Turning dreams into reality.
While the official Nintendo Direct on September 12, 2025 was seen as a disappointment by many Mario fans, doing little to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. except announcing both rereleases and merchandise meant to promote the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy Movie, other creatives have seemingly been preparing more for the occasion than Nintendo.
Notably, just one day after the Direct, UK-based digital artist and animator Brintcart released a teaser trailer for a project aiming to embrace the weirdness of the most neglected mainline Super Mario game: An animated short film titled Super Mario Bros. Welcome To Subcon.
A Tale of Two Artists
While Brintcart announced the release of the teaser trailer of his short film on August 28, 2025 as a tribute to the 40th anniversary, development on the project has been going on for quite a while longer, with the first teaser clip for a then-unnamed Super Mario animated short being uploaded to YouTube channel Brintc on July 9, 2024, instantly prompting overwhelmingly positive responses from the community, like:
"This is the kind of Mario animation I dreamed of seeing as a kid."
"It's a total delight to see a Mario fan animation that looks something like the original Yoichi Kotabe art. Please, keep it up!"
The second commentator is referring to Yōichi Kotabe, seasoned Japanese animator and character designer, who, after working on several anime productions in the 1960s and 70s (like Panda! Go, Panda! (1972) or Heidi, Girl of the Alps (1974), was hired by Nintendo, where he would refine Shigeru Miyamoto's early sketches into the recognizable character designs which are now beloved around the world.
He was also responsable for drawing 2D promotional art for the Super Mario games since 1985, with his distinct style being so influential that it is in use to this day (even though Kotabe left the company to go freelance in 2007), both by Nintendo and – as in this case – by fans, with Brintcart explicitly stating that Super Mario Bros. Welcome To Subcon is "inspired by anime of the 1980s and 1990s".
Resuming the Dream
The first in-game work Miyamoto requested from Kotabe was the animation of the "Pidgit" enemy's sitting on a flying carpet in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (1987), the game that would later be converted into Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988) for its Western release – incidentally the same game that Super Mario Bros. Welcome To Subcon is based on.
From what we can gather from the September 13 teaser trailer, the final short film will adapt the story of the classic NES game, which saw Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad enter the magical dream world of Subcon to rid its inhabitants of the despotic rule of its vegetable-villain Wart and his gang of misfits, many of whom (like Shy Guys, Bob-Ombs and Birdo) would go on to become mainstays of the Super Mario franchise:
"This short film will be treated like a “pilot episode” based in the universe of Super Mario Bros 2/USA with some exceptions. I hope to capture something that feels nostalgic and authentic."
As for Wart himself, he, along with most of his gang and the entire setting of Subcon has seemingly been forgotten by Nintendo, only for BS Super Mario USA (1996), where they had to be put back in their place after invading Subcon from another dream, overthrowing its king and stealing the Golden Mario statues – this time seemingly for good.
Given this, are you excited for the world of Super Mario Bros. 2 to make its grand return in this fan-driven form? If so, you can support the artist via Ko-fi.