Nintendo's surprise update for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch 2 turned out to be a wrecking ball for the game's existing world records, implementing a sweeping speed increase that makes everyone – regardless of kart and racer – faster by a substantial measure.

As highlighted in a viral video being shared across social media in the wake of the update, Mario Kart 8 race, player speed has been increased across the board "by the equivalent of one coin," according to the official patch notes. In case you're unfamiliar, players pick up speed in Mario Kart 8 when they collect coins, with each coin adding an equal speed boost up until 10 coins, at which point full speed is reached. This update raises the baseline speed up to what was reached by collecting one point in previous versions of the game.

You might've glossed right over this change considering the surprisingly chunky Mario Kart 8 – yes, not Mario Kart World – update's other additions, which include "clearer" visuals, better load times, 5-8 player multiplayer support, and GameChat support. Essentially, the update brings Mario Kart 8 up to par with Mario Kart World in terms of Switch 2 compatibility, which is really a peculiar move from Nintendo considering Mario Kart World was the Switch 2's big launch title.

Anyway, as you might expect, Mario Kart 8 world record racers are scrambling to make sense of a world where every racer is suddenly considerably faster than before. Naturally, existing world records are just waiting to be smashed, and likely already have been at the time of writing. As one "friendly neighborhood Pokemon New Yorker" put it on Twitter, "RIP every MK8D World Record in the last 5 years."

You get the idea. To you and me, a marginal baseline speed increase might not seem like the Earth-shattering news that it is for Mario Kart speedracers, but if you're rightfully proud of clearing a map faster than literally anyone else in the world, well, if you're a glass-half-full type of person, you could see this as an opportunity to prove your drifting precision and red turtle shell dodging abilities to the internet once more. We live in a post-4.0 Mario Kart world (not that Mario Kart World) now, so you better keep up.

Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto never wanted to compete with other game devs: "I view the Rubik's Cube as my eternal rival"

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Nintendo's upgraded take on the 2014 Wii U game, just got a new update for the Switch 2… while Mario Kart World, its more recent entry in the racing game series, sits stagnant.

As per Nintendo's official patch notes, Version 4.0.0 is here for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with plenty for Switch 2 players to look forward to.

First and foremost are "clearer visuals," as the update finally adds "support for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs" – something I've personally been looking forward to since I upgraded to a 4K television myself. There are some nice performance tweaks, too.

The new version has "shortened the loading time before races and battles begin," as Nintendo writes, and "added CameraPlay support" for all you GameChat enjoyers.

That's not all, though – Mario Kart 8 Deluxe supports five to eight players in multiplayer mode now, allowing folks to connect with up to seven Nintendo Switch controllers on their Switch 2. In other words, prepare for downright chaos with your pals.

There are some other changes as well, as Nintendo has "increased player speed during races by the equivalent of one coin" and made it so that "players will not slow down while using Boo to become invisible, even when entering an offroad area."

People with access to the $24.99 Booster Course Pass will also see "96 Races" in the "VS Race" rule settings now, too. All in all, it's a pretty nice little Mario Kart 8 update, if you ask me.

What about Mario Kart World? Well, it did get two new Knockout Tour routes at the start of July, but it still undeniably feels unfinished when compared to its predecessor – an entry that's increasingly beginning to feel like Nintendo's favorite child.

Who knows, though… we might see a new Mario Kart World update surface for Switch 2 stans soon, even if Mario Kart 8 has historically outsold its successor (because, let's face it, it's the series GOAT).

The "greatest speedrun accomplishment of all time" is in sight as two legendary Super Mario Bros runners compete for a time that once seemed impossible.

Despite its self-aggrandizing name, Lego The Mighty Bowser isn't overexaggerating; it really is an impressive monster of a kit. Actually, I'd go so far as to say it's one of the best Lego sets ever made.

Or at least, it was. This behemoth has now been retired, which means it's becoming harder to get hold of now that Lego has stopped producing it. In fact, it'll only be available so long as stock lasts at third-party retailers like Amazon. Because Lego The Mighty Bowser is one of my all-time favorite models, consider this a plea – if you love Super Mario, consider this set before it vanishes into the ether forever.

Lego The Mighty Bowser (#71411) features

This enormous figure is easily the most detailed and accurate Lego version of Bowser available… and that includes the new Lego Super Mario range. Although it's not to-scale with the interactive Mario figures, it should sit nicely alongside the Mario Kart set as well as the Lego Luigi and Mach 8 kit. They seem roughly the same size.

In terms of what this model can do, it isn't just a pretty face; its head, arms, hands, fingers, mouth, eyebrows, and eyes can all be moved for some quite distinct poses. Lego The Mighty Bowser also shoots a fire bolt from his mouth at the push of a button.

Build

Despite the size and apparent complexity of Lego The Mighty Bowser, I generally found it to be a straightforward project. It doesn't have many small fiddly bits, and the build develops in a very logical way. I was able to make quick progress as a result; it only took me around five hours to finish across a few evenings. I suspect it could last up to 10 hours if you're not as experienced with building Lego, but it's not a mammoth project like Lego Rivendell.

However, I do have a bone to pick with designers here. The instructions don't put the usual lines around pieces you're supposed to be adding, which makes seeing what to do next a (very frustrating) game of spot the difference. I missed certain pieces as a result, and had to go back a step when things weren't adding up.

Design

This is the most impressive figure in the Lego Super Mario range, no questions asked. Sure, the Mario Kart figures are great and the old question block is soaked in nostalgia. The Lego Piranha Plant is full of character, too. But none compare to The Mighty Bowser. It's the sort of set that'll elicit a "woah" when seen in person, and is a dead ringer for its on-screen inspiration.

The fact it's so posable gives it a real sense of life, too; it's easy to personalize how Bowser looks on the shelf, and those moving eyes (a rarity for Lego figures) really help with that expressive nature.

Because it's so sturdy, you won't have any trouble adjusting it on the fly either. Sure, it won't stand up to rigorous play from younger fans and is most definitely a display-only kit. But it's far more robust than other models of this kind, such as Lego Optimus Prime.

Finally, I adore that the themed base feels like a slice of Bowser's castle. It melts into the background compared to the King Koopa himself, but brings back memories of those boss battles if you look closer. The stone 'cracking' under Bowser's weight is a particularly nice touch.

Should you buy Lego The Mighty Bowser?

Because this kit is going to the Mushroom Kingdom in the sky and will become increasingly difficult to find, I'd recommend grabbing it sooner than later if you were at all interested. While it's possible we'll get a new and improved version down the line, that's far from guaranteed.

So long as you can find it at a reasonable price, I think it's pretty great value too. There's nothing else like it in Lego's repertoire, and even though issues with instruction clarity let it down, everything else shines.

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

For more collectible recommendations, don't miss the best Super Mario merch or our guide to the best toys.

We just got our first look at the new Lego Super Mario range, and it turns out that the toy-maker isn't just adding minifigures to the lineup in early 2027; this appears to be a top-to-bottom overhaul.

Unveiled via the Lego store and GamesCom 2026's show floor after being teased back in March, these kits range from small models featuring just a few characters to massive sets that are several hundred pieces strong. Besides nodding to iconic pieces of Mario history (including a Mario Kart selection, Bowser's Castle, and the obligatory warp pipes), all kits include the stars of this new Lego Super Mario range – minifigures. Before now, you could only get larger interactive toys and display pieces like Lego Luigi & Mach 8. By contrast, the new kits are classic minifigures and feature in playsets using standard Lego bricks.

This new range is set to launch on January 1, 2027. Here's a full rundown on what's going to be available next year:

Honestly, I'm impressed with what we have so far. These kits pack a lot of charm, and crucially, they can be mixed with other Lego playsets due to their standard size. (This wasn't possible before due to how big the interactive figures were.)

The question is, what does this mean for those interactive figures going forward? Lego hasn't elaborated on whether the new minifigure sets will run alongside or replace them entirely. However, I think it's interesting to note how the new Lego Super Mario sets recreate some existing models – namely the Mario Kart range and Bowser's Castle. Because these seem a lot less expensive, don't require the fuss of batteries, and match the size of other Lego kits, they're certainly appealing as an alternative.

I would be sad to see the back of the interactive Mario range because it allows kids to create elaborate courses their figures actually react to (in terms of pure interactivity, they're some of the best Lego sets). But I also think these 'traditional' minifigure playsets are long overdue.

If this is the future of the Super Mario line, I'm not mad about it.

It'll be interesting to see what the community does with this new range – it's incredibly creative, as demonstrated by one builder using a Lego pumpkin set to make a Millennium Falcon.

• Check the current Lego Super Mario range at Amazon

Over the past few years, a speedrun accomplishment that once seemed impossible is starting to look inevitable: a perfect run of Super Mario Bros. is in sight. Two speedrun legends are inching ever closer to that fabled goal, and a new world record is the first step in what might be the biggest accomplishment in speedrunning history.

If you've ever checked in on the Super Mario Bros. speedrun scene, you know the basics, but here's some background just in case. In extremely simplified terms, the classic NES platformer only checks every so often to see if a given level is completed, which means there is an absolute minimum time in which you can complete each stage. Tool-assisted speedruns (or TASes), which are created by programming inputs into emulators, show us that the perfect Super Mario Bros. speedrun would be a time of 4:54.265.

In most cases, TASes do things that are impossible for human players – but top Super Mario Bros. players have been making the "impossible" seem real. We've been covering a runner called Niftski for years as he's shaved the world record down ever closer to that theoretical perfect time. Even in 2023, we were no longer talking about the difference between human performance and machine-engineered perfection in terms of seconds. Instead, the difference was measured in frames.

Back then, it was 22 frames. Now, it's just 4. Niftski has set a new world record of 4:54.332, which you can see in the video below. It's worth watching the final moments alone, where Niftski pops off and shouts out his "W mom cheering me downstairs."

Runners have already perfected each individual part of the game, but the problem is stringing it all together. The final stage, 8-4, is not governed by the same rule that sets the minimum possible time for the earlier stages. This one is loaded with tricks that require button inputs timed down to the individual frame, and many of them have to be done back-to-back.

But now, "we are now only 4 frames / 0.06 seconds away from No L+R TAS tie, and it is completely inevitable at this point," Niftski explains in the description of his world record video. "As proud as I am to finally achieve my well overdue 4:54.3xx, I will make sure to not stop this grind until I put this category to rest with the perfect SMB1 Any% speedrun of 4:54.265."

Niftski has committed to the grind, and he's not alone. Another runner named LeKukie tied Niftski's previous record, and he's also set himself on the grind to get the perfect run. He learned how to speedrun Super Mario Bros. using a homebrew emulator for PS2 that was plagued by input lag, unable to afford better equipment. He eventually got an NES, but it was one made in his home country of Brazil – a model which, it happens, runs a tiny bit slower than its worldwide counterparts.

LeKukie was a dedicated runner, still managing to post great times even with the limitations to his hardware. And with each upgrade, it was as if he was dropping another layer of training weights, like he was the Goku of Mario runners. His full story is wild, and it's explained very well in a recent video by Kosmic. The community eventually decided to "free LeKukie," pitching in to provide him an NES that ran at full speed, as well as equipment for streaming. Among the donors? Niftski himself.

Now LeKukie is a legitimate contender for that perfect run, and he's inching closer right alongside Niftski. Either of these runners could be the one to do it, and it'll be a massive milestone once it finally happens. SummoningSalt, who you might know from his excellent YouTube documentaries on various speedrunning scenes, puts it simply in a tweet: "This will be the greatest speedrun accomplishment of all time."

These are the best Mario games of all time.

Nintendo patron saint Shigeru Miyamoto created the Mario franchise, but he knows it would be nothing without the countless devs and designers who helped bring it to life. The original Super Mario Bros. platformer from 1985 would have especially suffered, Miyamoto thinks, had it been the responsibility of only one person.

Nintendo Everything shares an interview Miyamoto did with Japanese magazine Casa Brutus earlier this summer. The director reveals that many of the game's most beloved qualities came from simply bouncing ideas around in the office.

The B-dash, which lets you press B while Mario is sprinting to slip past gaps in terrain, is one example. The plumber with a mustache – the walrus 'stache that launched a thousand ships – wouldn't be able to perform "that small cheat," says Miyamoto, if it weren't for a collaborative discussion about game bugs.

"That was actually a bug caused by flawed collision detection with the ground," Miyamoto explains. "When the programmer noticed it, he said, 'Huh? He didn't fall!' and tried to fix it. But I said, 'No, no! It's fun if he can dash across – let's leave it as is!' [laughs]. So we kept it."

"There were tons of other fun techniques and hidden items born while developing Super Mario Bros.," Miyamoto continues. The bloated Cheep Cheep enemies, in particular, are an aspect of the platformer where, Miyamoto says, "I don't think I could have come up with it alone."

Designer Takashi Tezuka, who recently announced his retirement as Nintendo's executive officer, first thought of the bite-y pufferfish. "He was young then, and didn't yet have strong technical skills," says Miyamoto, "but he offered interesting ideas, like wanting to have a fish that suddenly leaps out and plops back down, that could both fly and swim."

