Chris Pratt reveals his favorite Super Mario cheat

Chris Tilly
Poster for Super Mario Bros movie.

With a new Super Mario Bros. movie about to his cinemas, we’ve been talking to the voice of Mario himself – Chris Pratt – to find out his favorite cheat for the game.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is an animated adaptation of the iconic video game, with a star-studded voice cast that features Chris Pratt as the voice of Mario, Charlie Day voicing Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, and Keegan-Michael Hall as Toad. The film’s official synopsis is as follows…

While working underground to fix a water main, Brooklyn plumbers Mario and brother Luigi are transported down a mysterious pipe and wander into a magical new world. But when the brothers are separated, Mario embarks on an epic quest to find Luigi.

With the assistance of a Mushroom Kingdom resident Toad and some training from the strong-willed ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach, Mario taps into his own power.

Chris Pratt reveals his favorite Super Mario cheat

Our interview with Chris Pratt and Charlie Day starts with the latter asking of the game: “If you run fast enough in the original Mario, can you jump over the flagpole? Can it be done?” Day then adds: “It was always a rumor in our childhood that yeah, it could be done.”

Pratt then claims: “One kid did it, but then he disappeared. Yeah. He got transported to the water world.” Before making an even bigger claim: “There was a way to get a hundred guys.”

Charlie is astonished, and asks Chris to explain how it’s done.

How to get 100 lives in Mario

You can see Chris Pratt’s explanation of his favorite cheat in the above video (as well as evidence of it happening in the game), or read his description below…

Chris Pratt: “You go to like level 2-1 or something like that and at the end there’s a turtle going back and forth between the staircase. And you bunch it up to where the turtle’s just right here. And then you jump [motions repeatedly]. ‘Cause every time you jump, if you jump on the turtle three times, you get a free guy. So you, you’d cram him down into the corner and you’d jump and you go, donk, donk, donk, donk, donk, and it’d be bink-a-dink biddillie biddillie and you’d get 99 guys.”

Charlie Day: “You learn something new every day!”

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is in cinemas worldwide on Wednesday, April 5, 2023 – for more on the film head here.

About The Author

Chris Tilly is the TV and Movies Editor at Dexerto. He has a BA in English Literature, an MA in Newspaper Journalism, and over the last 20 years, he's worked for the likes of Time Out, IGN, and Fandom. Chris loves Star Wars, Marvel, DC, sci-fi, and especially horror, while he knows maybe too much about Alan Partridge. You can email him here: chris.tilly@dexerto.com.