Soapbox’s features allow our individual writers to express their own opinions on important topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the website. In this play, Kate argues that Mario’s Doomsday may not be as bad an event as you think …
Let’s start with a count of everything that is happening after March 31, 2021:
In short, it will not be a fantastic day for Mario fans, despite reaching the end of a year of celebrations for the mustache plumber’s 35th birthday. But instead of seeing this as an end, I’m choosing to see it as a beginning: a chance for someone else to take the spotlight.
Being a Mario fan is very 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 son, the one who wins lavish birthday parties, a theme park and almost all the glory, and while that rating is well deserved – he is, after all, the oldest and the official Nintendo mascot – it can be a little tiring for people who don’t love you so much.
And anyone who has read the biblical story of Cain and Abel, or Joseph and his dream coat in technicolor (or just watched Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical) knows what happens when a child gets all the attention at the expense of others: he is murdered and / or sold to strangers.
Now, this is not going to happen with Mario – mainly because this is a bit harsh for a family-oriented company – but, honestly, the layoffs on March 31 may allow other games to get a little attention as well. I’m not going to argue that it’s not a bit anti-consumer to almost literally take games out of our hands, but there is a difference between “limited time only!” and “we decided to exclude that because screw it, that’s why.” Nintendo has failed in its messages more than anything, making “just for a limited time” look like something forever. This is at Nintendo, really – and it backfired quite a lot, but you can’t go back now.
The main problem with a one-year anniversary is that it is only one year long. There has to be an end, and that end will disappoint people. Super Mario Bros. servers 35 were presumably set up just for the year – after all, these things are expensive and time-consuming to perform. But these servers could be released for something else as a result – maybe something for Zelda’s 35th, which starts in July (but we won’t be hopeful).
People expect a lot from Nintendo, and although I don’t feel sorry for the multi-billion dollar company – it’s going to be okay, I’m sure – I Does I sometimes feel a twinge of sympathy for Nintendo trying to live up to expectations. Gave people a “free” game (you still need a Nintendo Switch Online account, of course) as a celebration, and people complained that it wasn’t free forever. They re-released three classic Mario games for a fraction of the original price of each (one much something non-Nintendo to do) and people were unhappy that it was only on sale for a year. The closure of Super Mario Maker’s online services makes sense for a game almost six years old on a console that didn’t sell well. The mistake here is to make it all happen on the same day. This is simply not a great look.
I know it is silly to have hopes, but I like to think that Nintendo has a plan. I don’t think it’s as bad as the whole March 31 thing looks like, although I think it sounds a little hostile. I can imagine that it seemed like an appropriate ending to a year that revolved around Mario, and it also received a lot of attention and press for the games. But it’s not Mario time died gave the microphone to someone else, anyway? I hope that Nintendo’s “plan” as of April 1 will involve showing at least one fraction of that same love for their neglected games.
It’s okay to be disappointed with March 31st. It is even normal to be a little irritated by this. But everything eventually dies, and when one thing dies, it leaves room for another to take its place – and doesn’t that look exciting?