The COVID-19 pandemic has put a damper on many celebrations this year, but Nintendo is trying their best to commemorate Mario’s 35th birthday as much as possible.
Of course, they kicked it all off in high style with none other than the premiere of a new All-Stars collection. The Super Mario 3D All-Stars game will include Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy, covering the N64, GameCube, and Wii eras respectively. But that’s not all Nintendo is doing.
For one, they’re bringing out another scalper’s dream in the form of a new Game & Watch that plays classic Mario games and will only be available in limited quantities for reasons. Whatever the thinking, it ties in with the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection only being sold until March 2021. Why all of the timed and limited release stuff? Who knows, but the Game & Watch looks like a neat concept albeit somewhat gimmicky.
Another game that Nintendo showed off is the remake of the NES Super Mario Bros. called Super Mario Bros. 35. It takes the Tetris 99 battle royale concept and applies it to the first Mario game. Competing against 34 other players, gamers will be tasked with surviving Mario’s hardest levels while having all sorts of shenanigans come their way from other competing players. The last one remaining wins, naturally.
Nintendo also showed off an augmented reality (AR) concept called Mario Kart Live. This basically turns your home or wherever into an AR Mario Kart track. Consumers will get a choice of various karts featuring various iconic characters from the Mario universe and each unit will have an AR camera equipped on top to stream the action back to the gamer. We expect that this will be an absolutely bonkers must-have gift for kids when it comes out on October 16.
There will also be a series of Mario-themed events throughout the year to help celebrate Mario’s legacy and contributions to Nintendo.
Taken from Nintendo, some of the other planned products include basketball shoes, a themed edition of the Monopoly board game, and action figures.
Will you be celebrating Mario’s 35th anniversary? What do you think of Nintendo’s planned products? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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