Today’s Nintendo Direct Was a Win for Mario Fans

In retrospect, I suppose a full-blown Mario resurgence was inevitable, given the release and success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Still, today’s Nintendo Direct took me and a lot of other Nintendo fans by surprise. It went all in on Mario games, so much so that there was a Mario-centric midsection, which seemed to be all of it. But then, there was a surprise game announcement to cap off the entire Direct.

All said and done, we ended up with four new Mario game announcements: an incredible-looking new 2D side-scroller called Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a remake of the beloved Super Mario RPG, the first Princess Peach game in 18 years, and a remaster of the excellent Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, all of which are huge. Hell, you could even argue for the inclusion of WarioWare: Movie It! in this mega-list, and my boy Petey Piranha is going to be playable in the next wave of the Mario Kart 8 DLC. My heart is so full.

Fans of Nintendo’s other franchises might have left feeling a little disappointed. There was still nothing on Metroid Prime 4. (Will it ever be released at this point?) The anticipated announcement of DLC for Tears of the Kingdom didn’t happen, though we did get Zelda and Ganondorf Amiibos. But hey, fellow Zelda fans? If I could take you aside for a moment, how the hell are you at a place in this gigantic game where you already want a DLC announcement? Genuinely asking as someone 90 hours and only 2 dungeons in. I do a lot of wandering, sure, but also … there’s so much wandering to do!

But fans of our favorite 26-going-on-45-year-old plumber were positively feasting. Super Mario Bros. Wonder in particular looks absolutely amazing. It’s so pretty. There’s giggly pipes, as if Mario were on a delightful shroom trip! There’s talking flowers! For the first time in a console mainline Mario game, there’s a playable Daisy! Not just a “Daisy costume,” like in Super Mario Maker. But perhaps most importantly of all, there is elephant Mario.

And it’s coming this year. In October! How?! What secrets you’ve been holding, Nintendo!

I’m really glad Nintendo decided to follow up The Super Mario Bros. Movie with a strong-as-hell reminder of why we all love Mario in the first place. It’s like they’re saying, “Oho, you think we’re preoccupied with Mario being a movie star now? Here, take this,” and the result is a total surprise and delight. Mamma mia, indeed.

(featured image: Nintendo)