If you thought the first movie was chock full of references, wait till you see how many Super Mario Galaxy Movie Easter eggs Nintendo and Illumination have stuffed into the film's 98-minute runtime.
With almost every game in the series represented in some form or other, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is chock full of eggs – and we don't mean the spotted green kind that Yoshi excretes from lord-knows-where. There are Easter eggs galore hidden in the corners of near-enough every frame – the perfect love letter to long-serving Mario fans.
Even if you've seen The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and know the Mario games inside out, chances are you didn't catch every Easter egg buried in the movie, which is where our handy list of every cameo, reference and Easter egg we spotted comes in. Any that we missed? Let us know in the comments! But if you've yet to see The Super Mario Galaxy Movie be warned: spoilers follow.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Easter eggs: the full list
Rosalina, Lumas and the movie's opening
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie opens on an unnamed planet, where Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) and the Lumas live. Like the storybook interludes in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, Rosalina reads bedtime stories to the Lumas. We even hear a few notes of the games' storybook theme, aka 'A Wish', as part of Brian Tyler's score. Familiar Luma chirrups can also be heard.
This bedtime routine is broken by the sudden appearance of Megaleg, a memorable Mario Galaxy boss, who is being piloted by Bowser Jr. (who wields Super Mario Wonder's Magic Brush). Kamek also returns, carrying a mug with his own logo on.
Sand Kingdom and Yoshi's introduction
Back closer to home, Mario and Luigi are riding motorbikes and pulling Mario Kart-style jump tricks over the dunes of Super Mario Odyssey's Sand Kingdom. Arriving at the desert town of Tostarena, a whole host of familiar figures are visible, including the sombrero-wearing Tostarenans, Dry Bones, Spinys, and sunglasses-sporting Moe-Eyes.
After venturing inside an inverted pyramid (accompanied by a few notes from 'Koopa's Theme'), Mario and Luigi pop a Fire Flower power-up. Inside, a shelled Buzzy Beetle can be seen scuttling along the ground. Eventually, they discover the creature inside is in fact Yoshi, whose egg hatched in the sewers of New York after being sucked into the real world at the end of the first movie.
During a snappy montage filling us in on Yoshi's antics in New York (soundtracked by the film's one noteworthy needle drop: Notorious B.I.G.'s 'Hypnotize'), Yoshi steals a slice of pizza from Spike, glimpses Donkey Kong causing havoc by jumping on suspended girders ripped straight from the original arcade game, and the first film's dog, Francis, is swallowed by Yoshi and excreted as an egg (he wont be the last to suffer such a fate).
Mushroom Kingdom and Peach's birthday celebrations
Returning to the Mushroom Kingdom, festivities are underway because it's Princess Peach's birthday, complete with fireworks straight out of Paper Mario and an 8-bit Bowser piñata. Peach is gifted a pink parasol by Mario – a mainstay accessory for Peach going back to Super Mario RPG. Notably, it has same heart-shaped handle design as Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and is later used as both a weapon and to glide away from danger.
Following the sudden appearance of a Luma, Peach and Toad leave to rescue Rosalina. The Luma creates a Sling Star to propel Peach and Toad into the cosmos (accompanied by a familiar sound effect). Peach leaves Mario a letter, which is read on screen in a near identical fashion to Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy 2, with Peach's face framed next to the letter. Around this time, shooting stars light up the sky, and star bits fall to the ground.
With Peach gone, the Mario Bros. (and Yoshi) take it upon themselves to keep the denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom safe. Using a tabletop interface that resembles the overworld map from Super Mario World, they encounter Wigglers, giant Goombas (a nod to Supermassive Galaxy), and Luigi uses Super Mario Bros. 3's Frog Suit power-up to defeat a Big Bertha fish.
Bowser Jr. arrives at Peach's Castle and uses his spaceship's lasers to cut the Castle free from the Earth underneath in identical fashion to Super Mario Galaxy. During the fight with Mario, Luigi and Yoshi, Bowser Jr. turns his magic paintbrush into a mace, as in Super Mario Wonder. When Peach's castle eventually falls to the ground, Yoshi helps Mario and Luigi escape the avalanche of debris with a perfectly timed Flutter Jump.
Gateway Galaxy and Honeyhive Galaxy
Across space, Peach and Toad soar past the Drip Drop Galaxy and the glimpse Star Bunnys before arriving at the Gateway Galaxy, which is more of a bustling transport hub than the game's small-scale nexus. It's here we get our first proper blast of the Gutsy Garden Galaxy theme. The busy station is full of familiar figures, including Piantas (from Super Mario Sunshine), Whittles and Gearmos (from the Galaxy games) and a Ukiki Monkey (who first appeared in Yoshi's Island).
After following the Ukiki Monkey through a fake wall, Peach and Toad discover a Blade Runner-style city under the surface of Gateway Galaxy, populated by the criminal underclass. Floating in the sky are holograms of the N64 logo, while in a speakeasy-type bar, Rocto enemies can be seen. Entering a gravity-defying casino inside a cube, top Mario Odyssey tune, Jump Up, Superstar can be heard playing. A Spike enemy can be seen losing at roulette. Classic enemies, Wart, Birdo, and Mouser lord over the casino floor, like gangsters.