"My younger colleague's idea had a certain appeal, and I wanted to accommodate it," says Miyamoto. So he decided to raise the floor's height in Super Mario Bros. to make it easier for Mario to dodge the Cheep Cheeps while retaining their status as pesky, red surprises.

"If Mario is running on the lowest level they’ll appear unexpectedly, but if he’s on a some- what higher platform, players can see the fish fly up. That's why World 2-3, where Cheep Cheeps appear, takes place on higher piers," Miyamoto explains.

"None of these things could have been done by one person alone. I believe it’s because we created it together, by discussion and argument as a team, that the game came about. I always want information to flow back and forth freely, so I even banned headphones in the office."

He continues, "Rather than divide work strictly by specialty, we all helped shape the whole game together, and the fun was in doing that. Even now, I still work with people from that team: the graphic artist I just cited, Mr. Tezuka, programmer Toshihiko Nakago, and composer Koji Kondo. I think that in itself is pretty amazing."

97 Super Mario Bros NES cartridges set to be "melted down" turn out to be a lot more valuable than the gold they contain.

Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed that one of the most integral parts of Mario's kit in the series' 2D games started out as an accident.

As much as Sonic is marketed as the fastest thing alive, and everyone's go-to when you think of speed in 2D platformers, it's easy to forget that the chubby Italian-American plumber from Brooklyn is weirdly fast too. And not just in the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games artwork – where Nintendo reportedly "demanded" Mario was a step in front of the blue blur – but he's able to speed through levels and even run over small gaps that are roughly the same size as him with no issue.

Turns out, his airwalking abilities weren't a part of the plan, as speaking to Casa Brutus magazine (via NintendoEverything), Miyamoto explains, "You know Mario’s B-Dash, right? If you hold the B button while running, he can cross small gaps without failing," he reveals, "Truth be told, that was actually a bug caused by flawed collision detection with the ground."

However, rather than purge the unintended power, Miyamoto recalls, "I said, 'No, no! It’s fun if he can dash across – let’s leave it as is!'" And now, 40 years later, Mario can still do the same in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and every other 2D platformer the series has to offer.

Miyamoto also noted that this wasn't the only unintended feature of Super Mario Bros., with the hidden blocks that have remained an iconic part of the series since its inception, beginning their life as a bug where coins would appear in midair when nothing was there.

This isn't even the biggest glitch-turned-feature story either. Some glitches became part of their series, like Hitman's homing briefcase or the myth about a hyper-aggressive Gandhi in Civilization, which led to him being nuke-happy in its fifth entry.

However, none are as massive as Street Fighter 2, which featured an unintentional behavior where players could hit an opponent while they were still stunned, leading to the birth of combos in fighting games. So really, if it's a glitch and it doesn't break the game too much, it may be worth leaving it alone if it's fun enough.

97 Super Mario Bros NES cartridges set to be "melted down" turn out to be a lot more valuable than the gold they contain

It's the dream scenario for a retro collector: finding an overlooked box of games and cracking it open to discover something absolutely unprecedented. That's what happened for Jason Ganos, a self-described "Nintendo super fan," who found a box full of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridges for NES in pristine condition thanks to a friend at a local retro game shop. The best part? These 97 cartridges are likely from the game's final production run – an absurdly rare variant that had never previously been discovered.

Sometime in the '90s, the owner of a precious metal recovery business bought this box of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt carts, and they were "supposed to be melted down and salvaged for the gold on the contacts of the pins," as Ganos writes on Nintendo Wire, the news site where he serves as editor-in-chief.

But that didn't happen. Instead, the box ended up sitting in the garage of the grandson of the salvage company owner for "for over 20 years." Kevin Braun, the owner of a small retro shop near Milwaukee, Wisconsin called OneStopWonders, bought the box of cartridges with the intent to "sell each game for roughly $10 to $15 apiece."

If you're like me, a lifelong gamer hovering somewhere in the 35- to 45-year-old range, you'll likely remember the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt combo cartridges as being absolutely ubiquitous. They were packed in with many NES consoles, and the used market was absolutely awash with them. Even as the collector's market has dramatically inflated the value of other retro classics, Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridges are still inexpensive and plentiful.

Pretty crazy stuff if you haven't seen it - a game store owner had a box of Super Mario/Duck Hunt carts that turned out to be- brand new- manufactured in 1993 (!)- an extremely late variant unknown to collectorsnintendowire.com/news/2026/07...

— @kohler.bsky.social (@kohler.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-31T15:55:36.985Z

So when Ganos, who worked with Braun to sell various games online, discovered this box sitting in the retro store owner's storage unit, he was primarily shocked because of the games' condition, not their rarity. These were effectively new carts, neatly wrapped up with crisp manuals alongside them. "Seeing brand-new Nintendo games is an incredibly exciting thing for a game collector," Ganos explains. "But seeing 97 of them all lined up, all of them pristine, nearly knocked me straight on my ass."

Ganos didn't realize the true value of his discovery until he started sharing photos of the games with members of a high-end collecting group. "What I had found wasn't just a box of pristine Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridges. It was an undocumented, never before seen variant. The back label was unlike anything that had been documented before. Instead of the standard English-only text, it featured multiple languages. The manufacturing codes on both the cartridge and instruction manual also differed, indicating these games were produced in late 1993," Ganos says.

"Even the manual contained previously undocumented text. Known manuals include the phrase 'maintenance or repairs,' while this newly discovered version instead reads 'maintenance or service.' Perhaps most puzzling of all, the manufacturing dates on both the cartridge and manual come after every known Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt bundle these games could have belonged to."

The conclusion? "What we had found was the very last production run, and an undiscovered variant of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt." Ganos soon personally flew the 97 cartridges out to be graded by PSA, which encased the carts in plastic with some being graded as a perfect 10.

We've seen rare, graded Super Mario Bros. carts sell for millions of dollars in the past, but exactly how much collectors will be willing to pay for these remains to be seen. Ganos and Braun intend to split the carts, "keeping an undecided number for ourselves. Some of the others will be auctioned off, and others will have charity auctions set up in the very near future." More specifically, the first three auctions will occur on August 12, so we'll know the true value of these games soon enough.

These are the best NES games of all time.

Despite the announcement of Super Mario Sunshine's return, some new Nintendo artwork has seemingly confirmed the demise of dear Toadsworth.

Super Mario Sunshine is launching on Nintendo Switch Online next month, Nintendo has confirmed. The title which one GamesRadar+ writer – me – has referred to as a game only cowards think is the worst Mario game also gave birth to one of the series most beloved side characters.

Toadsworth is a posh old Toad and assistant to Peach who joins her and Mario on their Isle Delfino vacation, and since then has become an iconic part of the Toad cast. And despite Toadette – who was introduced afterwards, and not even in a mainline game – becoming more and more prominent in the time since, Toadsworth has disappeared.

13 years… that's how long it's been since we last saw Toadsworth in an original Mario game, outside Smash Bros. cameos and remakes (and underwhelming remakes like Mario Party: The Top 100). Mario & Luigi Dream Team marked his last appearance, and it's fitting as he's only been a part of our dreams since then.

There's even an old Toad character in the movies who could've easily been the moustachioed one, but isn't. Even with the likes of Cataquack and Pianta appearing in spin-offs like Mario Kart World, one of Sunshine's biggest characters is nowhere to be seen.

And now, Nintendo's latest summer wallpaper has referenced an iconic bit of Super Mario Sunshine art, only with Toadsworth removed from the picture. And fans on the Mario subreddit have taken notice. A post titled "are we fucking serious nintendo" points out the missing Toad, garnering responses like "and then there's Toadsworth, he's dead…"

In fact, a few people have speculated that the old Toad has passed away. Some, however, have taken a slightly less grim outlook, saying, "He really is never showing up again."

Meanwhile, another points out an inclusion in the picture that makes things sting a bit more, "they included FLUDD but not Toadsworth," to which a response says "it really goes top[sic] show how much they care about Toadsworth sadly."

Others think his death could be a consequence to his deeds in previous games, with two users speculating that "he was executed" due to actions in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door or Mario Super Sluggers

Toadsworth is maybe a bit too important to be considered a Glup Shitto (I know no one asked, but my favourite Mario Glup Shitto is Strollin Stu, another Mario Sunshine banger), but it's a shame to see a fun character disappear for seemingly no reason. Will it cause me to boycott the next Mario? Of course not, but seeing his warm brown mushroom head again would be a welcome sight.

Super Mario Sunshine gets 10-player online co-op in mod that lets you tag-team the GameCube classic as Wario, Luigi, and Sonic.

Nintendo has confirmed that Super Mario Sunshine will be hitting Nintendo Switch Online for Switch 2 owners next month.

In a video released on the Nintendo Japan YouTube channel, Nintendo confirms that on August 13, Super Mario Sunshine will finally be available on Nintendo Switch Online for people who own a Switch 2 console and have the Expansion Pass version of the subscription.

From the looks of things, that sure is Super Mario Sunshine. Notably, the entire trailer was presented in 4:3, so it looks like the improvements made on the Super Mario 3D All-Stars version of the game are not included – meaning Switch 1 owners may technically be getting the better version of Sunshine anyway (if they can find a copy).

So, if you missed out on 3D All Stars, now you can finally play what cowards call the worst Mario game. Yes it's rushed, glitchy, and somewhat unfinished, but good lord if Super Mario Sunshine does not have the sauce. I'd recommend anyone playing it to just move around on some of the levels from the outset and get to grips with just how incredible Mario feels to control. Yes, the Galaxy games are masterpieces, but Sunshine's movement was the best of the franchise until Odyssey came along. The game itself is pretty good too, even if the lilypad and pachinko levels can do things to themselves that I'm not allowed to publish.

This announcement was presented with the "Super Mario Bros. 40th Anniversary" emblem, suggesting Nintendo isn't quite finished with celebrating it just yet, so perhaps some more Mario could show up in a future Nintendo Direct.

Nate The Hate – who has accurately leaked a number of Nintendo rumors for well over a year now – said the next 3D Super Mario game is planned for 2027 right now. And while not impossible for it to appear in the inevitable September Nintendo Direct, Nintendo's MO for the last few years has typically been announcing games when they're only a few months out – although Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, and Rhythm Heaven Groove have subverted that trend as of late.

Super Mario Sunshine gets 10-player online co-op in mod that lets you tag-team the GameCube classic as Wario, Luigi, and Sonic.

Nintendo veteran Shigeru Miyamoto, probably best known as the grandaddy of all things Mario, says he has no idea why the old fella is so appealing to players. While Miyamoto designed the jumping plumber alongside artist Yoichi Kotabe, he still doesn't understand why people find him so likeable.

Gaming giant Nintendo is well known for its adorable mascots like Pikachu, Kirby, and the ever pleasing Pikmin, but not all of its main characters are quite as friend shaped as these. Mario's rotund form is charming in its own way, but at its core, he's just a stout adult man with a fetching mustache.

In an interview with Famitsu, that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Miyamoto was asked why he thinks Nintendo's key franchises are so beloved all over the world. In response the Nintendo fellow says, "I wish someone would tell me," with a chuckle.

"I always hear people say 'why does a mustachioed old dude like Mario sell so well?'," he continues. "While I think that's rude, truthfully I've had the same thought. 'Why does this old guy sell so well?'"

Nintendo has plenty of human protagonists aside from Mario, but characters like Link and Samus look strong and give a powerful aura. They are heroes. Mario is a plumber.

However, there is an answer that Miyamoto has come up with, and it's not that people are just in awe of his stylish dungarees and rippling mustache. "The simple answer that I've come up with is that he's bundled with incredibly fun games," he says. We think he doesn't give the goomba-stomping gallivanter enough credit.

Shigeru Miyamoto knows some fans have "multiple Nintendo consoles at home," and hopes that'll become "the norm" in the future: "That would be the best scenario."

Nintendo fans have created a mod for a GameCube classic, with Better Super Mario Sunshine Online introducing 10-player multiplayer to Mario's most divisive 3D platformer.

There's two camps when it comes to Nintendo's 2002 platformer Super Mario Sunshine. There are those who really like it, and then there are cowards. Yes, it's a weird, somewhat flawed game sandwiched between two genre-defining masterpieces in the 3D Mario chronology, and yes it was rushed and a little glitchy, but beneath that paint covered exterior is a platformer with near-unmatched vibes, music, and – crucially for a platformer – movement.

Thankfully, there are others who are equally passionate about Mario's worst-selling 3D platformer (well, if you don't count the Super Mario 3D All Stars sales), as the modding community for the game is fairly active. The latest gargantuan mod however, brings the game one of the most popular mods from Super Mario 64's massive repertoire, as Better Super Mario Sunshine Online implements online play into the GameCube title.

