It’s a three-five, Mario!

September 5, 2020 4:59 PM

This week, Nintendo celebrated Mario’s 35th anniversary with the announcement of a 35-player Super Mario Bros. Battle Royale game, a brand new Game & Watch handheld system, and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, a combination remote control car and multiplayer augmented reality game.
posted by adrianhon (23 comments total)

I’m guessing the Game&Watch system is going to be a commodity ARM-based system on a chip, running some form of embedded Linux, like the SNES Mini; I wonder how long until someone jailbreaks it and gets it running other titles.

OTOH, there is the off-chance that Nintendo may eschew commodity Linux and use their highly secure and not at all UNIX-like Horizon microkernel, as used in the Switch, though traditionally, their mini-console division used commodity technologies.
posted by acb at 5:33 PM on September 5, 2020 [4 favorites]

My twitter is full of people complaining about the Mario 3D All-Stars thing being only available to purchase with a deadline and then it goes away. Apparently it's a really great set of games to get, so I guess get them before then?

Anyway, Nintendo seems to be doing a lot for this 35th anniversary. (Although really Mario debuted in 1981 in Donkey Kong?)
posted by hippybear at 5:37 PM on September 5, 2020 [3 favorites]

They also decided not to include Galaxy 2. Which honestly knowing a little about the history of Nintendo, I wouldn't be surprised if some high-enough-up exec just said "No! The first All Stars had 3 games so this one must also have 3 games!" Or something equally inane.

Anyway, I would pay 59.99 for Galaxy 1 and 2, but probably 0.00 for Galaxy, Mario 64, and Sunshine (shudder).

I’m guessing the Game&Watch system is going to be a commodity ARM-based system on a chip, running some form of embedded Linux, like the SNES Mini; I wonder how long until someone jailbreaks it and gets it running other titles.

Like a week tops. Since it's a closed system Nintendo doesn't have to worry about the only aspect of security they've ever given a shit about: piracy.
posted by selfnoise at 5:51 PM on September 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

Wait, actually All Stars had four games. Nevermind.
posted by selfnoise at 5:52 PM on September 5, 2020 [3 favorites]

My twitter is full of people complaining about the Mario 3D All-Stars thing being only available to purchase with a deadline and then it goes away.

This is what's driving my FOMO at the moment. I'm one of those weirdos who likes Super Mario Sunshine, but we already have working copies of that and Galaxy, and aren't nostalgic for 64. I guess it'd be nice to have those games for a modern system, but is it worth $60 to do so?
posted by May Kasahara at 5:59 PM on September 5, 2020

I pre-ordered it today. I played 64 on the DS and I still have Galaxy on the Wii, but I'm really looking forward to playing sunshine which I never got to do.

I'm really NOT looking forward to that one particular purple coin challenge with all the flipping tiles. I managed to beat it once out of luck. I'm not sure I'm ready to face it again.
posted by one4themoment at 6:05 PM on September 5, 2020 [3 favorites]

Some intrepid people recently released a PC port of Mario64. It is super easy to install on a PC, and it looks amazing: HD, widescreen, and completely revamped. The fact that a bunch of hackers have released for free a better version of that game makes the Nintendo's wares even harder to justify purchasing.
posted by nushustu at 6:54 PM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yay I was just about to post about mario circuit!
posted by Literaryhero at 7:12 PM on September 5, 2020

Wait why is no one talking about mario circuit? It is an RC car game that you play in your living room but also mario kart? No one else is sold on this?
posted by Literaryhero at 7:16 PM on September 5, 2020 [6 favorites]

Mario Circuit does look pretty amazing. Too bad my house is full of stairs and light on enormous unfurnished rooms.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:48 PM on September 5, 2020 [5 favorites]

Ordered 3D All-Stars last week and I’m sure I’ll pick up Game & Watch in hopes of a jailbreak.

