We finally know what Nintendo’s next console is all about: It’s called the Switch, and
it can be played at home and on the go.
But forget that--because the only thing that really matters is Nintendo also announced
a brand new Mario game baby, coming to the Switch!
But barely--showing only about 6 seconds or so.
And while it looks extremely familiar on the surface, it’s when you start to dig a little
deeper that you realize it’s actually rather mysterious.
So we rolled tagged in the old analysis machine and put it to work right away to see what
secrets Super Mario Switch might be hiding.
So let’s get right to it.
Okay, so the short gameplay sequence shows off two different scenes.
One appears to take place in some kind of Mexican-like town while the other takes place
in some kind of desert temple-like area that looks a bit more like standard Mario level.
So let’s go ahead and start here first since it’s the more familiar of the two.
And right off the bat, we can see the game is based around the typical running and jumping
action we all know and love--heck, Mario even opens the scene with a Long Jump--which is
nothing new of course, but this time, he holds his arms-out at the end, almost like he’s
landed a plane--is this just a cute touch, or could it maybe indicate a small speed boost
after long jumping or something?
Besides the long jump, we can see several other common Mario elements, such as the Bullet
Bill Launcher here, which predictably, fires Bullet Bills that try to hone in on Mario,
as well as a bunch of coins.
And then we have the three gold rings here, which if they function like the Gold Rings
in 3D Land & World, might award Mario 5 coins for touching them.
But how does Mario get to them in this case?
I mean, they’re floating above a gap filled with what might be quicksand, and the moving
platform nearby appears to only move parallel to them--and we’re pretty dang sure that
distance is too far for him to longjump through--so there has to be another method.
Like can Mario maybe lure the Bullet Bill through them instead?
We’re really not sure, but there is something mysterious happening nearby that might play
a role.
Because if we look down here during Mario’s longjump, we can see something appears to
be burrowing up from underground right here--and though it’s hard to see, it appears to disappear
just as quickly--or at least the dirt that it burrowed up from did.
So we have no idea what’s going on there--maybe some kind of enemy emerged?
And while we’re down here, we can also just see some kind of purple liquid way off in
the distance--unfortunately, we don’t know what’s going on with it either, but it certainly
stands out against the orange desert
At any rate, it’s not just returning stuff here, as the floating heart right here is
new.
What’s that about?
Well, we’re thinking Mario might be taking a page from Zelda’s book, and hearts will
be used to regain health, instead of coins or Power-Ups.
And this actually isn’t the first time Mario’s had to collect hearts for health, as they
first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 2, then again in Super Mario 64 where they could completely
restore his health.
Now in both of those cases, Mario had a health bar--so we can't help but wonder if that might
be the case here too, replacing the Power-Up based system from 3D Land and 3D World.
And if that’s the case, then we wouldn’t expect to see Small Mario make a return
Now besides the heart, the camera’s unfortunately too low for us to get much of an idea of what
else lies beyond the gap here, but we can make out a few more things.
Of course, we can see some hazards is the forms of cacti, which makes sense given the
desert theme, but we can also see 3 stacked coins that appear to be too high for Mario
to reach.
But there does appear to be some kind of flower directly beneath it--perhaps Mario can bounce
off of it to reach them?
Alright and that pretty much covers it for this scene...wait, what’s that?
You’re saying there’s something else I haven’t mentioned yet..alright, I guess
I’ll finally address it...yes, there appears to be frozen ice EVERYWHERE.
Look, you can see it on the wall to the left, as well as the level’s border to the right,
and even dead-ahead, encompassing some blocks.
In fact, it’s hard to tell for sure, but it might even be blocking access to that heart.
So what the heck’s the deal with it?
I mean, one wouldn’t expect to find ice in a dessert right?
I suppose it could be some kind of crystal too, but we’ll stick with ice for now.
Either way, it seems like it’s going to be some kind of major barrier.
So is Mario able to easily break through it in some way, like the crystals in Mario Galaxy,
or is it something that ties into a larger narrative?
Well, we’ll come back to that in a bit.
For now, let’s turn our attention to the only other scene, being this festive Mexican
town during what might be the Day of the Dead
Here we can see colorful buildings outfitted with all kinds of floral decorations, including
this festive skull painted on the side of this building--even the sombrero-wearing-citizens
here appear to be dressed for the occasion as painted skeletons.
Actually, correction: they might actually be Skeletons, as you can see this guy’s
head literally separate from his shoulders as he dances around shaking maracas.
Yeah this is a pretty unique setting by Mario standards.
Now you’ve probably already noticed a 2nd citizen to the left, but did you catch that
there are actually at least three more.
One near the fountain in the middle of town, another just behind him, and a third that
you can barely see right here.
And based on their on the fact that they seem to be just out having a good time--and don’t
appear to be going after Mario, we’re pretty sure they're not enemies.
Instead, they’re almost certainly friendly and we’re betting you’ll be able to talk
to them, kind of like the Piantas from Mario Sunshine...
But it seems like there’s more to do here than just talk to citizens, including possibly
entering buildings.
Take a look at this one for instance--it has a Painted Sign that says Crazy Cap, and has
a baseball cap logo.
Yeah, we’re pretty sure Mario will be able head inside...but Crazy Cap...is it possible
that you might be able to swap out Mario’s hat for something else?
Besides that store, we can see another building in the back with another door that you might
be able to enter.
