On the 3rd of September 2020, Nintendo began a massiveSuper Mario35th anniversary event with a spin-off Nintendo Direct style presentation. The presentation revealed that there would be a lot in store forSuper Mariofans. Nintendo brought back everyone’s favorite 3DMariogames for Switch in the form ofSuper Mario 3D All-Stars, includingSuper Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine,andSuper Mario Galaxy.The company also releasedAnimal Crossingcollaboration items, aSuper Mario-themedGame & Watch handheld and several other small surprises. Well,Mario’s6-month 35th-anniversary celebration is finally ending.
On the 31st of March at 11:59 pm JST,Mario’s35th birthday party officially ends. After that day, Nintendo will end production of the physicalSuper Mario 3D All-Stars, and it will immediately be removed from the Nintendo online store. If players have already purchased the game, they will have continued access to it.
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The company is also ending production of theSuper MarioGame & Watch handheld, theSuper Marioanniversary t-shirt, and other 35th-anniversary merchandise. The Nintendo Switch OnlineSuper Mario. 35will be taken down on this date as well. Japanese Standard Time is several hours ahead of much of the world, meaning that these services will likely end closer to the 30th for many in America and other western countries.
It was certainly a massive celebration and some other flagship Nintendo franchises have not gotten the same treatment.Zelda’s35th anniversary occurred last month, and its received little attention aside from the announcement ofSkyward Sword HD. However,Pokemon’srecent 25th anniversary was celebrated in much the same way asMario’s.
The franchise received an ambitious new game reveal, someinsanely expensive McDonald’sPokemonCards, and bizarrely, a concert with headliner Post Malone. It is not surprising, however, that Nintendo would prefer its most recognizable franchises when organizing anniversary celebrations. After all, Nintendo fans do not need to be reminded ofZelda,Mario,andPokemon, but the general public does need to be.
Fans are sure to be unhappy thatMario’s35th-anniversary celebration is ending. Luckily, the event is still on for the rest of the month, so fans should be able to run out now and pick-upSuper Mario 3D All-Starsfor some time still.
While some fans will be sad to see the anniversary ending, others will be happy to seethe 25thPokemonanniversarybecome Nintendo’s focus for now.
Super Mario 3D All-Starsis available until March 31st exclusively on Nintendo Switch.
