As you know, Nintendo recently released Super Mario Bros 35 on Nintendo Switch Online. Designed as a battle royale experience for the original Super Mario Bros, the game pits 35 players against each other as they fight to see who can become the last plumber standing.
It’s a simple concept, and one which quickly became a hit upon release.
However, it wasn’t the only game utilising the idea. No, a Mario fan game called Mario Royale also used it back in June 2019, before being shut down by Nintendo. This similarity has led many fans and writers to suspect Nintendo stole the idea, and got rid of the fan project to cover their backs.
Like InfernoPlus, the original creator of the game in question, who said:
My first reaction was ‘Oh wow, should have seen that coming,’
It’s honestly really funny that some nonsense joke idea I came up with ended up being yoinked by a giant corporation like Nintendo. They must be really out of ideas over there.
Yet as it turns out, this isn’t the case. No, Super Mario Bros 35 is not a ripoff of Mario Royale.
Instead, according to a couple of (now removed) Twitter posts by a developer, it actually started back before Tetris 99 was released. Here’s a translation for said tweets, as provided by PushDustIn on Twitter:
In this tweet, Mihara, who works for Arika Co. Ltd (they worked on Mario 35), confirms that Mario 35 was actually in development before Tetris 99 was even released. There was some reporting in the West that Mario 35 is a rip off of a Mario Battle Royale game, but that's not true. https://t.co/vkTOyD6diS
— PushDustIn-Nintendo News and Trivia (@PushDustIn) October 1, 2020
Some extra notes: When the Mario Battle Royale game was released, Arika was already in the process of testing Mario 35.
Mario 35 doesn't use emulation either, and the team received advice from Nintendo.
— PushDustIn-Nintendo News and Trivia (@PushDustIn) October 1, 2020
So no, Nintendo didn’t steal the idea. They were already working on it back in 2019, and Inferno just happened to come up with something similar when making his fan game.
It’s not too surprising really. After all, a Mario battle royale is hardly a novel idea, and other Mario fan games and mods with it do already exist. Add this to Super Mario Bros 1’s recognisability and simpler mechanics, and everything from the art style to mechanics just fall into place from there.
Still, what do you think? Are you surprised that Super Mario Bros 35 wasn’t meant to be a ripoff of Mario Royale? What do you think the chances are of two fairly similar games being released so close together?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments below, on the Gaming Latest forums, or on our Discord server today!
Source: