According to reports from several sources, the Super Mario back catalogue will be returning to Nintendo Switch later this year.
Eurogamer and VGC have both published reports describing Nintendo’s plans to celebrate Mario’s 35th birthday. According to the Eurogamer report, the back catalog titles include a Deluxe version of Super Mario 3D World, which will add “an array of new levels,” plus remasters of Super Mario Galaxy and “a couple of other 3D Mario favorites.” Both sites also claim that a new entry in the Paper Mario series is also in the works. Various major websites have stated they’ve been hearing similar reports, and that Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine will be part of the remasters.
According to the VGC report, a Super Mario 35th anniversary event was originally planned to take place at E3 2020 in June (which has been cancelled), but Nintendo is now reviewing its plans in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The event would have also revealed new details regarding Nintendo’s partnership with Universal, including the “Super Nintendo World” theme park attractions and animated Super Mario movie. This all seems to line up with past announcements regarding both upcoming projects.
We’re all familiar with Nintendo leaks, but this seems to have a bit more evidence behind it than usual. We’ll likely hear more about what Nintendo has in store for Mario over the next couple years in the Summer or Fall Nintendo Directs, assuming nothing’s pushed back. It would be nice to see these games come back on a modern console (especially 3D World), and I’m up for seeing if Nintendo’s figured out what to do with Paper Mario. Also, I’d like to hear anything about that Mario movie. If you’re excited for one of these potential announcements, feel free to drop a comment below. Stay safe out there, and we’ll report back when we hear more.
