Similar to Pi Day and May the 4th, Nintendo’s beloved icon has a similar holiday because of a convenient date, March 10, looking like Mario when spelled in a certain way. Every year, Nintendo plays into this by giving massive deals and releasing exciting news about the Italian plumber. Here’s everything that was announced this year!
- Nintendo Switch Online Additions: With the purchase of Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) or the NSO + Expansion Pack deal, you get access to several emulators of classic consoles. This includes the NES, SNES, and GameBoy for NSO, and the N64, GBA, and SEGA Genesis in the Expansion Pack. On March 12th, all NSO subscribers will be able to play the GameBoy versions of Dr. Mario, Mario Tennis, and Mario Golf.
- Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD: The Luigi’s Mansion games have been fan favorites since the original release for the GameCube in 2001. At last, the remaster of the 3DS game Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (Luigi’s Mansion 2 in Japan, Europe, and Australia) has been given a release date of June 27th this year. It will feature HD graphics and support for the original game’s ScareScraper multiplayer mode.
- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake: Another long-awaited Mario game remake, the second installment in the Paper Mario series was featured and given a release date. Like Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, it was originally announced in a Nintendo Direct last year and will be released on May 23rd of this year. The remake will improve many parts of the original and seems to have had a complete visual overhaul for the Nintendo Switch.
- LEGO Mario Kart: Over the past few years, Nintendo and LEGO have collaborated to make sets based on Mario (and seemingly The Legend of Zelda soon). While not much is known at the moment, LEGO did announce that several sets based on Mario Kart will be released sometime in 2025.
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2: Last year, Nintendo and Illumination released an animated movie based on Super Mario Bros. and sped past several box office records, earning around $1.4 billion globally. Not to anyone’s surprise, Nintendo will continue adapting properties such as Mario and announced a sequel released on April 4th, 2026. Keep in mind, that the first film was set to release on December 21st, 2022, so they aren’t shy to delaying the film if needed.
