Super Mario Bros. anime The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach is available to stream or download right now in 4k for the very first time.
A new restoration of the classic 1986 Super Mario Bros. anime is available now on YouTube, with a download available on the Internet Archive.
“This comes from a 16mm reduction pressure that was probably used for small, local views at the time it was released,” the video description says. “It’s probably one of those, if not THE only surviving print in the world, and co-fan Carnivol was able to get his fingers in it back in 2016.”
Although the movie has been available to watch online for years, this is the best version yet. This new restoration is clean, color-corrected and new subtitles for the best possible experience.
“We were able to clean it up super nicely (although some scratches were not able to be completely removed),” the team explained. They spent months removing dirt, dust and scratches. “Thousands of individual pieces of debris were manually removed for this restoration.”
In addition, the sound has been recaptured using VHS as the source.
“The VHS was originally released with 2-channel Dolby Surround, which is preserved in the audio recording here,” says Femboy Films. “This most accurately reflects how the film would have sounded in theaters when it was released with the 4-channel Dolby Stereo there.”
There’s even a brand new scan of the film’s original art books.
The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach is a 1986 animated comedy adventure that loosely follows the events of Super Mario Bros.
After escaping from the video game world and finding herself in Mario’s world, Princess Peach seeks refuge with the famous plumbers. However, King Koopa (aka Bowser) is hot on his heels – and desperately pulls her back to the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario Bros. – now working in a grocery store for some reason – is lured into the kingdom by Dumpling Dog (!?!) To save the princess and save the day.
And it’s about as crazy as it sounds. The film is written by Hideo Takayashiki and directed by Masami Hata.
While it’s unlikely that we’ll get a remake of this particular film, a record number of video game adaptations are currently underway. The upcoming Mario movie will play Chris Pratt as the voice of Mario alongside Jack Black as Bowser.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him further Twitter.