I know what you were thinking: You were tentatively looking forward to April 3’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, but you just weren’t convinced it was going to feature your all-time favorite character, R.O.B. the Robot. Well break out the ticket purchases, because as Nintendo attempts to throw every last scrap of shit at the wall, ol’ Robby’s going to be in there too. A fact that has been leaked by his teensy appearance in a forthcoming tie-in toy set.
A whole bunch of Super Mario Galaxy Movie merch has been announced just recently, due to go on sale in the first week of April. There’s a six-inch Yoshi egg complete with chatty Yoshi inside, already up for pre-order in the UK at an eye-watering £60 ($81), alongside a Bowser Castle Playset and star-shaped launchers that kwa-ping characters into your eye.
But hidden among all these reveals (thanks Total Film) appears one certain robot. We found an even clearer image in a YouTube review of the Super Mario Galaxy Movie Jakks Gateway Galaxy Playset:
R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) originally appeared as a peripheral toy for the NES in 1985. The character then sporadically popped up as a deep dive in various games, first showing his metal face in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars in 1996, popping up in various WarioWare games, and most notably being a playable character in Mario Kart DS and Super Smash Bros. titles. However, somewhat pertinently, he didn’t make an appearance in Super Mario Galaxy.
R.O.B.’s inclusion does rather lean in to the notion that this Mario Galaxy movie is going to be less an epic tale told in the specific video games’ universe, and more another attempt to just cram in as many Mario references as possible for the nostalgic nerds and hope the bright colors keep the kiddies happy. The trailers so far have failed to suggest any form of cogent plot, but rather just bombarding us with nods to familiar aspects of the franchise, with a lot of focus on Super Mario Odyssey.