My wildest, swing-for-the-fences theory here, is that this Super Mario movie is gonna be a musical
[Bowser]: Peaches Peaches…
Nailed it.
Fun fact: that song Peaches. Yeah. That thing is now eligible for the best original song oscar.
Academy Award winning songwriter King Koopa has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Hello? Internet.
It's a me! Film Theory. The show that definitely beat the obstacle course on the first try. So the
Super Mario Brothers movie came out and let me just say it. It was a blast. Was it high cinema?
Kino as the kids online say? No, obviously not. The pacing was a bit uneven. The random eighties
pop song inserts just didn't work, and Peach’s motivations for taking Mario with her on the
adventure were weaker than a stack of goombas. But darn it, if I didn't have a smile plastered across
my face the second the Gamecube jingle played as a cell phone ringtone, or when the brothers
platformed their way through a 2D construction site, or when the DK rap kicked into high gear
during Donkey Kong's WrestleMania entrance. So awesome! On that topic though that was
probably my biggest complaint about the movie. The creator of the DK rap isn't credited. Yeah,
while all the other songs have their writers and musicians properly credited, the DK rap is just
from Donkey Kong 64. Real classy there Universal. I mean, I know Seth Rogen said.
But that doesn't mean that the man behind this masterpiece, epic game
composer Grant Kirkhope, should be overlooked. Artists deserve to be credited for their hard
work, and that includes the DK rap, no matter what Seth Rogen thinks about it. And the
snub was obviously enough to upset Grant. So here's what I propose loyal theorists. Let's
work together to change the Mario movie. If you have yourself a Twitter account, go and use that
toxic platform to do some good today. Tweet at Universal or specifically
@Universalpics , asking them to change the credits in the digital release of the Mario movie to
include all the proper credits for the writers and performers of the DK rap. And make sure you use
the hashtag #SaveTheDKRap so we can get this puppy trending. If it gets enough attention,
if media outlets and YouTubers and streamers start making enough noise with this story,
maybe Grant and everyone else who worked on this thing will get the credit that they deserve for
writing a song that so many people love. Or at least me. It was.. I was so hype when they
played this. I will fully admit my bias here. I'm not usually the type to get really excited
about nostalgic, like memberberry stuff, but man, that was an Easter egg I did not
see coming and it hit hard. But beyond the music, the missing credits and the beautiful
animations we all know what I was really there to see THE LORE, and let me tell you there friends,
there was so much in this thing. We here at Theorist HQ actually have
a ton of ideas and we're definitely going to be diving further once it's available
to scour frame by frame. So super jump on that subscribe button right now so you get notified
of when all those episodes come out. But as of today, in true video game fashion,
we're going to be speed running our way through 4 mini theories that may just change the way you
look at these core Mario characters forever. Today we're covering everything from Peach's
mysterious origins, and the twisted logic of the mushroom kingdom to the realities of the
wider meta Marioverse. So suck down a mushroom and design yourself a cart friendos. Let’s Go!
So let's kick things off with theory number one. You cannot die in the mushroom kingdom. One subtle
detail that I think most people overlooked in this new movie is how they visualize the
damage that Mario was taking. Through all of the punishment that he takes in the mushroom kingdom,
Mario comes away basically unscathed. For instance, in the arena battle against Donkey Kong,
Mario gets rocked. He's grabbed, smashed, tossed, slammed and made into the equivalent of plumber
Play-Doh. And yet his body reflects none of that damage. He is literally on the verge of passing
out. But there's not a scrape or bruise on him either during or after the fight.
Big deal, right? It’s a Mario Movie. What do I expect? It's not like they're going to show the
main character bleeding or something. Except that's exactly what they show us during the
movie's final fight. During the final battle, all the characters are sucked back out of the
warp pipe and launched into Brooklyn. And here we once again see Mario taking a lot of hard knocks.