Galaxy 2 likely wasn’t included because of the Yoshi levels that use a Wii remote pointer to navigate, maybe they’ll do a remake at some point.
posted by porn in the woods at 9:38 PM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

Count me as bummed about Galaxy 2, that was a masterpiece. However, I've always loved Sunshine and can't wait for a widescreen high-res journey back to Delfino. That game was challenging and kinda out there.
posted by Chickenring at 9:38 PM on September 5, 2020

Mario for President
posted by Going To Maine at 10:20 PM on September 5, 2020

I'm more excited about the February 2021 release of Super Mario 3D World for the Switch... that was probably the best Mario game since Mario 64 and nobody played it because it was on the Wii U. The Mario Galaxies I found underwhelming.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 10:45 PM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

> Super Mario 3D World

Agreed. The Switch has a real shortage of games where you can play as Peach.
posted by Phssthpok at 10:46 PM on September 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

Yeah Mario Circuit is the hot news here. Every single parent I've shown this to has been simultaneously really excited and then also dismayed at the mayhem it's going to bring to their homes. I'm really curious how well the AR works. The video makes it look like the whole game is playing virtually on your screen, with the cars in the real world following along. But the cars aren't going to track perfectly; does the simulated game update to where the cars actually are? If the cat walks through and wrecks two karts, what happens?
posted by Nelson at 7:16 AM on September 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Anyway, I would pay 59.99 for Galaxy 1 and 2, but probably 0.00 for Galaxy, Mario 64, and Sunshine (shudder).

I have never understood the hate for Super Mario Sunshine. It's a great game that deserves it's place in history.

Shame Super Mario Galaxy 2 is getting tossed into some sort of memory hole, though.
posted by Paladin1138 at 9:51 AM on September 6, 2020

All of this would be awesome if I could find a Switch for sale anywhere at MSRP. The number of missed impulse buys must be huge right now.
posted by rh at 12:40 PM on September 6, 2020

Yeah Mario Circuit is the hot news here. Every single parent I've shown this to has been simultaneously really excited and then also dismayed at the mayhem it's going to bring to their homes. I'm really curious how well the AR works. The video makes it look like the whole game is playing virtually on your screen, with the cars in the real world following along. But the cars aren't going to track perfectly; does the simulated game update to where the cars actually are? If the cat walks through and wrecks two karts, what happens?

It tracks 1:1 because you run the car on the circuit before starting so the game can figure out the track and co-ordinate the positions in 3D space using the special gates. Then when it goes into the real race it takes the video from the camera, computes the location of the kart in 3D space probably using the gates and an accelerometer, and then puts the 3D generated road along with all the other characters on top of the live video feed. The AI karts aren't obviously visible in real life but will be visible on the screen. When you get hit by something your kart gets disabled temporarily.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 12:46 PM on September 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

I'm waiting for Mario Circuit 2 which will come with a cloud-shaped flying drone to do the camera work and hoist your car back onto the track when it falls off into the kitchen sink. Then you can make the kids do chores after each race for the 20 minutes it takes to recharge the drone(s).
posted by straight at 2:12 PM on September 6, 2020

To me it feels like the real news is the inclusion of Sunshine, a Mario game that hitherto Nintendo has never remade or rereleased for later systems in any form. Until now, the only official way to play Super Mario Sunshine was on a Gamecube. And it's a good game! Until Odyssey (with which it shares a fair bit in common), Mario Sunshine was the Mario game with the greatest amount of world building, and the most complex movement tech. And it had the void levels, aka the "secrets," which are highlights in the long history of Mario 3D platforming. It does have its flaws (the blooper racing shines are hugely frustrating), but overall it's still great.
posted by JHarris at 3:27 PM on September 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Okay, so next year Donkey Kong turns 40. I know everyone's excited about the possibility of a true Zelda Maker on it's 35th next year, but let me propose a radical alternative that wouldn't suck, is like 90 percent the same tech, and already has a history of level sharing: Donkey Kong Maker.

Patterned after the puzzle platformers Donkey Kong '94 and Mario vs Donkey Kong, and not the inferior Minis series they keep churning out, like lemmings running over a cliff.
posted by pwnguin at 12:10 PM on September 7, 2020

Mario Kart Live looks pretty cool but having just been burned by the Super Mario Lego sets (my kids lost interest after 2 days) I think I'll pass. At least until there's an Wario option.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:51 PM on September 8, 2020