Super Mario Bros. (film)

Super Mario Bros. is a movie loosely based on the Super Mario Bros. series of video games. While the film draws inspiration from the series, it follows a completely different continuity based in an entirely different world from its inspiration. Similarly, the characters are based on their archetypal roles from the games rather than their specific natures and actions.

The film cost an estimated $42 million to create due to its high profile cast and special effects, yet its gross revenue was only $20,915,465.

In a 1990 issue of TV Guide magazine listing some upcoming animated movies, this movie was among those listed (suggesting it was originally meant to be animated) and scheduled for release in summer of 1991.

Characters

 * Mario Mario &mdash; Bob Hoskins
 * Luigi Mario &mdash; John Leguizamo
 * Princess Daisy &mdash; Samantha Mathis
 * President Koopa &mdash; Dennis Hopper
 * Iggy &mdash; Fisher Stevens
 * Spike &mdash; Richard Edson
 * Lena &mdash; Fiona Shaw
 * Daniella &mdash; Dana Kaminksi
 * Big Bertha &mdash; Francesca Roberts
 * Toad &mdash; Mojo Nixon
 * King Bowser &mdash; Lance Henriksen
 * Anthony Scapelli &mdash; Gianni Russo

Introduction
In an animated segment, we are given a prologue to the film taking place in Brooklyn, sixty-five million years before the present (1993, at time of film's release). Dinosaurs are shown to be content, intelligent beings that rule over the earth while mammals scurry about unnoticed. However, when a meteorite crashed into Earth, the impact carried a force so powerful it both killed off many dinosaurs while creating a parallel dimension. In this dimension the evolution of dinosaurs continued parallel to our world's mammals, resulting in human-looking beings with reptilian traits and temperaments. The narration then offers the question, "What if they found a way back?"

The film then cuts to live-action, twenty years before present day (1973 using 1993 as the present), with a young woman hurriedly running down a Brooklyn street to a cathedral, carrying a bundle covered in a red blanket. There, she places her bundle down, revealing a oval metallic case. After locking a blue crystalline-shard into an opening on the case, she lovingly strokes it before pounding on the door repeatedly, then flees. A nun opened the door and takes the case. The young lady continues to run down the Brooklyn streets, narrowly dodging honking drivers before reaching an open manhole. Back at the church, the nuns observe the case as it opens, revealing a large egg.

The woman continues to run down a long sewer tunnel, frequently looking back in fear. As she backs into another tunnel, a tall, sinister man emerges from the dark and demands the location of the rock. She jumps away from him in surprise, exclaiming, "Koopa!" He grabs her, accidentally knocking a support beam which causes the tunnel to collapse around them. Koopa blocks the exit, leaving her to be crushed as she screams. Back at the Cathedral, the egg hatches to reveal a human baby girl.

Present Day
In the present day (1993), Mario Mario and Luigi Mario are at their home and business, Mario Brothers Plumbing Services. Luigi lies on the couch, eating snacks while watching a television program, Our Miraculous World, in which the host introduces the concept of other dimensions. As the show continues, Mario receives a call in the other room for a job at the River Front Café. As the brothers hastily prepare to leave for the job, the two argue about lack of money. Mario complains that Luigi has spent money on the New York Post, a tabloid magazine. Luigi protests that it has the article on the missing Brooklyn girls, which doesn't satisfy Mario. He tosses Luigi his work boots and they head off.

The two set off in their van to the job, only to arrive and see that Luigi the Scapelli Construction plumbing van, their corporate rivals, have beaten them to it.

Meanwhile, a newscaster discusses the closing of one of New York's largest construction projects, located near the Brooklyn Bridge, to allow New York University students to continue excavation in the advent of the discovery of dinosaur bones in the area. Head construction contractor Anthony Scapelli arrives to attempt to persuade excavation to cease so he can continue construction. Noticing his arrival, a blonde, female student named Daisy approaches him and holds her ground, refusing to quit until work is finished. Scapelli threatens the project, forcing Daisy to walk off in hopes of gaining increased security.

