If you have seen The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, you already know the big reveal: Princess Peach and Princess Rosalina are sisters. That fan theory, floating around for years, is now locked in as official Mario lore. Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed in a recent interview with Japanese outlet Nintendo Dream (translated by Nintendo Everything) that Peach's backstory as shown in the film is canon, and that he intends to carry it into future games.
Before the movie entered production, Miyamoto says Peach's origins were never formally established. The film changed that. Peach stumbled into the Mushroom Kingdom as a child after wandering through a Warp Pipe, was raised by the kingdom's inhabitants, and eventually became their princess. The movie also confirms she and Rosalina share a family connection, the detail that has sent the Mario fandom into a frenzy.
What Miyamoto actually said
"Before making this movie, I hadn't decided on the character's backstory, but now that I'm making the movie, it's become fun to expand on the character in various ways," Miyamoto told Nintendo Dream. "Therefore, I would like to adhere as much as possible to the settings created in the movie in future games."
Here's the thing, though: Miyamoto is threading a needle here. He's committing to the movie's lore while also making sure it doesn't box the development team into a corner. His exact words on that tension are worth reading carefully.
"Because we don't know what kind of game we'll make next with our characters, having too many character settings would become a constraint," he explained. "I'm fine with being bound by the gameplay, but I don't want to be bound by having created a story, which has been the reason for not making movies based on our games for many years."
The key here is that Miyamoto is treating story canon as a tool, not a rulebook. He'll use the Peach-Rosalina connection when it serves a game's design, but he's leaving room to breathe.
The movie's rocky reception vs. its box office reality
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has not exactly won over critics. Miyamoto himself called the poor reviews "truly baffling" in a separate statement. But audiences have shown up in numbers that make the critical discourse almost beside the point: the film has grossed $752 million globally as of this week, making it the top-performing film of 2026 so far, and it hasn't even opened in Japan yet.
For context, the combined box office of the Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has now crossed $2 billion. Whatever critics think, Nintendo's film strategy is working.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie contains major spoilers about Peach's origins and her connection to Rosalina. If you haven't seen it yet and want to go in fresh, the canon confirmation itself is a spoiler worth knowing before you read further.
What this means for Super Mario Galaxy's legacy
Super Mario Galaxy originally introduced Rosalina in 2007 as a mysterious, melancholic figure with her own storybook backstory. That story hinted at a lost family, a mother who passed away, and a life spent among the stars. The movie now adds Peach to that family tree in a way that recontextualizes both characters.
For players who have spent time with Super Mario Galaxy, this is a meaningful shift. Rosalina was always a fan favorite partly because of that air of mystery. Making her Peach's sister doesn't erase that mystery, but it does anchor her more firmly to the core cast. Whether future Switch 2 titles lean into that connection or treat it as background lore remains to be seen, but Miyamoto has made clear it won't be quietly ignored.
For the latest on what's coming to Nintendo's lineup, you can browse our latest gaming news, and check out our reviews covering the biggest releases as they arrive.
