Published August 16, 2026
"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.
Overview
"But Our Princess Is In Another Castle" is a catchphrase pulled from Super Mario Bros., the 1985 NES title designed by Shigeru Miyamoto[2]. 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 Peach[3]. Instead, a small Toad appears in her place and delivers the news that the princess has been moved somewhere else[1].
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 place[4]. Urban Dictionary hosts entries for both the full and shortened forms, glossing them as mocking replies to that kind of misdirected question[6].
Origin & Background
Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, with Miyamoto taking the design lead after his earlier plan for a Popeye-based arcade game had been abandoned for technical reasons[2]. Mario, who had first appeared as "Jumpman" in the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong, was cast as the hero racing across the Mushroom Kingdom to save Princess Peach, called Princess Toadstool in most English-language releases at the time[1]. His opponent was Bowser, a fire-breathing Koopa king whose placeholder Japanese name during development was "Bosu Kurīpā," meaning "Boss Creeper"[3].
The line itself first appears in World 1-4, once Mario finishes his opening castle boss fight and expects the reward of the rescued princess[5]. A Toad, one of the mushroom-shaped attendants who serve Peach in her castle, greets him with the disappointing message instead[1]. The scene then repeats in the castle finales of every world from 2 through 7, dragging players along until the real Bowser and the real Peach finally show up in World 8-4[5].
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 conversation[5]. 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 question[6].
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 scene[5]. 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 spoof[6].
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 scene[5]. 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
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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 Peach[4].
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Miyamoto originally wanted to build the game that became Donkey Kong around Popeye, but technical constraints pushed him to invent his own characters from scratch[2].
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The Toad character, not Peach herself, is the one who delivers the bad news in each castle, since Peach is stuck being Bowser's prisoner[1].
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Bowser's placeholder Japanese name during Super Mario Bros. development was "Bosu Kurīpā," based on Nintendo's earlier Shellcreeper enemy[3].
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Peach was originally called Princess Toadstool in English-language releases outside Japan, and only picked up the "Peach" name officially with Yoshi's Safari[1].
Frequently Asked Questions
It is a catchphrase from Super Mario Bros. (1985) that a Toad delivers to Mario after each castle boss fight, telling him the princess has been moved somewhere else[2].
The line comes from the NES game Super Mario Bros., designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and released by Nintendo in 1985[2].
In the game, it literally means the searcher is in the wrong place. Online, it works as a sarcastic reply to anyone hunting for the right thing in the wrong spot[6].
Drop the line as-is under a wrong-answer post, or reshape it with the template "Sorry X, but your Y is in another Z" to swap in a new target and destination[6].
The line is still recognized by gamers and gets pulled out as a reference in gaming videos, comment threads, and image macros that reuse the original NES text box[5].
