Nintendo's Disney Vault

On September 3rd, Nintendo dropped a Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct, detailing what we'd have to look forward to in celebration of the long running platforming series big birthday. And there is a lot to be jazzed about but one of the biggest reveals was the confirmation of the long rumored Super Mario 3D All-Stars compilation on the Switch. This collection will included touched up versions of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy, which is all kinds of awesome. Then, in a classic Nintendo move, they told us that Super Mario 3D All-Stars would only be available both in physical and digital formats until March 31st, 2021. Yeah, Nintendo pulled a Disney Vault on us.

For those not in the know, Disney was once notorious for re-releasing their acclaimed animated films for a limited time. If you didn't snatch up Pinocchio while it was available, well, you wouldn't see that sucker again for a good seven years. Back inside the Disney Vault it went. Most companies tend to make their films easily accessible. Disney, at least when it came to their animated films, was the opposite. With Disney's vault program, they restricted access to some very much loved films. It was quite infuriating for any animation collector or for anyone that simply dug Disney's animated flicks, which, regardless of what you may think of Disney as a company, was and still is a plethora of people. Nintendo is essentially doing a Disney Vault by limiting the availability of Super Mario 3D All-Stars and there is absolute zero reason for them to do this.

Image by Nintendo

The three games that make up Super Mario 3D All-Stars are Mario's first three 3D adventures. They are kind of a big deal. Super Mario 64 has seen several re-releases via Super Mario 64DS and the Wii and Wii U's Virtual Console. Super Mario Sunshine, however, has never seen a re-release of any kind, being stuck on the GCN since 2002. Despite the design flaws and glitches Sunshine has, a lot of people still adore that game, so good of Nintendo for bringing it back. The fact that all three of these games are finally coming to the Switch is huge. Annnnnd Nintendo is placing a time limit on how long they will be available.

I'm not sure if Nintendo's Disney Vault ploy is to drum up demand, but there is no need for such action to be taken. These are some are Mario's most well known games. Not only that, they are coming to the Switch, a system that has been printing fat sacks of cash for Nintendo since the day it launched. Nintendo doesn't need to place a six month time window on this release because they are going to make bank on it anyway.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made Switches harder to come by. Money is also tight for millions of people because of the job losses due to said pandemic. Some people would probably get a Switch just to play this game but can't right now due to the sad state of the world. By the time things improve for a lot of struggling folks, it could be too late to buy Super Mario 3D All-Stars both physically and digitally.

Nintendo's instance on boneheaded decisions continues to astound me. It makes no sense to sell such a coveted collection of games for a limited time. They didn't place a limit on Animal Crossing: New Horizons and the game has already sold over 16 million copies. It's like Nintendo just had to make a stupid move to go along with the good move they made.

Image by Nintendo

About a year ago, something amazing happen to the Disney vault program: it ended. Disney+, the company's streaming service effectively killed the much loathed practice of limited animated film releases by making nearly all of the entire back catalog available for anyone that signs up for it. Wanna watch The Lion King, The Jungle Book, or The Great Mouse Detective? No problem. As long as Disney doesn't decide to ax Disney+ (with all the money the streaming service gives them, they'd be foolish to do so) you never have to worry about access to Disney animate features ever again because Disney has never made accessing them so much easier.

Maybe Nintendo will hop off the stupid horse sometime after March 31, 2021 passes and realize that they can make way more money by continuing to sell Super Mario 3D All-Stars. Maybe. Then again, this is a company that still struggles to get their games working online correctly. Drumming up demand, creating FOMO (fear of missing out) when their isn't a need to do so is classic Nintendo. Great at making games, infuriating as a company.