The 12 months of Mario: A ton of basic 3D video games reportedly coming to Change in 2020

Enlarge /. Our own approach to Super Mario Galaxy on a switch. Nintendo has yet to confirm a number of rumors that surfaced on Monday morning.

Nintendo / Sam Machkovech

According to a flood of reports from Monday morning, Super Mario is coming back in 2020 in an enormous way. And it's all about reliving the 3D era of the Nintendo Mascot on Nintendo Switch.

The first rumor that dominoes fell came from VGC, which submitted a report that, according to "multiple sources," suggested that "most of Super Mario's 35-year catalog" would reach Nintendo Switch by the end of 2020. Nintendo had originally planned to turn the announcement into a physical event during E3 this summer, VGC reported, but E3 2020 was canceled earlier this month due to organizational issues and concerns about the corona virus.

VGC could report a particular game on Nintendo Switch, but it wasn't a remaster. Instead, VGC suggested that the action RPG series Paper Mario 2020 would get a new entry.

Soon afterwards, Eurogamer and Gematsu published their own reports and named games, citing "multiple sources". Eurogamer suggested that Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 3D World be properly re-released, while Gematsu added Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine to the list of expected new releases. Most classic 3D Mario games have never been re-released for retail or virtual console use, with the exception of Super Mario 64 and its DS remake, while most Mario 2D 2D exploits are currently in the NES and SNES Archives of Switch are available and available for paid Nintendo switch online subscribers.

Due to the limited nature of these rumors, we wonder exactly what form these classic Mario games will arrive. Eurogamer claims that Super Mario 3D World will start with "a number of new levels", but these could either be brands. new or adapted from the similar 3DS entry Super Mario 3D Land (or both). In the meantime, both Gematsu and Eurogamer mention "high-definition remaster" for older games in the list, but it is unclear whether they simply upgrade existing assets or contain completely new content (textures, character models, visual effects).

We've already seen what Super Mario Galaxy could look like on Nintendo Switch thanks to a game port only available in China in 2018 for the Nvidia Shield platform. The hardware of this system is almost identical to that of Nintendo Switch. The newer version of this classic game looks largely identical to the previous Wii version, but saves a resolution boost, but also benefits from a complete controller revision – that is, no more Wii-Mote wobbling. We hope that Nintendo is considering the same control optimization for a switch port.

All of this news will make some sense of corporate synergy in 2020, as VGC indicates Nintendo's interest in promoting its relationship with Universal Studios. A number of Super Mario World attractions open in various Universal Studios theme parks (if this is unclear), while the Super Mario feature-length CGI film has remained secret since its unveiling in 2017. (The last release was estimated at "2022".) A large number of switch games in summer 2020 would be a great moment for Nintendo and Universal to show more of these features. (Until then, we hope that Lego's Super Mario series will also be released.)

When asked about a comment on Monday's reports, a Nintendo representative emailed, "We have nothing to announce on this issue."