Except this time his body is showing all the damage, complete with a black eye and a bruise on
his cheek. I mean, these sorts of design choices aren't made casually, especially for big feature
film collaborations between two companies like this, and especially when one of those companies
is Nintendo, one that's so protective of their characters that they gave Disney notes about how
Bowser would hold his teacup in Wreck-It Ralph. It's also not like Bowser was rougher with Mario
out here than anything we saw happen inside the mushroom kingdom. There are multiple occasions
where both Mario and Luigi probably should have died during their adventures. Adding to
this idea early on in the movie, we see Bowser use his flame breath on a disobedient Koopa,
but instead of killing him, this act scorches off all his outer flesh, transforming that
Koopa from a turtle into a dry bones. What this tells us is that people's biology
seemed to act differently across the different worlds or kingdoms of the Mario universe,
and that for whatever reason, the mushroom kingdom is one where your spirit or living self is somehow
contained within the bones of your body. What this tells me is that in the final act of the movie,
as Luigi is lowered down into the pit of lava, and nearly burned to death, what really would
have happened if that scene had continued would have been him turning into a living skeleton
rather than immediate and permanent death. Still a downgrade from fleshy human status,
for sure, but hey, at least it's not death-death. So take a chill pill there,
Luigi. Death only appears to be permanent if it's out in the real world. Theory number two. Did you
notice the cavalcade of Nintendo references that are packed into this movie? Of course
you did. It's impossible not to notice them. There were so many in this thing that the
New Rockstar's Easter Egg video that breaks this puppy down is going to be longer than the actual
movie. Some of my personal favorites, obviously the songs I mentioned earlier like the DK rap,
but there was also the Super Mario rap from their old TV show that was used in the commercial.
All the construction signs of Game-and-Watch characters on them. That's really fun. There's
the shot of Mario versus Bowser, framed like it's a K.O. in Super Smash at the end.
And that moment that Mario defeats Bowser by launching him with his tail, a direct callback
to Mario 64. But it was the non Mario game references that got me the most interested.
Mario has a toy R-wing model from Star Fox in his room. There's an F-zero poster hanging from
his wall. The Punch-out Pizzaria is a big old nod to the Boxing Adventures of Little Mac,
which is also fitting since Mario was the referee of that original game. There's
also an Ice Climbers Easter Egg on one of the awnings of the streets of Brooklyn.
There's the whole scene of him playing Kid Icarus, which we're going to talk about a
lot more later. But to me, it's what isn't there that stands out the most. In a movie
that's literally a Nintendo victory lap crammed full of every IP they got. The omissions are
telling. Did you notice the distinct lack of anything related to Zelda? Metroid? Pokémon?
Kirby? Well, that tells me that Nintendo has carved those IP out to shop around. I suspect
that according to the contract, anything that appears in this movie would have to have been
committed to a production in partnership with Illumination. And since those are the main IP that
Nintendo is lining up to continue their multimedia movie push, keeping them out was an intentional
choice to have them remain as free agents. Speaking of missing characters, the Mario
movie is literally a timeline of Mario games. The whole thing begins with Mario and Luigi
talking to Foreman Spike about their construction jobs and being part of The Wrecking Crew. And it
all ends with Bowser's wedding, where he wears the exact outfit from Mario Odyssey. Basically,
this thing is giving you a complete picture of Mario across the years beginning to end,
and then they put in practically every power up you'd want to see in this thing.
Mushrooms, stars, fire flowers. Sure, that's to be expected. But also mini mushrooms, tanooki suits,
ice flowers, the frickin cat suit. That made me wonder, where could they possibly go next? When
your first film is literally a highlight reel of 35 years worth of games, what else
can you possibly include? Well, obviously with Bowser temporarily out of commission,
the next one has gotta star Wario and our meme lord and savior Waluigi tried to nab Yoshi Eggs
from Yoshi's Island. That one seems like a no brainer. Maybe throw some koopalings in
there for good measure. And after that, we're going to be taking a trip to space to explore
some galaxies. Where finally, I'd expect we meet our last and most important character, Rosalina.
And it's then in the proposed third movie of this trilogy where we’ll be revealed Peach’s Origins.
Which then brings us to theory number three. Peach is a star. During a scene in Act Two
as Mario, Peach and Toad are on their way to try and recruit the Kong army
against Bowser's invasion. The trio spend a night in a field full of fire flowers,
Mario and Peach use the opportunity to do some character development, telling each other, and the
audience about their backstories and motivations. And it's here that Peach reveals that she doesn't
know where she's from. The only thing that she does know is that it's not the mushroom kingdom.
It's here that we see her earliest memory arriving in the mushroom kingdom from a pipe as an infant
and then getting adopted by the toads. Mario wonders if Peach could be a human from his world.
But given the way Peach reacts to this question, I kind of doubt it. She just kind of softly smiles,
turns away, looks up at the night sky and says, It's a big universe out there with a
lot of galaxies. Now if that right there isn't a giant neon billboard spelling out Theory Bait. I
don't know what is. So obviously it seems like they're setting up some future films to explore
Mario Galaxy stuff, and that stuff is going to be directly related to Peach’s backstory, but I
suspect we can actually get more specific here. Hear me out on this. But what if Peach is
literally a humanoid star, one of the superstars that had somehow taken human
form. It might sound like a stretch but let's look at some of the evidence. If we look back
at that scene where Baby Peach arrives in the mushroom kingdom, there's lots of little
details that start adding to the theory. Firstly, Peach arrives out of a pipe that's
constantly glowing. Unlike Mario who arrives in a pipe that flashes as it spits him out,
but then turns entirely dark. That right there tells me there's some really powerful magic on
the other side of that pipe. And the most powerful thing that we see in this world
are the superstars. And wouldn't you know it, they glow just like the pipe.
