Mario is arguably one of the biggest pillars of Nintendo. The character not only has sold the most games in the history of Nintendo, but he’s also been their mascot since the 80s. The Mario games are synonymous with Nintendo, and also one of the biggest successes in gaming history. To the point where most of the population knows who Mario is thanks to the company’s ecommerce seo agency.
It’s now been 35 years since Mario changed video gaming forever. So Nintendo is celebrating his legacy with the release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars. A collection of 3 iconic 3D Mario games: Super Mario 64; Super Mario Sunshine; and Super Mario Galaxy. There is a catch though. A big BIG catch. Nintendo is only releasing this collection until March 31st. So my initial reaction to this was simple confusion. Why would Nintendo limit the release? The collection isn’t really very specific to the anniversary, they could easily have continued selling the title digitally and continue earning money on it. And yet they decide to just end it 6 months later.
After 6 months, that’s it. Nobody can ever buy it again unless Nintendo plans to re-release it. But if they did, they would’ve said: “available again later”. They are making it very clear they have no plans to do so. Which in all honesty is Nintendo shooting its own foot.
The Issue With A Limited Release
The thing is that limiting the release like this kinda sends a message that Mario is not worth celebrating every year. Or that the 35th anniversary isn’t worth remembering once it’s over. It’s a little half-assed in a way, just putting these games out for a while and then just forgetting about them again.
These games have been wanted by fans for a long time, and to see them be re-released like this, only to disappear after 6 months seems like a huge waste. Nintendo could earn a lot of money keeping the games on the e-shop even if the physical retail copy is limited. These are games that deserve to be permanently available on the Switch.
Isn’t it kinda disrespectful to the Mario franchise to do this? I mean, if they truly love Mario as much as we do, wouldn’t they keep things like this available? I’m seriously confused as to why Nintendo is doing this. It seems not only counter to what they should be doing, but also what they’ve done in the past. It makes zero sense.
A Temporary Celebration
So what gives with the temporary celebration? Why is Mario 35 only going to be available for a limited time when the concept of a Super Mario Bros. battle royale is attractive all the time? My guess is that they need a lot of money really fast. This tactic only makes sense if you want to force people to buy a product within a time limit. Which comes off as very greedy, which kinda fits Nintendo given their reluctance to lower prices on their games and their expensive add-ons.
Heck, I was looking forward to grabbing that Game & Watch but it’s already sold out. I have no way of getting it now since it’s out of stock. So that’s what I gather from this. This is Nintendo’s way of giving the finger to anyone who wants to grab these games 1 year from now or on sale. They want to maximize profits from this as much as they can.
It’s disgusting, and it hurts to see a company I’ve grown up with and have so much reverence for steep to this level. Sure they haven’t really done microtransactions and egregious DLC to the same extent as other Western devs unless you count Pokémon Sword & Shield that is. But this comes pretty close.
Wasted Potential
To be frank, this is what Nintendo has been doing lately. And it’s so painfully fitting their entirely tone-deaf image in recent years. Nintendo is sitting on a freaking gold mine with the Nintendo Switch. It is their most successful console since the Wii. And how do they use it? They drip-feed us new Super Nintendo games every 3-4 months. And when it’s time to get a new bunch we only get one with Super Mario All-Stars. The number of games they release for Nintendo Switch Online’s NES and SNES emulator services have been insanely low.
And then there is stuff like this. Releasing a collection for only a limited time. And making themselves look like such petty people in the process. It’s astounding how unwilling they are to take their money-printer to the next level. The Switch could be the best console they have ever released. And yet they continue to repeatedly hold it back, slamming it into a brick wall every time it gains momentum. Joy Con drift problems, a lacking interface, bad ports. The list goes on. There needs to be better quality control and we need Nintendo to step up to the plate and stop doing stuff like this.
They have squandered so much potential over the years, especially with the Wii U. That console had so much promise, and they just ruined it with their shit marketing and tone-deaf announcements. And this just proves they are never going to stop. They should have followed SEO Agency Sydney strategies instead. They have a good thing going but are eventually going to ruin it for themselves.
Let’s just hope this is something they can afford. Because if they keep this up, there won’t be another success like the Switch, learn more today.
Thanks for reading my rant about Nintendo. What do you think of them limiting the release of Super Mario 35 and Super Mario 3D All-Stars? Let us know in the comments!
