Nintendo has seemingly gone all out for Mario's 35th anniversary with games like the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, crossover events in Splatoon 2 and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as well as merchandise like Mario LEGO sets being outlined in last week's Super Mario 35th Anniversary Direct. One product that made an appearance in the Direct was a pair of Super Mario 64-themed PUMA RS-Dreamer sneakers, but it seems those were not the only ones in development.
The Super Mario 64 PUMA sneakers were leaked by an Australian Foot Locker listing prior to their announcement, and the same appears to be happening for pairs of shoes based on the other two games in the 3D All-Stars collection: Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Sunshine. News site Nintendo Wire received a tip about star-patterned Galaxy shoes being up for sale on eBay, and then discovered an official listing for those as well as ocean-patterned Sunshine shoes on Kuwait's Foot Locker website.
Both pairs are listed at 47.000 Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD), which translates to about $154 U.S. This would make them around $30 more expensive than the Sonic the Hedgehog PUMA sneaker collection released in February to tie in with that character's official live-action movie. However, shoe enthusiasts and Mario fans alike will probably find the investment reasonable.
Sneakers are not the only pieces of apparel being created to celebrate Mario's 35th anniversary. During last week's Direct, Nintendo announced a Super Mario clothing line by BlackMilk that will be releasing in October, and prior to that another collaboration between Nintendo and Levi's set up a host of denim goods to celebrate the anniversary of the popular developer's mascot.
All of these announcements have seemingly energized Super Mario fans, and Nintendo fans, after it was believed the company had little going for its end-of-year schedule. Despite controversies surrounding the 3D Mario collection due to its limited availability and high price for an apparent lack of improvements, Super Mario 3D All-Stars is skyrocketing up Amazon's best sellers' list through pre-orders alone.
However, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic seems to have had a big effect on what the long-time developer was able to do, despite its best intentions. Reports have suggested that Nintendo planned to make its Super Mario anniversary announcements earlier this year. On the bright side they were not cancelled all together, so fans can still get their hands on new Mario games and Mario-themed sneakers.
Sources: Nintendo Wire, Foot Locker Kuwait (Galaxy, Sunshine)