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Kai_Mao on 14 June 2026
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curl-6 said:
firebush03 said:

Call me crazy, but I think Nintendo holding off their safe heavy hitters is by a wide margin the most commercially successful formula. Switch 2 has proven to have strong hardware figures regardless of whether they release a 3D Mario or Smash Bros. Why waste safe-and-strong cards when good times come regardless as opposed to save them for when they *really* need them? E.g. following price hikes, in order to maintain long-term momentum (e.g. TotK & Mario Wonder being saved for 2023 certainly contributed to helping Switch 1 maintain 10M+ legs all the way through its eight year).

If a 3D Mario arrives in 2027 then potentially there's no real damage done, it all depends on just how far off their biggest guns really are. If they shot their shot with DK and a 3D Mario is still years away, then maybe it wasn't the optimal move. We'll have to wait and see.

We know Pokemon Wind/Waves is coming next year, if they can roll out the gigatons like 3D Mario, a new Smash Bros and a new Animal Crossing over 2027-2029 then that should keep momentum strong.

I find this interesting..only because there used to be discussions on whether Nintendo should allow their devs to make other games besides the mainstays. Series like Punch Out!, Star Fox (before the remake later this month), F-Zero (if you don’t count 99), Golden Sun, and Wario Land are among many IPs/series in Nintendo’s back catalogue that haven’t had a recent game in years, if not decades. It was apparent that some of the 3D Mario team members wanted to do something with DK so Bananza became a thing, and it’s doing well. Heck, Nintendo wanted Sakurai to return to Kirby Air Ride, a small racing game that has a cult following on GameCube, to develop a requested sequel before getting back into Smash. I think Mario’s time will come, eventually.

It makes it all the more impressive that the Switch 2 is doing this well despite NOT have its biggest hitters yet outside of Mario Kart. I’m sure Nintendo has an Indra on how to navigate all of this to get to the biggest hitters when they’re ready to be shown.