Addressing the other elephant in the room.
Today is MAR10 Day (MARch 10th, get it??), so it’s no surprise that we are once again thinking about Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the first new 2D Mario game in 11 years.
Wonder flipped the script on 2D Mario. The ‘New’ series had lasted for a whopping 17 years and the visuals and level design were very much in need of a refresh. Wonder did just that, but the question is, should it happen again?
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Happy MAR10 Day! Sunday is here, which means it’s time to round up the best deals available this weekend across games, technology, and more! To celebrate the day, Nintendo has all kinds of exciting deals ongoing. The best deals for Saturday, March 10, include Nintendo Switch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Luigi’s Mansion 3, and more.
To celebrate MAR10 Day, Best Buy is offering a free $25 Best Buy gift card with the purchase of any Nintendo Switch model. This includes Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite, and the Nintendo Switch OLED Model. If you’ve yet to pick up a Nintendo Switch, this is a perfect time to do so, as you can spend the $25 gift card on a new game to go alongside it!
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the best-selling Nintendo Switch title to date. There’s never been a better time to pick up the game, especially since the DLC recently wrapped up. A total of 96 tracks are available to race through with this title, which will keep you busy for years to come. New racers, including Diddy Kong, Pauline, and Birdo, are even available with the Booster Course Pass!
If you’re in need of more storage, this is one of the best SD cards you can buy for your Nintendo Switch. The Samsung EVO Select Micro SD card is an excellent choice for any Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck owner. Both of these systems will eventually need more storage, especially the Nintendo Switch, since it contains so little. At $24.99, this is an excellent deal on an SD card you cannot go wrong with.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 is still one of the best Nintendo Switch titles available. Luigi finds himself, Mario, Peach, and Toad on vacation at the Last Resort hotel. However, upon arriving, things aren’t as they seem. You’re quickly thrust into a wild adventure featuring new abilities, companions, and ghosts. With Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD set to release this June, today is a great opportunity to check out the latest Luigi’s Mansion title in preparation.
Super Mario Maker 2 is a great choice if you’re looking for a game that will let your creativity run wild. You can choose between different eras of Mario games and create as many courses as you’d like. With the ability to play others’ courses online, the amount of content Super Mario Maker 2 has to offer is endless! This MAR10 Day, you can save $20 off this exciting title.
Amazon has solid discounts for both the 1TB and 2TB Samsung 990 EVO SSD models. This SSD is compatible with PlayStation 5, so it’s perfect if you’re looking for a new PS5 accessory to pick up. Additionally, it’s great for any gaming PC or other device that supports a full NVME M.2 SSD.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a release that went under many people’s radars earlier this year. At $29.99, this 2D platformer is absolutely worth your time and money. We gave the game an 8/10 in our review, stating, “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown captures not only what made games such as The Sands of Time so good, but it irons out a lot of the little issues that plagued the 3D games.”
Amazon has a fantastic deal ongoing for the PlayStation 5 Slim Digital Edition. The console itself is $50 off, and you get Spider-Man 2 for free. In total, that’s $120 worth of savings. This is perfect if you’ve yet to pick up a PS5, as we most likely won’t see a better deal than this for a while.
Mario Tennis Aces marked the first story mode in a Mario Sports title in quite some time. Developer Camelot looked to create an immersive new take on the Mario Tennis formula. Aces has dozens of characters to choose from, each with their own unique abilities and skillsets. The gameplay formula has been revamped with exciting new mechanics such as Zone Shot and Zone Speed, which redefine what a match of Tennis can look like.
God of War Ragnarok is still one of the best PS5 games you can pick up. This action game acts as the sequel to 2018’s God of War, following Kratos and Atreus as Fimbulwinter looms. If you’ve yet to play this game, this is a great time to pick up Ragnarok at a discount and see why so many players love this series.
Dead Space launched last January, and this is a great time to pick up the game if you haven’t already. This remake features an impressive use of technology and a completely modernized combat system. Special attention has been put on the audio, with 3D Audio technology utilized for an immersive experience. You can expect loads of thrills and horror as you look to escape the stranded ship. The USG Ishimura has never looked better or been scarier.
