With an alleged remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time seemingly coming near the Holiday season for Switch 2, one has to wonder about the next 3D Mario. Apparently, it’s slated for 2027 – a decade after the release of Super Mario Odyssey on the original Switch.

Not that Mario hasn’t kept busy, though – Super Mario Bros. Wonder launched in October 2023 to stellar critical acclaim, after all. The development team has also been working on Donkey Kong Bananza, which launched last July for the Nintendo Switch 2 to rave reviews and over four million sales.

While it’s unlikely to be announced in the next Nintendo Direct, the reveal of Ocarina of Time Remake could solidify the former’s status as a 2027 title. As always, time will tell, but if Nintendo is pushing it to next year, it may simply be to space out its big releases.

Martinet will instead serve as Mario Ambassador, traveling the world and “sharing the joy of Mario” while interacting with fans. The company will celebrate his work with a special video message from Martinet and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto coming at a “future date.” Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Though the tweet lists Martinet as being the voice of Mario as far back as Super Mario 64 (1996), his first role as the character dates even further back, namely the CD-ROM version of Mario Teaches Typing (1994) and Mario’s Game Gallery (1995). He would serve as the voice actor for Luigi, Wario, Waluigi and even Baby Mario, with his last major title being Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.

We have a message for fans of the Mushroom Kingdom. Please take a look. pic.twitter.com/L0kjQtwALr

— Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) August 21, 2023

COVID-19 has done a number on just about everything, it seems. Video game companies got hit hard, with lots of delays. One company that is very obvious with is Nintendo, whose latter half of 2020 releases have been pretty slim. For a long time, it’s been rumored we were getting a collection of remasters for Mario’s 35th Anniversary, but thus far, those rumors have been a bust. Well, throw another one on the fire, as more rumors are coming.

This go around, the rumors come from the podcast, Nate the Hate. Apparently, the podcast has reported on Nintendo leaks with some degree of accuracy in past, correctly guessing both of August’s Directs. He says that the collection was actually supposed to be out around this time originally, but COVID pushed everything back. He still contends that it’s real, however, saying that it’s now Nintendo’s big holiday title. He also says there could be a potential bundle or dock beside it.

“I think now it’s going to be positioned more as a holiday game than as they had originally planned. I believe the original plan was that the 3D collection was going to come out in September, had these games been announced in June… then we probably would have had 3D World Deluxe follow it in either October of maybe even early November. Now that’s completely scrapped.

“Then we’re potentially looking at 3D collection either being early October… or the 3D collection is going to come out in November and be positioned as a prime holiday title, with a Mario-themed console, dock and all of that,” he said.

“Then I think you’re going to see 3D World Deluxe get delayed out of the 35th anniversary party and it’s going to come out in January 2021.”

It’s getting late even for this potential schedule, but Nintendo has been dropping announcements out of nowhere recently, such as the Pikmin 3 Deluxe title that will release at the end of October. Who knows, though, we’ll just have to wait and see.

As it stands right now, there isn’t a lot in the second half of the year announced from Nintendo. Like all companies, its input has obviously been hit by the COVID-19 global pandemic. As it stands, we really only have Paper Mario: The Origami King that will see release at the end of this week. What Nintendo has for us is still up in the air, but a new Twitter account could point to something coming soon.

Fans have managed to unearth an as of now inactive Twitter account for the series, called @supermario35th. The email address is redacted, but it seems to have a similar format to other Nintendo branded Twitter accounts. Time will tell what comes of this, but the account seems to have been created in March, which lines up almost perfectly with some earlier rumors about the re-release of multiple Super Mario games including remasters of Super Mario 64, both Galaxy games, Sunshine, 3D World and a new Paper Mario game that was revealed to be The Origami King.

Who knows what will come of this, but there are rumors that a new Direct is planned for later this month. If there’s an legitimacy here, most likely we will here something then.

So let’s begin with the character that is perhaps anonymous with the very concept of video games more than any other.

