Final Mario movie trailer has a lot of Mario Kart and a Rosalina tease UK WIRE

Super Mario Bros movie characters racing along Rainbow Road — The Super Mario Bros. Movie – that blue shell’s going to set off every Mario Kart player’s anxieties when it shows up in the movie (pic: Illumination)

A short but sweet Mario movie trailer teases more of its Mario Kart themed climax, but could any of it be added to the actual games?

Nintendo and Illumination have shared the final trailer for next month’s Super Mario Bros. movie. While it’s the shortest trailer we’ve had during one of these movie dedicated Nintendo Directs, it still has quite a few new details for fans to pore over, chief among them being more of the Mario Kart sequence.

Rainbow Road was already confirmed in a previous trailer, showing Mario and his allies racing down it, but the newest trailer seems to point to this section being part of the big climax as Bowser’s goons pursue Mario in their own karts.

There are a lot of nods to the Mario Kart games, such as the wheels turning on their sides for the anti-gravity mechanics from Mario Kart 8 and Bowser’s men firing shells out of cannons instead of throwing them. Though things get a bit Mad Max: Fury Road when Mario starts jumping between karts.

It’s kind of surprising that this trailer puts so much emphasis on a non-platforming sequence but Mario Kart is incredibly popular, so perhaps it’s not that strange.

Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic also briefly mentioned how they brought in a team of vehicle designers to work with Nintendo on creating wholly original karts for the movie that were still ‘inspired by the iconic game design.’

With how much focus Mario Kart is getting in the movie, it’d be a missed opportunity for Nintendo not to cross promote it in the game itself. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s DLC has added a few brand new racetracks already, so the Rainbow Road from the movie would be a perfect inclusion.

Or perhaps Nintendo is saving movie themed content for Mario Kart 9? One was rumoured to be in development last year and with the Nintendo Switch 2 speculated to launch either this year or in 2024, having a new Mario Kart early on would mirror the success of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Super Mario Bros movie Fire Donkey Kong — The Super Mario Bros. Movie – so when can we get Fire DK in one of the games? (pic: Illumination)

Other fun details to be gleaned from the new trailer include a brief appearance by The Sand Kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey (identified by its floating upside down pyramids) and a scene of Mario and Donkey Kong working together, having become buddies after their initial feud.

DK even uses a Fire Flower to turn his fur red and white, something that’s never been seen in the games before. This opens up the possibility of seeing other new transformations or at least that the movie will still have some fun surprises even for those who know the franchise inside and out.

Also, at the beginning when Luigi is thrown into a cage suspended above lava, one of his fellow prisoners is revealed to be the blue Luma from a McDonald’s toy leak.

This only further points to Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy making an appearance to retrieve her kidnapped child, possibly even in the main plot and not as a post-credits tease.

Given she hasn’t so much as been hinted at in the trailers so far, either there’s some editing wizardry at work to keep her hidden or she’s being saved for the very end, potentially to set up a Super Mario Galaxy inspired sequel.

The Luma also has some humorously morbid dialogue about ‘the sweet release of death,’ but if you really think about it, it’s almost fitting since the whole point of Lumas in Mario lore is that their lifecycle ends by turning into planets and even whole galaxies.

Tickets for the movie are available for pre-order too at select cinemas like Cineworld and Vue, with screenings beginning on April 5. Perfect timing since kids will be off school for the Easter holidays.