On September 12th, Nintendo hosted another one of their Directs showcasing brand new games, gimmicks, and special announcements. However, this time around it was a lot more exciting with the recent release of Switch 2, meaning a variety of brand-new games would be advertised for the console.
The presentation opened up with Shigeru Miyamoto–the creator of the Mario Bros. series–celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Mario franchise. To kick off this momentous occasion, he revealed remasters for the wildly popular Wii games: Super Mario Galaxy & Super Mario Galaxy 2, now arriving on all Switch systems. Although, what audiences couldn’t anticipate was its foreshadowing for the next upcoming announcement.
The screen dimmed to black with the snap of Miyamoto’s fingers, and footage of the new Mario movie began to roll. Lots of gorgeous, yet quirky scenery was shown. Iconic Mario tunes were played, but the end shockingly flew us all the way up into space to reveal the title: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. For fans of the games it’s taken inspiration from, this is thrilling news! Following their success of making $1.36 billion USD worldwide from The Super Mario Movie, I have no doubt the sequel will be just as popular, if not more so. It’s slated for a Spring 2026 release.
Throughout the remainder of the anniversary announcements, a new Mario sports game called Mario Tennis Fever was revealed alongside Super Mario Wonder: Switch 2 Edition. Last but not least, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book was shown to be a brand-new, fully-fledged Yoshi game also dropping Spring 2026. All in all, the 40th anniversary special was filled with unexpected announcements and a respective nod to the series, celebrating the history and impact our favorite plumber has left on the gaming industry.
Zachary Bayers
Editor-in-Chief
