Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
EDIT: The source of this rumor seems to have been debunked. Other redditors revealed that they had shared fake Nintendo related rumors before. There was also a separate faked image of the game’s box art that we didn’t cover but was also debunked.
The original article follows below.
There’s a new rumor for Nintendo’s plans for Mario’s 40th anniversary.
The Origins Of Mar10 Day
Nintendo did not come up with the idea of Mar10 Day. Fans though of how the date March 10, when abbreviated to MAR 10, look like Mario’s name. So for some time Mario fans celebrated March 10 as his day unofficially.
Nintendo first used MAR10 Day as a hashtag on Twitter in 2015, and made it an official event the following year. But there’s another question related to this day.
Mario technically made his first appearance in the arcade game Donkey Kong in 1981. His breakout game Super Mario Bros. first released in Japan for the Famicom in 1985, and in the US for the NES in 1987.
So, why does Nintendo use 1986 as Mario’s anniversary, AKA, his birthday? The company does not seem to have explained this at all. Our best guess is that Nintendo looked to the first release of Mario Bros. on the NES. But, that’s our best guess.
The Next Big Mario Rumor
NeoGAF user Johnny Skinny claims that Nintendo is making a collection of the New Super Mario Bros. games. In his words:
Nintendo is working on a New Super Mario Bros. Collection to celebrate Mario’s 40th anniversary (March 2026). I’ve seen internal scheduling docs and partial localization assets via a contractor QA team I’ve worked with before.
Skinny says these games are in the collection
- New Super Mario Bros. – Nintendo DS, 2006
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii – Nintendo Wii, 2009
- New Super Mario Bros. 2 – Nintendo 3DS, 2012
How Believable Is It?
We don’t have a real frame of reference to decide if the rumor is credible or not. Nintendo does not always make new games or game collections ready for Mario day every year. Some fans are convinced Nintendo is planning something huge for 2026. That’s because it would be Mario’s 40th anniversary.
Why Is This List Incomplete?
This list does not include New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Luigi U, both released on the Wii U, or their eventual Switch rerelease, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. Switch Game Cards might actually have enough capacity to hold all those games, so we don’t see why they would not include them.
Wouldn’t Nintendo Do Something Else?
A lot of fans are asking why Nintendo would not rerelease 2020’s Super Mario 3D All-Stars instead. We think Nintendo could see that the games in that collection could get better ports on the Switch 2. That move might actually make more sense, especially since there’s so much demand for them right now too.
We’ll see if this rumor turns out to be correct in the end.
