In a new interview,Mariocreator Shigeru Miyamoto has hinted at a potential upcoming major video game announcement for theSuper Mario Bros.franchise. Excitement forMariois at a peak right now due to the upcoming release ofThe Super Mario Bros. Movie. Attention on the movie has someMariofans wondering why there hasn’t been a new game announcement for some time. While Miyamoto isn’t leaking any announcements early, his comment should prove encouraging toMariofans.
The last major release in theSuper Mario Bros.franchise,Super Mario Odyssey, was launched in 2017. That means it has been nearly six years without a release, a rare drought for the franchise akin to the window betweenSuper Mario 64andSuper Mario Sunshine. Fans have been understanding, though. The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the development of many games, and Nintendo did at least release the expandedSuper Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Furybundle in the interim.
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As for when the next majorMarioproject will be released, however, no announcements have yet been made. That’s why Miyamoto’s comments in a new interview with Variety are leading to a good amount of speculation. Miyamoto was asked directly when fans can expect a “newMariogame.” While Miyamoto doesn’t reveal any specific plans, he does offer a surprising thought. He says that all he can say is to, “stay tuned for future Nintendo Directs,” with a large smile on his face.
Nintendo Directs are Nintendo’s digital presentations where it often makes major announcements. No future Nintendo Directs have been announced yet, but fans are hoping Nintendo joins in on the industry’s wave of June events. Nintendo didn’t participate in those events last year, and Nintendo said it wouldn’t participate in E3 even beforeE3 was canceled, but it’s still a possibility.
The rest of 2023 is surprisingly open to another major game release, though that’s very likely to be too optimistic.The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomwill arrive on Switch on May 12andPikmin 4will launch July 21. That leaves the holiday season without a major first-party Nintendo game announced.
While rumors regarding futureMarioprojects are thin, there are some. No 3DMariogames are known about, but there has been some hearsay about a2DMariogame coming in 2023or early 2024. That’s entirely unreliable, as rumors go, though. Fans should probably just embrace Miyamoto’s advice and wait for more Nintendo Directs. A newMariogame may not be coming soon, but it’s an inevitability.
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