New Super Mario Bros. Animated Movie Announced For 2026 Release
Written by Brian Shea
Coming off last year's overwhelming success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Nintendo and Illumination have announced that work has begun on a second movie set in the world of Super Mario Bros. The announcement, made by Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri, states that this film will arrive in theaters in the United States on April 3, 2026.
While the announcement stops short of calling this "Super Mario Bros. 2" or even referring to it as a sequel, Miyamoto confirms that Nintendo and Illumination are working together on this one, and the director duo of the first film, Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, are returning. "As for the details of the new movie, as I often say, we'll let you know once we're at the stage where we're ready to share more," Miyamoto said in the announcement video posted on Nintendo of America's YouTube channel. "This time, we're thinking about broadening Mario's world further and it'll have a bright and fun story. We hope you'll look forward to it!"
The Super Mario Bros. Movie stars Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, and Seth Rogen. Nintendo and Illumination have yet to confirm any of the cast of this new film set in the Super Mario Bros. world. The Super Mario Bros. Movie arrived in theaters on April 5, 2023 to positive fan and critic reception, and earned a place among the highest-grossing films of all time. The new film set in this same world is set to arrive almost exactly three years later on April 3, 2026.
What do you want to see from a new Super Mario Bros. animated movie? Do you think it'll be another wide cast film? Or will it zero in on a specific subset of characters, like a Luigi's Mansion or Donkey Kong Country movie?
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Release Date Set For May
Written by Brian Shea
The beloved GameCube RPG, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, finally has a release date for Switch. Announced during September 2023's Nintendo Direct, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is regarded by many as the pinnacle of Mario's RPG outings, and since today is Mario Day, Nintendo took the opportunity to let fans know when they'd be able to play the remaster on Nintendo's hybrid console.
We still don't have many details for this version, but we do know that Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door features improved graphics. It joins a collection of titles starring Mario and his friends over the last several months, including Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Princess Peach: Showtime, and the upcoming Luigi's Mansion 2 HD.
Paper-Mario: The Thousand-Year Door arrives exclusively on Nintendo Switch on May 23. For our review of the latest Paper Mario game, The Origami King, head here.
Luigi's Mansion 2 HD Screams Onto Switch In June
Written by Brian Shea
Released more than a decade ago, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is a little tricky to go back to in 2024 thanks to its 3DS exclusivity. However, during last September's Nintendo Direct, we learned that this well-liked sequel is making the leap to Switch as Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, joining the third entry in the hybrid console's catalog. Today, Nintendo announced that Luigi and his Poltergust 5000 will return to Switch in June.
When it arrived on 3DS in 2013, it received strong review scores, including an 8.5 from Game Informer. This sequel actually involves the younger Mario Bro visiting a series of mansions to capture ghosts and rescue Mario from King Boo. You can see the reveal trailer for Luigi's Mansion 2 HD below.
LLuigi's Mansion 2 HD arrives on Nintendo Switch on June 27. If you just can't wait to bust ghosts as Mario's brother, be sure to check out Luigi's Mansion 3, which is perhaps one of the most underrated first-party games on Switch. You can read our review of Luigi's Mansion 3 here.
Three Mario Spin-Offs Coming To Nintendo Switch Online's Game Boy Catalog
Written by Brian Shea
To close out its Mario Day announcements video, where we learned about a new movie set in the world of Super Mario Bros, as well as the release dates of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, Nintendo revealed that three classic Mario spin-offs are arriving on Nintendo Switch Online this week. The games join the Game Boy library, which is included with the base Nintendo Switch Online subscription ($20 a year).
Dr. Mario from Game Boy, Mario Golf from Game Boy Color, and Mario Tennis from Game Boy Color join the Switch Online Game Boy catalog. The collection already includes the likes of Super Mario Land 2 – 6 Golden Coins, Kirby's Dream Land 2, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, Tetris, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, and Metroid II – Return of Samus. Oddly enough, the library is missing all of the Pokémon titles, as well as the original Super Mario Land.
Dr. Mario, Mario Golf, and Mario Tennis arrive on the service this Tuesday, March 12.