But Our Princess Is In Another Castle

1985catchphraseclassic

"But Our Princess Is In Another Castle" is a catchphrase from the 1985 NES game Super Mario Bros., delivered by a Toad after Mario clears each castle boss fight. The line became a widely used sarcastic template for telling someone they are searching for the right thing in the wrong place.

mariocatchphrase memessnowclone memesnintendo memesvideo game quote memes

Overview

"But Our Princess Is In Another Castle" is a catchphrase pulled from Super Mario Bros., the 1985 NES title designed by Shigeru Miyamoto2. Each of the game's eight worlds ends in a castle boss fight against Bowser or one of his decoys, and clearing that fight is supposed to hand Mario the rescue of Princess Peach3. Instead, a small Toad appears in her place and delivers the news that the princess has been moved somewhere else1.

Online, the line usually shows up as the shortened "Sorry, but our princess is in another castle," or as a phrasal template following the pattern "Sorry X, but your Y is in another Z," used as a sarcastic reply when someone is looking for the right thing in the wrong place4. Urban Dictionary hosts entries for both the full and shortened forms, glossing them as mocking replies to that kind of misdirected question6.

How It Spread

Because the line repeats across seven castle finales before World 8-4 finally rewards the player, NES fans had to sit through the same joke over and over, and the wording turned into a running gag in gaming conversation5. Once forums, blogs, and YouTube took hold in the mid-2000s, the quote picked up new life as a stock reaction dropped under posts where someone was clearly looking for the wrong thing in the wrong place, and Urban Dictionary hosts entries for both the full phrase and the shortened "Sorry" variant that gloss the line as a sarcastic reply to that kind of missed-the-mark question6.

The wording pairs closely with a specific visual, the original NES text box with Toad standing in the empty room, which is still the reference frame gaming videos use when replaying the source scene5. Image macros reuse that same shot with new captions in place of the original dialogue, keeping the wording near-verbatim while swapping in whatever setup the maker wants to spoof6.

How to Use This Meme

The template starts from the source line, "Sorry Mario, but our princess is in another castle," delivered by the Toad in the original NES scene5. Common practice keeps the "Sorry [name]" opener intact and swaps the middle noun and the destination to fit the situation, giving the shape "Sorry X, but your Y is in another Z"4. In text posts and chat, the wording usually drops in whole as a punchline after a wrong-answer link or a bad guess, while image versions layer the new caption over a screenshot of Toad in the empty castle room.

Fun Facts

- The line appears in the finale of every castle in Super Mario Bros. except World 8-4, which is where Mario finally reaches the real Bowser and the real Peach4.

- Miyamoto originally wanted to build the game that became Donkey Kong around Popeye, but technical constraints pushed him to invent his own characters from scratch2.

- The Toad character, not Peach herself, is the one who delivers the bad news in each castle, since Peach is stuck being Bowser's prisoner1.

- Bowser's placeholder Japanese name during Super Mario Bros. development was "Bosu Kurīpā," based on Nintendo's earlier Shellcreeper enemy3.

- Peach was originally called Princess Toadstool in English-language releases outside Japan, and only picked up the "Peach" name officially with Yoshi's Safari1.

Frequently Asked Questions

But Our Princess Is In Another Castle

1985catchphraseclassic

"But Our Princess Is In Another Castle" is a catchphrase from the 1985 NES game Super Mario Bros., delivered by a Toad after Mario clears each castle boss fight. The line became a widely used sarcastic template for telling someone they are searching for the right thing in the wrong place.

mario catchphrase memes snowclone memes nintendo memes video game quote memes

Overview

"But Our Princess Is In Another Castle" is a catchphrase pulled from Super Mario Bros., the 1985 NES title designed by Shigeru Miyamoto2. Each of the game's eight worlds ends in a castle boss fight against Bowser or one of his decoys, and clearing that fight is supposed to hand Mario the rescue of Princess Peach3. Instead, a small Toad appears in her place and delivers the news that the princess has been moved somewhere else1.

Online, the line usually shows up as the shortened "Sorry, but our princess is in another castle," or as a phrasal template following the pattern "Sorry X, but your Y is in another Z," used as a sarcastic reply when someone is looking for the right thing in the wrong place4. Urban Dictionary hosts entries for both the full and shortened forms, glossing them as mocking replies to that kind of misdirected question6.

How It Spread

Because the line repeats across seven castle finales before World 8-4 finally rewards the player, NES fans had to sit through the same joke over and over, and the wording turned into a running gag in gaming conversation5. Once forums, blogs, and YouTube took hold in the mid-2000s, the quote picked up new life as a stock reaction dropped under posts where someone was clearly looking for the wrong thing in the wrong place, and Urban Dictionary hosts entries for both the full phrase and the shortened "Sorry" variant that gloss the line as a sarcastic reply to that kind of missed-the-mark question6.

The wording pairs closely with a specific visual, the original NES text box with Toad standing in the empty room, which is still the reference frame gaming videos use when replaying the source scene5. Image macros reuse that same shot with new captions in place of the original dialogue, keeping the wording near-verbatim while swapping in whatever setup the maker wants to spoof6.

How to Use This Meme

The template starts from the source line, "Sorry Mario, but our princess is in another castle," delivered by the Toad in the original NES scene5. Common practice keeps the "Sorry [name]" opener intact and swaps the middle noun and the destination to fit the situation, giving the shape "Sorry X, but your Y is in another Z"4. In text posts and chat, the wording usually drops in whole as a punchline after a wrong-answer link or a bad guess, while image versions layer the new caption over a screenshot of Toad in the empty castle room.

Fun Facts

- The line appears in the finale of every castle in Super Mario Bros. except World 8-4, which is where Mario finally reaches the real Bowser and the real Peach4.

- Miyamoto originally wanted to build the game that became Donkey Kong around Popeye, but technical constraints pushed him to invent his own characters from scratch2.

- The Toad character, not Peach herself, is the one who delivers the bad news in each castle, since Peach is stuck being Bowser's prisoner1.

- Bowser's placeholder Japanese name during Super Mario Bros. development was "Bosu Kurīpā," based on Nintendo's earlier Shellcreeper enemy3.

- Peach was originally called Princess Toadstool in English-language releases outside Japan, and only picked up the "Peach" name officially with Yoshi's Safari1.

Frequently Asked Questions