Soapbox features allow our individual writers to express their own views on current topics, opinions that are not necessarily the voice of the site. In this piece, Kate argues that Mario’s Doomsday may not be as bad an event as you think …
Let’s start with an overview of everything that will happen after March 31, 2021:
In short, it’s not going to be a great day for Mario fans, despite the fact that there is a year coming to the end of the mustachioed plumber’s 35th anniversary celebration. But instead of seeing it as an end, I choose to see it as a beginning: an opportunity for someone else to be in the spotlight.
Being a Mario fan is pretty easy, especially when compared to, say, a Metroid fan, an F-Zero fan, or a Zelda fan who doesn’t like ports. Mario has long been Nintendo’s golden child, the one who gets lavish birthday parties, a theme park, and pretty much all the glory, and while that rank is deserved – he is Nintendo’s oldest and official mascot, after all – it can be a bit tiresome for people who don’t like him the best.
And anyone who’s read the biblical story of Cain and Abel, or Joseph and his technicolor dream coat (or just watched Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical) knows what happens when one child gets all the attention at the expense of another: he is murdered and / or sold to strangers.
That’s not going to happen to Mario – especially since that’s a bit harsh for a family-friendly business – but honestly, the March 31 shutdowns may also make other games a bit of attention. I won’t argue that it’s not a bit anti-consumer to almost literally steal games from our hands, but there is a difference between “limited time only!” and “we decided to delete this because you’re crazy that’s why.” Nintendo failed in its coverage more than anything else, making “limited time” seem like it was a thing of the past. That’s really on Nintendo – and it went off quite a bit, but it can’t take it back now.
The main problem with a one-year anniversary is that it is only for a yearIt must have an end, and that end will disappoint people. The servers for Super Mario Bros. 35 are presumably only set up for the year – those things are after all costly and time-consuming to run. But those servers could be freed up for something else – perhaps something for Zelda’s 35th, starting in July (but let’s not hope).
People expect a lot from Nintendo, and while I don’t feel sorry for the multi-billion dollar company – it will be fine, I’m sure – I To do sometimes feel a pang of sympathy for Nintendo trying to live up to expectations. It gave people a “free” game (you still need a Nintendo Switch Online account, of course) as a party, and people complained it wasn’t free foreverThey re-released three classic Mario games for a fraction of the original price of each (a very un-Nintendo thing to do) and people were unhappy that it was only on sale for a year. The discontinuation of Super Mario Maker’s online services makes sense for a game nearly six years old on a console that didn’t sell well. The mistake here is for all of this to happen on the same dayThat’s just not a great look.
I know it’s silly to have hope, but I like to think Nintendo has a plan. I don’t think it’s as bad as this whole March 31st thing has made seem, although I think it comes across as a little unfriendly. I imagine it seemed like a fitting end to a year all about Mario, and it got a lot of attention and press for the games as well. But isn’t it time Mario died did someone else give the microphone anyway? I hope Nintendo’s “plan” from April 1 means that you have at least one fraction of that same love for his neglected games.
It’s okay to be disappointed around March 31st. In fact, it’s okay to be a little annoyed about it. But in the end, everything dies, and when something dies, it leaves room for something else to take its place – and doesn’t that sound exciting?