The mod introduces 10-player co-op to the game, allowing you to collect each of the game's 120 Shine Sprites together. The mod syncs progress across all players modes too, to make the hunt for blue coins a team effort instead of the worst part of the game. On top of that, there's also a 10-player hide and seek mode for those who want something to compete in while taking advantage of the incredible movement tech in Super Mario Sunshine.

This isn't even just a simple mod that has multiple Marios on one screen, as the mod features "15 fully custom characters" with classic Mario legends like Wario, Luigi, Waluigi, and Shadow the Hedgehog, with unique custom animations for some of them. Obviously, you'll need to find at least one fellow Mario Sunshine apologist to play with, but let's be real, if none of your friends are willing to indulge your platforming fantasy, were they ever really your friends to begin with?

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is hiding an unused "joyful zone" area where Mario can't stop somersaulting, and he's absolutely thrilled about it

Mario very regularly has a huge smile on his face, whether he's stomping on sentient flowers or chowing down magical mushrooms, but there's one unused area in Super Mario Galaxy 2 that makes our already loveable plumber go into a somersaulting frenzy. And, seriously, I've never heard Mario sound so happy.

Super dedicated blogger and series archivist Supper Mario Broth recently found that Super Mario Galaxy 2 has been hiding an "unused 'joyful zone' area" for all these years. Should Mario step foot into the zone, he gets the zoomies and the giggles or, more plainly, he'll uncontrollably run and somersault and scream "Yahoo!" without stopping.

In a hilarious experiment, Supper Mario Broth recently "enveloped the entirety of Starship Mario in a joyful zone for demonstrative purposes." The result is incredible - you can watch it down below. I dare you not to smile, dear reader.

Rosalina and the Lumas are apparently immune to the joyful bug. Not everyone appreciates jumping high and being obnoxious about it as much as Mario, to be fair, but still.

In the game's files, the zone is apparently called "CometFireDanceArea," perhaps suggesting the mechanic was once intended for one of Super Mario Galaxy 2's Prankster Comets - special missions that would modify a pre-existing level with fun rules, asking you to race your cosmic doppelganger or beat a boss with one health point, say. I can definitely imagine a comet that would make Mario complete levels without stopping or jumping normally.

Nintendo added a bizarre "anti-brother romance failsafe" to NES Remix to stop Mario from getting too close with Luigi on Wii U, expert says

Nintendo apparently obliterated any chance of Mario and Luigi experiencing brotherly affection in Wii U retro challenge game NES Remix, and I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in the developer's flagrant bias against toxic yaoi. Come on, Nintendo, don't you know we're in the middle of a male loneliness epidemic?

Mario blogger and connoisseur Supper Mario Brother explained in a Bluesky post, with information discovered by Bluesky user DavidPCM, the way "NES Remix contains a graphic that seems to be an 'anti-brother romance failsafe' for Mario and Luigi." Nintendo appears to have been preoccupied with the idea. So much so that it preemptively altered a scene between Mario and Luigi that should be "normally impossible to reach in-game" anyway.

I can't quite fault Nintendo for this – "NES Remix incest glitch" sounds like something I would learn about from the front page of Reddit, and then my eyes would start bleeding. But, to defend hypothetical affectionate Mario and affectionate Luigi, I really think the graphic Nintendo devs were so worried about could be interpreted as familial. Their concern was with the standard pink heart that appears between Mario and Pauline once Mario finally rescues her in Donkey Kong.

been digging through NES Remix lately. one thing I've never seen before is that they edited the heart at the end of Donkey Kong to "GOOD JOB!" in the remixed stages with Luigi. Luigi never reaches 100M in that game, so it's never seen. It's also completely omitted in the .fcb for Bonus-4's mission.

— @davidpcm.bsky.social (@davidpcm.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-24T19:58:28.111Z

Supper Mario Broth reminds us that, in stages Remix 14 and 17 in NES Remix, Donkey Kong is all wiggled around. The game is mirrored, and Luigi replaces Mario as the hero to protect him, not Pauline, from Donkey Kong. In these topsy-turvy stages, it isn't actually possible to activate the heart graphic like you would in a regular game of Donkey Kong with Mario and Pauline.

"The only stages visited are 25m and 75m," says Supper Mario Broth, and the pink heart only appears in the black void sky when Pauline is whisked away at the 100m stage. So, heartbreakingly, "Mario never actually gets saved," clarifies Supper Mario Broth. Another man lost to the loneliness epidemic.

But just in case Mario managed to extricate himself from Donkey Kong, enroll himself in psychotherapy, and gain a new zest for life with the help of hobbies, friends, and indeed, a brother's love, the NES Remix devs decided to change Pauline's pink heart to a graphic for Mario that says "GOOD JOB!"

While I'm glad Mario is at least being encouraged to express praise, you never see him tell Luigi GOOD JOB! since the conditions for him to do so are nonexistent in NES Remix, like we established.

Ultimately, "it is unknown why the graphic was added," says Supper Mario Broth. "The developers could have planned to have the full game playable in that mode, or they could have changed the graphic purely as a precaution in case someone managed to get to 100m (e.g. via a glitch) to prevent implications of romantic love between Mario and Luigi."

So sorry, guys, but if you want to give each other an encouraging kiss on the forehead, it's going to have to happen somewhere else.

Mario Kart Tour is shutting down after 7 years, but Nintendo isn't planning on an Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp-style offline version.

Less than seven years since launch, Nintendo has announced that its free-to-play Mario Kart game, Mario Kart Tour, is shutting down, with no offline equivalent to keep it playable once its servers go down.

Specifically, Mario Kart Tour will be unplayable from September 29, 2026, at 11pm PT – equivalent to September 30 at 2am ET or 7am BST. "We sincerely thank the many players who have loved and supported the game since service began so long ago," Nintendo says in its shutdown notice.

With the announcement, Nintendo has also ended the sale of Rubies (in-game currency), and stopped new purchases and automatic renewals of the game's Gold Pass subscription. Anyone with an existing subscription can "continue to enjoy Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass benefits, minus continuous-subscription benefits," for free until the game's shutdown, and those without a subscription will be given the same benefits from August 4.

Worst of all for any fans of Tour, though, is Nintendo's confirmation that "an offline version is not scheduled for release." When Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp's end of service was announced back in 2024, Nintendo immediately confirmed that it was developing a way to save your game data and let you keep playing, with the one-time-purchase release Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete coming along to save the day for longtime fans.

It seems that with Mario Kart Tour, fans will just have to cling onto the game's tracks that made it into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and World. There are quite a few – 8 Deluxe added the likes of Tokyo Blur, Paris Promenade, and Sky-High Sundae, for example, with the latter returning in World. Here's hoping that more tracks could get preserved in Mario Kart World as DLC over time. The Switch 2 game only last week was updated with two new Knockout Tour routes, though these didn't add any traditional new tracks – just new ways to experience the old ones.

While you're here, be sure to check out our ranking of the best Mario Kart games.

Somehow, someway, the Super Mario 64 speedrunning scene miraculously finds a way to outdo itself time and time again. A three-year-old record was just beaten, by a true expert of the classic platformer who's still finding ways to be the most efficient jumping Italian plumber around.

The record-setter in question here is Suigi, a name you'll be familiar with if you know Super Mario 64 speedrunning at all, and just a few years after he crushed a time for 16 star completion, he's managed to do it again. This go around, he somehow found a way to shave a few seconds off, for a truly astounding finish of 14 minutes and 32 seconds.

"I wasn't done," he says in a post on Twitter. "FIRST 16 STAR WORLD RECORD IN OVER 3 YEARS."

The record prior was 14 minutes and 35 seconds, set in March 2023. While this mightn't seem like a huge jump, when you're talking about relays this small, even getting a full second lower is an achievement. Suigi's leapfrogged significantly more than that.

It mightn't shock you to hear he beat his own record in March 2023 as well. A dominant force when it comes to Mario's big out on the Nintendo 64, Suigi is top of the leaderboards on speedrun.com for every major, full-game category on the platform.

Outside of 16 star, those are 120 star, 70 star, one star, and zero, and Suigi's the man to beat across them all. Again, these are all on native hardware as well, in this instance on Japanese copies of the game as they're the fastest in terms of loading times and text and the like.

In speedrunning, every little helps. Seeing this, I have to wonder how long it'll be before the threshold of 14 minutes and 30 seconds will be reached. It might be a while considering the minute ways runs can be tightened further, but I wouldn't discount Suigi at all. Let's reconvene in three years and see where we're at.

Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy maestro Tetsuya Nomura says Super Mario 64 "truly shaped my current guiding principle" when moving to 3D JRPGs.

The latest Mario Kart World Tour update is here, providing a list of changes and fixes for the Switch 2's signature racer. What's most exciting, however, is right at the top of the list, as there are two new routes you can zoom through in the Knockout Tour.

Nintendo has added two fresh rallies to the mode: Drill Rally and Boomerang Rally. The first takes you from Wario Shipyard through to the ever-present Bowser's Castle, and the second goes from Salty Salty Speedway right up to Whistlestop Summit. So, you're not getting any all-new tracks, but two fresh options to spice up the Knockout Tour experience.

A brief teaser shows the two of them in motion, and I'll always have a soft spot for the aesthetics of Bowser's Castle. All the lava permeating a huge, gothic castle, emblazoned by the master's face over and over? Pure heavy metal, I love it in each and every entry.

"You can select these if you have played one of the rallies in Knockout Tour," says Nintendo's post on the update. Even if you haven't touched this mode all that much, you're not far away from checking out either of these if you so choose.

Characters who have lower acceleration have been given a speed boost, as has the gliding speed of those on the roster who're a little faster on the road, though Nintendo doesn't explicitly say who is included in this wave of buffs. Another distinctly Nintendo addition is stickers in Photo Mode, just to make all your captures that much cuter and prettier. I try to stay away from these modes, because I become a little obsessed with them. Getting good angles is extremely satisfying!

Anyway, there's a plethora of bug fixes, including sorting out an issue where time trials would register the wrong time when you cross the finish line. I can only imagine the annoyance this one caused. The patch is available now.

Be sure to check out what's around the corner with our roundup of new games.

Frequent Final Fantasy developer and Kingdom Hearts co-creator Tetsuya Nomura was actually inspired by a very different type of game when making the transition to three whole dimensions: Super Mario 64.

The iconic character designer and game director says as much in an interview with Famitsu magazine when talking about the games that have had the biggest impact on his career. (Thanks for the translation, Genki!)

"It differs from era to era, but the game that truly shaped my current guiding principle 'to be able to move freely in full 3D' is Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64," Nomura says.

Super Mario's very first 3D adventure actually came out a few short months before Final Fantasy 7 made the same transition on the PlayStation 1, but both games handled a new generation in totally different ways.

"At the time, the Final Fantasy game I was working on had also become 3D, but only the characters were 3D data, the backgrounds were made in 3D but rendered as a single image, so it was not yet possible to move around freely in 3D space," he explains. The PS1 Final Fantasies had players moving polygonal characters around pre-rendered, painterly backgrounds, usually from fixed camera angles – as opposed to Super Mario 64, which had a camera following the iconic plumber across entire worlds.

"I felt the sensation of running around freely, like Mario, was the thing that I wanted to create," Nomura notes.

Of course, that free-form movement and fully-realized levels are ideas that eventually showed up in Nomura's next project, Kingdom Hearts on the PlayStation 2, a game that still feels really unique in how it mixed sometimes-wonky action-platformer elements with traditional JRPG progression.

In Kingdom Hearts, you'd have to carefully swing between trees in a world themed after Tarzan or hop around rooftops in Agrabah from Aladdin, but that was in between battles where you'd fling out classic Final Fantasy spells and swing a bulky Keyblade like it was the Buster Sword. It's still a really unique mix even in its own franchise.

The Super Mario 64 inspiration is probably unsurprising, though. Nintendo's first proper foray into 3D platforming is one of the most impact games ever released, and countless games looked to it as the standard from then on.

Despite playing a key role in Final Fantasy 7, JRPG icon Tetsuya Nomura says "Kingdom Hearts has become my life's work."

Last week, I arrived home from a funeral and decided to pop into my home office to make sure everything was prepared for the return to work day ahead. As I sat down to log-in my laptop, still feeling a bit wobbly from the day I had, I was greeted by the Nintendo Talking Flower toy informing me that "wasn't life great."

That was the point where I decided it was time to take its batteries out.

Why not just turn it off, you say? Well, you see, for some bizarre reason, Nintendo didn't think to include an off switch with this toy. You can mute it by holding down the large oval button in its plant pot, where it'll hushly reply, "I'll keep quiet for a while." But unlike plenty of the best toys out there, there is no way to power it down without getting a screwdriver out and having at that AA battery compartment. And trust me, I looked.

I spent a good hour or so trying to find any semblance of an off switch, until I did the thing I moan at my mum to do with every tech issue "just Google it." That's where I discovered that the official Nintendo Support page has a whole section dedicated the toy, and one of the prepared questions is "is there a way to turn off the Talking Flower?". That leads me to believe that many more people, hopefully those who came to the realisation way before I did, have reached out in attempts to shut the flower up for good, and were as bemused by the talk of an off switch as I was.

