One of the most anticipated films for gamers in 2026 is the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy Movie. It will be in theatres in April of this year, but on January 25th Nintendo released a new trailer.
The "Yoshi First Look" trailer has fans fired up, but once you get past the initial excitement of Yoshi, a second (or third, or fifth) watch will reveal plenty of Easter eggs from Mario games past.
While the title "Super Mario Galaxy Movie" suggests the beloved Wii Game (retouched for the Switch/Switch 2) as the main source material, fans are noticing so fun surprises from other past Mario games.
1. Mario Motorcycles (Mario Kart Wii)
The trailer opens with Mario and Luigi ripping through the desert, but instead of travelling on foot we see them gripping the handlebars of their motorcycles. In the first Mario movie when Mario headed to recruit help from the Kong army, there was a pretty great Mario Kart scene (with a few motorcycles), but this opening sequence is very reminiscent of Dry Dry Ruins (a Mario Kart Wii original track) especially alongside the Wii title being the first appearance of motorcycles in Mario Kart.
2. Fire Flower (Super Mario Bros)
When Mario and Luigi are exploring a gloomy desert temple, they invoke the power of the Fire Flower. In the original Super Mario Bros. game on NES this was the biggest Power Up a player could get (oh my how far we've come). Funny enough, in Super Mario Land 2 (Game Boy), when Mario picked up the Flower, instead of transforming his outfit, they just added a feather to him (likely due to graphical limitations). In the original Super Mario Movie we saw Princess Peach use the Fire Flower, but now in the latest Mario Galaxy Movie trailer, it's the first time we've ever seen the movie versions of Mario and Luigi tap into their Flower power.
3. Frog Suit (Super Mario Bros. 3)
Super Mario Bros 3. was iconic for allowing Mario to go places he'd never gone before thanks to some very unique Power-Ups. While the Tanooki suit was arguably the most-coveted, it wasn't the only suit gamers discovered on this third NES game in the franchise. The Frog Suit in the trailer is being worn by Luigi. For water levels, this was the ultimate advantage in Mario Bros 3 allowing gamers to move faster, with more precision, and even float in place. Plus the characters looked funny in frog form.
4. Yoshi's Safari - (SNES/Super Scope)
At the end of the Super Mario Galaxy Movie trailer we see a niche Nintendo accessory for an even more niche Nintendo game. In 1992 Nintendo released the Super Scope for the Super Nintendo. Only a dozen games were compatible with this Bazooka-like accessory. Among those was a game called Yoshi's Safari. It was basically a rail-shooter with a first person point of view of Mario riding Yoshi and taking out Goombas and other enemies while on Safari. While protecting Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, we can see Yoshi wielding what looks very much like the Super Scope.
5. T-Rex - (Super Mario Odyssey)
In the same scene as the above-mentioned Super Scope we also see a dinosaur that's very different from Yoshi. This truly terrifying T-Rex will remind fans of Super Mario Odyssey of one of Mario and Cappy's most cool transformations. In that game, by tossing his hat on various objects or creatures, Mario could take their form. Does this mean the Switch-era cap companion (Cappy) is making a return? We don't actually see the hat, but the T-Rex suggests this might be possible.
If you're like me, you're certainly looking forward to checking out the upcoming movie when it hits theatres this spring. Beyond the characters mentioned in this article it was great to see Birdo make an appearance in the trailer (even if she does seem to be battling it out with Princess Peach) and it's also fun to hear Yoshi's "YO-shhhheeeee!" being shouted in the trailer.
Much like the first film, it seems like fans of any level of experience with Mario games will enjoy, but there's a few extras that will appeal to the most die-hard Super Mario fans who check out the movie.
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