Gamers are hopeful for a new 2D ‘Super Mario’ game ahead of Nintendo Direct

Tomorrow, June 21, Nintendo will stream Nintendo Direct at 7:00 a.m. PT/10:00 a.m. ET, featuring roughly 40 minutes of information concerning updates, announcements, and new Nintendo Switch titles launching this year. The livestream will take place on Nintendo’s YouTube channel, Twitch, and official Nintendo Direct website. All we know so far is that the presentation will focus especially on Everybody 1-2 Switch – set to launch June 30, and Pikmin 4 – coming July 21.

Other than that, we don’t have much word on what Nintendo has up its sleeve, but in the wake of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and in light of Nintendo’s track record, gamers are crossing their fingers and toes for a new 2D Super Mario game. June 19 marked the 10-year anniversary of New Super Luigi U, which is generally considered to be the last original 2D Super Mario title. All over Twitter, there have been reports (with foundations in rumors) that the next Super Mario title will not feature “New” in the title.

Another possibility is that Nintendo will announce ‘Super Mario Odyssey 2,’ a successor to 2017’s Super Mario Odyssey, which performed extremely well and sold two million copies of the game worldwide within three days. Rather hilariously, fans are even creating “summoning circles” to somehow manifest a new Super Mario game, so we’ll have to wait and see if that voodoo magic actually works.

Some of the best 2D games in the franchise include New Super Mario Bros. DS, New Super Luigi U, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario World, and Super Mario Bros. 3. If Nintendo announces a title that turns out to be even half as good as those mentioned, we’ll die happy.