Elsewhere, an oddly dressed man, Spike gets into a car, where another oddly dressed man, Iggy is sitting in the passenger seat. They begin discussing their previous failures, and if they make another Koopa will "kill them". They then notice Daisy and declare that she matches the description given to them by Koopa, and prepare to kidnap her. At that moment Mario and Luigi drive down the street, their van stalling. They pull over and open the hood, steam flowing into their faces. Mario tells Luigi to check their messages for work while he starts to fix the engine. Daisy continues to walk down the street, oblivious that Spike and Iggy are following her. Just as Spike is about to move in, several men carrying a pane of glass walk between him and Daisy and he hits his face against the glass. Defeated, the pair returned to their car.

Mario enters a nearby store for water to cool the radiator just as Daisy approaches the pay phone. She paces about, waiting for Luigi to finish his call. Rather than doing so, he wordlessly hands her the phone. Mario emerges and the two brothers discuss Daisy, Mario urging his younger brother to talk to her. Finally, she finishes her call and approaches Luigi thanking him, and he awkwardly offers her a ride. She looks about and sees Iggy and Spike in their car looking suspicious, and, thinking them thugs of Scappelli's, accepts their offer back to the dig site. Once there Luigi asks her out for dinner later that evening, which she agrees to.

That night, Luigi with Daisy, and Mario with his girlfriend, Daniella, have a double-date at an Italian restaurant together. Here the two girls discuss the dig and how it began: Scapelli's dig-team found iridium, suggesting that a meteorite had struck there at one time. Findings suggest that the meteorite could have been the same one that caused extinction of the dinosaurs. The conversation then shifts to the rock shard Daisy wears around her neck. She reveals that she never takes it off because it is the one connection with the life she never had when she was abandoned. On hearing this, Luigi excitedly tells that he also doesn't know his parents due to their death in his childhood. Because of this, his brother Mario brought him up as a parent as well as a brother. Daisy and Luigi looked into each others eyes before in shy connection before awkwardly looking away. At this point Daniella suggests that she and Mario take the van back themselves to allow Luigi to walk Daisy home.

As Mario and Daniella leave the restaurant and and enter their van, Iggy and Spike notice them and assume Daniella is Daisy in disguise attempting to trick them. They follow the two to Daniella's apartment, waiting for Mario to leave before grabbing her. Her screams for help go unnoticed.

Meanwhile, Luigi and Daisy decide to go to the excavation site so Daisy can show Luigi more about her work. She shows him various dinosaur fossils lined the floor, one of which had opposable thumbs and looks to her as if a monster was trying to be human, unaware this was her mother. The two move in to kiss, but are interrupted by the sound of a water explosion and the sight of two of Scapelli's plumbers fleeing after having broke a set of pipes in an effort to flood the site. Luigi and Daisy run back to Mario's apartment to get help in repairing the damage. Mario and Luigi set to work, finally stopping the flood only to be knocked-out by Iggy and Spike as they kidnap Daisy.

The brothers soon regain consciousness and frantically follow the sound of Daisy's voice, utilizing Mario's knowledge of pipe echoes to guide them through the cave. They finally come to a ledge over a steep drop, across which Daisy's voice seems to come though the solid rock wall. As they stand there, Daisy's face appears through the rock and Luigi tries to jump for her, but is held back by Mario. Daisy leans herself though the rock again and Luigi attempts to grab her, but only succeeds in taking her necklace. With her necklace in his hand, Luigi looks back at the rock; Mario commenting that it was impossible. With a feeling, Luigi kisses Mario's forehead in goodbye and leaps straight through the solid rock. Mario then slips and falls through himself, transporting through a psychedelic landscape before disintegrating and reassembling on the other side in a large chamber.

