It’s been ten years since we first wrote about Great mission to save Princess Peach!, a 1986 film – released only in Japanese – it was the first time a film about a Nintendo character. So it’s great to be able to report in 2022 that efforts are once again underway to dub films for English-speaking audiences.
Here is a summary if this is your first time hearing about the movie:
The plot of the movie is pretty standard stuff. Two plumbers (who for some reason are working at a grocery store) are sucked into a world of video games, starring all the bad guys from the franchise you have think, and had to save a Princess (and kick Bowser’s ass) while they were in it.
Fun fact: the movie heralds perhaps Mario’s biggest boss encounter ever, as Mario 64’s The “grab Bowser’s tail” movement actually first appeared in Great Mission. It has good animation, a nice “all-inclusive” storyline (in terms of bringing in all of the game’s characters and locations) and some decent, if interesting, voice actors, including Mario. Sega Rally 2’s narrator and Luigi, amazing, Telemachus from Ulysses 31.
Of course, this isn’t the first time English-speaking fans have attempted to record their own lines for this film, as copies of varying quality have existed for years. However, while previous efforts were all based on enthusiasm, as you can see/hear here in the trailer released by Mario Radio ShowThis is very good!
Certainly, it’s not Hollywood quality—anyway that means when it comes to Mario—But this is an anime from 1986, and I think the acting here is a solid fit for any other dub you’ve seen from the same era.
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The cast of this project includes Mario Radio Show regulars beatlebutt (Princess Toadstool, Lady Bow and Junior), WyntonYang (as Mario, Luigi, King Whomp, Kammy Koopa and Professor Egad) and Joe Armentrout (as King Koopa, King Bob-omb and Tatanga).
The work of restoring the footage was done by Kineko Videos (Who released a cut on YouTube earlier this year), while Yang is also handling the project’s music, just like the dubbing has also been ported to English.
