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We know that another Super Mario Bros. Movie is on the way (Nintendo confirmed it’s coming in 2026, no less), but that doesn’t mean that we are quite done talking about its predecessor just yet. In fact, there’s something new to look at.
Jed Diffenderfer worked as a story developer and artist on the 2023 Illumination/Nintendo movie, and he has recently uploaded a fresh batch of concept art to his website which shows an initial vision for some of the movie’s memorable moments as well as some sections that didn’t make the cut (thanks, Nintendo Everything).
The eight images (which you can find below) show several scenes that fans of the film will surely recognise — Mario’s first time in a warp pipe, Bowser’s triumph over the Penguin King etc. — but the images that caught our eyes are the ones that we have never seen before. Yep, we’re talking about Princess Daisy!
In two pieces of concept art, we can see Daisy in action (in what appears to be a high school flashback and a climactic Avengers: Endgame-style battle), suggesting that at one point, there was at least an idea for the fan-favourite princess’ big-screen appearance. You can also grab a glance at other characters such as Toadette, a flying blue Yoshi and is that Toadsworth? What could have been, eh?
To be clear, Daisy’s presence in early concept art doesn’t mean that the character was necessarily cut or even seriously considered for the movie. There’s every chance that Diffenderfer added the princess to some pieces simply to give a vibe for the proposed scene and the concept went no further. Then again, there’s clearly no shortage of ideas for a sequel…
It’s amazing to see Diffenderfer’s art in such detail now that we know how the finished product came out. Be sure to check out the artist’s website to see more of his previous work as well as a concept video for a stealthy Mario scene that never appeared in the final film.
What do you make of this concept art? Would you like to have seen Daisy make the final cut? Let us know in the comments.