"We're Not In Brooklyn Anymore"
Circling around a giant meteorite embedded into the floor, Luigi and Mario chase after Daisy and her kidnappers, whom claim to be taking her back to where she belongs. The brothers burst out of the tunnel through a metallic door, and emerge into a crowded, noisy, and fungus-covered street in the city of Dinohattan. Pushing through the crowds, they stop dead in their tracks and look around, taking in their strange surroundings. Suddenly, they see Iggy, Spike, and Daisy on the street below. The kidnappers pull Daisy screaming into a cab. A cop arrives and pulls the brothers away for creating an "incident", forcing them to explore their surroundings before taking the next step. Just as they leave, a hidden Goomba peers from the shadows.

In Koopa's Tower, Koopa and his lover, Lena, discuss how pathetic and disgusting their world is. Koopa notes the situation is worsening by the day, while in the parallel world mammal-evolved humans have plenty of resources, such as food, clean air, and water. He continues to bemoan the germs and fungus that fill their world, which he claims they were "exiled" to by the meteorite strike sixty-five million years ago. Boasting, he claims that the mammals may roam free in the other dimension now, but not for much longer. With ecstatic pleasure, Koopa claims that with the rock and Princess Daisy, he will finally be able to merge their world with that of the mammals. As he sits at his desk, Iggy and Spike enter, greeting him as their cousin and reporting that the princess has been captured. Excited, Koopa asks where the rock is. The two admit that "the plumbers" took it, referring to Mario and Luigi. Instantly, Koopa puts up an alert for their capture.

Outside, Mario and Luigi are confronted by an old lady whom asks if they are new in town, citing that the neighborhood is dangerous to be in without a weapon. When Luigi admits they were unarmed, the old lady pulled out a large taser and demands "Koopa coins". Noticing Daisy's necklace around Luigi's neck, she pulls it off just as a large black woman in red, Big Bertha, approaches from behind. Seeing the necklace, Bertha grabs the old lady and throws her down into the street, taking the necklace for herself. She activates a pair of Thwomp Stompers, escaping to the other side of the street. Distraught, they lean against a wall. Noticing their dismay, a friendly street-musician named Toad begins to play an anti-Koopa song on his guitar detailing the far-worse things in the world. Two police officers then drive up and arrest him, then taking the brothers after their protests and noticing they have plumber's gear.

Meanwhile, two Goombas drag Daisy to a prison room in Koopa's Tower. Daniella and four other women are also inside. The two share a joyful reunion, with Daniella explaining that Koopa is looking for a princess, but took the wrong girls. Elsewhere, Mario, Luigi, and Toad arrive at the police station. The two brothers are quarantined, then placed into a prison resembling a chicken coop. Toad is placed above Mario and Luigi, whom are sharing a cell. Playing on his harmonica, Toad sings about the brothers being from another dimension. Curious about what he meant, Luigi asks was he means. The musician clarifies by explaining that, according to history, the impact of a meteorite divided their universes into two parallel dimensions. He goes on to explain he believes that the fungus infesting the city was their old king, whom was de-evolved by Koopa and is now seeking revenge.

The head of the police call for the Mario Bros. to be brought before their lawyer. The lawyer is actually Koopa claiming to be a "Larry Lazard of Lazard Lazard Conda Dactyl" in an attempt to trick the necklace from them. His attempts fail, however, because Mario and Luigi don't understand what he's talking about. After his patience fails, Koopa drops the facade and attacks Luigi before ordering them to be taken to the devo chamber.

The De-Evolution Chamber
Koopa casually walks into a large chamber with an elaborate throne-machine, in which Toad is strapped into. He insults Koopa's ruling ability while saying the King with return. Unfazed, Koopa orders the machine activated and Toad de-evolved. While Toad transforms into a Goomba, Koopa explains that evolution is an upward process, while de-evolution is the opposite. Using this process, he can create a strong, loyal, and most importantly: stupid subject. In anger, Luigi tries to attack Koopa but is held back by Mario. Mario asks him what he evolved from, to which Koopa replies that his ancestor was the Tyrannosaurus rex. He then threatens to de-evolve them if they don't tell him where the meteorite piece was. Instead, the brothers shove Koopa into the de-evolution chair and take out Koopa's men. Luigi set the machine to the Jurassic period and the pair push the chair into the de-evolution device before running off. However, their speeding up of the process causes it to end prematurely. Koopa's eye briefly fluctuates to a reptilian-slit before returning to normal.