And by the way, did you notice the signpost and bench next just outside of town?
It kind of looks like a bus stop, doesn’t it?
Is that how Mario got here?
Well, probably not given that he appears to be entering town from a whole different direction,
but maybe he can catch it to go elsewhere?
Assuming a bus even shows up at all--it could just be for decoration.
And speaking of decorations, we have this umbrella just in front of the Crazy Cap store--it
must be pretty important given that there are three Purple arrows pointing down at it.
Maybe Mario can bounce off it to reach the rooftops?
Or if not, there’s surely some other way up there, based on the fact that the rooftops
appear to be decorated with plants--and if we look over here, we can even see the Sombrero
of a fifth citizen!
So yeah, we’re pretty sure Mario will be going up there.
Now just below him, we can see some rugs draped over a railing--and of course why would a
railing be there unless it’s a path meant to be walked.
And check this out, if we zoom waaay in, we can just barely see some kind of purple object
moving behind the rugs on that very walkway . At first, we thought they might be Purple
Coins--but then we remembered the Purple Arrows by the umbrella.
And going off that, we then noticed that yet another purple arrow that can just barely
be seen on the rooftop of the building here.
So taken altogether, we’re pretty those Purple Arrows aren’t actually a part of
the UI pointing you where to go--instead, they appear to be collectibles, especially
given how some of them appear to be out of the way.
But what are they used for?
Could they be a form of currency?
Your guess is as good as ours.
Anyways moving on, you may have noticed that, like the Temple, this town appears to be frozen
over too.
You can see it outside of town to the far right, as well as inside town, even covering
up the building here.
The fountain ahead seems to be similarly frozen.
And heck, you can even see ice at the corners of various buildings and even little chunks
of it in the ground.
So what on Earth is going on here?
We have no idea...but could that Moon be playing some part in this?
It is awfully close...
So between this frozen town and the frozen temple, it makes us wonder if ice might play
a major role in the game?
Next, we have to point out the fact that Mario is performing a Triple jump!
Now granted, this is nothing new for Mario, but it is something that’s been missing
from his latest 3D adventures, being 3D Land and 3D World.
So could this be hinting at an even larger moveset?
So between that and the potential health meter.
Could these be signs that the game might play closer to the more open and explorative gameplay
of the older 3D Marios?
After all, this entire town, does remind us a bit of Isle Delfino, what with the friendly
citizens and buildings.
So could be a HUB like area?
Maaaybe, although this town does seem a bit too small--especially by comparison--to be
a true HUB.
I mean, this street looks to be pretty much it.
Though it is possible there’s more offscreen that we can’t see
But there is one more really interesting detail here--do you see that light shining in the
distance?
It appears to be marking the location of that temple-like structure way in the distance...
Wait a second.
Temple-like structure?
Where have I heard that before...oh right, back when I was describing the other scene.
And based on the similar color and details of the temples, we have a feeling they are
actually one and the same.
And since that Temple appears to ride pretty far off the ground, it now explains why the
other scene appears to be similarly high up as well.
Which could mean the town is somewhere down here
So given that the two scenes appear to be directly connected, it suddenly makes this
game appear far more expansive than it seemed at first--especially when compared to the
most recent 3D games.
I mean, navigating from this town to that temple seems to be no short distance.
And the fact that a guiding light is required at all might reveal quite a lot about the
scope of this game.
But how big is that scope, exactly?
Is this is all just part of a single level, for instance, or is it possible this section’s
just part of an even larger level--or maybe world.
After all, we don’t see from where Mario came--could this be even more behind him,
or is this just the actual start of the level?
It’s impossible to say for sure, but at the very least, it suggests a return to the
more Adventure-style of the older games.
As for that column of light, what exactly is it about?
Our guess is that it’s marking the goal--or maybe a goal, such as a Star or something.
But if this is truly a more free-roaming 3D game, then that might also imply that you’ll
have full camera control too.
Unfortunately, while we do see the camera automatically track Mario, it never appears
to be under player control...but that doesn’t mean it can’t be.
After all, we don’t think this angle would be one the game would stick you with--it’s
too low, and it’s not even centered to the path.
So we think full camera control might be returning as well.
Okay, we’re almost done here but there are a couple final details I wanted to point out.
First up is the fact that Mario leaves footprints in the sand--yeah, it’s a small touch, but
I had to point it out anyway.
Next, I have one more detail for you Sunshine fans.
Now I’ve already compared this town to Isle Delfino, but there’s something else here
that reminded me of it--the power lines that run between buildings.
Is it possible Mario might be able to use them to cross over gaps and even bounce off
them, like before?
We wouldn’t be surprised--although the fact that the poles are yellow and there’s a
clear Electric symbol on them might mean that could be a bad idea...
Now for these final two tidbits, we need to think a little outside of the box...the TV
box that is, because we can see the woman playing has a variety of amiibo nearby, including
Yoshi, Bowser, Luigi, Peach, and Mario himself.
Yeah, it’s probably unrelated..,but what if those amiibo actually are compatible with
this game?
And on a similar note, we can’t help but wonder if, when see her pack up her Switch
to go play multiplayer with her friends--might they possibly be playing the same Mario...together?
Guess we’ll find out soon enough!
And there you have it--that’s everything we could uncover about Super Mario for the
Nintendo Switch.
But as always, let us know if we missed anything by posting in the comments below.
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