Secondly, the skirt that baby Peach is wearing in the scene is covered in a repeating pattern
of stars and moons. A character's design in an important flashback like this,
likely had input from everyone up the chain of command in both Illumination and Nintendo. So this
detail is something that they are 100% wanted in there. Thirdly, Peach is clearly powerful.
Not only is she a capable warrior, but it also appears like she's always been powerful, since
she was able to do the obstacle course that Mario struggles with on her first try. The only other
time we see anyone as capable as her. Is when Mario and Luigi have the power of the superstar
at the end of the movie. Also, this is a bit of a minor point, but I figured I should mention it.
We also see both baby Mario and baby Luigi in the film, and both of them have these weird little
beady eyes, basically just pupils without the white sclera around it. But baby Peach,
her eyes are fully formed. They're big and they're blue and they have a giant sclera. Probably has
more to do with being consistent with the already existing designs of the baby versions of these
characters that we see in the video games. But it does certainly add more evidence to
the Peach isn't human pile. The babies that we know are humans have eyes that look this way and
the babies that might not be human but might come from outer space look like this. Another big point
here, when Peach first meets Mario, she excitedly asks him, You're human! You are a human,Right?
Before commenting that she thought he'd be bigger and asking where he came from. But obviously that
then begs the question how does Peach know what a human is? For someone who grew up with
a race of fungus people since she was a literal infant. It’s a weird piece of knowledge to have.
The bigger issue here, though, is that kids lose their memories. At a certain point in childhood,
usually around the age of three, when they become verbal, they undergo what's known as
childhood amnesia, the natural and gradual loss of memories from the first few years of life.
In this scene, we see Peach using a pacifier, but also able to walk. Now human babies begin
walking anywhere between ten and 18 months, and pacifiers can honestly hang around as long
as parents are willing to let their kids use them. The long and short of this is that Peach
in this scene is probably around the age of two. And even if Peach were a human and knew about it
at this age, that knowledge would likely have been lost as part of the childhood
amnesia process. Instead, the knowledge of what a human is seems more like some sort of innate
knowledge that an intergalactic traveler might have, or at least someone who's gotten a lot
of knowledge about the different galaxies and the races that are contained therein.
There's also a ton of evidence that we can actually bring in here from the games as well. In
some truly ancient Game Theories that are almost nine years old at this point. We talked about the
origins and parentage of the character Rosalina, the space traveling princess from the Mario Galaxy
Games, who is quite literally, mother to the stars. Those theories are great, by the way.
They hold up really well. They're old, but man, to this day they are some of my favorites that
we've ever done. Anyway, to quickly summarize here throughout Super Mario Galaxy, Rosalina reads from
a storybook about a sad little girl in search of A luma's missing mother. Though it's never
explicitly stated, the story is likely about Rosalina herself. In the book, we see glimpses
of Rosalina's mother, who looks an awful lot like Peach and who also has herself Peach's earrings.
We also see Rosalina's childhood castle, one that has itself the exact same silhouette as
Peach's Castle in most depictions, symmetrical spires on the sides and one large spire in the
middle. Genetically, Rosalina's eye color, hair color, earlobes and even her left handedness would
all match with Peach. And even the author of this storybook portion of the game has gone
on record to say that his original intent was for Rosalina and Peach to be related.
There's also the French translation of this story, which makes mention of a father's
signature mustache. So isn't it suspicious, then, that the movie goes out of its way to
further the connection between Peach and other galaxies? The filmmakers are outright doing
everything in their power, but spelling out Peach is Rosalina's mom in the night sky. Additionally,
the captive nihilistic Lumalee from the movie outright says time like hope is an illusion.
Another point towards that old theory of iterative variants of the universe and
the connection between Peach and the stars. I suspect that in movie three they'll be coming
to this realization of the family connection, and then there will be a final reset of the
timeline to start things all over again. Exactly what we saw with the original Mario Galaxy.
And finally, that brings us to theory number four, or, I guess more observation number four.