Pursued by Goombas, Mario and Luigi flee. They hide behind a support and Luigi notices that the fungus appears to be offering them a Bob-omb. Mario pulls him away before he can take it, though, and the two escape to the police garage where they steal a police car. Although Mario struggles to turn it on, Luigi successfully operates the computer as a result of his video game playing, and they drive off with two other police cars in pursuit. After a short chase, Mario tricks the officers into destroying each other before laughing victoriously, and entering a tunnel leading to the Koopahari Desert. The computer warns them that the tunnel is unfinished, but the car leaves the city's power grid and powers down before they can brake. The car propels out of the tunnel and nearly crashes into the rocks below but is caught by the fungus, catching them just before and allowing them to climb out and escape into the desert.

Back at his Tower, Koopa and Lena enjoy a mud bath together when Iggy and Spike hurry into the room. Apologizing for interrupting, they report on the location of Mario and Luigi. Koopa then orders Lena to have Daisy cleaned and brought to him. She does so, bursting into the prison cell where the women are being held. She identifies Daisy as, "Princess Daisy," prompting surprised looks from the other women. Lena then leads her away.

Meanwhile, Iggy bids farewell to a nervous Spike, whom is locked into the de-evolution machine. On Koopa's signal, the machine is flipped from "de-evolve" to "evolve," resulting in a more intelligent Iggy. Two nearby workers pull Spike from the chair and force in a protesting Iggy, unaware he will also be evolved. The two cousins, not intelligent, are ordered by Koopa to retrieve Mario and Luigi and the meteorite shard from the desert or else be personally killed.

Koopa's Plan
Daisy prepares to meet Koopa, now wearing a purple dress that belonged to her mother. Lena tells her more about Daisy's mother, though doesn't reveal details about how she died or where exactly her father has disappeared to.

Meanwhile, Mario and Luigi wander in the desert lost. They argue over who wis to blame for their situation. At his tower, Koopa discusses the Goomba's de-evolution gun training with the police chief until Lena enters announcing Daisy is ready. Daisy waits nervously in another room lit with candles and a fire, with Yoshi, a dinosaur resembling a Velociraptor walking about the room, chained by its neck. He curiously observes Daisy, whom is initially frightened, then fascinated. Koopa then surprises her by speaking and confirming that Yoshi truly is a dinosaur He remains cool, introducing himself as ruler of this dimension. He ignores Daisy's demands about the whereabouts of her father, instead flirting while confirming that Daisy descended from the dinosaurs. Scared, she runs from Koopa and into Toad, whom Koopa instructs to take her away.

The Marios Fight Back
Back in the desert, Iggy and Spike locate Mario and Luigi, driving a six-wheeled vehicle towards them. They accidentally drive off a cliff, attracting the attention of the Mario Bros. Quickly, the brothers tie them up, demanding information. They reveal the purpose of Daisy's necklace and Koopa's plan with it. Luigi offers a trade: the meteorite shard in exchange for Daisy. Iggy and Spike agree and, based off of Luigi's description of Big Bertha, head to the Boom Boom Bar.

At the Boom Boom Bar, Mario and Luigi don Spike's ex-wife's dance clothes to fit into the dance club. Once there, Mario confronts Big Bertha and attempts to seduce her, initiating a dance to snatch Daisy's necklace back. He finally does so, just as the song ends, but Lena and a squad of Goombas arrive after having been tipped off by the coat check. Mario and Luigi attempt escape, but lose the necklace in the process before being aided by Big Bertha. She lends them each a pair of Thwomp Stompers, instructing them on their use. They then escape through the roof, making their way to Koopa's Tower. Mario complains that it will be impossible for them to enter the tower, but Luigi insists that nothing is impossible, only improbable.

