A new and comprehensive restoration of the 1986 Super Mario Bros. anime, scanned in 4K resolution from an original print of the film, is now available to stream on YouTube or download from the Internet Archive for your home viewing pleasure. While the film has been available to watch on YouTube for years, this new version of Super Mario Bros. – The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach is a clean, color-corrected, and newly subtitled remaster of Nintendo’s first foray into anime.
According to a description of the remaster from Femboy Films, the team behind the project, the scan of Super Mario Bros. – The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach comes from a “16mm reduction print likely used for small, local screenings back in the day” believed to be “one of the, if not THE only surviving print in the world.”
The new remaster also feature a brand-new audio capture using the original VHS as a source. “The VHS was originally released with 2-channel Dolby Surround, which is preserved in the audio capture here,” Femboy Films says. “This reflects most accurately how the film would have sounded in cinemas, as it was released with 4-channel Dolby Stereo there.” New English-language subtitles, including translation of the anime’s music, is also available.
You can download the anime, in a variety of formats, from the Internet Archive.
Super Mario Bros. – The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach is a comedy-adventure movie from 1986 that follows the events of Super Mario Bros. rather loosely. When Princess Peach escapes from a video game and into Mario’s world, she is pursued by King Koopa (aka Bowser) who kidnaps her and forces her to return to the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario and Luigi, who work at a grocery store, are lured by a character named Dumpling Dog to the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue the princess. Wacky misadventures ensue.
The anime is full of weirdness that Nintendo would likely not recognize as canon today, including ol’ Dumpling Dog, Prince Haru of the Flower Kingdom, Goombas with arms, and Luigi drinking sake, all of which is to say you should probably give Super Mario Bros. – The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach a watch.
