The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Has Changed the Game Canon

This article contains major plot spoilers for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie‘s big reveal of the origins of Princess Peach will likely affect the storylines of future games in the Super Mario franchise moving forward, according to series creator Shigeru Miyamoto. Many fans have had their suspicions about a connection between Peach and Rosalina for a long time, and the plot of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has put a definite answer to the question in their minds.

The animated film was initially released in the United States on April 1, 2026, bringing a lot of surprises. While the return of Peach and the first appearance of Rosalina were inevitable, there were plenty of guest characters in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie that a lot of fans likely weren’t expecting to see. Still, the big reveal about the two princesses was one of the most shocking experiences of the entire movie, and fans of the games should be prepared to live with the repercussions.

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Peach and Rosalina are Now Canonically Sisters in the Mario Games

Namely, the new movie solved the mystery of Princess Peach’s origins by explaining that she and Rosalina were both born of Stardust and lived for a time on another planet, before the older sister sent the younger away, to protect her from the forces of evil. Now, Miyamoto has weighed in on the big reveal, and he seems to be backing it, indicating that the two princesses will remain as sisters in future Mario games. Speaking with Nintendo Dream Web, he was asked whether the sibling connection established in the movie would be official canon throughout the franchise. While Miyamoto had not firmly decided on Peach’s origins prior to the movie’s release, he sees the film series as a chance to expand on the characters, noting, “Therefore, we want to adhere as much as possible to the settings created in the movie in future games.”

That connection could help to tie the multi-generational fan base even more closely together, considering that the franchise has been around since 1981, if Mario’s inclusion as Jump Man in Donkey Kong counts. Peach has been a major part of the series’ lore since the 1985 release of Super Mario Bros., even if she was exclusively known as Princess Toadstool until the days of the Nintendo 64, and she first became a playable character in the western release of Super Mario Bros. 2. Conversely, the history of Rosalina is much shorter, as she didn’t make her first appearance until Super Mario Galaxy, giving her less than two decades to build a rapport with fans since her debut as opposed to Peach’s four.

Miyamoto’s decision to stand by Peach and Rosalina’s newly established backstory could potentially have a dynamic impact not just on the Super Mario franchise, but on a much wider selection of other Nintendo-related properties. While Donkey Kong played a big role in the first Mario movie in 2023, his canonical connection with Mario had been established years before the first Super Mario game was even released. This time around, Fox McCloud of Star Fox fame makes a big impact in the latter parts of the movie, joining Mario’s cast of regulars to save Rosalina, and the list of other characters who originated outside the Mario franchise also includes R.O.B., Mr. Game & Watch, Little Mac, Doc, and the Pikmin.

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All of those cameos may make it seem like a Super Smash Bros. movie is bound to happen sooner or later, but Miyamoto indicates not every character’s actions in the movie may have the same long-term effects as Peach and Rosalina’s. Asked specifically about some of those characters being put into the movie, he noted that he was hesitant about adding in non-Mario characters, but he justified the decision because Fox is “the best pilot in space,” and the Pikmin could reasonably be inserted into almost any situation.