The underside of the plant pot reveals a series of buttons, so I just assumed one relating to the power would be around somewhere - but alas, you can adjust the time, language, and how loud this thing talks, but not stop it from talking altogether.

To actually get the Talking Flower to "remain silent for an extended period" Nintendo states you have to remove the batteries, which is more easily said than done. The battery compartment requires a screwdriver to access, and despite being the GamesRadar+ hardware best SSDs for gaming reviewer, I don't keep mine at arms length. Yet once I finally did look it out and remove the batteries from their chatty prison, I was greeted by a welcome silence. That fear that the Talking Flower would sound off during a work meeting was finally no more, and I was happy to hear it - or should I say, unhear it.

In all fairness to the Talking Flower, it's not its fault that it just so happened to sound off at the worst possible time. It's a plastic version of a Super Mario toy. How was it supposed to know I'd just come back from a day saying goodbye to a friend? You could also place blame on myself, as I very easily could have placed the toy on silent mode before I left the house to avoid the awkward situation, it just wasn't the predominant thing on my mind, funnily enough.

I had sooner expected it to rattle through its wealth of other sound bites that would have been more appropriate for the day. While the thing does repeat itself a lot, I imagine hearing "let's take a breath" would have been far more comforting in the moment. But in all honestly, the Talking Flower's days have been numbered for a while now, so there was bound to be one moment that'd push me over the edge.

Every and every morning, I instinctively wait for it to wake up and hold its button to make it quiet. The only times it's on and talking is usually on at the weekend, a time when I don't have much reason to be in my office. For weeks now, every time I press and hold that big brown button, I knew it'd make more sense just to turn the thing off for good, it was just a matter of when I'd actually get the motivation to do just that.

I was also warned by our team's toy and merch expert, Benjamin Abbot, who when first describing the toy, said it had a "penchant for chaos." Despite knowing how much I adore Super Mario merch, he did iterate that it would get annoying fast, and sure enough, I should have listened. I only lasted 69 days from its March 12 release date until enough was enough. If I headed Benjiamin's warnings, I could have saved myself the annoyance and £24.99 to put towards a Super Mario toy that doesn't talk back.

But I entirely understand if you actually quite like the Talking Flower while we may not, especially if you recently completed Super Mario Wonder for the first time. I recently picked up the Meetup in Bellabel Park Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Upgrade Pack and forgot how funny the character is in the context of the actual game. Replaying through some courses almost made me feel pretty bad for the guy and reach for those batteries, but I fortunately stopped myself.

If you do want some plastic representation of the Talking Flower, I'd much rather recommend you grab the Captain Toad & Talking Flower amiibo available for $34.99 at Amazon instead. It's not as large as the talking toy, but you still get a plastic representation of the flora without the fear that it'll talk back and make an already bad day that much worse.

For merch that doesn't talk back, check out the best Nintendo gifts.

Nintendo legend Takashi Tezuka is leaving the company after an over 40-year run at the company.

As part of its earnings report, Nintendo released an announcement of personnel changes at the company, with executive officer Takashi Tezuka's retirement announced within the document. This marks the end of a 42-year career at the company which started with the developer working on the arcade version of Punch-Out and as an assistant director on the NES game Devil World – which was only released in Japan and Europe.

Tezuka would go on to work on most major franchises Nintendo has to offer in some way, with him being involved in pretty much every single Mario game until 2026's Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park, as well as having credits on both Super Mario movies.

In terms of iconic Nintendo developers, Shigeru Miyamoto is typically the name people talk about, but right there alongside him during the development of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda was Tezuka, who would then go on to direct the best 2D Mario games in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, and the arguably the best Zelda with A Link to the Past. After an assistant director role on Super Mario 64, Tezuka went on to be a producer on a ton of games, including Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Animal Crossing, and Super Mario Maker.

This is a true end of an era moment when it comes to Nintendo. Tezuka may not be as well known as Miyamoto, but his contribution to the industry is very close to being if not already on par with the Mario creator. Thankfully, one thing Nintendo has been good at in recent years is getting younger developers ready to take on the roles that these long-time devs have been a part of. This has resulted in the likes of new series like Splatoon, or new takes on existing characters, like Donkey Kong Bananza – which was directed by Kazuya Takahashi who only joined Nintendo in 2020.

Early Nintendo was a madhouse: "It was very difficult to finish Mario and then get the Mario programmers involved in the final push to finish The Legend of Zelda."

Speaking during a Q&A included with the 1994 audio CD The Legend of Zelda: Sound and Drama (and surfaced via Retro Gamer's 40 years of The Legend of Zelda issue) Miyamoto explained that Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda were not only being worked on simultaneously, but once Mario was finished, developers from it went to help get Zelda across the finish line.

But these were games with vastly different scales, which is why in Japan, Super Mario Bros. was a traditional game cartridge release, while Zelda was released for the floppy disk-using Famicom Disk System allowing the game to be more expansive than the relatively simple sidescroller. "We were eager to take advantage of the Disk System's features," said Miyamoto. "We were able to register names, add better sound, save the player's progress, and incorporate other new ideas, which made the game a lot of fun to make."

Zelda 1 however, can be a bit obtuse at times – especially compared to Mario – and this was something the team was conscious of. Miyamoto added, "We were worried that people wouldn't know what to do, even at the beginning of the game, and the game wouldn't be well received."

"I wanted to create a game where the player understands the history and nature of the land, and it feels like they're exploring." Miyamoto explains, "In traditional RPGs, the game progresses solely through dialogue, but we wanted the player to interact with the game world using the controller, and conquer dungeons using a simple mapping system."

The Legend of Zelda is a brutal game at times. If you take the wrong turn in the first screen of the game you'll be exploring without a sword, while others will need you to use your – ammo limited – bombs to explode seemingly random parts of the game world to progress. But despite Miyamoto's fear, Breath of the Wild would later take inspiration from the freeform exploration of the original game in its approach to the open-world formula, so all is well.

Shigeru Miyamoto thinks Zelda 2 was "sort of a failure," and A Link to the Past is the "real sequel"

Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto recalls that early Nintendo was a bit of a madhouse, with Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda – which he also created – being in development at the same time.

Speaking during a Q&A included with the 1994 audio CD The Legend of Zelda: Sound and Drama (and surfaced via Retro Gamer's 40 years of The Legend of Zelda issue) Miyamoto recalls, "We had started development on Super Mario Bros shortly before [starting on LoZ in 1984], so we were extremely busy with planning, with the two projects progressing simultaneously." He explains, "It was very difficult to finish Mario and then get the Mario programmers involved in the final push to finish The Legend of Zelda."

Super Mario Bros – as revolutionary as it is – is pretty simple to grasp, whereas the first Zelda can be real obtuse at times, even if you take a wrong turn on the first screen you'll be left without a sword. This was something Miyamoto and the development team were conscious of, with the developer recalling "We were worried that people wouldn't know what to do, even at the beginning of the game, and the game wouldn't be well received."

Miyamoto explains, "I wanted to create a game where the player understands the history and nature of the land, and it feels like they're exploring." He adds, "In traditional RPGs, the game progresses solely through dialogue, but we wanted the player to interact with the game world using the controller, and conquer dungeons using a simple mapping system."

It is wild to think that two games that revolutionised the industry both came out so close to each other, and even wilder when they were directed by the same person and worked on by a lot of the same developers. Especially considering the average time between Mario and Zelda games nowadays is closer to half-a-decade at the minimum.

Shigeru Miyamoto thinks Zelda 2 was "sort of a failure," and A Link to the Past is the "real sequel"

Everyone's favorite little green, egg-laying dino is back for another adorable adventure in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, which launches on May 21, 2026. This is Yoshi's first solo Nintendo Switch 2 outing and his first game since Yoshi and the Crafted World, so it's a pretty big deal.

As egg-citing as it is, the game is not ready to hatch quite yet, but pre-orders are available for $69.99 (Amazon) / £49.99 (Amazon) on the Nintendo Switch 2. The best news? Not only is there no sign of a game-key card to be found, but there are not one but two cracking pre-order bonus gifts available too. Picking up your pre-order straight from Nintendo is pricier at £58.99 (Nintendo), but it will net you a set of Yoshi-themed magnetic bookmarks and a tote bag. These bonus gifts are UK-only for now, which I suspect is not what US fans will want to hear.

However, there is good news to be had for US fans too, as this game marks the first to drop after Nintendo announced pricing changes, making the digital version $10 cheaper than normal. With Nintendo game prices being what they are, it's nice to see future Switch 2 games become more accessible. It's no cute tote bag with Yoshi's face on it, but you can always pick up some Yoshi merchandise with that cash you've saved.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book US Pre-orders

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book UK Pre-orders

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book FAQ

Check out our guides for the best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories, including the best Nintendo Switch 2 controllers and the best Nintendo Switch headsets if you're after some gaming goodies to join you in your upcoming Yoshi adventure.

Shigeru Miyamoto says he'd like to keep character revelations from The Super Mario Galaxy Movie intact going forward into future games in the series.

Spoilers for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie to follow, read at your own risk.

In The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, some major changes were made to the canon of the series. Notably, Princess Peach and Princess Rosalina – who have barely any interaction in the game series – were revealed to be sisters, both made of stardust, and Peach ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom thanks to Rosalina sending her through a warp pipe to avoid a threat.

Previously, Peach and Rosalina's relationship was never elaborated on in the games despite a healthy amount of fan speculation, so the movie making this canon wasn't entirely unexpected.

Mario series creator Shigeru Miyamoto was asked about this change to the canon by Nintendo Dream (via machine translation). Miyamoto explains that he hadn't decided on Peach's background, and that his approach was to not be bound by having to stick to story beats established in earlier entries (which is why there were no Nintendo movies for a long time). However, when it comes to Peach's new lore, he says he'd like to stick to it as much as possible for future entries in the Mario series.

Granted, as someone who has played every mainline Mario game and probably cares about the lore more than most, I can't imagine this ever actually coming up in a game; at least not in a way that's significant. Mario games have always prioritized gameplay over pure storytelling, and while there are nuggets of info for people to dig into (Rosalina's Storybook in Mario Galaxy for example), it's never a priority.

Miyamoto felt negative Super Mario Movie reviews were "understandable" but doesn't agree with the Galaxy sequel backlash.

Super Mario 64 speedrunning legend Suigi currently holds world records in all five of the game's major categories. Earlier this year, he started a crowdfunded bounty worth over $10,000 as he practically begged for somebody to beat any of his times. So far, however, Suigi himself has proven to be the only one up to the task, as he's just broken one of his own world records for the third time since the bounty got underway.

When Suigi claimed all five Super Mario 64 records, the game's speedrun scene was soon declared "dead" – and unlike similar declarations for other games, that's proven to pretty much be true. Nobody but Suigi has held a major Super Mario 64 record since November 17, 2024.

That's why Suigi himself decided to put out a bounty on his own times, putting $1,000 on the line for anybody who could manage to beat any of his world records. With additional crowdfunding from other members of the Mario speedrunning community, that bounty is now worth $11,370. Yet nobody has managed to step.

Nobody, that is, except for Suigi himself. Obviously, he's not eligible to claim his own bounty, but that hasn't stopped him from continuing to break his own records. He set back-to-back new records in the 70 Star category just days apart in February. Now he's broken his 120 Star record, which had itself stood since 2024.

Suigi's new 120 Star record sits at 1:35:25. While that's an improvement of just three seconds over his previous record, the scary thing is that it could be so, so much better. Suigi actually suffered a death in the middle of the run – during the notorious Tick Tock Clock level – and underperformed in the game's final stages. Yet, even with those flaws, he still managed to set a new record.

And all that room for improvement means that a run within the 1:34:XX range is on the table. Not necessarily right now, though, as Suigi said after the run that he's "almost happy" to have "the privilege" of getting to set his next personal best within the 1:35s rather than crossing the next minute barrier.

"You know what I'm saying?" Suigi mused. "Like, I don't have to go straight to 1:34. We already did that with 1:35. Like, we don't need to do it again." Clearly, there's no pressure for the undisputed king of Super Mario 64 speedrunning, but if anybody else hopes to claim the crown they'd better step up soon.

After 40 years, Super Mario Bros speedrunners discover "the Holy Grail of glitches."

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie launched weeks ago, and ever since, I've been fawning over its many, many toys. The Hatchin' Yoshi is definitely up there with the best toys I've laid my eyes on as a Super Mario fan, but there's plenty besides the interactive green dino, ranging from articulated figures of Rosalina and Bowser Jr to glow-in-the-dark Luma yo-yos.

