The explosion of announcements for Super Mario continues, as Nintendo has now revealed that new amiibo will release alongside the upcoming Switch version of Super Mario 3D World. This, along with the reveal that this version of Super Mario 3D World will have online multiplayer, promises that the Wii U port is more than a simple upscaling.
Fans were treated to a series of exciting announcements when Nintendo dropped the long rumored 35th Mario anniversary celebration. This included a variety of announcements, such as an augmented reality Mario Kart, a Super Mario Bros battle royale game, and – perhaps most exciting of all – Mario’s most iconic 3D platformers being ported over to the Switch in one massive collection. Super Mario 3D World on the Switch was also included in this series of reveals, as well as a short teaser trailer for some sort of expansion on the game titled Bowser’s Fury.
Along with all of the new features that are coming to the Switch version of Super Mario 3D World, Nintendo has announced that new amiibo of Cat Mario and Cat Peach will be releasing along with the game on February 12th, 2021. No other information about the amiibo and what kind of functionality they will add to the game were released. The original Super Mario 3D World did not have functional amiibo support, so these amiibo could simply just be collector’s pieces, but it doesn’t close the possibility of them having an effect on this new port.
This year has seen a decrease in the release of new amiibo compared to the huge amount that were released for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2019. The start of the year wrapped up the last of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate amiibo with Richter and Dark Samus, and the first DLC fighter amiibo are scheduled to be released in a month with Joker and Hero. But Japan did restock amiibo cards for Animal Crossing: New Horizons after the popularity of the game caused scalpers to overprice them on ebay, showing that amiibo production is still active in the midst of this pandemic.
Whether or not these new amiibo have some sort of effect on this re-release is yet to be seen. At the very least though, being able to soon display these two fluffy Mario characters on shelves is sure to be good news for a lot of amiibo collectors, regardless of whether they do anything to enhance Super Mario 3D World when they hit stores next year.
Super Mario 3D World will release on Nintendo Switch on February 12th, 2021.