Super Mario Bros. 40th anniversary leaks are fake but what is Nintendo planning?

Anticipation around the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. has led to some questionable leaks around about a new collection, but it’s unclear if any of it is real.

Nintendo has a track record of unexpected celebrations for its core characters (hello, Year Of Luigi), but the inexplicably loud fanfare around the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. is one of the more peculiar in recent memory.

For the title’s 35th birthday, which is hardly a major milestone, Nintendo released Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Super Mario Bros. 35, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, special Lego sets, a limited edition Game & Watch handheld, and a whole line of 35th anniversary apparel.

This was likely because it was in the middle of the Covid pandemic, and Nintendo literally had nothing else to promote, but it makes it very hard to predict what Nintendo will do about the more significant 40th anniversary on September 13.

Earlier this week, several posts on Reddit appeared to out one part of Nintendo’s plans. One post showed alleged images of a New Super Mario Bros. Collection, containing 2006’s New Super Mario Bros, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and 2012’s New Super Mario Bros. 2.

This same rumour was seemingly corroborated by an alleged leaker named John Skinny on Reddit (via MyNintendoNews), who claimed they had received information on the same collection via internal scheduling docs and localisation assets via a contractor Q&A team.

However, while believable on the surface, the rumour starts to fall apart once you dig into the details. Many have pointed out how the barcode on the ‘leaked’ box art is the same as 2012’s Super Mario Bros. U. Likewise, Skinny claimed they played a ‘new Zelda game’ during a Switch 2 demo event last year – something we’ve never heard about since.

This appears to rule out this rumour, but it still leaves the question of what (if anything) Nintendo is planning for the 40th anniversary. There’s been rumbles of a potential secret Christmas game for the Switch 2 but while that’s very unlikely to be a new big budget title, a remaster compilation is much more plausible.

There are some other, smaller announcements which also seem likely. We already know Super Mario Sunshine is coming to Nintendo Switch Online at some point, so the timing of that could line up with the 40th celebrations in September.

The limited time multiplayer battle royale title, Super Mario Bros. 35, could be rebranded for the 40th anniversary and re-released on Nintendo Switch Online. There might even be some kind of update for Mario Kart World, angled around retro cosmetics.

Nintendo hasn’t announced any plans for the 40th anniversary but, after its huge celebration for the 35th, it would be weird if it does go by without any fanfare. Although, of course, weird is Nintendo’s stock in trade…

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