Entering, they observe the badly-maintained heating pipes that serve the tower. Under Mario's instruction, Luigi begins blocking off all of the valves. An alarm is set off, forcing them to leave quickly. As they head for the elevator, Mario stops at a locker, opens it, and pulls out two mechanics' uniforms. As the two celebrate in the elevator, the door opens and two Goombas enter. They manage to hide behind the oblivious Goombas, and as the elevator continues upwards, more and more Goombas enter, all unaware of the Marios.

Meanwhile, Lena, secretly in possession of the meteorite piece, has returned to the tower with Iggy and Spike as her prisoners. She reports to Koopa that they were preaching his overthrow, to which Koopa orders them killed. He walks off, followed by Lena. She attempts to tell him she has the necklace, but he ignores her. Lena then privately decides to work on her own.

Back in the elevator, Luigi gets an idea from the elevator music: gently rocking each of the Goombas individually, he begins making the Goombas dance, distracting them. At the top of the tower, Lena enters the chamber Daisy is held in. She approaches Daisy, pulling a knife in an attempt to kill her. Yoshi uses his long tongue to pull Lena over, allowing Daisy to escape through the open door.

With all of the Goombas dancing and distracted, Mario and Luigi made their getaway through a door in the ceiling of the elevator. In the hall, Daisy runs into Toad and past him before encountering two Goombas escorting Iggy and Spike for execution. They beg for her help, claiming that they were her most loyal supporters, having been with her father since his demise. They take her to devo 4, the chamber in which her father as a fungal mass is kept. The two leave her alone to take it all in.

As Mario and Luigi make their way to devo 4, the police chief contacts Koopa to alert him that, per instructions, the troops were in place for the invasion of Earth. Realizing Lena possesses the meteorite piece, he demands her arrest. In devo 4, Daisy meets up with Mario and Luigi and introduces them to her father. Daisy reveals that Daniella is held prisoner in the Goomba barracks, leading Mario to quickly dash away to save her. However, Luigi and Daisy ran straight into Koopa and an entourage of Goombas and were immediately captured.

Koopa Mobilizes
Koopa orders preparations for the invasion of Earth, mobilizing the military while the police chief lead an ambush on Lena, obtaining the meteorite shard. In the tower, Mario locates the Goomba barracks and defeats the Goombas inside, saving Daniella and the rest of the missing Brooklyn girls. He hastily barricades the door just as more Goombas attempt to enter, then sets to work on the ventilation shaft.

The police chief presents the meteorite shard to Koopa, who orders Lena's release and begins rallying the Goombas. At the barracks, several Goombas explode the door open with flamethrowers, noting the empty room. They realize that the women had escaped with Mario by riding on a mattress down the frozen pipe, they too rode down on a mattress pursuing them. A chase begins until Mario and the girls fly out of the shaft, distracting Koopa outside and allowing Luigi and Daisy to join Mario's side.

Koopa approaches with a flamethrower, declaring that he had won and Earth's humans would soon be de-evolved. Several announcements then come through his communicator, distracting him. This allows Luigi to grab a Banzai Bill from a broken shop display and hand it to Mario. Mario inserts it into a Thwomp Stomper, firing it at Koopa and knocking him into a vat located over the street. Once there, Mario jumps onto the vat himself and begins fighting Koopa, hitting him and causing Koopa to drop the meteorite shard to the ground below. Lena catches it, running off to the meteorite chamber to merge the dimensions. Luigi and Daisy run after her, hoping to stop her while Mario and Koopa continue to fight, Koopa unaware Lena has the shard.