As we talked about earlier, we see Mario playing Kid Icarus on the Nintendo entertainment system,
the very first home console that Nintendo released stateside. Now at first you might be thinking to
yourself, so what? Famous Nintendo product being featured as an Easter egg in a movie
about Nintendo's biggest franchise. What's the big deal with that? Well,
it's actually huge. You see, if Mario's a real person in this universe, that means that his
games don't exist. Now, some version of Donkey Kong or in this case, Jump Man still exists
in this universe. We see an altered version of the original Donkey Kong Arcade cabinet in the
Punch-Out pizzeria with a yeti in place of DK and different humans in the places of Mario and Lady.
But everything that Mario as an IP has touched doesn't really seem to be a thing in this world.
The existence of the Punch-Out pizzaria means that Mike Tyson's Punch-Out couldn't have been a game.
In fact, Mario's complete lack of acknowledgment towards any of the Mushroom Kingdom, Donkey Kong,
Koopa Army, the Yoshi imagery, all of that means that basically nothing related to Mario
Brothers or Yoshi's Island or Donkey Kong country exist as video games in this world.
Now on the surface that might not seem like much until you remember that without the Mario games
there would be no Nintendo. See, when the NES hit store shelves the United States was in the midst
of the video game crash of 1983. Consumers didn't trust video games because there had been such a
huge surplus of poorly made garbage games like the infamous Atari version of E.T. years before.
That sentiment was only able to get turned around when Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment
System, marketing the thing as more of a toy than a video game which proved games really
could be good, actually. And the main way they proved that the original Super Mario Brothers
platformer was a package title for the console. Americans only started to trust video games
again when they popped in Super Mario Brothers and saw that it was a high quality, fun game.
And the numbers absolutely reflect this fact. The Nintendo Entertainment System had a launch
lineup of 17 games, including the likes of Kung Fu, Hogan's Alley, Gyromite, Excitebike. A lot
of ones that, you know, really set the world on fire, clearly. And then, of course, you had
the creatively titled games like Golf, Pinball, Baseball, and of course, there was also Mario.
And of that group, Mario stood head and shoulders above the rest. Of the NES’s top five selling
games, three of them are Mario games. Super Mario Brothers alone as a pack-in title for the console,
sold 40 million units. It is one of the top selling video games of all
time. Those Mario games at the top of the list total around 65 million units sold.
The only game in the top five to not be a pack-in or Mario game sold 8 million. Zelda,
Nintendo's second highest performing IP only sold 6.5 million, and don't even get me started
on Kid Icarus who couldn't even crack the top 30 with only 1.7 million units sold. What I'm
trying to say here is that without the Mario Games, the NES likely wouldn't have caught the
public's attention, and Nintendo likely wouldn't have survived the changing era of entertainment.
Heck! Video gaming itself may not have existed as a medium, considering that Mario was the game
that won back everyone's trust. At the very least, the industry would have likely been set back by at
least a decade from where it is today. No Super Mario means no new revolutionary 3D video game
controls with Mario 64. That then translates to no new 3D platformer revolution leading to games
like Banjo Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon and Ocarina of Time. No Mario Kart, no Super Smash Brothers
completely omitting two of the most impactful and highest selling video game franchises of
all time and the lackluster growth of video games would probably also translate to differences in
the Sony PlayStation and Xbox. And all of this is without even touching all the ancillary businesses
like the CGI tech, all the amazing lighters and shaders and game engines that have been built off
the backs of gaming and all of that gaming off the back of Mario. With Mario being a real guy
in this world instead of a video game character, it means that one of the other Nintendo IPs had
to have been the one that spearheaded the revival of video gaming as we know it. And based on the
fact that Mario has F-Zero posters and Star Fox replicas but no Triforce merch, no Kirby Plushie,
no Samus calendar, it means that none of them were made into games in this universe either. In short,
what we're seeing in the Mario movie is a timeline where Kid Icarus was the killer app
for Nintendo's rebirth of gaming, all its vertical platforming, all its eggplants, all of this.
Oh no, we've entered into the darkest timeline.
But hey! That's just a theory, A FILM THEORY aaaaand cut.
Given the wild success of the Mario movie and the Last of US series. I expect we're
going to be seeing a lot more of these video game tie-ins in the future. I mean,
we're already apparently getting a minecraft movie led by Jason Momoa,
and I shudder to think about what we're going to have to talk about on this channel
when the FNAF movie finally comes out. But we will be there. So if you want to
see what theories we come up with when those movies start release and trailers smash that
subscribe button like you're smashing Bowser in the face. That way you're going to be the first
to see when all of those things go live. And as always, my friends, I will see you next week.