Super Mario Bros. anime from Nintendo, since 1986, has been restored in 4K

If you haven’t seen the first Super Mario Bros. anime movie. from Nintendo, when it premiered in Japan in 1986, now you have the chance – at a quality you would never have experienced in cinemas.

Polygon writes that Femboy Films has released a 4K remaster of The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach on both YouTube and the Internet Archive.

The story is not exactly revolutionary, but it is an intriguing look at the Super Mario Bros. franchise. at a time when the canon was far from established. Mario and Luigi travel from the “real” world to the Mushroom Kingdom, to save Princess Peach, after she escapes for a short time in their land and is captured by King Koopa (Bowser). You can expect a lot of references to the original Super Mario Bros. game, but you will also find unusual deviations from the established premise. Mario and Luigi work in a grocery store and are forced to save Peach due to a Dumpling Dog character. And did I mention that Luigi drank sake?

Super Mario Bros., in 4K

Whatever you think about the plot, this is an important project to preserve the film. Great Mission was officially released only in Japan and there were only a few VHS tapes. If it weren’t for the restoration, the anime could have been lost to modern audiences. Remastering should ensure that younger players have a look at the early Super Mario culture.

The new clip also includes a brand new audio capture, using the original VHS as the source. “VHS was originally launched with two-channel Dolby Surround, which is stored here for audio capture,” says Femboy Films. “This is exactly what the movie sounded like in theaters, because it was released there with Dolby Stereo on four channels.”

New English subtitles are also available, including translation of anime music.