Nintendo bizarrely vaults Mario 3D All-Stars

Nintendo finally had a Direct last week. Yay! Remember those? Well, this year we’re celebrating Mario’s 35th anniversary, and we’re getting some “new” releases featuring the shroom popping Italian plumber.

Perhaps the biggest announcement was Super Mario 3D All-Stars, which features a trio of remastered classic titles including Mario 64, Mario Sunshine, and Mario Galaxy. It’s worth noting that these titles are just bare bones remasters, in much the same way Yakuza 3-5 were on the PlayStation 4. Upscaled to 1080p with a little extra polish, but not full on remakes like the original Mario All-Stars back on the SNES.

All that’s pretty well and good, but what has a lot of people scratching their head is how Nintendo is planning to release the game.

Mario 3D All-Stars will only be available at retail for six months. You’ll be able to buy the game from September 18th up to March of 2021, and that’s it. Yes, that includes both physical and digital releases.

This, friends, is what we like to call a classic Nintendo Move. Something that’s both baffling, and comes right out of left field. Nobody seems to know why they’ve chosen to release the game like this. Some have argued that it’s a collectable special edition for the 35th anniversary, yet there’s nothing on the packaging indicating so. It looks like any other Switch release.

Of course your eBay scalpers have been having a field day. Posts are already going up on auction sites listing the game at inflated prices. Which is only serving to further anger fans, since unlike Sony’s policy with the PS5, Nintendo doesn’t seem to understand the concept of “one per customer”.

This all reminds me of the whole “Vault” concept Disney pioneered for their movies. Where they get released on home video for a short window, then go away for a few years until the next format comes out. The whole point is to maintain the value of their products, so they don’t end up in bargain bins selling for a cut rate. Seems Nintendo is trying to pull the same crap here. Seems fans aren’t happy though, so we’ll see how long it takes them to walk back on the decision. Especially given the rampant scalping. Much like they did with their retro microconsoles.

In the meantime, it seems you still can pre-order it. I didn’t have any issues putting mine in at EB. But it’s likely supplies will go quick if you’re looking for physical copies. My best advice is to stick to digital if you really want it, and avoid the nonsense.