Super Duper Mario Throwback

Super Duper Mario ThrowbackJapanese: スーパードゥーパーマーリーオースローバック, Hepburn: Sūpā Dūpā Mario Surōbakku is a 2026 HD-2D platformer developed by Gilded Bronze Games and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch 2. A debut title for the system, it stars Mario, Luigi and other characters from the franchise as they journey across familiar lands to save the Mushroom King from a mysterious, dimension-warping villain.
In the game, Mario and co. traverse the Mushroom Kingdom while avoiding enemies and obstacles. The game plays similarly to earlier titles in the franchise, particularly Super Mario Bros. 3, with the major differences of the removal of the lives system (replaced by a death counter) and the time limit per stage (replaced by bonus points based on the time taken to beat the stage).
The game received mixed reviews, with most reviewers citing the visual style (including the heavy reuse of sprites from Super Mario All-Stars), plot and similarities to previous games in the franchise as negatives. However, some players welcomed the precedent of an overseas company developing a mainline Mario game, hoping for a future game in the series to address these issues.
==Gameplay==
Super Duper Mario Throwback is a platformer with several side-scrolling levels in which the player controls Mario, Luigi, Peach or Toad. As well as running and jumping, the player is aided by several returning power-ups from the franchise, including the Super Mushroom, Fire and Ice Flowers, and the Starman.
Like previous games in the franchise, the game features two main screens: the overworld map and the levels. The former is a representation of the Mushroom Kingdom in which players can move around to select levels, and the latter are the playable courses. Within the levels, the player may find regular coins, as well as up to 5 Star Coins (an increase from the usual 3). These serve only to increase the player's score, and have no other effect on gameplay.
To beat a level, the player must reach the flagpole at the end of each level. After, they are given a ranking based on the amount of points obtained on the stage, amount of Star Coins collected and the time taken to reach the end. These range from S (Super-duper!) to C (Close one!).
Every 3 stages, there is a castle-themed level. To unlock it, the player must have beaten all previous levels with a B rank in at least two of them. These act as skill checks, making sure the player understood the concepts shown in the previous stages.
===Playable Characters===
	Mario 	Average run speed, average jump.
	Luigi 	Average run speed, high jump.
Has low friction.
	Princess Peach	Slow run speed, average jump.
Can float in mid-air for a brief time.
	Toad 	Fast run speed, short jump.
===Non-playable Characters===
The Mushroom King	Ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. Kidnapped by ???
??? 	The main antagonist and final boss. A reality-bending being from another dimension.
Bowser 	The secondary villain. He appears in every castle level as its boss.
Mushroom Retainer	A Toad who helpfully lets the player know that the king is being held elsewhere. Appears in the first three castles.
===Power-ups & Items===
	 	
	Super Mushroom	Increases the player's size, granting them an extra hit point.
	Fire Flower 	Allows the player to shoot fireballs.
	Ice Flower 	Allows the player to shoot ice balls that can freeze enemies.
	Super Leaf 	Gives the player a tanuki costume, allowing them to fly.
	Starman 	Gives the player temporary invincibility.
	Coin 	Collectible. Adds score.
	Star Coin 	Same as above. There's 5 per level.
	P Switch 	Temporarily turns coins into blocks and viceversa.
	Key 	Unlocks a door.
	Flagpole / Axe	Ends the level.
===Enemies===
 	