Merging the Dimensions
Luigi and Daisy enter the chamber, just in time to see Lena about to insert the shard into the meteor. Daisy begs her to stop, but mad with power, she inserts it anyways and is immediately destroyed by the energy thrown from contact. Koopa and Mario continue their fight on a catwalk. Looking into his belt, Mario pulls out a Bob-omb, prompting mass panic on the surrounding streets and walkways. Realizing his power, Mario winds the Bob-omb's key and places it onto the ground, where begins walking towards a panicking Koopa. However, it falls through a crack. Unaware of its continued progress, Mario gave up on the Bob-omb and the two enemies approached each other menacingly. Back on the street, Koopa realized the dimensions were merging and thus Mario did not have the meteorite shard. Daisy and Luigi work together to pull out the shard using an assortment of Mario's tools.

In Brooklyn, Daniella and the other women warn those at the dig site about the coming invasion. Scapelli is there, yet believes the whole thing is a hoax for publicity. To their shock, the World Trade Center begins merging with Koopa's tower before their eyes. Mario, Koopa, and his legion of Goombas appear next as Koopa attempted unsuccessfully to hit Mario with his fire gun, which was broken again. Casting it aside, Koopa takes a de-evolution gun from a Goomba and fires it at Mario, who dodges, allowing the beam to instead hit Scapelli, de-evolving him into an ape. Koopa then turns to de-evolve Mario, but he pulls out Luigi's mushroom and used it to absorb the beam. The mushroom becomes larger and larger, eventually deflecting the ray and knocking Koopa over. Meanwhile, Luigi and Daisy manage to remove the shard from the meteor, causing the two dimensions to separate once more.

Up on the catwalk, Toad gives Luigi and Daisy each a de-evolution gun. Koopa orders his Goombas to de-evolve Mario, but Toad distracts them with his harmonica. They begin dancing as they did in the elevator. As Luigi and Daisy pass, Big Bertha throws Luigi a pair of stompers. As the Bob-omb continued its trek, Koopa turned his attention to Luigi, who was coming over by using the stompers. Koopa fired at him using his fire gun, but missed, allowing Luigi to land next to his brother and hand off a de-evolution gun. As the Bob-omb walked below Koopa, the brothers began de-evolving him into a fierce, dinosaur-like form. When the Bob-omb exploded, Koopa shot back upwards and landed in a vat above the street. Mario, Luigi, and the city's inhabitants watched the vat in silence. Suddenly, Koopa, de-evolved into a Tyrannosaurus rex, emerged with a roar. After initially panicking, the brothers aimed the guns and fired, devolving the tyrant into another dinosaur, a lizard, a slug, and finally primordial ooze. Immediately, all of Dinohattan cheered at the defeat of their dictator.

Victory
Stepping onto Luigi's stompers, the brothers wave and flash a victory sign to the crowd as they jump over to Daisy, who embraces them. The three of them enter the meteorite chamber, prepared to leave for home. Unfortunately, the wall is now sealed, prompting Daisy to re-open it by refracting the power of the shard. Luigi then beckons her to join them, but she sadly tells him she must say to help rebuild Dinohattan and get to know her father. With an intimate kiss, the part ways.

Three weeks later, Daniella has now moved into the brothers' and is preparing dinner for them. Just as Luigi stands up to join them, Our Miraculous World comes on with the host now discussing the Mario brothers, whom he calls the "Super Mario Bros.", saved both Earth and the parallel dimension. They then begin to leave the room, only for the door to burst open and reveal Daisy. She's wearing torn military clothes and wielding a flamethrower, asking Mario and Luigi for help. The two strap on their tool belts, prepared to leave.

The film's logo flashes and the credits roll. At the end of the credits, two Japanese businessmen comment to two individuals that they have a proposal: a video game. As the camera pans to reveal the oddly dressed Iggy and Spike, the two argue over whether the game should be called, Iggy's World or The Indomitable Spike. Looking at each other, they agree on The Super Koopa Cousins.

Quotes
For a full list of quotes, see here.

Critical Reception
The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics and fans alike, being denounced as "cheesy" and lacking a honed plot. Siskel & Ebert gave the film two thumbs down, complaining mostly about the indecision of the movie being aimed for children or adults. They did, however praise it for the special-effects work.

Fans denounced the movie for favoring a more realistic take on the series rather than the fantasy-world they'd expected, which in the process distorted many established facts about that fictional world.

