Image: Nintendo Life
Five years ago, Nintendo made an appropriately big thing of Super Mario Bros.‘ 35th anniversary, with a bespoke Direct broadcast featuring a bunch of new games and, naturally, merch celebrating the Famicom release of video gaming’s most famous platformer on 13th September 1985.
Half a decade on and the 40th anniversary is just over a month away. With Switch 2 out in the wild and a Mario platformer-shaped gap in Nintendo’s announced lineup, it feels natural that there would be similar celebrations planned for this year. Super Mario Bros. 35 40, anyone?
There are some easy gimmes Nintendo could put out — Mario Kart World updates, a new Lego set, a bunch of swag with ‘Super Mario Bros. 40th Anniversary’ plastered all over it — and with DK ably taking on 3D platformer duties in the excellent Bananza, the need for the brand new 3D Mario game we’ve all been waiting for since 2017’s Odyssey isn’t quite as desperate as it was at the start of the year. But still, the door is wide open for all sorts of plumber-related news.
Realistically, we’re a few weeks away from any potential announcements, but let’s take a look at what Team NL predicts Nintendo is cooking up for SMB’s 40th…
Super Mario Maker 2 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Ludicrously Long Title Addendum That’s Totally Impractical For Any Normal Person To Say Or Even Remem— (Gavin Lane, editor)
Image: Nintendo
While it’s coming up on four decades of SMB, it’s also Super Mario Maker‘s 10th anniversary on 10th September. Seeing as it’s already a celebration of the series, I’ve got my money on a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Mario Maker 2, which adds in a Wonder theme and some Mouse Mode controls.
Sticking to anniversary-related releases (hey, where would games media be without a good old ‘It’s now been longer since X than it was between Y and Z’, huh?), Yoshi’s Island turns 30 on 5th August. Now, I’ve never been a big fan — beyond the stellar art — due to wailing baby anxiety, but can you imagine what a 4K sequel could look like?
Yes, yes, I know there have been Island sequels already, but let’s not talk about those. I’m thinking something more along the lines of a Link Between Worlds to the original’s Link to the Past, not a wet fart to Yoshi’s Island’s…
Hmm, I’ve gotten myself in trouble with an analogy and a game I don’t even like very much, Alana. Hilfe, bitte…
Weird Mario, please (Alana Hagues, deputy editor)
Image: Nintendo
Hooo boy, I’m going to forgo all of the obvious things here; yes, it’s time for Mario Golf. Yes, it’s time for a new Mario Sluggers. But where the heck is a new version of Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix???
Okay, I’m not the target audience for a new DDR Mario game, but this gets to the core I want from Mario going forward — more weird Mario. The Mario RPGs and Paper Mario have been carrying the torch over the past few years, and with Nintendo’s improved animations, I think it’s time we got some of those unusual spin-offs on Nintendo Switch Online. Or a new game.
Realistically, we’ll get a Mario Movie 2 teaser, a 3D Mario tease… maybe a new Nintendo Switch 2 design? Let’s be reasonable, folks!
Space, Jam (Jim Norman, staff writer)
Image: Nintendo
You can keep your Golf, Sluggers, Strikers, and Olympic Game crossovers; there’s only one sporting event that I want to see back in action come September, and that’s Mario Hoops 3 on 3.
I mean, come on. Basketball seems to be bigger around the world today than ever before, and the death of NBA Jam has left an arcade baller-shaped hole in all of our hearts. Give me a full-blown Mario Hoops revival, complete with high-flying dunks and silky smooth performance, and you’ve got yourself a winner.
If that’s off the table, however, it seems only right that we get Super Mario Galaxy 2 on Switch 2 in some form. At this point, I honestly don’t care if it’s a 3D All-Stars update or the announcement of a catchily-titled ‘Super Mario 3D All-Stars + Super Mario Galaxy 2 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition’. I’ll do whatever it takes to play it on modern hardware.
99 Marios and 1 Yoshi in a thong (PJ O’Reilly, staff writer)
Image: Nintendo
I reckon the smart money is on a remaster or upgrade of some sort for Mario Wonder, the Galaxy games, or hey, I’d even take a full remake of Mario Sunshine with fancy new Switch 2 controls and gimmicks. Shouting “Pump it!” into the mic for paint to come out of your gun or something. I’ll let the boffins figure out the fine details.
However, seeing as there’s been so little fanfare thus far, maybe it’s gonna be something totally different, something small-scale. Or maybe we’ll get a brand new game, a whole new-ass Mario stealthing onto the scene, they could even call it New-Ass Mario, they can have that for free.
If I had my choice, I’d like to see where Nintendo would go with some sort of Mario 99 game, something challenging and unique. You know, jumping along a route and when you fall, you’re out. Or, since we’ve just had Mario Paint drop on NSO, maybe they’re testing the waters for a brand new version of that. I’d also like to see Mario Beach Volleyball. Come on, Nintendo, you know you want to put Yoshi in bikini bottoms.
Those are a few of our hopes, but what do you think Nintendo might roll out as Super Mario Bros. enters its fifth decade? Does Super Mario Land 3D get a Deluxe port? Do we get a 1:1 of 1-1 in Lego form? Is it time for Mario’s Broadway debut as we discover Miyamoto’s been on a Gilbert and Sullivan binge? Let us know below.
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Gavin first wrote for Nintendo Life in 2018 before joining the site full-time the following year, rising through the ranks to become Editor. He can currently be found squashed beneath a Switch backlog the size of Normandy.