Ben Lindbergh

You know, I wrote a piece for The Ringer years ago about what a Nintendo Cinematic Universe would look like.

We all like to speculate about this.

And yet, yeah, we don't want it to be so transparent on the screen that that's what you're trying to do, that the movie itself feels like.

Yes, we all have deep-seated attachments to these characters and these properties, but do we have them to the movies themselves?

And I'm sure that there are kids who are forging those connections to these characters and these properties through the movies, and maybe that will be a gateway to the games.

Maybe it won't, right?

And so...

You know, I'm coming to this from a different perspective as a washed man who's as old as Mario is as a franchise, essentially.

So, you know, Mario's 40.

I'm turning 40.

Like, this is our perspective.

So if the kids discover the wonders of Nintendo through these movies, then...

I'm all for it.

And, you know, it arrives at an interesting time in terms of the Switch's lifecycle or the Switch 2, because Nintendo reportedly is cutting Switch 2 production in the U.S.

after a slow holiday sales season that has been blamed in part, you know, yes, it's prices and probably several consoles increased in price while we have been recording this episode, but it's also a lack of the flagship first-party system sellers

Even though there's Mario Kart, even though there's Bonanza, even though there are multiple Pokemon games that are really kind of carrying for Nintendo right now, you haven't had the Zelda game yet, understandably, and you haven't had the 3D Mario.

And...

leaker Nate the Hate, who is one of the more reputable Nintendo leakers, I suppose, recently reported Nintendo's upcoming plans.

And, you know, this is someone with a fairly solid track record of having been accurate in the past.

And according to the leaker, there's an Ocarina remake of some sort coming later this year and a new Star Fox game.