Soapbox features allow our writers to express their own opinions on hot topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. In this play, Kate claims that Mario’s Doomsday may not be as bad an event as you think …
Let’s start with a sum of everything that happens after March 31, 2021:
In short, it will not be a fantastic day for Mario’s fans, despite the fact that it came at the end of a 35-year holiday for the moustachioed plumber. But instead of seeing it as an end, I choose to see it as a beginning: a chance for someone else to get the spotlight.
Being a Mario fan is pretty easy, especially compared to being, say, a Metroid fan, an F-Zero fan or a Zelda fan who doesn’t like ports. Mario has long been Nintendo’s golden child, the one who receives lavish birthday parties, a theme park and almost all the glory, and although this rank is well deserved – he is, after all, Nintendo’s oldest and most official mascot – maybe be a little tiring for people who don’t love him best.
And anyone who has read the biblical story of Cain and Abel, or Joseph and his technical dream clothes (or just watched the musical Andrew Lloyd Webber) knows what happens when a child is given full attention to the detriment of others: he is killed and / or sold to strangers.
Now, that won’t happen to Mario – especially because it’s a little rough for a family-friendly company – but, frankly, the March 31 closures could allow other games to get a little attention. I won’t argue that it’s not a bit anti-consumer to almost literally snatch games from our hands, but there’s a difference between “limited time only!” and “We decided to delete this because we’re cheating on you, that’s why.” Nintendo failed in its messaging, more than anything, making “just limited time” seem like a kind of thing forever. That’s on Nintendo, really – and it’s pretty bad, but he can’t take it back now.
The main problem with a one-year anniversary is that it is just a year. It must have an end and this goal will disappoint people. Servers for Super Mario Bros. 35 were probably set up for the year only – these things are expensive and time consuming, after all. But these servers could be released for something else as a result – maybe something for Zelda’s 35th, which starts in July (but let’s not hold out hope).
People expect a lot from Nintendo, and while I’m not sorry for the multi-billion dollar company – it’ll be fine, I’m sure – do you feel a pain of sympathy for Nintendo, sometimes trying to live up to expectations. He offered people a “free” game (you still need a Nintendo Switch Online account, of course) as a holiday, and people complained that it’s not free forever. They relaunched three classic Mario games for a fraction of the starting price of each (a very a thing to do by Nintendo) and people were unhappy that it was only sold for a year. The termination of Super Mario Maker’s online services makes sense for a nearly six-year-old game on a console that didn’t sell well. The mistake here is to make all this happen on the same day. It’s not just a great look.
I know it’s silly to have hopes, but I like to think Nintendo has a plan. I don’t think it’s as bad as it all seemed on March 31st, although I think it seems a little unfriendly. I can imagine that it seemed like a good end to a year that was related to Mario and that he received a lot of attention and press for games as well. But this is not the time for Mario deceased Did he give the microphone to someone else, anyway? I hope Nintendo’s “plan” from April 1 onwards involves displaying at least a fraction of the same love for his neglected games.
It’s okay to be disappointed by March 31st. It’s okay to be a little annoyed by this. But everything eventually dies, and when one thing dies, it leaves room for something else to take its place – and doesn’t that sound interesting?