I feel like I've barely spent time eyeing them up for my collection, and yet multiple Super Mario Galaxy Movie toys are seeing discounts for the very first time today. Most notably, the 5-inch posable figures that include everyone from Yoshi in his New York City cap, to Mario with a little Luma friend, now start from $19.97 at Amazon, instead of their full $21.99 MSRP. Even the playsets, which include detailed replicas of Bowser's castle to the Gateway Galaxy, are cheaper, and the film is barely a few weeks old.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hasn't had the best critical reception, with even GamesRadar+'s own Bradley Russell stating that it "never quite reaches Galaxy's gravity-defying game heights", but I don't think that's why its toys are seeing discounts for the very first time. While it may not have been as well-received as its predecessor, according to Variety, it's still managed to rake in "$69 million from 4,284 North American theaters" in its second weekend of release.

Not to mention, toys for the first movie also went on sale after release. It's why, despite being more of a fan of Mario and friends' depictions in the games, I own a large amount of toys from Illumination's first Super Mario Movie. My gaming room has everything from the fire-breathing Bowser figure to the mini van playset. I was very much hoping to see toys from Super Mario Galaxy Movie drop down in price too so I could add them to my collection. I was just not expecting it to happen so soon.

If you're a Princess Rosalina fan, her 5-inch posable figure is going to be the most intriguing of the recent discounts. She has up to 10 points of articulation, and this remains one of the most detailed depictions of her in toy form, besides her new Super Mario Galaxy amiibo. She's discounted alongside Bowser Jr, Yoshi, and the Mario figure.

Sadly, Luigi's toy is not included, but you can get a small version of him if you don't mind buying the entire set of 1.5” Star Launcher figurines. These are sold separately in toy stores (I've seen them for myself), but Amazon has the entire collection available for $47.99 (Amazon), which is 13% off its full $55 MSRP, and little Luigi is there in all his adorable moustache and green glory. The best part of these new price drops for me doesn't come down to the tiny Luigi, as much as I adore him, but the detailed playsets.

This includes Bowser's Castle I mentioned earlier. It's now $39.99 at Amazon, and includes a ton of references to the movie, from Bowser's bonsai tree, his little cauldron where he makes soup for book club, and heat-revealing replicas of his paintings. My favorite of these playsets is hands-down the Gateway Galaxy Diorama, which even includes the ROB cameo and all for just $19.99 at Amazon instead of its full $21.99 MSRP.

If you're a UK Super Mario fan or want to buy these toys while they're cheaper to prepare for a future birthday or two, the discounts have yet to make their way across the pond. It's not all doom and gloom, however. Smyths Toys has discounted the Bowser Jr. Clown Car Set to £29.99 (Smyths Toys), which is better than nothing. Just like the first movie's toys, I also suspect it won't be long until the rest follow suit with stellar discounts of their own.

• View all Super Mario Galaxy Movie Toys at Amazon
• View all Super Mario toys at Amazon

Our guides to the best Nintendo gifts and the best Lego sets are full of more Super Mario toys and collectibles.

Once upon a time, Gabe Newell was just a former Microsoft employee who had founded a small game studio and was helping build a new sci-fi FPS. That game, Half-Life, would soon become an industry-shaking success story and launch the true legacy of Steam god GabeN, but it didn't pop up out of nowhere. No, Half-Life had a notable list of influences that Newell revealed back in 1998, including the one and only Super Mario 64.

"The three games that had the biggest impact on Half-Life were Ultima Underworld, Mario 64, and Resident Evil 2," Newell said in an interview for the December 1998 issue of Next Generation magazine. "Ultima Underworld was so much more of an immersive experience than the other first-person shooters. Resident Evil 2 really inspired us to take the creepiness and horror in Half-Life seriously, without giving in to the temptation to be campy about it."

Ultima Underworld is perhaps the least well-remembered of those games, if only because its own franchise hasn't continued into the modern day. But its open-ended approach to player agency would serve as the blueprint for the immersive sim genre, building the formula for everything from Deus Ex to BioShock. And, of course, Resident Evil 2's influence on horror gaming is impossible to overstate.

As for Super Mario 64? Well, on top of being one of the best N64 games ever made, Newell said that's "just a great inspiration on so many levels from things like having spaces that can be traversed multiple times and still be fun to a much less punitive method of handling player failure."

I'm very curious what Newell meant about that "less punitive" penalty for failure, but alas, he didn't go into any more detail. Super Mario 64 still has lives, as in older Mario games, but the fact that you can constantly save your progress means you're never in danger of losing much when those lives run out. Maybe you could draw a parallel between that system and the generous quick saves Half-Life allows you to make use of.

While Half-Life is primarily remembered for its excellent single-player campaign, it also has a deathmatch mode – and it seems Newell was not very good at it. Asked by Next Generation if he was the best Half-Life player at Valve, Newell responded: "Not even close."

"Several of the people at Valve have won international competitions," Newell added. "I used to think I was pretty hot stuff when I was just playing against other people at Microsoft, but nowadays I just get crushed. We may have to do a strategy game just so I can regain my self esteem. Either that or add a deathmatch mode to Mario 64."

I'm pretty sure there's some sort of romhack out there that could cater to that demand these days, but either way, it's amusing to see Newell apparently so much more confident in his skills with Nintendo's platformer than the FPS game he helped to make. But GabeN's love of Super Mario 64 has been consistent throughout his career.

Years later, in a 2011 interview with CVG, Newell would say that Super Mario 64 is "still my favourite game of all time. I still have vivid memories of all the different levels. The control is still pretty much unrivalled. It convinced me that games were art." Maybe we should've been thanking Shigeru Miyamoto for indirectly creating Steam this whole time.

Gabe Newell "stepped back" from making games at Valve after Portal 2 because everyone kept agreeing with him when he wanted "to be part of the team and come up with ideas."

Ever fancied yourself as a bit of a Mario master? Challenges don't come much tougher than this, as one intrepid Mario Maker creator has made Bowser Jr.'s security gauntlet from The Super Mario Galaxy Movie for players to try.

KoopsReturns on Twitter has put together a recreation of Bowser Jr.'s fiendish attempts to keep Mario and Peach away from his grand plans – complete with rotating Fire Bars, saws, and maddening platforming segments that will keep your thumbs busy.

For those who want to hop on Super Mario Maker 2 now to give it a shot (good luck!), the Course ID code is 1CM-P5R-8LG, for the level titled 'Meet Your Maker'.

The creator added that any cuts away from Bowser's screen for Mario's POV have been "made as approximations of the obstacles seen in the 3D part of the sequence."

Mercifully, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie itself hasn't proved as much of a headache as its Mario Maker counterpart with audiences – grossing over $400 million at the box office as of writing, even if its critical Rotten Tomatoes score of 42% is sitting below the 2023 original.

While the Mario movie sequel's most obvious game-playing nod made its way into Mario Maker, there are plenty of other Super Mario Galaxy Movie Easter eggs you may have missed out on – including an unlikely nod to Super Metroid.

That's without taking into account Glen Powell's Fox, who took over the film for several sustained sequences, despite Mario creator and Super Mario Galaxy Movie executive producer Shigeru Miyamoto originally anticipating significant internal resistance to the idea of dropping the Star Fox character into Mario's universe. Just don't expect any Smash Bros. team-ups anytime soon.

For more, check out our verdict with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie review. Then, jump over to the ranking of best Mario games.

Fox McCloud's designer isn't getting an early screening of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, though a former Nintendo developer who worked on the likes of Star Fox and Super Mario 64 says that sort of thing has been the norm for a while, as even working on a game doesn't guarantee you a copy of it.

Earlier this week, the character designer for Star Fox, Takaya Imamura, said that – despite creating Fox McCloud – he won't be getting the chance to see his character in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie earlier than the rest of Japan (where the movie is set to release later this month on April 24). In a Tweet (translated by Genki_JPN), Imamura speculated that it was due to a common practice among Japanese companies of drawing a line with people who quit.

Another Star Fox veteran, Giles Goddard – who helped develop the original game alongside his former Argonaut coworkers before going on to work on titles like Stunt Race FX, Super Mario 64, and 1080 Snowboarding – chimed in with his own experience. Responding to Genki, Goddard says, "We weren't given copies of the game back then either." He explains, "Games used to sell out in stores so we'd wait until supply caught up with demand."

Granted, I don't think Imamura is too cut up about things, as when Fox McCloud was revealed for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie – in one of the biggest spoiler marketing moves in a hot minute – he said he was "overwhelmed with emotion," and thanked Shigeru Miyamoto for including the character. And given that Glen Powell's Fox is a lot of people's favorite part of the film, I'm sure he's overjoyed. Maybe they'll invite him along if a Star Fox movie ever gets made.

Miyamoto anticipated "significant resistance" to Fox McCloud in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

Over a year ago, an ordinary player stumbled upon a crash while playing the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 on Nintendo Switch. In itself, that's not such a wild thing – even old games crash now and then – but the specifics of this glitch turned out to have massive implications for the speedrunning community. This ended up being the first step in essentially reprogramming the game as it runs to do anything you want, and now, after a year of work, speedrunners have applied those lessons to the original Super Mario Bros. as well.

This glitch is a door to arbitrary code execution. ACE exploits take advantage of bugs in a game's code to input new instructions that were never intended by the original developers, opening the door to all kinds of wild shenanigans. Speedrunners, for example, might use ACE to warp directly to a game's end credits.

"No one thinks this is, like, actually the same as beating the game normally," Kosmic explains in a new video breaking down the year-long effort he and other Mario speedrunners undertook to get ACE working in Super Mario Bros. 1. But it does deepen everyone's knowledge of the game in question, and offers a door to layered, wild opportunities to manipulate the game's inner workings.

"This glitch means we choose what code the game executes," Kosmic explains. "You can basically make the game do whatever you want. That's why it's the Holy Grail of glitches."

The specifics of how it works are far too complicated to detail here – there's a reason Kosmic's video is over an hour long – but in essence, it involves making sure certain enemies are loaded into the game in a particular order all at the same time. Once the crash was uncovered, it was relatively simple to replicate it in the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, where all the proper ingredients come together in the game's normal final stage, 8-4.

It was not nearly so easy to find a spot in the original Super Mario Bros. where the same ACE exploit could be performed. In fact, no such place exists, at least in the game as it was intended. So, the only way to find all the necessary enemies in place is to go to the infamous, glitched Minus World in – specifically – the Famicom Disk System version of the game.

But even that's making it sound too simple, because Kosmic and other runners spent the better part of the past year trying to figure out the exact combination of actions to get ACE working. One member of the community, 100th_Coin, had to rewrite existing NES emulators because they weren't accurate enough for testing.

So what's it all entail? Well, you need to beat the game once through the Minus World to unlock the second quest, which turns all the Goombas into Buzzy Beetles. Then you restart the game, die as fast as possible as Mario, then run to the Minus World as Luigi, collecting power-ups along the way. In the Minus World, you need to move past the flagpole, kill the first Bowser you see, manipulate a particular Buzzy Beetle to run to the right, and stay on the ground until another Bowser loads.

All together, that causes the game to skip out of normal code execution to start reading code from the PPU, the part of the NES that actually draws the graphics you see on-screen. "We make sure the data here at this exact moment gives us the right value," Kosmic explains, "and we do this by using the height of the Blooper on screen. This makes a one-byte, or in other words a very small, change to the game, which will remain when we hit reset. This change corrupts the routine of powerups. So when they come out of blocks, we get a jump to RAM. And from here, we're kind of home free. We can control what instructions the game runs because we can control what numbers are in memory when it arrives here."

As a speedrun trick, it's not particularly useful, as it actually takes longer to do the ACE exploit than it does to beat the game normally. But that's not really the point – the real goal here is just to expand the bounds of what's possible while playing Mario. "We can make Mario swim in the air," Kosmic says. "We can do whatever we want. The point of ACE is that it's awesome. At the end of the day, it's not meant to compete with regular runs. It's just amazing that it works at all."

This is, after all, what speedruns are all about – at least in my mind. Beating games quickly is just a byproduct of the real work, which is breaking the constraints of those games down as far as they'll go and figuring out what's possible as more and more barriers start to disappear. Even now, 40 years later, it's astonishing to know Super Mario Bros. still has some secrets left to discover.

These are the best Mario games you can play.

Being a part of the Super Mario universe doesn't stop you from experiencing prime Mario Kart, as Princess Rosalina actress Brie Larson found out in a way that's awful for her but great for us watching.

In a video for IGN, the cast of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie had a mini Mario Kart Tournament. And during a race between the host, Larson, and the Bowser family of Jack Black and Benny Safdie, the Rosalina actress got well and truly Mario Kart-ed. Chris Pratt asked Larson about having a Luma of her own, and the actress seems overjoyed about the question ("Oh my gosh, what a fantastic question"), and then it strikes.

Larson – who is naturally playing as Rosalina – is struck by a Red Shell while flying over a gap, sending her into a pit below, and the joy of the Luma question is gone instantly: "Are you actually kidding right now?" And after recovering, she is then subsequently hit with a second Red Shell, losing her first-place lead and allowing Benny Safdie to sneak by with the win.