Despite the negative reviews, Bob Hoskins was particularly praised for his performance as Mario. Dennis Hopper's performance was praised as well, causing him to land in villainous roles for more successful films. John Leguizamo's and Samantha Mathis' performances helped kick them off into more successful productions. The film was nominated for two Saturn Awards (one for Best Costume, the other for Best Make-up).

However, in spite of reaching a cult film status, some of the main cast members were still displeased with the film. Bob Hoskins, despite being praised and well-known for his role, did not approve of his experience working on the film (during the filming of a chase scene, Hoskins had suffered a minor hand injury in an accident with a vehicle, and therefore had to wear a pink-painted cast afterward). In an August 2007 interview with The Guardian, he complained, "The worst thing I ever did? Super Mario Brothers". In a December 2008 interview, Dennis Hopper admitted he was also unhappy with the project (Hopper's work weeks expanded from five weeks to seventeen, which was very exhausting and frustrating for Hopper). Both claimed they did their roles to support and satisfy their children. Leguizamo and Hoskins also report having been drunk for much of the filming due to the overbearing directors, whom at one point even poured hot coffee onto a costumed-actor's head.

Mario's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, is perhaps the final voice, though. He stated, "[In] the end, it was a very fun project that they put a lot of effort into," but also said, "The one thing that I still have some regrets about is that the movie may have tried to get a little too close to what the Mario Bros. videogames were. And in that sense, it became a movie that was about a videogame, rather than being an entertaining movie in and of itself."

Development

 * For a list of elements from the film's development, see here.

References to the Games
Though the story is only loosely inspired by the games, the movie includes many in-jokes and references relating to the games. Some can only be caught in a frame-by-frame viewing, such as the presence of Shigeru Miyamoto in the crowd. The following is a list of some of these references:


 * Dinohattan is called a "Mushroom Kingdom" by President Koopa.
 * Charges used for the Thwomp Stomper-boots resemble Banzai Bills, while the boots themselves are inspired by the item Goomba's Shoe and enemy Thwomps. The sound the boots make when activated is also the effect made when Mario takes a hit and dies.
 * The junkyard workers are referred to as Snifits with a vague resemblance, while a group known as the "Fungus unit" resemble Shy Guys.
 * A Bob-omb is used prominently near the end of the film after being spotted twice before.
 * Big Bertha is a large woman in red at the Boom Boom Bar. She is based off of the giant red fish in Super Mario Bros. 3.
 * The Boom Boom Bar features graphics from Super Mario World projected onto the dance floor's wall, such as the Valley of Bowser rock-protrusion in the sea and a Boo. Boom Boom is also the name of the enemy boss at the end of every fortress in Super Mario Bros. 3.
 * Iggy is named after one of Bowser's children while Spike is named for the fortress mini-boss from Super Mario Bros. 3.
 * Several neon signs displayed in shots of the city read names of Mario characters/enemies. These include "Thwomp", "Bullet Bill's", "Hammer Bros. tattoos", and "Ostro". When Daisy is first captured, she is forced into a "Wiggler" taxi.
 * King Bowser's transformation back into human form at the end of the film is a reference to the end of each world in Super Mario Bros. 3 where the king of that world changes back into his normal form after the defeat of a Koopaling.
 * Yoshi appears in the film as an actual dinosaur, complete with use of his trademark long tongue.
 * When Koopa is talking to one of the policemen about the Devo Guns, the sound effect of getting an extra life at the end of a level can be heard in the background.
 * After the credits end, two Japanese businessmen are seen proposing a deal to make a video game on unseen persons' adventures. The people are then revealed to be Iggy and Spike, with Iggy suggesting the game be titled "Iggy's World" and Spike suggesting "The Indomitable Spike". Both then agree that the game should be titled "The Super Koopa Cousins".

Trivia

 * The special effects were coordinated by Paul J. Lombardi, who Shigeru Miyamoto later named Falco Lombardi after in thanks.