There’s a three-step process I go through every time Nintendo announces some physical goodie that I’m interested in owning.
First, I am thrilled by the announcement and I usually try to get my preorder in right away.
Then, I am struck with the horrible realization that, once again, Nintendo is planning on under-producing said item. I spend the waiting period with anxiety and nervousness, hoping that my item will actually show up. There have been instances when my Nintendo preorder was cancelled at the last minute due to unforeseen stock shortages, and I know I’m not alone in this.
Finally, the item arrives, and I can breathe a huge sigh of relief.
The last step in that process is where I’m at with Super Mario 3D All-Stars, for my package showed up this morning and a beautiful physical copy of the game was inside. Oh, happy day!
I have a weird physical-only rule for my Nintendo Switch. I don’t know how it started, but at some point I decided that all of my Switch games should be on cartridge rather than digital. I’ve made a few exceptions (Don’t Starve and Graveyard Keeper are unlikely to get the physical treatment, and both are must-plays), but for the most part, I’ve managed to amass an unusually large amount of plastic game cartridges.
So as soon as Super Mario 3D All-Stars was announced as a limited-time offer, I knew I had to get on it right away. This collection includes Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy. I’ve played all three games to 100% completion (with the exception of Super Mario Galaxy‘s New Game Plus, in which you play as Luigi), but the prospect of owning them on the Switch, and getting to revisit them whenever I want to without rebuying old consoles, is one I can’t pass up. Each of these three games has a very special place in my game-loving heart, and each one brings back floods of memories.
But panic ensued. Suddenly, retailers were dropping pre-orders, and I had to hold onto the hope that mine would stick. I can’t tell you how many times I checked my inbox, expecting to see the cancellation notification.
So I’m sure you can imagine how enormous this burden was, and how relieved I feel now that it’s been lifted from my shoulders.
I don’t know why this is a thing with Nintendo, but this has been a problem for decades. One must only look to the world-famous amiibo shortage to see evidence of this. And do you remember how difficult it was to get a Wii at launch? Or how about the special Majora’s Mask 3DS console, for which preorders were oversold and had to be refunded? Good times, these were not.
If you’re hoping to get your own physical copy of Super Mario 3D All-Stars and you still haven’t picked one up, well, I wish you the best of luck. And I should also warn you that your hope might be in vain. There’s always digital, though (well, not always — only until the end of March, it turns out).
As for me, I can breathe a bit easier today.
You can check out the Super Mario 3D All-Stars launch trailer below.
