Koopa's Tower

Koopa's Tower

Koopa's Tower is the name of the two skyscraper structure in Dinohattan, residence to President Koopa in the Super Mario Bros. film. President Koopa rules from within this location, with the help of his assistant Lena. It is also the residence of the King, Yoshi, Iggy, Spike and various others. Devo 4 is located within the tower. It is modeled after the former World Trade Center buildings in New York City, and is the movie's equivalent of Bowser's Castle. According to deleted scenes of the film, the similarity between Koopa's Tower and the World Trade Center stemmed from then-General Koopa catching his eye on the various skyscrapers in Manhattan while pursuing the Queen and the meteorite. A statue based on the The Statue of Liberty can be seen for a mere few seconds in the final cut of the film, existing in Dinohattan's outskirts. Concept art shows that the statue was planned to be much closer to the tower; it is officially called "The Statue of Repression", though it is not referred to as such in the film.

Near the film's end, the two dimensions of Dinohattan and the real world merge, and the World Trade Center in New York City transforms into Koopa's Tower. Said scene bears an eerie similarity to the real life September 11 attacks that permanently destroyed both of the World Trade Center towers. Parts of the buildings in the film disintegrate away like smoke, in a similar fashion to how they were destroyed during the attacks eight years after the film's release.

Gallery

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  Close-up of the tower

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  Concept art of the tower, with the Statue of Repression visible

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  Concept art of the Statue of Repression

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  Shot in the film of the Statue of Repression, with Koopa's Tower in the background

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  Art of the Koopahari Desert, with Koopa's Tower shown in the distance

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  Koopa's Tower after having merged with the World Trade Center