No, not those kind of easter eggs, although I know that day’s heading here soon. Not the kind of irritating ones I’ve been digging up on New Horizons recently (technically they’re Bunny Day eggs, because Nintendo’s not allowed to list official holidays). Not Yoshi eggs, either. Nope, after watching the film today, I’ll be getting into a deep nerd dive as I talk about the numerous hidden references for all you Galaxy (and Smash Bros Brawl) stans.
I might even give my two cents on the best actors to voice a certain purple-hatted gentleman who gets routinely snubbed by the big N (that’s Nintendo, btw).
Galaxy Throwback 1
In the opening scene, Rosalina reads the lumas a story from the book, and the awesome music plays from Galaxy when you open the book and start reading about Rosalina. You get to read more chapters as you progress in the game. Note: you’re going to need to have a fairly deep knowledge of Galaxy lore if you’re gonna understand what I’m on about and get those nostalgia feels. If not, then you’ll potentially get bored quickly, what with our generation having notoriously short attention spans and all that. If that’s the case, then I’ll have to do a Gollum now and say: LEAVE NOW AND NEVER COME BACK. And I’m allowed to say that, cause Gollum and I both have no hair on our heads. Yeah, that’s a solid justification.
Mario Reference 1
If you look at the lumas who are listening to Rosalina, one’s sporting a Donkey Kong tie and another’s wearing Mario stuff. Nice to pay homage to the dudes who started the franchise rolling with that iconic video game all those years ago. Not that I was born then, but you know. Another one mentions the Mario Bros Super Show, which was apparently a thing back in the day. And then the actual Donkey Kong game is referenced directly later in the human world when the pixelated arcade screen shows up. Cool.
Mario Reference 2
When Mario and Luigi enter the cave before they meet Yoshi, the ‘da-da da-da da-da’ opening beats from the Underground Theme play, which is a nice touch. If you’re not solid on your Mario lore, you won’t know what I’m on about, but in fairness, you probably should have left by now.
Galaxy Throwback 2
Peach’s birthday birthday is clearly modelled on the opening play sequence where you’re walking through the Mushroom Kingdom to meet her as various Toads have a rollicking good time. And the bit where a letter pops up reciting Peach’s voice as she tells Mario what she’s up to is definitely mirrored on that letter in Galaxy where she asks you to come to the castle. And particularly that one in Mario 64. But, y’know, Galaxy too.
Mario Reference 3
The montage bit where Mario and Luigi take charge of the kingdom makes a lovely reference to the maps of old Mario games, with areas turning red after they’ve completed tasks in each location. Nice and nerdy.
Mario Reference 4
During the battle with Bowser Jr, Mario Kart trophies can be seen in the background. Nice.
Mario Reference 5
That monkey who steals Mario’s hat in Mario 64? This dude’s at it again (at Krispy Creme) in this joint when he steals Toad’s supplies. The audacity.
Mario Reference 6
Yep, Birdo’s hitting Mario by shooting those eggs out of his mouth. That’s a reference to what the original character did in Super Mario 2 as part of a boss battle fight. You might wonder why I referred to Birdo as ‘he’ there earlier. Well, dear reader, that’s because according to the Super Mario 2 journal, Birdo ‘thinks he’s a girl’. But Nintendo has done their darndest since to erase that fact from history, so that’s that, it seems. The more you know.
Mario Reference 7
I’m still not 100% on what I think of Glenn Powell’s acting talents, but he makes a darn fine choice to play this particular fox. Good stuff. No, I know this and the above aren’t easter eggs as such, but hey. Oh, and shout out to R.O.B. too, in terms of other Super Smash Bros appearances. Although I would’ve preferred him to have more of that tragic vibe from the Subspace Emissary storyline (if you know, you know). But it was great to see a random appearance from Mr Game and Watch. No words were spoken, but then this lad doesn’t speak, so that makes sense. Also, good choice that they didn’t decide to make Yoshi speak. Just some nice Yoshi noises courtesy of Donald Glover. All good.
Galaxy Throwback 3
More general, but there are so many cool references in terms of musical jingles, from the bad guy theme music when Bowser Jr appears (impressive voice work from Bennie Safdie, btw) to the grand music when Rosalina’s space station is in view. These touches might be lost on the unversed of Galaxy aficionados, but versed I am. Boom.
There are plenty of other moments I could mention, but for the sake of a relatively succinct post that won’t lead me on an autistic tangent where I feel the need to talk about every darn detail, let’s move on to another area of interest in the Super Mario sphere.
Waluigi Voice Candidates
That’s right. The lack of the purple-hatted gent hasn’t gone unnoticed in the Super Smash Bros world with its various memes demanding justice for Waluigi, but I’ve got a few candidates that I’d like to see voice Luigi’s nefarious bete noir.
Zach Galifianakis
I just feel he’s got a lot of energy, y’know? He’s already done plenty of comedic stuff in live action mode, so I’m pretty confident he could bring some strong cords to this role.
John Liguzmo
That’s right. Bring back the original actor from the, uh, ‘beloved’ Super Mario Bros movie, but this time? Voicing the upside down L (that’s Waluigi’s logo, just in case you were wondering). Genius.
Danny DeVito
Mostly just for the It’s Always Sunny vibes with Charlie Day’s Luigi, but I also think he’d do a great job regardless.
Ok, so that’s it for now.
☆