Nintendo: New Super Mario Bros. Character Designs Developed Separately from The Mario Movie

Developers say The Mario Movie had no influence on the new character designs in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

The team wanted to build on the 3D models from New Super Mario Bros. and make them more expressive.

Art director Masanobu Sato says they didn't know anything about the movie's content during development.

Producer Takashi Tezuka says they were conscious of appealing to new fans from the movie.

Overall, the developers focused on creating expressive 3D models without input from the movie.