Nintendo released a bunch of major Super Mario games over the last couple of months in celebration of the Italian plumber’s 35th anniversary, with Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Super Mario 35, and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. Of those, the latter two had curious launches, with Nintendo having only launched them as timed releases- both games will only be on sale, both physically and digitally, until March 31, 2021.
Nintendo have caught more than a bit of flak for the timed nature of both releases- but why exactly have they gone with that approach? Well, as per Nintendo of America president, the appropriately named Doug Bowser, there’s one pretty simple reason for that. Nintendo wanted to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Super Mario in a “unique and different” way, and went about doing so in this manner.
“Yeah, I think I use a simple word: celebration,” said Bowser in an interview with Polygon. “It just — this is a celebration of Mario’s 35th anniversary. And we wanted to celebrate in unique and different ways, and we’ve done that through games like Super Mario 3D All-Stars, or we will be doing that through future releases, such as Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury.”
Bowser went on to say that for now, Nintendo has no plans to release that timed release nature of either game, but hasn’t thought about what to do with those games beyond that window.
“Yeah, at this point, the decision was really made around that celebration feature and aspect,” he said. “I can’t speak to plans beyond the end of March.”
For now, Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Super Mario 35 are both available on Nintendo Switch. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury launches February 12, 2021.