Amazon has both the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 copies of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk on sale right now. This spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio offers a ton of fun, with all kinds of activities to complete. You play as Red and join the Bomb Rush Crew, where you set off around the city to discover graffiti spots and get REP. All the flashy tricks you know and love are here, so this is a great title to sit back and unwind with.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a fantastic title that shows off many of the PlayStation 5 hardware features. From the lightning fast load times to the impressive use of the DualSense controller, Rift Apart takes full advantage of the hardware. Additionally, it’s a blast to play with an exciting story and satisyfing gameplay. Add this to your collection today with a nice $30 discount.
Coming soon.
Following a rumour earlier this week about news updates for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, Nintendo has now shared the official Switch release dates.
Paper Mario will unfold on 23rd May 2024 and Luigi returns in his second scary outing on 27th June 2024. Nintendo has shared a few official posts on social media, alongside its latest video broadcast:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Remember The Year of Luigi? You know, that last-ditch effort marketing campaign Nintendo rolled out back in 2013 when not much else was going on for the company? To be fair, some solid games came out of The Year of Luigi, like New Super Luigi U and Dr. Luigi, but all the Luigi spin-offs and re-skins in the world couldn’t save Nintendo from losing over $400 million in 2013 when it was all said and done. The Year of Luigi remains an unintentionally hilarious footnote from a completely different era of Nintendo, and poor Mr. L never deserved to get wrapped up in one of the biggest Ls in company history. It goes without saying that Nintendo hasn’t really attempted another marketing campaign like this since.
Nintendo finds itself in a very different financial situation today compared to a decade ago, and it’s not in a place where it needs to rely on gimmicks to succeed; Nintendo Switch and its games speak for themselves. But, if Nintendo did put a label on the last 12 months, I’m confident they’d call it The Year of Peach. From her prominent role in The Super Mario Bros. Movie to finally starring in a new standalone game, Nintendo’s giving Peach more attention than ever before, and frankly, it’s long overdue. So this year on Mario Day, I’m asking the popular plumber to step aside and embrace the Mushroom Kingdom’s fearless leader finally getting her well-deserved moment in the spotlight.
Over the past several decades, Peach has been kidnapped, sidelined, and nearly forced into marrying Bowser while other characters have hogged all the starring roles. Yes, Peach is a staple of ensemble games like Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Super Smash Bros., but I’ve always felt Peach has been underutilized while other side characters like Luigi, Donkey Kong, Wario, Yoshi, and even the pathetic (but lovable!) Captain Toad got games of their own. For the sheer amount of games Nintendo releases that take place in the Mushroom Kingdom, it’s been surprising that we’ve lacked a standalone game starring the franchise’s leading lady.
But that changed last summer when Nintendo revealed Princess Peach: Showtime, the first solo adventure for the character since 2006, and only the second overall. While it remains to be seen how the game will turn out, it’s undeniably cool that Showtime appears to exist entirely as its own thing, completely separate from the rest of the Mario universe. As my colleague Rebekah Valentine put it, “I genuinely want to see Nintendo make a game where Peach is defined only by herself, and not by labels like Mario’s love interest, Mario’s damsel, Mario’s princess.” While we still don’t know for certain if Mario will rear his mustachioed head in Showtime, for the time being it seems like that wish is coming true, and it’s fantastic to see Nintendo adding a Peach-focused adventure to its extensive lineup of Mario games, detached from the traditions and expectations of the mainline series.
Princess Peach: Showtime isn’t the only reason that we’re living in The Year of Peach. Last year, Princess Peach was one of the most important characters in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, as Nintendo and Illumination smartly flipped Peach and Luigi’s traditional roles, sending Peach and Mario on an adventure to save the captive Luigi. Peach had as much screen time as anyone in the film, and it felt right seeing her front-and-center rather than trapped in yet another castle.
