CURIOSITYEvery Smash Bros. Character Hiding in the Super Mario Galaxy Movie4 min read
Mario and Luigi Come Out Swinging
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is stuffed with characters, but what makes it genuinely exciting for a certain kind of Nintendo fan is how many of them map directly onto the Smash Bros. roster. Over a dozen fighters from that iconic series show up — some central to the plot, some blink-and-miss-it cameos — and the cumulative effect is electric.
Mario himself is the easy answer. He’s looser here than he’s ever been on screen, comfortable in the Mushroom Kingdom in a way that makes every fight scene pop. Power-ups old and new get screen time, and whether he’s squaring off against a Goomba or going toe-to-toe with Bowser Jr., the movement feels straight out of the game. This is Mario in his prime.
Luigi gets the better arc. The cowardly brother reputation is a lie the movie keeps dismantling — the guy faces fear head-on, and when he takes on Bowser Jr. one-on-one, his agility and cleverness carry the day. His craftiness makes him the Mushroom Kingdom’s most underrated defender.
Peach Gets Her Umbrella
The first film already established this Peach could fight. The Galaxy Movie hands her the weapon Smash fans have been waiting for: the parasol. She doesn’t just carry it as a prop. She uses it to deflect enemy hordes, smacks a turnip clean across a battlefield, then glides down to a soft landing — textbook Smash inputs, rendered beautifully in animation.
It’s a small addition in the grand scheme but it lands hard. Peach stops being a character who can fight and becomes a character who was always built for it.
