustachioed plumber recently returned to the screens with an absolute sensation and achieved the best start at the international box office for an animated film, you may not know that the hero’s first (not) adventure was already a subject. Adapted as an anime, 1986. Important year by the way, because Super Mario 2 Consoles appeared in Japan in June.

Nintendo decided to help the huge success of its mascot by teaming up with Grouper Productions, director Masami Hata and screenwriter Hideo Takayashiki., leave the room Super Mario Bros. : Atami-hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakuseni! In English : Super Mario Bros. : A big mission to save Princess Peach!which will be released in Japanese theaters on July 20, 1986.

unseen for years fan group decided to restore it in 4k from a 16mm copy, which the group says is probably the only remaining copy of the work. A long-term job that took months. The result is really impressive.

The problem is that this restoration doesn’t seem to have been done with Nintendo’s blessing, which we know is especially true of its licenses… either way, hats off to you for the job done.