Nintendo kicks off Mario 35th anniversary merchandising
Fashion brand Uniqlo joins Lego in celebrating the mascot’s 2020 birthday
Nintendo has kicked off its Super Mario 35th anniversary merchandising with a new range from fashion brand Uniqlo.
The range of men and kids clothing celebrates Super Mario Bros’ 35th anniversary and features “graphic prints of everyone’s favourite hero.”
Uniqlo’s latest range of Nintendo-themed clothing unsurprisingly puts an emphasis on the Nintendo mascot’s 35 years, with imagery depicting many of Mario’s classic entries.
The range is currently only available in Europe and there does not appear to be sizing for women.
As first revealed by VGC last month, Nintendo is planning to celebrate Super Mario Bros.’ 35th anniversary this year with several major releases, new and old.
As part of its anniversary celebrations, Nintendo will reveal plans to re-release most of Super Mario’s 35-year back catalogue this year, remastered for Nintendo Switch, VGC was told, including 1996’s Super Mario 64, 2002’s Super Mario Sunshine and 2007’s Super Mario Galaxy.
Nintendo will also release several other Mario titles in 2020, including a new instalment in the Paper Mario series and a Deluxe version of 2013’s Super Mario 3D World.
The Super Mario 35th Anniversary reveal was originally due to take place as a physical event at E3 in June, VGC was told, but Nintendo is now reviewing its plans in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. E3 2020 has been cancelled due to the virus outbreak and Nintendo could instead opt for a digital showcase.
Nintendo has already unveiled one flagship licensing deal planned to commemorate the anniversary: a special interactive Lego Mario set which sees players collecting coins and defeating enemies in real-life ‘levels’.
Nintendo last celebrated a milestone Mario anniversary with the series’ 30th anniversary in 2015.
The company commemorated the occasion with various events and merchandise, including two special edition 8-bit Mario Amiibos. That year’s celebrations culminated with the release of Super Mario Maker for Wii U in September 2015.
While its core business remains making and selling games, Nintendo has increasingly moved to leverage its popular IP in various ways in recent years.
The company’s new Nintendo Tokyo store opened in November 2019, while the Super Nintendo World theme park land at Universal Studios Japan was scheduled to launch this summer.
The company has also recently partnered with fashion brands such as Moschino and Levis for Nintendo-themed clothing lines.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa recently said the company’s efforts to broaden its audience by leveraging its IP outside of video games was bearing fruit, and Nintendo director Shigeru Miyamoto also touched on this topic in a Famitsu interview.
