Nintendo shadow-dropped the Direct we’ve all been waiting for this morning. Marking this year’s status as the 35th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros. and officially revealing titles long-rumored alongside some new surprises and a bevy of tie-in merchandise & events.
HEY NOW, YOU’RE AN ALL-STAR! GET YOUR GAME ON!
Topping the announcements are the original Super Mario All-Stars collection of the first four 2D SMB games, upgraded to 16-bit graphics (coming to the Nintendo Switch Online Super NES selection today), and the long-rumored Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection (coming to the Switch proper on September 18th).
The latter gathers together the two spiritual predecessors to Super Mario Odyssey: Super Mario 64 & Super Mario Sunshine, as well as the first entry in the Super Mario Galaxy sub-series. A music player mode tops the added features for all three, alongside improved resolution and Switch optimization. The collection will have a limited run of physical copies produced and both that and the digital version will available until the end of this coming March.
EVERYBODY (+BOWSER) WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD.
One of the few remaining Wii U exclusives will finally make its way to the Switch on February 12th, 2021 with the arrival of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury. Grab your catsuit and jump into single-player, multiplayer co-op, and online play across a wide variety of levels mixing the gameplay styles of several Mario series.
The game will also arrive alongside new amiibo of Cat Mario and Cat Peach. Nintendo is leaving details about Bowser’s Fury for later. No word yet on the fate of the Captain Toad levels (which relied on the Wii U GamePad) or if Bowser’s Fury is meant to compensate for the removal of that content.
YOU’RE THE BEST! (AROUND!)
Following in the footsteps of Tetris 99, Super Mario Bros. 35 will bring an online competitive format to the classic game as 35 players platform their way to ultimate victory while sending enemies to their opponent’s screens and avoiding ones sent to their own. Launching on October 1st, the game will only be playable until March 31st, 2021.
WATCH ME NOW!
Game & Watch returns on November 13th with a Super Mario Bros. installment that includes the original Super Mario Bros., The Lost Levels, and a Mario-ized version of Ball. True to the legacy of its namesake, it also includes clock functionality with 35 hidden details to discover. Retail price will be $49.99.
AR YOU GONNA GO MY WAY?
Mario Kart goes AR (“Mario kARt?”) with Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. Create custom courses in your room as you remote control physical karts via your Switch through onboard cameras on the racers. Interactive elements are imposed over the live feed footage and allow the toy kart to react to the gameplay and vice versa. The package comes available in both Mario and Luigi sets and races onto shelves (and into homes) on October 16th. The retail price will be $99.99 each.
I WANT IT ALL- AND I WANT IT NOW!
In addition to these game announcements, the Direct also revealed upcoming anniversary-themed events or in-game content for Mario Kart Tour (including the often-absent DK Jr.!), Super Mario Maker 2, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Splatoon 2, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Pre-orders (or their placeholders) are starting to pop up now for several items, while the rush of traffic to the Supr Mario 3D All-Stars website following these Direct announcements has seemingly overwhelmed the site and left it down for several hours, as of this posting.
In the meantime, prepare to do “the Mario” over the next seven months. It is scientifically proven that, as you “swing your arms from side to side”, it becomes much easier for the contents of your wallet to fly away, off into the ether- as the acquisition of all that is contained within this Direct will naturally require.
