Wreck-It Ralph was truly an inspiration when it came to video game movies. For it took the familiar setting of the video game arcade and put some fun twists on it. And in between the story and action scenes gave us plenty of memorable video game cameos. Including Pac-Man, M. Bison and Zangief, Sonic The Hedgehog, and many more! But, when it came to Mario, he was mentioned in name, but was never a true part of the movie. Which made people hopeful that he’d appear in Wreck-It Ralph 2.
Sadly, though Wreck-It Ralph 2 will be coming to theaters on November 21st, it appears that once again the famed video game icon won’t be a part of the film. This sad news comes from story artist Jason Hand. He did an interview with “Inside The Magic” and noted:
“Some of the stuff was that we don’t have rights to certain characters, because we’re working in a world of other people’s media. It’s like, that would have been really funny if we could have Mario in here doing this part, but it doesn’t end up working out because of that, and it’s fine and the story doesn’t actually end up needing it. But as individual bits, it’s like “That’s a great ‘Saturday Night Live’ bit!” Rich [Moore] and Phil [Johnston, the movie’s co-directors] are pretty much full of those things so it’s an endless amount of great ideas, honestly.
As a fan of the first film, and one who is looking forward to the sequel, this is a really sad thing, as Mario could’ve definitely added some fun moments to Wreck-It Ralph 2. As a Nintendo fan, I feel this is a missed opportunity. Nintendo has been working hard the last few years to expand their IPs reach in terms of exposure. What better way to do that than with a no doubt hit Disney movie?
Regardless, the film will be out on November 21st.
