This year, Mario is being commemorated on the 35th anniversary of the release of his most iconic game with a number of new releases and remasters.
More often than not, Nintendo has been criticized for putting in little to no effort to celebrate the anniversaries of its biggest franchises, leaving fans often wondering how they could best open their hearts (and wallets) to commemorate their favorite games and/or characters. According to multiple reports, this year will be different, even in the face of Switch shortages due to the global pandemic.
2020 marks the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., which released on September 13, 1985 in Japan and just over a month later in the US on October 18, 1985. According to multiple reports led by VGC, Nintendo had been planning for this year to be full of news, remasters and new releases all tied to our beloved and intrepid mustachioed hero, Mario.
According to these sources and in part corroborated by a certain reveal from Nintendo, here is what we can all hope to expect from Nintendo throughout the remainder of the year. These are the releases that we know about so far, and some we can speculate on:
MARIO MAKER 2 (update)
This game originally released in the summer of 2019 and it has since seen some welcome improvements to its online play but not much else in the way of a content update, until now. This free update brings with it The World Maker mode, allowing the player to essentially create an entire Mario game of their own, with up to 8 customizable worlds and 40 courses in all. Additionally, the seven Koopalings can be added to courses along with several power-ups and the frog suit (the frog suit!).
[Available now as a free update]
LEGO MARIO SETS
We can look forward to The Starter Course to come out later this year, while The Expansion Sets will be coming out soon after. As for what we can expect from these sets, Nintendo stated the following:
“The LEGO Mario figure itself has LCD screens in his eyes, mouth and belly to display a wide variety of instant reactions to movement, color and action bricks. Also included is a speaker that plays iconic sounds and music from the video game series.”
[Release date: August 2020]
PAPER MARIO: THE ORIGAMI KING
If you are a fan of the Paper Mario series then you will be happy about this announcement and looking forward to the release of this game, only two months from now.
[Release date: July 17, 2020]
SUPER MARIO 3D WORLD (DELUXE EDITION)
One of the few major hold outs from the Wii U catalog that has yet to see a release on the Switch, Super Mario 3D World was well regarded for its inventive mechanics and whose assets were later brought over to Mario Maker 2. Like the deluxe edition for New Super Mario Bros. U that came before it, this port to the Switch will come with additional content and somehow bypass the Wii U gamepad support that it originally came with. Because the Wii U had such a comparatively small install base, this will come as a new title for many Switch owners.
[Release date: TBD]
SUPER MARIO 3D ALL-STARS
This is speculated to be a single release that remasters the titles Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and one of my personal favorite titles, Super Mario Galaxy. This would make it the first time that Mario Sunshine is released outside of the Gamecube. How will Nintendo work around the native Wii controls from Super Mario Galaxy?
[Release date: TBD]
OTHER UNANNOUNCED 3D RELEASES
Very little is known about any further releases outside of what has been announced and heavily speculated upon, but according to VentureBeat:
“Other Nintendo studios will have games ready for release soon, as well. That includes the 3D Mario remasters, but it should also include Pikmin 3 Deluxe.”
SUPER MARIO WORLD THEME PARK
and
THE ANIMATED SUPER MARIO MOVIE
These two ventures, taking part between Nintendo and Universal, have yet to see further announcements. Many of us, myself included, are looking forward to learn more about this and the potential minions crossover. Wait, that would be awful, wouldn’t it!
It should come as little surprise that Mario is being commemorated on the 35th anniversary of the release of his most iconic game. After all, Mario has grown to become ubiquitous with Nintendo itself. I look forward to all of this new content in the coming months. Now, more than ever, is a great time to celebrate Mario’s entire catalog.
Flavio Huitron is a freelance writer. He is currently working on his first novel and picking weeds on an island populated by anthropomorphic animals. You can follow him on Instagram and Twitter.
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