When Super Mario Bros. (1993) first hit theatres, the mainstream reaction was anything but positive. The critic Roger Ebert (of Siskel & Ebert) famously described it as a "complete waste of time and money" and the box office performance was enough of a disappointment to convince Nintendo to ultimately distance itself from the movie in the years following.
Interestingly, though, the film has picked up something of a cult following over the last three decades, with plenty of fans making their voice heard and arguing in favour of the strange sci-fi-inflected take on the popular '80s game.
Someone we didn't expect to be among them, however, was Shigesato Itoi, the creator of the Mother series and frequent-Nintendo collaborator, who recently took to Twitter to give his honest thoughts on the film.
Reacting to a set of comic strips from the illustrator @Computerozi, Itoi told his followers:
"That live-action version of Mario was actually fun too. It was funny to me at least. The new Mario is also interesting. of course. There are different types of fun."
Itoi previously revealed in an interview with Game Center CX's Shinya Arino from 2019 that he "feels indebted to Nintendo" after playing Mario to help him get through sleepless nights caused by asthma-induced coughing fits. This was apparently one of many reasons that he inevitably wanted to work on the Mother series with Nintendo in the first place.
It's, therefore, interesting to hear that his love for the Italian plumber also extends to the Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo film, which has been controversial, to say the least, among many Nintendo fans.