A 38-Year-Old Game Has A Surprising Influence On The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

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Luigi is stunned after seeing Yoshi eat Bowser in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

Published Mar 8, 2026, 10:15 AM EDT

Nicholas Raymond is an author and journalist based out of Alabama, where he proudly roots for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team. A graduate of the University of Montevallo, he has a degree in mass communication with a concentration in journalism.

A game that's almost 40 years old appears to have a surprising degree of influence on the plot of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. As its title implies, the sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie will be diving into the world of the Super Mario Galaxy games for Nintendo Wii, but clearly it'll draw from other games as well.

Evidently, at least a portion of the movie will be a homage to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, based on what's been shown of Yoshi, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi. But given that this was Yoshi's most famous game role, that's not an entirely unexpected development. More interesting than that is the emphasis the film is putting on Super Mario Bros. 2.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Confirms A Major Super Mario Bros. 2 Presence

Birdo jumping through the air in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

Released in 1988, Super Mario Bros. 2 saw Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad team up in a battle to save Subcon, the world of dreams, from a new, frog-like villain called Wart, who had conquered it with his Dream Machine. Aside from Wart, the game featured the debuts of several characters, who served as bosses that Mario and company had to face on their journey.

A handful of these characters were seen in trailers for the 2026 film: Birdo, Clawgrip, and Mouser. Two of the minion types, the Sniffits and the Ninjis, could also be spotted. And now, a poster for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has confirmed the inclusion of Wart, the main villain and final boss of Super Mario Bros. 2.

While Birdo has gone on to become a key character in her own right, the rest are associated almost exclusively with Super Mario Bros. 2, which goes to show that the upcoming sequel is going to great lengths to honor the 1988 classic, perhaps in part because it too is the first sequel to a proper Mario and Luigi adventure.

Were it not for the poster, it'd be easy to perceive its apparent Super Mario Bros. 2 influence as a brief tribute, but with three of its characters (Wart, Birdo, and Mouser) showing up in promotional material alongside the main cast, it looks like they'll be in more than just one scene.

How Super Mario Bros. 2 May Factor Into The Super Mario Galaxy Movie's Story

As for how exactly Super Mario Bros. 2 will play a role, one possible answer relates to the setting of the scene where Peach fights Birdo and meets Mouser. They appear to be in a casino modeled after the bonus levels of Super Mario Bros. 2. Whether or not Subcon will be addressed at all remains to be seen, as the dream world aspect may be cut out altogether.

If that's the case, it may be that one of the places the main characters have to visit before facing Bowser Jr. will be, in essence, an amalgam of the various worlds the player has to beat in Super Mario Bros. 2, with the different bosses - Mouser, Birdo, and Clawgrip - all being its residents. And the "boss" of this region would be none other than Wart.

In that sense, Wart could serve as somewhat of a mini-boss for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, with the main characters having to defeat Wart before they can move on to Bowser and Bowser Jr. for what would presumably be the final battle of the story.