Say what you will about the Mario movie, if there’s one thing it unequivocally nailed was an adoring ability to take the worlds of Nintendo’s most iconic character and craft them into a moviescape worth gawking at. Of all the Mario movie’s aesthetic accomplishments, it’s perhaps the Mushroom Kingdom that rightfully takes the top spot—and io9 has a look at how it was built.
To celebrate today’s arrival of the Super Mario Bros. Movie on 4K, standard Blu-ray, and DVD today, io9 has an exclusive clip from one of the behind-the-scenes features included with the release. It spotlights how Illumination took the glimpses of Princess Peach’s domain across generations of Mario games and transformed them into a love letter to the iconography of Super Mario, while also having it function as a living, breathing space for the movie’s characters to inhabit.
From Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto, to directors Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath, to stars like Keegan-Michael Key (noted Mushroom Kingdom denizen Toad), the video is full of insight on the movie’s spin on Mario’s home away from home, and how it layers the mechanical language of the games into its structure while also building out a vision of Toadstool society that could actually live in this world.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is currently available to rent and purchase on-demand digitally, and will be available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray+Digital, and DVD starting today, June 13.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.