Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
When Nintendo and Illumination announced that a Super Mario Bros. Movie was being produced, it was confirmed that the game’s iconic score would be reworked to fit a movie format. The film’s composer, Brian Tyler, managed to rework the iconic themes from the games that were originally composed by Koji Kondo. An example is the iconic Super Mario theme song that fans got a glimpse of hearing in the various trailers for the movie.
But not all songs in the Mario movie score were reworked for the screen. Some tracks from the games managed to find a place in the Mushroom Kingdom without any changes whatsoever. Perhaps these songs were treated as Easter eggs for keen Super Mario fans, to pay homage to the game’s history. So just in case you need a refresher, here is a list of songs from the various Super Mario games that were untouched and made their way to The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
“DK Rap” from Donkey Kong 64
One song that made its return to the Mario franchise is “DK Rap” from Donkey King 64. In the games, “DK Rap” was the introductory theme for the Nintendo 64 Donkey Kong games, where it described the five playable characters in the video game. Interestingly, the song was meant to be seen as a joke, but eventually made its way to the game. At the same time, the song was not localized for the Japanese release.
In the film, “DK Rap” was used to introduce Donkey Kong during his confrontation with Mario in the Jungle Kingdom. Donkey Kong (played by Seth Rogen) made an entrance to the arena, where he showed off his body to the monkey audience, which got them excited to see this combat unfold. Such an appropriate theme for an iconic character.
“Fury Bowser” from Super Mario 3D World
The second song that made its way to the Super Mario Bros. Movie soundtrack is “Fury Bowser” from Super Mario 3D World. It’s not every day that Nintendo composes anything within the rock and heavy metal genre. But when they do, they deliver. In the games, the song was used when Fury Bowser emerges, transforming this King Koopa into a gigantic kaiju monster for Mario to stop.
In the movie, the use of the song is different. Rather than making this some form of Bowser’s theme, “Fury Bowser” was played by some Koopa musicians during a rock concert on Bowser’s floating domain, to help rile up the army for the invasion of the Mushroom Kingdom, and soon the world.
While only two official songs made it to the Super Mario Bros. Movie untouched, it’s quite interesting how Nintendo and Illumination incorporated them into the film. After all, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it, right? At the same time, it’s pretty cool to hear the remastered Super Mario score alongside a handful of original video game tracks. It showed that Nintendo has the confidence that these songs would do well in certain scenes without the need to have them revamped.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie will be rocking its way into theaters on April 5, 2023.
