Why Nintendo Needs To Mourn 'The Day Mario Died'
Princess Peach is dressed in black, Toad has laid some Fire Flowers on Mario's graveside, and Luigi is his surviving brother - now destined to take on the mantle of the Mushroom Kingdom's saviour. Even Bowser finds time to shed a single tear to remember The Day Mario Died. At the age of 25 (according to creator Shigeru Miyamoto), the mushroom and cake-loving hero passed away peacefully in Princess Peach's castle. Leaving behind a legacy that started back in 1981 with Donkey Kong, he gave us a final hurrah with Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury just earlier this year. Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this time.
For those who've missed the memo or simply refuse to accept the fact, March 31 saw the Nintendo mascot meet his maker. Although the pioneering plumber isn't actually six feet under, March 31 was dubbed The Day Mario Died because Nintendo removed Super Mario Bros. 35, the Super Mario Bros.-themed Game & Watch handheld, and Super Mario 3D All-Star from sale. We're under no illusion that this is the end of the Rainbow Road, but for now, let us gamers have our moment to mourn The Day Mario died.
What presumably started out as a marketing stunt from Nintendo has blown up to be something much bigger. They say that no press is bad press, but with some believing the House that Mario built has officially killed off the man himself, Nintendo can either ride the wave of social media chatter or miss out on one of its biggest opportunities to boost the franchise. A quick search online shows that the "death" of Mario is everywhere right now, with Nintendo Life even running a mock interview with a saddened Luigi. To be honest, we're loving the idea of Paper Luigi as a Paper Mario spin-off.
What is The Day Mario died?
In reality, The Day Mario Died is a happy/unhappy coincidence. Nintendo went all out to celebrate Mario's 35th anniversary in 2020, however, the party was always going to have to end at some point. 2021 is an arguably even bigger year as The Legend of Zelda commemorates 35 years and Pokemon officially turns 25. Mario can't hog all the limelight, and with two of Nintendo's other biggest IPs keen to cut their own cakes and celebrate in style, it was time for Mazza to move aside. A piece of marketing genius was the release of Super Mario 3D All-Star at the tail end of last year. Combining some of his best legacy games, the collection saw Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy bundled together for the first time ever.
Even though most of us have played these games until the cows come home, something about booting them up on the Switch and diving in all over again worked. The real trick was that Nintendo had always said it would be a limited release - meaning Super Mario 3D All-Stars was pulled from sale on March 31. Some thought the company would be generous and let us get a few more days out of the game, but true to form, shops both physical and digital from around the world removed their entire stock. We've already covered how the title is going for insane amounts on auction sites thanks to scalpers, and currently, Nintendo is standing by its warning that the game is truly gone forever.
In reality, the limited sale was a ploy to boost sales in the short term. According to a report from Vice, Nintendo is trying a new tactic because the long-term sales of remasters and remakes start strong before petering off like any other game release. Futuresource Consulting gaming analyst Morris Garrard explained, "This strategy is sure to create urgency amongst Switch users to purchase content and avoid missing out on the experience, fuelled also by the media attention the strategy is already garnering. Imposing these time restrictions is expected to aid these limited-edition games in cutting through the noise.β
Is the tactic working though? We've previously seen how Disney employed a similar model with the Disney Vault, which unlocked its doors and released some of its classics for a short period of time. If you didn't buy your Disney movie when it was on sale, then tough, it was back to the vault to be locked away. Considering Super Mario 3D All-Stars sold a whopping 1.8 million units in September 2020 to score the biggest digital launch ever for a Mario game, we'd say it was worth the gamble.
How can Nintendo use The Day Mario Died?
At the time of writing, the official Super Mario 35 celebration Twitter is still active (albeit dormant). It posted a thank you message for your support over the past year and made it seem like an obituary of its own when the site wrote, "Products related to "Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary" whose production, sales and service ended in March 2021". Since March 31, the Twitterverse and beyond has been flooded with memes mocking the "death" of Mario. Only in today's society could we get away with mocking the faux death of a fictional character from a family-friendly company like Nintendo. It's all fun and games, but in the aftermath of losing Super Mario Bros. 35 and 3D All-Stars, what's next for Mario?
We might still seem too close to the release of Super Mario Odyssey to release a sequel, however, remember that Super Mario Galaxy 2 was released in 2010 to follow in the footsteps of the OG's release in 2007. Going against this, there's been literally no chatter about another main series Mario entry, so we're guessing Odyssey 2 is still a way off yet. Added to this, it wouldn't be fair to take the limelight off Zelda and Pokemon in 2021. Although there's the much-hyped release of The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, there are complaints there hasn't been any movement on Breath of the Wild 2. Announcing anything Mario-related now just seems like it would be in bad taste.
In terms of where Mario can go next, another Mario Kart and Mario Party are presumably out there in the planning stages, with a full-blown Odyssey sequel being another easy sell. The problem is, Nintendo has a tendency of relying on remakes, remasters, and tweaks. Although Bowser's Fury was praised as a clever way to repackage Super Mario 3D World that was first released on the Wii U in 2013, that's just it, it was effectively a DLC. However, after 36 years of Mario being everything from a doctor (Dr. Mario) to a hotelier (Hotel Mario), Wimbledon fanatic (Mario Tennis) to demolition expert (Wrecking Crew), Marine Biologist (Octopus) to theme park owner (Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem) - he was even a breakdancer in Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix - some might question whether there's anything left.
Of course, Mario is still alive and kicking Koopa butt. As well as the release of Mario Golf: Super Rush this summer, there's the long-awaited opening of Super Mario Land Japan. Even if a Mario golf game is unlikely to be the best-selling game ever, Nintendo has clear plans to continue rolling out Mario's domination around the world with Super Mario Land being the first of several tie-ins to Universal Studios. Instead of us mourning the Day Mario Died, it should be a jumping-off for the next 35 years of Warp Pipes and Wario, Koopas and karting.
We say Nintendo should throw a massive ceremony on a par with Egypt parading its mummies through the streets. Have Mario burst out from a Mario Kart coffin and reveal it was a clever ruse to get one over on Bowser this entire time. Unfortunately, Nintendo seems to be taking the more mature stance and has gone with radio silence about Mario's "death". Maybe he really is brown bread? Then again, if Nintendo actually got Mario out the way, it would mean Waluigi gets his time to shine. Here's hoping Super Waluigi Odyssey could be coming to a console near you, soon!
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