Nintendo recently held a Super Mario focused direct, showcasing games like Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Super Mario 3D World for the Nintendo Switch. The Direct was for Super Mario’s 35th anniversary and celebrated the series history since the original NES game released all those years ago.
Unfortunately, Super Mario 3D All-Stars has generated quite a bit of controversy in some corners of the internet over the past couple of weeks thanks topics centering around emulation and pricing. Now, it seems that there may be potential reason to believe that other Nintendo 64 titles may come to Nintendo Switch thanks to a string of code found inside 3D All-Stars’ emulators.
What was supposed to be a celebration of Mario’s 3D titles has become a bit of a mess in the days leading up to Super Mario 3D All-Star’s release. For those who may be unaware, Super Mario 3D All-Stars leaked early onto the internet. The leak gave some tech-savvy fans a glimpse into how Nintendo actually put together the collection. The three 3D Mario titles in the collection are actually running on a couple of specific emulators while being optimized to perform and look better on the Nintendo Switch.
To be more specific, the Super Mario 3D All-Stars emulator leak shows that Super MarioSunshine and Galaxy are running on Wii/GameCube emulator called “Hagi” while Super Mario 64 is running on an unknown N64 emulator. However, even more interesting regarding the leak has come to light. Thanks to one Twitter user going by DashingIb who dug through the game’s code, there are apparently strings referencing a variety of Nintendo 64 games that are unrelated to Super Mario. The strings specifically reference Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Paper Mario 64, Perfect Dark, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, and Pokemon Snap.
Now, it’s very important to remember that this is all still speculation and conjecture on the community’s part. DashingIb goes on to explain that this is all likely leftover data that should have been removed from the emulator, possibly hinting at some sort of N64 Online service. Additionally, it’s also quite likely that it may be leftover data from the N64 emulator used on the Wii U’s virtual console. While it’s possible these strings of code could amount to a false alarm, fans hoping for an N64 Virtual Console on Switch may be in luck.
Hopefully, these strings of code do amount to something outside of 3D All-Stars. Still, the buzz surrounding the game – both positive and negative – shows that tons of fans are interested in the three titles included within the game. There’s also the fact that 3D All-Stars is completely sold out Amazon and is going for incredibly high prices on eBay. Regardless of whether or not these suspicious strings of code may hint at more Nintendo 64 games coming to Nintendo Switch, the fact remains that plenty of players are excited for Super Mario 3D All-Stars.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars will be released on September 18th on Nintendo Switch.
