Nintendo’s fondness for remakes or remasters of older games, or sustaining more current ones via DLC – an approach that has rarely been so evident as during this summer’s Direct – means it doesn’t feel like it’s been six years since the last mainline Mario game. Or, for that matter, 11 since its sidescrolling predecessor. With Ubisoft’s Yves Guillemot lamenting the sales performance of Mario+Rabbids: Sparks Of Hope, citing Nintendo’s advice not to release two similar games on the same hardware, you can understand why it waited. Though Guillemot’s suggestion of being told to hang on for new hardware raises a question: given Switch’s successor appears to be just around the corner, is it not unusual for a new Mario game to be released so close to the end of a console’s lifespan? Switch’s vast installed base is the counter to that. And on present form, there’s