Mario Kart is many things. An iconic racing game series, the creator of an entire genre, the most successful spinoff of all-time (well, second if you count Mario as a spinoff of Donkey Kong), and – most of all – pure evil. While not quite as deranged as Mario Party, Mario Kart loves to mess with you all the time, and while people have definitely gotten in fights over shooter or fighting game tournaments, Mario Kart is where the big boys play, where wars are waged, and where I always get hit by that lightning bolt whenever I'm going over a big jump and ruining my lead.

But the good thing about that is that it's a universal experience. Everyone has an example of a time when the Mario Kart gods personally attacked them, especially that one guy playing as Daisy. But it's good to know the game's evil nature extends to those in the Super Mario Universe.

Illumination CEO says the "secret" to success of the Super Mario movies is working directly with Miyamoto and Nintendo

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is here, and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto says it's finally allowed him to put "some meat" on an idea that he and Super Mario Galaxy game director Yoshiaki Koizumi discussed during the development of the 2007 game, but never actually "came to a conclusion" about.

Before we get into it, there are some implied spoilers below for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, but we're not going to go into the full details in case you've not seen it yet. However, you might want to scroll with caution if you want to go into the new movie totally blind.

That idea surrounds Peach and Rosalina's "actual relationship," something that's been a mystery ever since the release of the 2007 Wii classic. Rosalina in general is a pretty mysterious character, and as with anything, folks have had their theories about her and how she might connect to other members of the Mario cast – namely, Peach. After all, the two of them have some very similar features (primarily, both having blond hair and blue eyes), and in Rosalina's Storybook in Galaxy, which depicts the backstory of the space princess, her mother bears a striking resemblance to the Mushroom Kingdom's ruler.

Up until now, though, Nintendo hasn't elaborated on if there's any actual connection between the two, or if it just has a penchant for creating blond ladies. I suppose there's not really been much room for big lore drops to have happened in their joint appearances racing against each other and playing all manner of sports. But that's now changed, and in a new interview with Forbes about The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Miyamoto says he and Koizumi had previously discussed the pair's relationship when making the 2007 game – it just didn't go anywhere.

"When we were developing Super Mario Galaxy, the director for that game, Yoshiaki Koizumi, and I were discussing what Rosalina and Peach's actual relationship was," Miyamoto begins. "We had this vague idea about what their actual relationship could be, and how it would play into the concept of space. We had a lot of discussion about this, but we never came to a conclusion. So we decided that let's take this opportunity to give this idea some meat and get into the specificity of it, and we had a lot of fun having this discussion back and forth."

Well, it's taken the best part of 20 years, but better late than never, right? The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is out now in cinemas, so we can finally see what conclusion Miyamoto came to.

Shigeru Miyamoto thought there would be "significant resistance" at Nintendo to Fox McCloud appearing in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is officially in theatres, and there's a whole roster of toys on the shelves to accompany the sequel. From the hard-to-find Hatchin' Yoshi (hint: it's actually at Walmart right now) to pull back motorcycles, action figures, and Bower's Castle itself Nintendo has gone big with the merch for this one.

A lot of these accessories are flying off the shelves right now, though, which means fake listings, inflated prices, and - as always - pallet-loads of unofficial merch. To keep you on the right (rainbow) road, I've gathered all the official Super Mario Galaxy Movie toys in one place. Keep track of stock, prices, and make sure you're buying the right figures with Nintendo-approved listings below.

Toys

Action figures

The most popular Super Mario Galaxy Movie toy, by far, is the Hatchin' Yoshi. Everyone's favorite dinosaur's egg is ready and waiting to hatch an adorable Yoshi, but stock has been difficult to come by for some time now.

Not only that, but Yoshi's got another hot-release on his hands. Several theatres are also selling themed popcorn buckets, though these too have become a reseller playground. You'll find third party sellers staying closer to MSRP at Walmart, though eBay is a bit of a wild west right now.

• View Super Mario Galaxy Movie toys starting from $6.97 at Walmart (US)
• View Super Mario Galaxy Movie toys starting from £6.99 at Smyths Toys (UK)

Check out our guide to the best Nintendo gifts if you're hunting for more adorable Super Mario toys and goodies.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has landed with a cosmic amount of merch to go with it, but one toy is shining brighter than all the others - everyone's favorite green dino, complete with an egg to hatch from. So, where can you buy Hatchin' Yoshi?

That's the million dollar question. At the time of writing, it's devilishly hard to track down what is fast becoming one of the most popular and best toys of 2026. That's why I'm on the hunt for where to buy Hatchin' Yoshi in both the US and UK. If the Super Mario Galaxy Movie figure is available anywhere, you'll find it below.

I've also included some advice on its normal price so you aren't caught out by over-inflated costs. Yep, a few cheeky retailers are putting price-hikes in place due to demand - be careful out there!

Where to buy Hatchin' Yoshi in the US

Make a beeline for Walmart if you want to buy Hatchin' Yoshi - it has the toy in stock, and while it's a little overpriced, it's not too bad.

Walmart

eBay

Where to buy Hatchin' Yoshi in the UK

We're short on options in the UK right now, but luckily, Smyths Toys does seem to have stock for Hatchin' Yoshi. Head straight there if you want it!

Smyths Toys

Amazon

eBay

Hatchin' Yoshi FAQ

Curious about what Hatchin' Yoshi is? In essence, it's an animatronic (like Furby) that interacts with you when played with. That means it moves and lights up, but the real selling point is how it comes in an egg when you buy it. It then proceeds to break out and hatch, which is a really neat party trick.

• See all Super Mario Galaxy Movie merch at Amazon

For more collectibles, why not check out the best Super Mario merch or the best Lego sets?

Shigeru Miyamoto has claimed he's on a mission to include Pikmin in everything he can possibly put them into.

The name Shigeru Miyamoto carries a lot of weight for Nintendo fans. This is the man known for creating some of the biggest and most iconic games of all time, like Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Nintendogs, and Donkey Kong, as well as playing vital roles in the creation of the likes of Pokemon, Metroid Prime, and Kirby. And yet, despite being the father (or uncle, I guess?) of all those iconic series, he has a clear favorite child in what is his quite literally smallest franchise – Pikmin.

Before The Super Mario Bros. Movie (which features a Pikmin statue, by the way), Miyamoto's first foray into filmmaking was the excellent Pikmin Short Movies. Despite only having four mainline games in 25 years (with the last two of those having 9 and 10 year waits), the critters have appeared all over the place since, making appearances in Super Nintendo World theme parks before Donkey Kong even joined and taking care of the data transfer between Wii and Wii U.

And now, with a new Super Mario Galaxy Movie teaser confirming that Pikmin will show up, Miyamoto told IGN that it's part of his mission in life. When asked if the Pikmin in the film was something he personally requested, Miyamoto says, "I wouldn’t say a request. More like a mission."

He explains, "I'm on a mission to try to include Pikmin in any kind of Nintendo product we put up. And obviously Pikmin can be [sic] appearing anywhere, but the idea, the setting of Galaxy really lends itself to having Pikmin be there as part of the world." He added that he "was waiting in anticipation for what kind of ideas came from Illumination."

Now let's put that effort into getting Pikmin 5 out before it reaches 10 years since Pikmin 4 was released.

Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto says "there's only so many people" Nintendo can reach through consoles like the Switch 2, so "we want to expand" outside of video games

Nintendo legend and father of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, thinks there's a limit to how many people the company "can reach through Nintendo's systems and consoles," and so he wants his beloved red-hatted plumber to continue to evolve outside of video games.

Speaking in a new interview with Polygon about The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Miyamoto is presented with the point that, thanks to the movies, many fans will now be encountering Mario for the first time before ever even playing any of his games. Asked if this has any impact on his thoughts when it comes to making games, Miyamoto says he's keen to see Mario evolve outside of the format he was first introduced in.

"When we're talking about Mario as a character, he's always evolved alongside the evolution of digital media," he begins. "As we approach Mario and developing Mario games, I start to feel like there's only so many people that we can reach through Nintendo's systems and consoles. And so now with things like digital streaming and the expanse and the reach of what the technology allows now, I feel like that's a great way to get Mario involved too, and really be able to evolve alongside with digital media."

He continues, noting that "going from being able to have a touchpoint with Nintendo only through Nintendo consoles, we want to expand." Of course, the company has already been doing this, as he acknowledges that fans can now "have a touchpoint with Nintendo characters through various media" – no doubt he's thinking of the two Mario movies here, as well as perhaps the Super Nintendo World theme parks that have started popping up in the last few years.

All of this means he has a new hope for how people might dream about Nintendo's future projects going forward. "In that way, instead of people thinking, 'What kind of game is Nintendo going to come up with now?' I would love for them to think about, 'What kind of world Nintendo will expand on now,'" he adds. "That's the kind of approach and thinking I have currently."

Even though I doubt the constant cries for new Nintendo Directs with dozens of big first-party games are ever going to subside, I think it's fair to say we're already seeing Miyamoto's new dream play out in reality. After all, the reveal of Star Fox's Fox McCloud in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie led to further hope and speculation for a Super Smash Bros. movie, chasing the idea of a Nintendo cinematic universe.

As it happens, in this same interview, Miyamoto and Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri essentially told fans not to expect a Smash Bros. adaptation any time soon, so perhaps we should put a pin in that idea, but clearly, the demand for more non-video-game Nintendo content is real.

Nintendo legend had "high hopes" for a Star Fox movie, and after today's Super Mario Galaxy Movie reveal he's full of gratitude: "Thank you, Miyamoto-san."

Mario Kart World got a surprise update today adding a new Bob-omb Blast Battle Mode as well as some balance changes for the Bullet Bill power-up that make it smarter, faster, and longer-lasting.

Nintendo spells out Mario Kart World's Bullet Bill buff in the patch notes for version 1.6.0. The patch "increased" Bullet Bill's "range of lateral movement" and made it "easier to easier to follow a shortcut route immediately after using Bullet Bill." That note right there is key, as I know from personal experience that activating a Bullet Bill power-up while using a shortcut would often result in catastrophe, and it sounds like that's now fixed.

The patch also "increased Bullet Bill's speed on parts of the Bowser's Castle, Starview Peak, and Rainbow Road courses."

Mario Kart World's iteration of Bullet Bill hasn't been particularly well-received, with the general consensus being that the power-up is, well, less of a power-up than it used to be. I can also attest to the perception that, until now anyway, the experience of transforming into Bullet Bill hasn't been nearly as exhilarating as in past Mario Kart games, whether that's because it hasn't been as fast, ruthless, or intelligent as before.

Early impressions of the buffed version suggest that's all been changed.

"Ok the bullets are INSANE now," says content creator Sonico on Twitter alongside a video of the newly buffed power-up in action.

I had to boot up my copy of Mario Kart World and check out the beefed-up Bullet Bill, and indeed, the difference in speed is instantly noticeable. That said, the much more significant change is that it actually seems to better understand the concept of shortcuts, which will add significant value to actually understanding the layouts of maps.

Or, in Twitter user Jojo's words, "They turned Bullet Bill into a shortcut item."

"Looks like Bullet Bill got into the sugar," says Redditor William_Ze_Gamer.

Ultimately, it seems players are just happy "bullets actually work like theyre supposed to," in the words of Twitter user FactsTV.

The real-life F1 car's new boosting feature is "like the mushroom in Mario Kart," drivers say: "I swapped the simulator for my Nintendo Switch"

A Mario Kart World update has added a new game mode that Nintendo accidentally leaked earlier this month.

Mario Kart World launched alongside the Switch 2 last year, and despite theories the game might get a DK-themed expansion thanks to the big gorilla's lack of tracks, costumes, and music despite it releasing before Donkey Kong Bananza – as well some voice actor names spotted in the credits – Nintendo hasn't done much in the way of DLC or massive updates. Many thought the day would be soon approaching as Nintendo accidentally revealed Bob-omb Blast's return to battle mode earlier this month, but instead of arriving alongside a big expansion, Nintendo just dropped it out of nowhere.

Earlier today, Nintendo released an update for Mario Kart World (Ver. 1.6.0), and right there in the top of the patch notes – as nonchalant as can be – is a message: "Added Bob-omb Blast as a Battle mode." And while it has some extra details like players being able to have 10 Bob-ombs at once and change the distance thrown by holding the L button, that's pretty much all there is. While most would announce a new mode with a trailer or something, Nintendo just left it in some notes.

Alongside the new mode are some balance updates to items. Namely, the once-game-changing Bullet Bill is getting some much-needed love due to it being total crap in World. The bullet has increased movement range and speed on certain stages. Meanwhile the scariest items in the series have been made even more evil as "it is now possible to be hit by lightning and Spiny Shells immediately after being crushed by things, such as Thwomps." At the very least, the Boomerang has been nerfed, with the range and amount of times you can use it being reduced.

Shigeru Miyamoto had to "force" in Super Mario Bros 3's iconic Frog Suit because it was fun even though it sucked.

