The latest iteration of a sports game centered on Mario and his universe
For more than thirty years, Mario and his clique have gotten us used to sweating it out in various sports games. Witness the many opuses centered on tennis, golf, the Olympic Games or karting. On the other hand, he remains less adept at disciplines such as football or baseball, having had only two opuses each on Gamecube (Mario Smash Football and Mario Superstars Baseball) and on Wii (Mario Strikers Charged Football and Mario Super Sluggers). Never two without three ? In any case, this is what would be happening in the premises of Nintendo. It’s Zippo, a leaker well informed about the affairs of “Big N”, who mentioned it on his blog at the start of the year.
I heard a new Mario sports game was in the works. It would be Bandai Namco who would be in charge of development, the last production of which was Mario Sports Superstars on 3DS. He managed the parts related to football and baseball.
Nevertheless, he specifies that he does not know what sport would be at the center of this next opus. Digging a little deeper, it would make more sense for it to be around baseball. First, Namco (before its merger with Bandai) was responsible for Mario Superstar Baseball on Gamecube (2005) and Mario Super Sluggers on Wii (2008). Secondly, Nintendo entrusted the development of the Mario Football license at the beginning of the 21st century to Next Level Games.. It would be surprising for them not to continue down this path, especially since “Big N” bought the Canadian studio a year ago. An acquisition probably made after the success of Luigi’s Mansion 3.
Of course, all this is only rumors and we will wait for an announcement in good and due form as Nintendo is used to doing. What about Zippo, this leaker specializing in Nintendo’s news? Well there is good and bad. He successfully forecasts the announcement of Mario Golf: Super Rush during the February 2024 Nintendo Direct. Three months later, he takes stock of what he knows about Nintendo’s announcements at E3 2024 with a suspicion of his personal beliefs. Among them, he indicates that a “Metroid 2D exists at 200%, and that it is finishedIt’s effectively Metroid Dread, announced at E3, coming out in early October. E3: in fact, it’s Mario Party Superstars, a compilation of old Mario Parties brought up to date, which comes out at the end of October.
However, some of its announcements are more vague: a 2D Donkey Kong seems to be in development, while a sequel to Super Mario Odyssey is to see the light of day (alongside Kirby and the Forgotten World, developed by Hal Labatory). In addition, he also mentions an “extremely probable announcement” of a remake of Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War which has not arrived since. At the end of the post, he also mentions the arrival at the end of 2024 / beginning of 2024 of a new species of Mario Kart. If the passage of time seems to prove it wrong, recent rumors evoke a Mario Kart 10: Crossroad which would be announced this year. It would be inspired by Smash Bros by inviting many characters from different universes.
Source : Zippo, relayed by GameRant
