Look Nintendo, I’ve been patient. When I played Super Mario Odyssey in 2017, I thought, “This is great! I bet they’ll pull a Galaxy and release a direct sequel in a few years.” You never did that, but I kept waiting. At this point, it’s been nearly eight years since the last 3D Mario — the longest gap ever between mainline 3D Mario platformers — and you come to me, on the day of the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, without even a glimpse of the plumber’s next adventure?
For the record, there were six years between Super Mario 64 and Sunshine, five years between Sunshine and Galaxy, three years between Galaxy and Galaxy 2, three years between Galaxy 2 and 3D World, and four years between 3D World and Odyssey.
An entire console generation passed without even a whisper of the next 3D Mario game. The closest we got was Bowser’s Fury, a three-hour outing that was packed in with the Switch port of 3D World. It was a cool experiment with open-world Mario, but it wasn’t a full game — more a sweetener to get players to shell out full price for a then six-year-old port.
A Long, Long Time Ago In An Odyssey Far Away
We are in the midst of a drought so long and arid it would make the Dry Dry Desert blush. With this in mind, I fully expected to get a glimpse of the next 3D Mario game at the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct. Instead, Nintendo showed off two games that are adjacent to 3D Mario, but are absolutely not 3D Mario. The show opened with Mario Kart World, which is the console’s big launch title.
World looks awesome, the kind of big shake up the Mario Kart series has needed for a long time. I’ll be there on day one.
And the Direct ended with another close-but-no-cigar title, Donkey Kong Bananza, the first 3D Donkey Kong platformer in 26 years. Don’t get me wrong, Bananza looks great — it’s the Dig Dug successor I’ve always wanted — and, since it’s 3D and open-ended, it’s almost what I want from a new Mario game.
Only Mario Is Mario
But nothing besides Mario is Mario. We might compare Astro Bot to Mario — and Astro Bot is great — but no series consistently delivers excellent 3D platforming with innovative ideas like Mario. That was especially true of Mario Odyssey. It got a ton of mileage out of its possession system — becoming a T-Rex was awesome — but still left me feeling that it could do even more. Nearly eight years on, it now seems pretty unlikely the Mario team is going to deliver a straight sequel. At this point, players are going to expect something bigger, a more comprehensive, back-to-the-drawing board approach. The window for Odyssey 2 may have passed.
That’s a shame, but it has me all the more excited to see what Nintendo has cooked up for the next Mario. Odyssey’s big idea felt almost too big, which may be the reason for the long break. When the last game let Mario be anything, how can you possibly top that? At this point, Mario has been to space twice, too, so it’s hard to see where he goes from here. I’m sure Nintendo has something exciting planned — and may just be saving the next Mario for a holiday release — but we need to actually see what our favorite plumber is up to.
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