It's an established fact, and while not all Nintendo consoles come with flagship Mario games, it's still a fact. While its first three consoles—the NES, Super Famicom, and Nintendo 64—all came with mainline Mario games to kick off their generations, systems like the GameCube, Wii, and even the previous Switch have left players waiting Months of waiting for the mustached plumber to arrive. Make your mark with major new releases.

super mario odyssey2017's Star Wars was the last truly 3D game in the series, and while the eight-year void was filled by some bold 2D platformers and countless sports-centric side projects, the void left behind is palpable. of. As companies like Sony return to the mascot game trend, astronomy robot (2024), it feels like it's been a long time coming for Nintendo to take back its limelight.

While a sequel might be good (2009's super mario galaxy 2 Easily better than the first), Nintendo will be careful not to rely too much on repeating the past, especially given the lukewarm response to the Switch 2's own launch, with some accusing it of playing it too safe. With nearly a decade's worth of innovative gimmicks and graphics, a new 3D Mario game would be a layup. It's not a question of "if", but "when".

For all the thriving franchises, e.g. mario, metroid vanguardand Zeldathere's an entire graveyard filled with long-dead Nintendo IPs. While the company's early days were flooded with new games - they released just about any idea that hit the desktop during the NES era - most of the games that represented the brand during its first two decades are barely remembered today. People remember.

Space shooting series Star Foxsci-fi racer F-Zeroand boxing simulation punch holes Their sequels have probably been seen here and there, but mostly left to the historical wiki. The modern Nintendo has been cautious in continuing to develop franchises that haven't exactly been smash hits on subsequent releases, and some (ahem, F-Zero) were even considered impossible to reinvent, with some designers claiming there was no meaningful way to further develop these concepts.

But this is kind of bullshit. No developer in the industry is better at reinventing seemingly outdated concepts than Nintendo. With some of these games having been missing for over twenty years, an entire generation of gamers will be stunned by a 1:1 remake of a once-innovative classic that currently has no peers or design imitators. . Indeed, the current Nintendo is very keen on returns, with a plethora of remasters and deluxe remasters taking up a large portion of the Wii U and Switch libraries. So, Nintendo, if you're listening - do the right thing and bring back some of the best games ever made that are rotten (again, that's F-Zero).

There was a time when each Nintendo console not only offered an innovative reimagining of the brand's most popular series, but also served as a proving ground for weird new concepts that, frankly, shouldn't work. On GameCube, that game was Pikmin (2001), a strategy game fever dream in which players control a nickel-sized space captain commanding an army of sentient plant creatures to survive in a hostile alien world. On Wii U, it's Splatoon (2015), a game that took Nintendo into the uncharted territory of a player-versus-player online shooter starring squid kids who could disappear into their own ink.

While Nintendo does like to iterate, it's unfair to say they've lost any of that gonzo spark. 2023 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Turn an adventure game into a physics-based construction game like minecraftand super mario bros marvel (2023) Make a 2D platformer a Alice in Wonderland-style acid trip. But Nintendo isn't making great games any weirder, and it's been almost a decade since it launched a new IP.

talk with rolling stones last summer, mario Producer Takashi Tezuka says the company's future is now being forged by a new generation of creatives, all of whom see things differently than the old guard. It's time that Nintendo brass, under the guidance of mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto, delved into their personal psyches and turned someone's relatively normal personal hobby into the next great video game franchise.

Since launching the Wii in 2006, Nintendo has maintained that it doesn't necessarily need to compete with the technological prowess of peers such as Sony and Microsoft. With each subsequent console cycle, the company chose to produce more out-of-the-box devices aimed at specific gimmicks, such as dual-screen gaming or the Switch 2's own hybrid mobile design. But with that comes limitations that often limit the system to only a few years of horsepower.

In the past, this also meant being left behind by third-party developers chasing the latest, hottest trends and greatest potential in existing hardware. While the first-generation Switch saw many partners rejoin the fray with cross-platform releases, most games required significant concessions to essentially run on the small device. There have been many memes surrounding the Switch port of the game, such as Mortal Kombat 1run so poorly and look so ugly, it might be better that they never existed in the first place.

However, in 2025, things are different. The leap in technology has slowed to some extent, and games developed for platforms like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X simply don’t look or feel the same. That Even better than games from 10 years ago. In fact, even many years into their life cycles, there are still many games in production that will still run on PS4 and PS5 with very little difference. If the Switch 2 is rumored to be as powerful as the PlayStation 4 (or even the PS4 Pro when docked), then third-party games like Marvel Rivals could be ported to Nintendo without having to sacrifice much in the process.

No one makes ridiculous gimmicks as engaging as Nintendo. In an effort to make games more immersive, accessible, and appealing to those who don't want to just use a standard controller, the company has been trying to create creations that push boundaries (and sometimes players' patience) to set them apart, in before eventually becoming the norm. In the past, they've popularized concepts like analog joystick movement, vibration feedback and rumble, and, of course, motion control. While the Switch 2 doesn't have new features ready to take advantage of yet, there may be some surprises in store.

One of the major rumors circulating online is that the Switch 2's improved Joy-Con controllers won't just feature gyro controls or accelerometers, but may have features that can be used like a clicky PC mouse. Initially thought to be speculation, the console's reveal video released this week appears to confirm the rumor, with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of the Switch 2 Joy-Con port, which many claim houses an optical light , just like any modern mouse. Combined with the fact that the video also shows the controller sliding across a surface face down, the theory starts to gain more credence.

But what good is a mouse on a home or portable gaming console like the Switch 2? Well, in the most obvious sense, it can be used to play previously PC-centric game genres like real-time strategy games, MOBAs, and more competitive first-person shooters. But beyond that, it offers Nintendo the potential to bring back one of its weirdest games yet: mario paint. For those of you who are old enough to remember, mario paint is a 1992 SNES game that is exactly what it sounds like and more: an art-making game that uses a peripheral mouse to let players channel their inner Picasso. Including graphic editing, crude animation, and even music composition, mario paint This is a concept that was far ahead of its time, having appeared several years ago Roblox or minecraftbut perfectly suited to audiences in today’s content creation world.

If the Joy-Con mouse is genuine, it could open up a whole new world of home console capabilities for the Switch 2. For Nintendo and gamers themselves, it's a chance to be your weirdest self.