Have you ever wanted to see Mario's Toads ramming each other rapidly? You'll get no kinkshaming here, because somebody at Nintendo was right there with you. The 2019 3DS remake of beloved RPG Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story features a hidden, unused room where you can make a group of Toads, er, ram each other rapidly.

Here's how prolific Mario trivia hound Supper Mario Broth explains it on Bluesky: "Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey contains an unused 'Toads ramming each other rapidly' test room, containing Peach and three pairs of Toads. Talking to Peach causes the Toads to ram each other rapidly."

This discovery comes from a six-month-old YouTube video with 200 views, posted by the appropriately-named Mario & Luigi Scrapped Maps. Using modified save files, they explore a host of unused rooms buried in the game files. Many of them seem to be debug areas, offering ways for developers to quickly test various in-game functions.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey contains an unused "Toads ramming each other rapidly" test room, containing Peach and three pairs of Toads. Talking to Peach causes the Toads to ram each other rapidly.

— @mariobrothblog.bsky.social (@mariobrothblog.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-03-17T19:05:12.372Z

The "Toads ramming each other rapidly" room seems to be an animation test room, where talking to Peach activates various movements from the Toads. First, they run backward and jump forward. Then a matched pair of Toads jumps back and forth across from each other. Then, finally, it happens. The Toads begin to ram each other rapidly.

It all sounds like a euphemism, but you can put your own imagination to work in determining what it's suggestive of. Certainly, you'll find a lot of wiggling eyebrows among the responses to Supper Mario Broth's post, particularly with the thought that it's Princess Peach herself making this all happen. Well, who's to stop Mushroom Kingdom royalty from deploying her loyal retainers however she sees fit?

All I'm saying is that the best Mario games could each use a little more in the way of Toads ramming each other rapidly.

You read that right. This official Super Mario Bros Wonder collectible really did take it upon itself to inform me that "they say the ocean tastes like tears." While the in-game character is known for being a bit quirky and bizarre, it still was not something I expected to hear when I first took the wide-eyed piece of new Super Mario merch out of its box last week.

The $34.99 (Nintendo US) / £24.99 (Nintendo UK) Talking Flower had a notorious reputation before it dropped on my lap, don't get me wrong. My co-worker and fellow toy aficionado and fellow Super Mario fan, Benjamin Abbott, warned me before I pre-ordered the wide-eyed flower replica that it could nag me about my eating habits, among asking me if I've had eaten lunch yet during any given day. Yet, I didn't think it would be quite as strange when it finally dropped at my doorstep on March 12, 2026. Strangely, even though I felt a bit disturbed when I first turned removed it from its cardboard prison, I've grown to really like this weird and wonderful Mario toy.

The quality of the toy itself is pretty grand. It stands approximately 13.5 cms (or a little over 5 inches) tall in size, and is a nice replica of the Talking Flower as it appears in Super Mario Bros Wonder. There's no smudge of paint out of place, and besides a couple of faint seamlines on the back, this is a high-quality sculpt and official piece of merch. The yellow colors on its head pop, and it looks particularly striking when displayed on a shelf and sat in front of rows of red Switch game boxes.

The Talking Flower is sitting in a little plastic plant pot, which is textured to give it a more realistic 'earthy' look. It's here, where you can find a large oval-shaped button, which can make it talk, or enter it into music or quiet mode. The Flower is going to talk whether you press this or not, but it's at least there if you want to be reminded of the ocean's salty flavour whenever you want.

It's this plant pot which you have to twist and pop out to add its double-AA batteries, and configure the times you want to wake up, and go to sleep. That way, it knows exactly when to annoy you. On the topic of being annoyed, I need to inform you that the Flower even makes sounds at this stage.

Every menu option makes him shout "beep" or "boop" and he even sings "la" music notes when you try to adjust the volume. I ended up liking this toy quite a lot, but I can tell you that setting it up at this stage only left me wanting a word with the designer. Thankfully, as annoying as the setup was, it turned out it didn't talk as often as I feared. It's been sitting on my desk since release day, and it's only every hour or so that I get greeted with an exclamation that it's "feeling pretty great" which is actually kind of cute.

I don't think Benjamin would ever agree with me here. Yet, every time it yaps away to me, I can't help but chuckle. There have been multiple moments where I've been typing away about the best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories, and suddenly I'd get disrupted by a "ooo, so exciting" which made me laugh. Its tone of voice feels a bit satirical, which is maybe not how Nintendo hoped it would sound, but I've been enjoying its little quips every day. At one moment, it even shouted "eureaka" during a meeting with the rest of the hardware team, which made everyone burst into a fit of laughter - the exact kind of thing I think we all needed on a Friday.

My partner is definitely not a fan of this weird toy. Every hour on the hour, the Talking Flower likes to proclaim the time, and this was not something my other half appreciates. To be fair, the first time it happened, it was my fault for taking it from my desk into the livingroom and forgetting 'quiet mode' exists. But the combination of its incessant reminders of the time, and its repetition has popped in on the bottom scale of my partner's favorite Mario collectibles from my collection.

While I'm on the subject, quiet mode is pretty adorable in my eyes. You can access it by holding the big button for a few seconds, and the Flower will stop talking until you press it again. When you do, he whispers, "pssst, can I talk yet?" and I found that irresistibly adorable. If you hold the same button a bit longer, you can enter 'music mode' which plays different jingles from Super Mario Wonder, but it only plays two different tracks from the game, so it's a bit bare bones.

After having it at my desk for a few days, I think I've heard all there is from the Talking Flower, but I didn't expect a huge range of phrases for its £24.99 MSRP here in the UK. As a little display piece and replica of a character from one of my most enjoyed recent side-scrolling Mario platformers, it's still a lovely bit of Nintendo merch to own, and I'm glad I pre-ordered it among the upcoming Super Mario Wonder amiibo figures.

If you fancy one yourself, my only recommendation is to learn how to activate quiet mode and learn how to do it fast. And if you don't happen to work somewhere chill and associated with games and toys, remember to mute your microphone during meetings.

Our guide to the best Nintendo gifts is full of even more Super Mario goodies we recommend for collectors and fans alike.

The same team at Nintendo that brought us Super Mario Odyssey also developed Donkey Kong Bananza, and while there are some obvious similarities between the two games, they both offer very distinct flavors of 3D platforming. That's by design, as Nintendo wants to be sure the games each feel unique from one another.

As producer Kenta Motokura tells GamesRadar+ in an interview at the Game Developers Conference, part of how Nintendo approached Donkey Kong Bananza's destruction mechanics was "motivated by us thinking about, 'Well, what sort of things can a human not do? What sort of things could Mario not do? What scale of destruction would you see only from Donkey Kong as he's punching rocks and that sort of thing?'"

Early in Bananza's development, Motokura and the team went to Shigeru Miyamoto and long-time Mario producer Yoshiaki Koizumi "so that we could discuss what were the particular characteristics of Donkey Kong as a character." Those discussions "started to lead into ideas for gameplay and also the types of technology that we might use to bring that to life."

"This comparison with Mario versus DK" was something that the dev team was very conscious of, "in terms of what sort of a player do they appeal to. Is there perhaps a slightly different kind of person that might prefer one character over the other?" Accentuating the appeal of DK's big, tough character gets us to a game where you can punch entire levels to pieces.

"Certainly, you can have really fun experiences in Mario games and really fun experiences in Donkey Kong games," Motokura concludes. "But we want to find the differences between those two IPs, and really bring that out, as variety for people to enjoy. And that goes to the style of play as well."

Donkey Kong Bananza devs admit the blatantly OP elephant transformation "probably went too far," but "it's fun" and "that's what matters most"

Universal is dropping the 17-day release minimum that was implemented during Covid in favor of a five-week release window, which will increase to seven weekends in 2027.

According to Deadline, Universal movies will now play in theaters for a minimum of five weekends, rather than a minimum of 17 days, and will receive a minimum of seven weekends starting in January 2027... the latter of which makes it the longest release window for any studio.

You might recall that, back in 2020, Universal implemented a 17-day minimum for movies set to open to less than $50 million before heading to streaming, and then 30 days for movies set to open higher than $50 million before heading to streaming. This is all done and dusted except for Focus Features titles, which will remain at around 17 days.

As for 2026 releases, movies like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, The Odyssey, Disclosure Day, and Focker-In-Law will play in theaters for a minimum of five weekends. Universal movies that will play for a minimum of seven weekends starting in 2027 include How to Train Your Dragon 2, Shrek 5, Cocomelon: The Movie, and Miami Vice.

"Universal remains a theatrical-first studio," NBCUniversal Entertainment chairwoman Donna Langley said in statement. "That’s proven by the breadth of our slate, our commitment to our filmmakers and the ongoing investments we make in the creative community.”

For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2026 and beyond, or, check out our list of movie release dates.

It sounds as though The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has a few more surprises up its sleeve as star and self-confessed Mario super-fan Brie Larson teases more Easter eggs.

"When I watched the movie, it was almost just like this sensory overload of like everything I've ever loved and played and watched throughout my whole life," said Larson in an interview with Fandango. "I just felt like bombarded by all the references, and every single frame is just filled with references." Larson joins the sequel as the mother of the Lunas, Rosalina, from the Super Mario Galaxy games.

We have already had a sneak peek at some of the cameos and references coming up in the new animated sequel thanks to teasers and trailers. After adding Donald Glover as Yoshi, Larson as Rosalina, and Benny Safdie as Bowser to the cast list, it has also been revealed that other characters, such as Mouser and Wart, are set to make an appearance. Plus, fans think that we may even see BOB the robot and Star Fox, too.

But, according to Larson, there is more to come. "You have all of these incredible planets in the game that you travel to that you will get to see in the movie as well, which made me so proud because I know every detail of this game. And so to see the way that they honored each part of it while also honoring like all of these character stories and this like larger vision for it," said Larson. "There's nothing in this that doesn't have a purpose and meaning."

On top of that, fans can also expect to see a big bad from Super Mario Galaxy. "For people who love the game and the honeybee planet, the boss level is this big honeybee, and she does make an appearance," added Larson. "It made me cackle. I was like, 'Oh my god.' So, I was really happy about that."

Original stars are returning, too, including Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hits cinemas on April 1, 2026. For more, check out our guide to upcoming video game movies. Then pick up your controller and dive into our list of the best Switch 2 games.

Nintendo knows we all want a new Nintendo Direct, but hopes have been somewhat dashed after it announced the release date for its next big game on social media and its news app.

People ask for a Nintendo Direct pretty much every week, but given that Nintendo hasn't held a traditional one yet this year, some assumed that we'd need to be getting one soon. This is mostly down to the fact that Pokemon Pokopia was the latest Switch 2 game with a date on the release calendar, with dates for Splatoon Raiders, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, and Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave unaccounted for.

But you can now cross one of those off the list, as Nintendo decided to celebrate Mario Day by releasing a new trailer for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, which in turn revealed that the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive platformer will be releasing on May 21, 2026.

The trailer shows the Yoshi clan discovering the titular Mysterious Book: Mr. E, who allows Yoshi to travel into his pages and discover different creatures. The trailer mainly focuses on a weird frog-like creature that can blow bubbles for Yoshi to ride in, with little notes appearing as the creature is interacted with. It apparently tastes bad, but feeding it different items will change how its bubbles work.

Notice how I've said "the creature" all this time? Well, that's because it's up to you to name it. You can take Mr. E's suggestion – which for the bubble blower is Glubbit – but Yoshi is allowed to name the creature. Nintendo didn't reveal how you do this, but barring a case of pre-selected words being used for the mechanic, I imagine you'll be seeing some very NSFW names hit the web within 10 minutes of the game's launch.

Super Mario Galaxy Movie reveals Donald Glover as the voice of Yoshi and more new casting in a star-spanning trailer.

Playing NES classics like Super Mario Bros has always irritated the retro console purist within me. While I've tried just about every version of the Koopa stomping plumber's rescue mission on everything from the first Ninty to crusty clone systems and the official Game & Watch retro handheld remake, I've always felt like the true colors aren't actually reaching my eyeballs. However, it turns out that there isn't actually a set way Nintendo Entertainment System graphics are meant to look, and that implies every version is technically correct.

I can already hear the retro gatekeepers picking up pixellated pitchforks, but you'll want to hear me out before forming an angry mob. In a new explainer titled "Why do NES colors look so different in emulators?" YouTuber MattKC breaks down exactly why your version of Mario doesn't look the same as others. In a nutshell, it all ties back to the original hardware and its use of NTSC TV broadcast color standards.

I've covered how to connect your retro console to a modern TV or monitor extensively. When it comes to the NES, your two options are using the RF tuner or an RCA composite cable, both of which use an NTSC signal generated by the Entertainment System's PPU (Picture Processing Unit) rather than clean Red, Green, and Blue visuals.

MattKC explains that due to the extremely wide tolerances of the broadcast standard that were originally designed to mitigate varying results caused by transmission interference or different CRT TV circuitry, there is no consensus on how the console should look. Again, unlike a set RGB signal, NTSC uses luminance and chrominance values to encode color and brightness, and results can vary massively depending on your setup.

