Prediction: Next 3D Mario won’t be a Galaxy sequel but spiritual successor, out Q2

[HyrulianScrolls]

Wman1996 said:

Galaxy-like? Quite likely.
Q2 2026? Unlikely. I don't think the Bananza team has a game ready by then unless they were able to split the team somehow on 2 big games. DK probably entered pre-production at least by late 2017 or so after Odyssey launched. Not saying a 3D Mario game is guaranteed to have started 6 or more years ago, and the focus on DK makes that tough. I suppose the team could've been split for a long time. Maybe 3D Mario will be the Holiday 2026 title, but that's the earliest I see it happening.

I mean, Q4 vs Q2 isn’t some massive difference. Seems silly to believe no way it could  be ready for one if it can be for the other. I doubt Nintendo wants to pit Mario against Gen X Pokemon anyways, which is all but confirmed for the Q4 slot at this point.

And again, people need to look at the track record for the Mario team. 8 years to make one game isn’t even remotely normal for them based on their history (DK Jungle Beat ‘04, Galaxy ‘07, Galaxy 2 ‘10, 3D Land ‘11, 3D World ‘13, Odyssey ‘17). They’ve surely been working on Bananza and 3D Mario together for the bulk of these last 9 years. It’s the only way it would’ve taken them that long to get Bananza out.