Nintendo has reportedly delayed the release of its planned Super Mario remasters.
Back in March, VGC reported that Nintendo would this year release 3D remasters of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy as part of a celebration of Super Mario’s 35th birthday on September 13th, 2020.
Now, Nate The Hate podcast, which leaked the previous Indie World Showcase and Nintendo Direct Mini broadcasts prior to their official announcements, has suggested that the games have been delayed beyond Super Mario’s birthday.
First reported by VGC, Nate claims that Nintendo had originally planned to announce the 3D remastered collection in June as an E3 announcement and as a celebration leading up the opening of Japan’s Super Nintendo World theme park.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted plans, leading to the cancellation of E3 as well as a postponed opening for the Nintendo theme park. In addition, Nate as well as VGC’s own sources, have said that the Switch Mario remasters have also been affected.
The remastered collection will now be announced sometime this month and then released around Christmas, not near Super Mario’s birthday later this month.
Speaking on the Nate The Hate podcast, Nate said: “I think it’s now going to be positioned more as a holiday game than as they had originally planned.
“I believe the original plan was that the 3D collection was going to come out in September, had these games been announced in June… then we probably would have had 3D World Deluxe follow it in either October or maybe even early November. Now that’s completely scrapped.”
In addition to the remastered collection, Nintendo will reportedly release a Deluxe Edition of the Wii U’s Super Mario 3D World which according to Nate would still be announced in September to coincide with the Super Mario birthday but will also be delayed.
Nate added: “Then we’re potentially looking at 3D collection either being early October… or the 3D collection is going to come out in November and be positioned as a prime holiday title, with a Mario-themed console, dock, and all of that. Then I think you’re going to see 3D World Deluxe get delayed out of the 35th-anniversary party and it’s going to come out in January 2021.”