A fight ensues, with Peach and Toad taking on the trio and an army of Ninjis. Peach uses her Peach Bomber move from Smash Bros. Toad powers up with a Penguin Suit. After winning the fight, Peach learns that Bowser Jr. has taken Rosalina to the Space Junk Galaxy.
Meanwhile, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Boswer meet Queen Bee and her loyal Honey Bees. Presumably, this is the Honeyhive galaxy. After some negotiating and a noble sacrifice by Bowser, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi make their way to the Gateway Galaxy via a beetle capable of interstellar travel (don't question it).
Peach and Toad head back to the surface of the Gateway Galaxy, and to the information desk, which is manned by R.O.B. Numbers displayed throughout the Gateway Galaxy are in the same font as the dice in Mario Party. Up on the flight deck, Laikitu is directing traffic. A group of Pikimin docks in a tiny rocket. POW blocks can be seen being transported. A snail, which may be a Bubblainian refuses to take Peach and Toad off planet. But flyboy Fox McCloud agrees.
Fox McCloud's backstory and the Cascade Kingdom
Fox, we learn, is stuck in this galaxy because his warp drive broke. As breathlessly detailed in a super-cool sequence that's rendered in a completely different, retro-2D art style, Fox is the leader of Star Fox, which counts Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare and Slippy Toad among its members. Fox blames engineer Slippy for the warp drive's failure, and a much-memed image of Toad ripped straight from Star Fox 64's communications system briefly flashes on screen.
When Mario arrives, he and Fox stare each other in the eye, like two combatants coming face to face in Smash Bros. After taking flight and coming under attack by Bowser Jr. Fox pulls a series of instantly recognisable moves in the Arwing, including a U-turn and numerous barrel rolls. The red box lock-on system also resembles that of the Star Fox games.
Bowser uses a bazooka-type weapon on the Arwing that's modelled after a SNES light gun, the Super Scope 6. But rather than propelling explosives, the weapon turns Mario and Luigi into Baby Mario and Baby Luigi. The two babes cause Fox to crash the Arwing on a lush planet, which seems to be the Cascade Kingdom as a sleeping T-rex is found there. As in Super Mario Odyssey, the dino isn't easy to wake up. Baby Mario even plays the Mario theme on his teeth like a xylophone without waking up the fearsome beast.
Planet Bowser is full of power-ups
Eventually, they're rescued by the Lumas in the Comet Observatory. Using the vessel to reach Planet Bowser, where Rosalina is being held, Fox is gleefully asked to "Do a barrel roll!" by Toad. On Planet Bowser, Bowser Jr. has built a funfair, including a King Boo ride. Bowser and Bowser Jr. fly around in a Clown Car. During a rallying speech for the Koopas, Bowser mentions the "Rainbow Road of life."
In an attempt to stop Mario and Peach from saving Rosalina, Bowser Jr. traps them in a gauntlet of his own devising, created via a 2D Mario Maker-style interface. The devilishly difficult platforming sequence is full of fire bars and other obstacles that commonly feature in near-impossible Mario Maker gauntlets. When they make it to the end, the stage complete jingle plays.
Mario and Peach eventually come face-to-face with Bowser on a rope bridge over lava – a recreation of the World 8-4 boss fight. Bowser is defeated when Mario jumps over him and cuts the bridge out from under his legs, dropping him into the lava. Bowser Jr's 2D display view of this moment is a pixelated recreation of Bowser's tumble into the lava in Super Mario Bros. Bowser's hand disappearing into the lava could also be a nod to Terminator 2 (though there's no thumbs up).
In the final fight between Bowser (who becomes the skeletal Dry Bowser after emerging from the lava), Bowser Jr. and the trio of Mario, Luigi and Yoshi, a number of power-ups are utilized, including Drill Form, a Cloud power-up, a Balloon power-up and a Red Star. Luigi also gets hold of Bowser Jr.'s magic brush at one stage and uses it to paint a 2D, low-frame-rate Mr. Game & Watch, who defeats Bowser.
After returning home to the Mushroom Kingdom, where Peach's Castle once sat, the missing fortress is rebuilt during a montage where each of the characters is rendered in SNES-era models. When the building is complete, Mario uses a Cape feather to fly to the top and raise the flag.
The Easter eggs don't stop during the credits
The papercraft animated credits could be riffing on Paper Mario's beloved art style. In one snapshot, a character is seen holding an NES controller.
During the movie's mid-credits scene, the first film's nihilistic Luma, Lumalee, returns as a prison guard, overseeing Bowser and Bowser Jr.'s incarceration. Princess Daisy makes her big-screen debut in the movie's post-credits scene, retrieving stolen goods from a cheeky (Ukiki) Monkey.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is in theaters now. For more, dive into our list of the most exciting upcoming video game movies heading your way.