MARIO (SUPER MARIO)

Mario has been at the top of the gaming pantheon for as long as gaming as we know it today as existed, and because of it (or maybe vice versa), his design has become iconic. The red hat, the bushy moustache, the blue overalls- these are all features that have collectively become immediately recognizable even to someone who isn’t too ingrained in video games. It makes sense, then, that Nintendo have largely kept Mario’s design the same- or at least the most important features.

Well, for the most part. For his very outing first in Donkey Kong on arcade machines, Mario sported his iconic attire, but things changed after that for a while. On the NES, Super Mario Bros was restricted by the limited number of colours the console could display, so everything from his clothes to his overalls to his hat to even his hair was all basically just different shades of the same colour. In fact, it wasn’t until Super Mario World on the SNES that we saw him donning the blue overalls for a look that much closely resembles what we now associate him with (though the box art of Super Mario Bros. 3 did indeed display that look as well).

Then, Super Mario 64 – his first ever 3D outing – was what really cemented his look, and since then, in all the sequels and the many, many, many spinoffs and offshoots he has appeared in, his visual design has mostly stuck to same fundamentals, right up until his more recent outings in the likes of Super Mario Odyssey and Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Of course, we’ve seen greater detail being added to that design as technology has progressed, which has allowed developers to really breathe life into the character’s look.

1985 was a historic year for Nintendo, and for gaming as a whole, because that was the year when a little game know as Super Mario Bros. first came out. 2020 is the series’ 35th anniversary then, and it seems Nintendo has big things planned for the occasion.

According to VGC, multiple sources are indicating that this year, to celebrate the iconic mascot’s 35th anniversary, Nintendo will release multiple Mario titles for the Nintendo Switch. This will include a new Paper Mario game – which is something that has been in the rumour mill for a while – as well as re-releases for “most of” the Super Mario series’ back-catalog. A remaster of Super Mario 3D World has been rumoured for a while now, but this would also include games preceding that, including the likes of 3D Land, 64, Sunshine, and both Galaxy games (though VGC’s report doesn’t mention any games in particular by name).

Reportedly, Nintendo was originally planning on revealing this stuff at E3 2020, but with the show having been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they have had to reassess their plans. Allegedly, alongside these announcements, Nintendo will also reveal new details about its partnership with Universal, which includes the Super Nintendo World theme park and the upcoming Super Mario film. The recent collaboration between Nintendo and LEGO for Mario toys, it seems, is also part of the anniversary celebrations.

When asked for a comment on the same, Nintendo said to VGC that they do not “comment on rumour and speculation.”

Stay tuned to GamingBolt, and we’ll keep you updated as this story develops.

ABRA, KADABRA (POKEMON)

Pokemon as a series has always embraced its whimsy, and that is constantly reflected in the way it names its eponymous monsters. One of the funniest examples of this is the entire line of Gen 1 Psychic Pokemon Abra, which evolves into Kadabra, showing no subtlety in its Abracadarba reference.

Keiji Shibusawa – Yakuza 0

There’s only room for one Dragon of Dojima in Yakuza 0 and unfortunately for Keiji Shibusawa, it’s not him. The patriarch of Yakuza 0’s Shibusawa family, he’s usually portrayed as someone with a mind for business. However, this hides his sheer ruthlessness as witnessed when he set out to kill the Kazama family. The final battle sees Kiryu nearly kill Shibusawa but Nishiki would intervene, thus ensuring that Keiji went to jail.

MARIO

The most obvious choice there is. Mainline Mario games are, of course, platformers, but there’s just so much Nintendo has done with this series. From kart racing with Mario Kart to RPGs with Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi, to puzzle games with Dr. Mario, to part games with Mario Party, to sports titles with Mario Tennis, and so, so much more, Mario has tried its hand at an impossible number of things, and proved to be successful in most of its attempts.

Infinity War

The Far Cry universe just can’t get rid of Hurk, regardless of pirates, violent kings and a nuclear apocalypse. He appears in Far Cry New Dawn, having fathered a son, but you can still take him on as a Gun for Hire. Of course, despite taking place several years into the future, Hurk still references current pop culture. On being downed in a firefight, Hurk will say, “Mister Stark, I don’t feel so good” and “I don’t wanna go!” echoing Peter Parker’s memorable dialogue from Avengers: Infinity War.