This serves as an explanation as to why the version of Mario you potentially played on an emulator, or even the official Wii Virtual Console port, looks different from an actual NES or more modern editions. Hilariously, it seems that even Nintendo isn't quite sure how the game is meant to look since tributes in the likes of Mario Maker look nothing like the OG console.

I should be clear that there are ways to force RGB out of your OG NES, but the console's PPU won't do it natively. Effectively, you have to catch the color palette data before it's converted into a composite signal and translate the values into RGB using a mod board. The thing that might upset enthusiasts is that even if you do fork out for a board based on the highly regarded Tim Worthington design, the visuals still aren't technically "right", as even the developers would have been creating their vision using specific setups and composite video.

The very thing that both MattKC's explainer and I are getting at is that even if you can get a scientifically accurate RGB signal from an NES, it doesn't mean it's authentic. It'll look crisp, yes, but it might be extremely hard to make Mario look like it did when you were a rugrat parked in front of an '80s tube TV. I'll admit that you can apply that to every signal retro console since cables and signal types can change visuals, but Nintendo's first console does it in perhaps a more noticeable way.

For me, the takeaway is that I'm going to beat myself up less about using my unmodded NES or even my janky NASA clone system when it comes to colors. There are certainly other accuracy caveats tied to using different hardware and emulators, as SoCs (System on a Chip) and emulation can cause speed issues with music and gameplay. But, when it comes to how that ominous Mushroom Kingdom sky looks, I'm going to care less about whether it should be off-purple or baby blue.

This PSA has actually arrived just in time for MAR10 Day, and I reckon it's worth looking at how you want to play the legendary NES game. Being free from the voices telling you that OG modded hardware is the most authentic way to play should make diving in a little easier, and I'm not going to judge you for picking up something like the Hyperkin Retron 1 emulation-based box for $39 versus vastly more expensive RGB modded systems or kits that will transform a Famicom at Aliexpress (effectively a version of the latter mod in a complete package).

If it helps, I'll actually be using the Mario Game and Watch ($47.99 at Amazon, FYI) to celebrate MAR10 Day since my original NES is actually on loan to someone. Yes, I only just noticed this, and I'm now sending some awkward messages to friends as part of a retrieval mission.

• NES consoles at Amazon
• Retro consoles at Amazon

Already using Valve's handheld for the classics? Swing by the best Steam Deck docks to use your portable as a big-screen console hybrid.

My Super Mario toy collection beganway back in the early 90s with an official plastic Mario toothbrush holder. He was a little off model and had a grin that would haunt most children's dreams today, but I loved him all the same.

These days, it's a lot easier to find higher-quality versions of my favorite mustachioed plumber. There's no shortage of representation of the Mushroom Kingdom's many residents, but Good Smile Company's Mario and Luigi figures remain the best Mario merch I've ever come across. They're also a bit off-model, but that's the point, as Nendoroids are part of an anime figure line featuring cute, chibi depictions of iconic characters. These are the cutest versions you'll find of Mario and Luigi in plastic form, but actually finding them in stock is Kaizo Mario-levels of challenging.

I'm being a bit cheeky, hoping to see a return of the Super Mario and Luigi Nendoroid figures. They've actually had plenty of comebacks, over 4 reprints to be exact. Yet, every time Good Smile Company re-releases them across US and UK retailers, the stock goes faster than Koopa the Quick. I wish they'd stay around long enough to be accessible to a wider range of Nintendo fans, especially for those who aren't fans of the quality of the toys on offer today.

It's not surprising that people snap up the figures pretty fast. They are sickeningly cute, with Mario and Luigi each having overly large chibi-sized heads and tiny bodies. Their biggest selling point, like all Nendoroid figures, is that you can swap around their faces and limbs to create different displays and poses. Much like the Legend of Zelda Wind Waker Link Nendoroid, they also come with a range of accessories which differ depending on which brother you happen to have.

Luigi is my favorite of the two, as he comes with an iconic green warp pipe, a teeny tiny Goomba, a Bullet Bill, and different cloud shapes. He's also packaged with a small green base so you can create a tiny Super Mario stage and have little puffs of clouds trailing behind him as if he's running and about to warp to another level. The best thing about him is that his accessories are compatible with Mario's, too.

Mario comes packaged with some blocks, a coin, a Boo ghost, and a Power-Up mushroom, to name a few. When bought with Luigi, you can combine the wealth of accessories to create the ultimate Super Mario display. All they're missing is a Nendoroid figure of Princess Peach, Toad, Yoshi, or Bowser, which I've been dreaming of since I first got my hands on these adorable collectibles.

Good Smile Company has yet to add any more characters to the Super Mario Nendoroid lineup, so my dreams of owning a chibi Peach are squashed. However, Bandai's alternative SH Figuarts figure line does cater to my want for a wider range of Mushroom Kingdom representation. The SH Figuarts are similar to Good Smile's Figma range, featuring more accurately scaled representations of the characters, which keep their articulation and wealth of accessory benefits.

They aren't new, but unlike the Nendoroids, their re-prints are available to pre-order starting from $42.99 at Best Buy, so stock is plentiful. Better yet, you can get Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Bowser, and Mario can actually ride Yoshi just like in the games. Without that 'chibi' design, the figures are much less cute to look at, but they're an ideal alternative for older Super Mario fans after higher-quality figures than the abundance of toys aimed at younger age ranges.

I'm still holding out hope that we'll one day see Peach, Yoshi, and maybe even Princess Rosalina get some Nendoroid representation, along with more Mario and Luigi re-releases. Yet, I can make do with Bandai's SH Figuarts figures making a return if it means we can see more high end collectibles for older fans on the shelves.

• View all Super Mario toys at Amazon
• View all Super Mario Galaxy Movie toys at Amazon

Check out our guide to the best Nintendo gifts if you're on the lookout for more Super Mario toys and collectibles.

MAR10, or "Mario Day," is almost upon us, so now feels like the perfect time to celebrate the very best Super Mario merch. And considering how the intrepid plumber is now 40 years old, there's plenty enough of it.

Almost too much, actually. Because there's a world's worth of action figures, plushies, collectibles, and nick knacks based on the Mushroom Kingdom, the biggest Mario fans from GamesRadar+ HQ have rounded up their picks for the very best Super Mario merch. We've been fans of the franchise for our whole lives, and these are the goodies we'd want on our shelves - be it apparel or the best toys.

This isn't just for older fans who want a nostalgia powerup, though; there should be something to suit everyone here, regardless of age. I challenge anyone not to have their heart stolen by the Hatchin' Yoshi animatronic, for example.

Best Super Mario merch: Toys

Best Super Mario merch: Homeware & collectibles

For more Nintendo-related goodies, don't miss the best Pokemon merch or the best Legend of Zelda merch.

Nintendo has seemingly leaked a new Mario Kart World update ahead of Mario Day next week, which might bring back a fan-favorite to Battle Mode.

Mario Kart World launched alongside the Switch 2 last June, and since then, Nintendo has been strangely quiet about any major updates for it. Obviously, the game being $80 caused a lot of controversy, and if Nintendo was to announce paid DLC right away, the backlash would likely be even more extreme. Players have already theorized the game might get a DK-themed expansion due to his lack of outfits and music in the game, alongside some interesting voice actor names spotted in the credits of Mario Kart World.

Well it looks like the day for a major update may be on the way soon, as Nintendo itself has seemingly just leaked a new mode coming to the game. As spotted by Twitter user EdwardSabaVO Nintendo shared a now-deleted post on its website featuring upcoming in-game events for Mario Kart World for Mario Day (Mar 10). However, it's the attached in-game screenshots that are interesting.

The screenshots show modes like Race, Knockout Tour, and Events down the left side, but the Battle Mode icon is ever so slightly different. Right now, the icon in-game features a coin for Coin Runners and a balloon for Balloon Battle. However, in this screenshot, you can spot a Bob-omb icon included, seemingly confirming that the Bob-omb Blast mode from Mario Kart Double Dash and 8 Deluxe will be returning for World. This would also give Nintendo a reason to add King Bob-omb as a playable character, more importantly.

This has also led to some speculation that this may herald a Nintendo Direct – possibly a Mario-themed one – given that after Pokopia this week, there are no Switch 2 games with announced release dates. And given that Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is still pegged for a "Spring" release date, we'll need to hear some more news about that soon.

Shigeru Miyamoto had to "force" in Super Mario Bros 3's iconic Frog Suit because it was fun even though it sucked.

Super Mario Bros 3 is widely regarded as one of the best Mario games ever made, and certainly the peak of the series on NES. Its wide array of unique items and power-ups, including one that lives in infamy: the Frog Suit. The adorable sight of Mario dressed up as a four-legged frog is one of the platformer's most enduring images, but it always kind of sucked in practice. In fact, that's part of why Shigeru Miyamoto was so keen to keep it in the game.

The legendary Nintendo designer said as much in a 1989 interview for the Japanese publication Gamer Handbook, which was recently translated by shmuplations. Miyamoto was joined by Shigesato Itoi, lead on the Mother series (known as EarthBound worldwide), and they both agreed that games of the time could stand to be a lot more playful.

"We distinguish between 'field' and 'performance' systems in a game's structure," Miyamoto explained. "Mario is built that way, too. Say I want to add some funny animation for an enemy at the end of a level, and I show it to programmers or hardcore gamers… they'll say 'It's the end of the level, no one's going to even see that!' But I just tell them, 'That's fine. There will always be some people who stop to watch.' (laughs)"

Miyamoto added, "It's fun for me, too. I might think, 'I wonder if I can make him dance?' And then when I see it, it's just fun to watch. There are so many enjoyable things in a game beyond just 'beating' it."

"Like the Frog Suit in Mario," Itoi offered. "That thing is basically useless!"

"It just hops around awkwardly once you're on land," Miyamoto agreed. "I really had to force that one into the game. (laughs)"

Throughout the interview, both Itoi and Miyamoto lamented the tendency among gamers to simply want to "beat" whatever it is they're playing. Itoi mentioned strategy guides telling players about items that make players "so strong it practically breaks the game."

"That's because their goal isn't to inhabit the character and enjoy the experience, it's just to beat the game," Miyamoto said.

Miyamoto's tendency to focus on the fun of simply playing around in game worlds has brought us a lot of fun anecdotes, like the time he spent an entire New Super Mario Bros. Wii test demo just sliding around with the Penguin power-up, or when he spent all his time in Donkey Kong Bananza just sticking to one spot and smashing the ground over and over.

There's something to be said for goals, challenges, and the feeling of accomplishment you get from beating a game, but Miyamoto's focus on the small details probably goes a long way to explaining why Nintendo titles still knock that ephemeral sense of "game feel" out of the park. After all, a whole generation of gamers still remember the Frog Suit – even if they ditched it the instant they reached dry land.

Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto saw games in the '80s becoming like "pornography": "I think the world of 'hidden secrets' in games has almost reached that same grotesque level."

For many people of my generation, Super Mario 64 was our first encounter with 3D platforming. For people who've played, like, any 3D game before, King Bob-omb is a trivial challenge, but that wasn't the case for everyone in the '90s. As it turns out, those of us still figuring out the whole "analog stick" thing had a secret defense against King Bob-omb's attacks this whole time.

"In Super Mario 64, it is actually possible to escape from the grasp of King Bob-omb or a Chuckya after they grab Mario, by whipping the Control Stick back and forth and mashing the A button a combined total of 11 times before they throw him," Mario trivia hound Supper Mario Broth reports on Bluesky. Attached is a video demonstrating the technique, and yeah, it sure seems to work!

The idea of mashing buttons to escape a grab sounds obvious in hindsight, but the obvious answers aren't always that apparent when you're a literal child. Maybe I did flick the control stick enough to escape King Bob-omb's clutches when I was nine, but Chuckyas – a late-game enemy with a similar grab attack – still strike a level of paranoid fear in my heart that suggests I never managed to break free of their grasp.

In Super Mario 64, it is actually possible to escape from the grasp of King Bob-omb or a Chuckya after they grab Mario, by whipping the Control Stick back and forth and mashing the A button a combined total of 11 times before they throw him.

— @mariobrothblog.bsky.social (@mariobrothblog.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-02-19T22:00:06.722Z

But hey, maybe there's a reason for that too. Supper Mario Broth notes that this technique "does not actually always work on Chuckyas, as they may randomly give you too little time to perform 11 such inputs." The fact that they're often positioned near instant-death pits might also be a factor in why I still fear them to this day.

Now, I'm just amused by the precision with which we've narrowed down the exact number of button mashes this technique takes. 11 control stick whips or A button presses, or any combination thereof. "It's simply 'reach 11 of a combined total of both,'" Supper Mario Broth adds in a follow-up post, "so there are no restrictions. It could be 11 of one, or 11 of the other, or 5 of one and 6 of the other, etc. The only caveat is that if you do both on the same frame, it still only counts as 1." Don't go mashing too fast, now.

These are the best N64 games of all time.