So far, six different worlds have been teased for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Details on Illumination’s animated Mario adaptation make it abundantly clear that the titular character’s grand adventure in the movie won’t be restricted to one setting. From the looks of things, Mario and his allies will visit multiple locations tied to Nintendo’s video games over the course of the film’s story.
The main character’s journey spanning multiple Nintendo locales comes as no surprise, of course, given the number of places tied to the Super Mario franchise. Super Mario Bros. Movie won’t be the first time Mario has had to venture into other worlds to defeat Bowser. As Princess Peach points out in the trailer, “there’s a huge universe out there.” According to her, it’s populated by various “galaxies,” which may be how the movie plans to incorporate all of these different worlds into one story. Here’s every world teased by The Super Mario Bros. Movie so far.
Mushroom Kingdom
Unsurprisingly, the Mushroom Kingdom looks to be the main setting of Nintendo’s big-screen Mario movie. In the games, this lush, grassy landscape is where most of his exploits take place. In fact, it’s where most of the principal characters are from. Its most iconic location, Princess Peach’s castle, is already confirmed to exist in the story. In both the games and the movie, the people of the Mushroom Kingdom are the Toads. Recognized by their mushroom-like hats and diminutive appearances, the Toads are often depicted as allies of Mario in his quest to defeat Bowser.
Mario’s Mystery World
What’s interesting about the Mushroom Kingdom is that it seems to be unfamiliar territory for Mario. In the games, Mario is a champion of sorts for the Mushroom Kingdom because he’s the character who has to rise up when threats like Bowser emerge. But Mario’s shock at finding this place hints that he and Charlie Day's Luigi are from somewhere else entirely. Mario not being native to the Mushroom Kingdom raises the obvious question: what world he is from?
The scene in the trailer that shows Mario and Luigi as plumbers may be set in this mystery location. Considering how it looks closer to real-life than anything found in the Mushroom Kingdom, it’s possible that their home is Super Mario Odyssey’s New Donk City, a place inspired by New York City. The part in the trailer where Mario tries in vain to rescue Luigi from a vortex may be the very moment where the two characters cross over from their homeworld to the Mushroom Kingdom.
Desert Kingdom
At 0:58 in The Super Mario Bros. Movie trailer, a map viewed by the Toads reveals the areas in the vicinity of the Mushroom Kingdom. One location in particular is a desert environment home to a large pyramid. Most Mario games contain a world composed of desert levels that Mario and Luigi must complete. Their names aren’t consistent, so it’s hard to say what the movie will call this place. But, it’s likely that if the story does indeed take Mario there, it’ll house many of the same monsters and hazards Mario typically encounters in the games’ desert levels.
In the desert, the main characters battle many of the same threats found elsewhere in the Mario universe, such as Koopa Troopas, Shy Guys, and Goombas. However, it does host a few creatures associated almost exclusively to the desert, some of which being the Kobrats (red snakes that hide in jars) and the caterpillar-like Pokeys. Surviving in the desert calls for Mario to outmaneuver his enemies, avoid quicksand, and tackle puzzles and mazes found in the pyramids.
Donkey Kong Island
One of the worlds featured in The Super Mario Bros. Movie hails from a separate Nintendo franchise. Mario and Donkey Kong have met before (including in the video game they were introduced in), but the latter eventually grew apart from the Mario franchise and received his own world. Sometimes known as Donkey Kong Island, the home of D.K. has been the setting of a long list of video games, beginning with the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy. And now, it looks like it’ll be making an appearance in The Super Mario Bros. Movie as the place where Mario fights Donkey Kong in front of an audience of gorillas.
Unlike the Mushroom Kingdom and all the other worlds from Mario’s games, Donkey Kong Island doesn’t have Goombas, Koopas, or Toads. The residents of this world are the Kongs and the Kremlings. In the Donkey Kong games, D.K. and his family of primates are constantly in conflict with these humanoid lizard monsters and their evil leader, King K. Rool. Donkey Kong Island is seemingly one of the lands shown on the map mentioned above, as it features one of the island’s biggest landmarks, a statue of Donkey Kong’s face.
Bowser’s Kingdom
The volcanic and desolate place seen in The Super Mario Bros. Movie trailer is none other than Bowser’s Kingdom, the headquarters of the Koopa King himself. The trailer indicates it’ll appear in the form of a floating landmass slowly approaching the Mushroom Kingdom. In addition to Bowser and his Koopa Troopa underlings, the kingdom is the home of an untold number of monsters from the Mario universe. Bob-ombs, Hammer Bros, Shy Guys, Goombas, Piranha Plants, and Swoops are all confirmed to be minions of his army in Bowser’s Kingdom.
Yoshi’s Island
One shot in the trailer previewed a herd of Yoshis stampeding through a tropical environment. Presumably, this was a quick look at Yoshi’s Island, the peaceful home of all the different Yoshis in the Mario universe and the focus of multiple Nintendo games. Yoshi’s Island, which matches up with one of the regions on the map in the trailer, could factor into the story as the place where Mario acquires his most trusted companion. Though curiously absent from The Super Mario Bros. Movie trailer, the green version is the Yoshi that Mario tends to ride the most.
Penguin Kingdom
Introduced in Super Mario 64, penguins are the friendly denizens of the ice and snow levels explored by the main character. In The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the penguins apparently run their own kingdom. Under the leadership of the Penguin King, they battled Bowser in the teaser trailer for the movie. Bowser’s assault on the kingdom of the penguins is a sign that he intends to conquer multiple worlds before he’s done.