'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie' Resurrects a Lost ’80s Nintendo Icon
A new teaser for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie released last month revealed that Mouser, an old-school '80s boss from the original Super Mario Bros games, was making a comeback for the film adaptation. Footage showed the character alongside Princess Peach, going on an intergalactic adventure with Mario, Luigi,Yoshi, and friends.
Now, another nostalgic favorite is returning to the franchise for the upcoming film, which releases on April 1. Newly released toy tie-in merchandise for the film includes a playset with R.O.B. in a galaxy portal with Peach and her best buddy Toad.
R.O.B the Robot will appear in the Super Mario Galaxy movie according to a toy set #Illumination #Nintendo #TheSuperMarioGalaxyMovie pic.twitter.com/Qn8pHsTkZR
— Juan Pablo (@JuanpaDraws) February 15, 2026
R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) is a toy robot accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), first launched in Japan in 1985. The accessory was intended to make the console more family-friendly, making it more of a toy that appeals to children.
R.O.B. has made many cameo appearances since his in-game debut in the NES games Gyromite and Stack-Up, both released in 1985. He has also been seen invideo games, such as StarTropics (1990) for NES, F-Zero GX (2003) for GameCube, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2015) for 3DS, and the Star Fox series (1993-2017).
R.O.B. has appeared throughout the Mario gaming franchise, starting with Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for SNES in 1996. He appeared in many of the WarioWare games for GameBoy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Wii, as well as Mario Kart DS (2005) and Mario Kart World for Nintendo Switch 2 (2025). He has also appeared in the Super Smash Bros. incarnations on several occasions.
Unfortunately for poor R.O.B., he's been a quiet presence as of late. While he’s remained somewhat playable in crossover titles or ensemble-style games, he hasn’t had a notable role in mainline Mario games or major spin-offs for a long time. He's also mostly been a bonus, unlockable character in recent games. The friendly robot wasn't a core playable character in the last Mario Kart game, having been demoted since Mario Kart DS, released twenty years prior. Perhaps the upcoming film will offer him more to do.