On the 3rd of September 2020, Nintendo began a massive Super Mario 35th anniversary event with a spin-off Nintendo Direct style presentation. The presentation revealed that there would be a lot in store for Super Mario fans. Nintendo brought back everyone’s favorite 3D Mario games for Switch in the form of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, including Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy. The company also released Animal Crossing collaboration items, a Super Mario-themed Game & Watch handheld and several other small surprises. Well, Mario’s 6-month 35th-anniversary celebration is finally ending.
On the 31st of March at 11:59 pm JST, Mario’s 35th birthday party officially ends. After that day, Nintendo will end production of the physical Super 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.
The company is also ending production of the Super Mario Game & Watch handheld, the Super Mario anniversary t-shirt, and other 35th-anniversary merchandise. The Nintendo Switch Online Super Mario. 35 will 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’s 35th anniversary occurred last month, and its received little attention aside from the announcement of Skyward Sword HD. However, Pokemon’s recent 25th anniversary was celebrated in much the same way as Mario’s.
The franchise received an ambitious new game reveal, some insanely expensive McDonald’s Pokemon Cards, 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 of Zelda, Mario, and Pokemon, but the general public does need to be.
Fans are sure to be unhappy that Mario's 35th-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-up Super Mario 3D All-Stars for some time still.
While some fans will be sad to see the anniversary ending, others will be happy to see the 25th Pokemon anniversary become Nintendo’s focus for now.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars is available until March 31st exclusively on Nintendo Switch.