Goomba 	Walks on a straight line and dies in one hit.
Koopa Troopa 	Walks on a straight line and retreats into its shell when hit.
Green Koopa Troopas fall off ledges, Red Koopa Troopas turn around.
Buzzy Beetle 	Walks on a straight line and retreats into its shell when hit.
Impervious to fire and ice.
Lakitu & Spinies 	Lakitu flies over the player and throws Spinies at them.
Spinies walk on a straight line and die in one hit. They can't be jumped on.
Hammer Bros. 	Koopa-type enemies that jump around and throw hammers at the player.
They die in one hit.
Podoboo 	Fireball that jumps up and then falls down.
Appears only in castle levels.
Boo 	Ghost that chases the player when they aren't looking at it.
Appears mostly in haunted mansion levels.
Cheep Cheep & Bloopers	Aquatic enemies. Cheep Cheep swim in a straight line and Bloopers chase the player.
They both die in one hit.
==Plot==
Mario and his friends are in Princess Peach's castle celebrating her father's birthday, when Bowser crashes through a window. He lays there for a moment, before jumping up and quickly grabbing the Mushroom King. He jumps out another window and runs off. 
The gang start to chase after him, when one of them notices a square-ish black splotch in the sky. It quickly grows to cover the entire sky, and Mario and friends are covered in darkness. After a while, Mario opens his eyes to see everything has become pixelated. Briefly confused, he remembers the King and runs off with his friends. 
During the course of the game, the player encounters Bowser as the boss in each castle. However, after his final defeat, a booming voice rings out, exclaiming "Enough!". A shadowy figure in the silhouette of a person (only known as ???) appears from a mass of blocky smoke, before delivering a brief monologue about "the good ol' days" and how the King wasn't meant to be the one captured. It then challenges the player (not the player character) to defeat it if they can.
After this, the player must jump on its head three times. This is made difficult by the ever-changing terrain, as ??? teleports the player into different levels and summons several environmental hazards. Eventually, it is defeated, and after a sequence in which it laments its loss and claims vengeance on the player, it disappears in a blinding flash of light.
Mario and his friends awake in a field, everything back to normal. The King looks around him, then chortles "Ho-ho! That was so retro!". Mario faces the camera in clear disappointment at what he is hearing as the screen fades to black.
==Development==
Super Duper Mario Throwback is the first mainline Mario game developed entirely by a third-party company, Gilded Bronze Games. Their portfolio includes the rougelite game Abraham's Binds, the simulation game Fortress of Goblins and the puzzle-platform game The Braids, the latter of which has enjoyed overwhelmingly positive reviews.
According to Ari Velasco, CEO of Gilded Bronze Games, Nintendo approached them in early 2024 to discuss the possibility of creating a new Mario game as a launch title for their then-unreleased console, the Nintendo Switch 2. The company immediately agreed, and production began.
It is rumoured that the game's development was marred by executive meddling, with several employees claiming that Velasco would "not allow any innovation" and "shout 'MORE RETRO! MORE!!!' during company meetings". When asked about this, Velasco simply claimed that the company "didn't want to bite off more than [they] could chew" by straying too far from "the Mario formula". There have also been reports that Nintendo were not allowed to preview the game until very late in the development timeline.
Some time after the game's release, an anonymous employee went on an interview for the gaming magazine GGGG, asserting that "when Brace Yourself Games were asked to make a Zelda game, they just did Crypt of the NecroDancer again. Why can't we do Mario again? As if you people could come up with ideas for Mario games!". Upon the article's release, Velasco re-floated it on his Floatr account, before undoing it shortly after. The employee's identity has, as of yet, not been made public.
==Reception==
The game was heavily criticised for its plot which, according to one reviewer, "simultaneously tries to pander to fans of retro Mario games, while claiming they're stuck in the past and should get with the program". Similar criticism was levied against its art style, described "as if someone took sprites from Super Mario All-Stars and applied the 'bevel & emboss' effect in Photoshop".
However, some fans felt the gameplay was a "return to form" for the Mario series and that the plot, while "disgustingly meta", was reminiscent of the simplicity of the ones in previous games. Many commented positively on the apparent subversion of the 'damsel in distress' trope, while others opined it hadn't been subverted at all.
The game was the first mainline Mario game to be developed by a company other than Nintendo. Some cited this as the reason for the game's polarising reactions, with others seeing this as a promising, albeit flawed, first step in Nintendo being more open with its intellectual property.
==Gallery & Trivia==
*This is the third mainline Mario game to feature voice-acting, after Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Super Mario Sunshine.
*The game's promotional material consistently refers to Super Stars as "Starmen". This is a subtle nod to Super Mario Bros. on the NES.
*Ari Velasco, CEO of Gilded Bronze Games, has said in interviews that they would be happy to work on further games in the Mario series, "if given the opportunity".
*Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Mario series, is said to have shed a tear upon seeing the finished game. It is currently unknown whether it was tears of joy or sadness.
File:SuperDuperMarioThrowback1.png|Mario in a grass-themed level
File:SuperDuperMarioThrowback2.png|Luigi in an underground level
File:SuperDuperMarioThrowback3.png|Toad in a castle level