Switch (Game card)
It’s day 4 of my countdown to celebrate 40 years of Super Mario, one game format at a time! Today, I’m staying current with the Nintendo Switch!
The Switch, with its unique hybrid design shook the gaming world when it launched in 2017. With its detachable Joy-Cons, motion sensing, and multiple ways to play, it offers huge appeal and flexibility. Developers found it easy to work with too.
It also packed a strong library from day one. It became a runaway hit, selling over 150 million units worldwide – making it Nintendo’s most successful home console ever. With the Lite (2019) and OLED models (2021), the family continued to grow. And now the Switch 2 is upon us!
The Switch’s region-free cards combine faster load times and higher capacities. Most don’t go beyond a 32GB capacity, which is enough space to hold over 30,000 average NES games. Crazy when you think about it! And the newer Switch 2 cards promise to be at least double that!
There are 36 Switch-era Mario titles on this website at the time of writing. Too many to cover here, but let’s take a look at a few of the heavy hitters!
Super Mario Odyssey (2017) and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017)
Odyssey brought back sandbox-style exploration, with each kingdom acting as a large open area full of secrets and challenges. Nintendo’s insane optimisation skills meant this critically acclaimed game only needed 5.7GB to fit it all in!
It also featured Pauline – her first major role since the Donkey Kong era! I adore this game. I still feel a sense of huge achievement beating levels like Breakdown Road: Final Challenge! Oh, and getting that jump rope glitch just right was cool too.
Now the best-selling Mario game of all time (estimated at over 67 million copies!), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe added all-new DLC like new characters (Inkling Boy & Girl, Bowser Jr., King Boo, Dry Bones), battle arenas, and smart steering to help beginners stay on track.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)
Smash Bros. is quite simply the best-selling fighting game of all time. It’s the only game where Mario can throw a fireball at Minecraft Steve and get hit back with a pickaxe. A true “only in Smash” moment created by Bandai Namco Studios and Masahiro Sakurai.
Super Mario RPG (2023) and Super Mario Wonder (2023)
A 1:1 recreation by Arte Piazza of the beloved SNES original, but with modern 3D visuals, orchestrated music, and refined battle mechanics. It’s also the first time PAL gamers got an official English version of Super Mario RPG.
This whimsical and wonder-filled game was the first post-Martinet with Kevin Afghani taking over the mantle of voice-acted dialogue. Super Mario Wonder shook up 2D Mario with animated pipes, dancing Goombas, and Mario turning into an elephant!
Princess Peach: Showtime! (2024) and Mario & Luigi: Brothership (2024)
This was Peach’s first solo game since Super Princess Peach (2005). Mario doesn’t appear at all in this platformer! The developer Good Feel was also behind Yoshi’s Woolly World and Wario Land: Shake It!
The Mario & Luigi RPG series returned after a long hiatus, and this was the first title developed by Acquire. This new instalment preserves the series’ dual-brother combat system and humorous writing.
Switch 2 enters the chat
The Switch 2 era is now here and continues with the game card format – adding more storage and a change in appearance – Switch 2 cards are now red versus Switch 1’s grey. But there’s a twist: Game-Key Cards – containing no game data, just a digital license to download the game!
Whether that concept sticks? We’ll see. But it’s a bold move as Nintendo steps further into the digital future. Keep an eye on whether Mario spinoffs or DLC packs start appearing in this format exclusively.
The Switch era continues to be one of the most successful for Mario. It helped fuel the demand for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, with global box office takings of $1.36 billion, and also inspiring real-world fun with the development of Super Nintendo World.
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