According to the latest rumors, Nintendo may have four Super Mario games in the works, including a new main series entry, spin-offs, and more. Super Mario is Nintendo's flagship franchise, and so there's always a great deal of excitement whenever a new game in the beloved series is revealed to the masses.
Super Mario is an even hotter property than usual thanks to the record-breaking box office success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The Super Mario Bros. Movie has sailed past $1 billion at the box office despite releasing to negative reviews, and it seems likely that even more movies based on Nintendo's iconic franchises will be hitting the big screen in the years to come. Longtime Super Mario fans may have enjoyed the movie, but they might be more concerned with new games in the franchise.
Luckily, if recent rumors are to be believed, it's possible that there are four Mario-centric games in the pipeline. Nintendo leaker Zippo has claimed that Nintendo is sitting on four finished games starring Mario, including a new 2D Super Mario game, a sports title rumored to be a new Super Mario baseball game, a remaster of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and a new entry in the long-running Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games franchise.
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Fans should take these claims with a massive grain of salt. This isn't the first time that some of these rumored games have come up, but it's best to keep expectations in check. Super Mario fans should hold off on getting too excited about any of these potential game projects until the official announcement comes from Nintendo.
Unfortunately, it's unclear when such an announcement will take place. While the other big companies are all hosting events this summer where they will be pulling the curtain back on their upcoming games, Nintendo has not announced any similar plans and in fact, rumor has it that it won't hold a new Nintendo Direct presentation until September at the earliest.
Nintendo's holiday 2023 and early 2024 slate is looking pretty dry, and it was recently confirmed that a new Nintendo console will not be revealed this coming fiscal year. This means that Nintendo is still all-in on the Switch, and it will undoubtedly want to do whatever it can to push software and potentially convince hold-outs to finally pick up the console. New Super Mario games could do just that, especially coming off The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Considering this, the leaked games do make some sense, but fans shouldn't hold their breath.
Source: Zippo
