Sûpâ Mario burazâzu: Pîchi-hime kyushutsu dai sakusen!

The very first Japanimation of the Super Mario Bros. hits the big screen!!! This short, 60-minute movie was released to theaters on July 20, 1986 in Japan. The title, translated as "Super Mario Bros: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach" pretty much outlines the plot. This film was never released outside of Japan, and therefore has no English translation or subtitles. It is by now out-of-print and extremely difficult to find. In the opening segment, Mario and Luigi (Luigi's color scheme is different, the first and only time this is shown) are employees at a grocery. Mario is seen holding an emerald necklace, which we are lead to believe belongs to Princess Peach. (The Princess' name in Japan was always Peach, later changed to Toadstool while the games were being marketed in the U.S.) While he and Luigi discuss the value of this gem, some weird little creature walks in and steals the necklace. Mario and Luigi are seen giving chase until getting sucked into a Warp Zone. Once they arrive in the Time Warp they encounter the Mushroom Hermit, who tells them that Princess Peach has been captured by King Bowser Koopa. The rest of the movie shows the Bros. on their journey to save the Princess. One of the highlights is when Mario is asleep and Luigi looks for food before being tricked by two goombas into eating wild mushrooms. These of course turn out to be poisonous mushrooms, causing Luigi to become hysterical. Another incident is where Mario is asleep again and dreams about Princess Peach and him dancing together.The music that plays in the background is simply called "I Love You", the remaining lyrics sung in Japanese by Princess Peach, voiced by Mami Yamase. All in all, the movie is quite tastefully done. It is full of laughs as well as romance. The scenes of Mario and the Princess together are very touching. I have only seen a few clips of this movie on a website. I highly recommend it to be viewed by all Mario fans. This is a truly revolutionary piece of Mario history!!!!