The 2023 movie calendar has made for a huge year for everyone's favorite pair of plumbing brothers, with not only the massive release of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," but also the mustachioed characters' return to side-scrolling action for the first time in over a decade. The highly anticipated release of "Super Mario Bros. Wonder" is now finally here, though as a slightly different game than what might have been released if the movie didn't exist. Nintendo apparently spent some of its billion-dollar box office on trying to make the game more like the record-breaking hit that easily cemented its spot as one of the 10 greatest video game films ever.

The newest game, "Super Mario Bros. Wonder," pays homage to the beloved 2D classic game series but takes bold, trippy, and frenetic leaps into uncharted territory by way of its radical power-ups. According to a report by NPR, their pre-release look at "Wonder" afforded a tantalizing glimpse into this exciting new universe, and they even sat down with director Shiro Mouri and producer Takashi Tezuka, a duo with roots tracing back to the creation of the original "Super Mario Bros.," for which they worked alongside the legendary developer Shigeru Miyamoto.