Following this, Peach was a fully playable character in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and it was about time. Growing up playing the New Super Mario Bros. games with my older sister, we never understood why cookie cutter characters like Blue and Yellow Toad were included rather than recognizable fan-favorite characters like Peach and Daisy, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder finally delivered a fleshed-out roster of characters where you can play through the entire game as anyone you like, no Mario required. Credit goes to Super Mario 3D World for doing this more than 10 years ago, but I loved seeing Super Mario Bros. Wonder take the idea and run with it.
Just a month after Super Mario Bros. Wonder came Super Mario RPG. This remake of the SNES classic features Princess Peach as a party member, and playing out turn-based battles with a crew of Peach, Mario, and Bowser was just as exciting in 2023 as I’m sure it was in the original Super Nintendo version. And later this year, Nintendo will release a remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, which includes an extremely memorable storyline centered around Princess Peach, including some dedicated segments where she is highlighted as the playable character. I can’t wait for Nintendo fans who missed the GameCube original to see how awesome Peach is in The Thousand-Year Door, which I consider to be one of her coolest appearances ever.
There’s never been a better time to be a Princess Peach fan, and I hope Nintendo continues its efforts to build out her blossoming corner of the Mushroom Kingdom. If all goes well, Princess Peach: Showtime will be just the first of many solo Peach games to come, and one of Nintendo’s most iconic characters will manage to reach Nintendo fans young and old in entirely new ways. Move over Mario Day, because this is the unofficial Year of Peach, and I’m completely here for it.
Logan Plant is IGN’s Database Manager, Playlist Editor, occasional news writer, and frequent Super Ninfriendo on Nintendo Voice Chat. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
Coming soon.
To celebrate Mario Day, Nintendo has locked in a release date for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It will be arriving on Nintendo Switch on 23rd May 2024.
In addition to this, Luigi’s Mansion 2 will be returning on 27th June 2024. More information soon.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
In celebration of Mario Day 2024, Nintendo announced that the remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door will be released on Switch on May 23, 2024.
The news was announced with a short glimpse of Mario on stage with a bunch of our other favorite Mushroom Kingdom characters in the audience. Alongside this big news, it was also confirmed a new Super Mario Bros. movie is in the works and that Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD will be released on Switch on June 27, 2024.
ICYMI: #PaperMario: The Thousand-Year Door
arrives on #NintendoSwitch May 23rd! #PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoorhttps://t.co/4O22wZX7RO pic.twitter.com/Csxn7Jq5Aa— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) March 10, 2024
It’s a MAR10 Day special.
Welcome back to another clash of the covers in this week’s Box Art Brawl!
Before we meet today’s contenders, let’s take a look at what happened last time when we matched up three regional covers for Ninja Gaiden Shadow (or Shadow Warriors for those in Europe and Australia). Despite there being three options, it wasn’t a close call. North America walked away with the win, taking 67% of the vote, while Japan and Europe picked up 7% and 27% respectively.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Happy Mario Day!
LEGO will be bolstering its Super Mario line with multiple new sets due out later this year on 1st August 2024.
Yes, apart from the announcement of Mario Kart-themed LEGO (coming next year), to celebrate Mario Day this year it’s unveiled three new kits: The Bowser Express Train, King Boo’s Haunted Mansion, and Battle with Roy at Peach’s Castle. Here are the details about each one.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
More developers have confirmed that they have been told by Warner Bros. Discovery that their games will imminently be delisted from digital storefronts. Soundodger+ and Fist Puncher are both due to vanish, following in the footsteps of puzzle game Small Radios Big Televisions, whose developer announced its imminent delisting earlier this week and released the game for free in response.
Ready, set, build!
As part of the Super Mario Day celebrations, Nintendo has announced it will be releasing Mario Kart sets in 2025.
At the very end of LEGO’s Super Mario broadcast, it shared an incredibly brief teaser – showing off the outline of a kart. This new line will be part of the Super Mario line, but nothing else has been shared about it just yet.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
