What can we expect from the Nintendo Switch in the back half of 2020? Animal Crossing: New Horizons just came out, and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition arrives in May, but beyond that…nothing has been announced. Well, according to a new rumor from the reliable folks at Video Games Chronicle, it seems Nintendo is planning a pretty major shindig for the Super Mario Bros. franchise’s 35th birthday!

　　Apparently, Nintendo is planning to re-release “most” of their Super Mario back catalog on the Switch. At this point, it isn’t clear what these re-releases will entail exactly, but VGC refers to them as “remasters,” so presumably they’ll be getting more than the basic treatment Nintendo Switch Online NES and SNES games have received. And what does VGC mean by “most” of the catalog? There have been over 20 original Super Mario games. That’s a lot of games to remaster!

　　Update: Eurogamer has followed up on VGC's report, saying they've specifically heard Super Mario 64, Mario Sunshine, and Mario Galaxy will be getting remastered. Whether that's the extent of the re-releases remains to be seen.

　　Word is, the Mario re-releases would have been the main focus of Nintendo’s E3 presentation, during which they also would have announced an all-new Paper Mario game and additional details about the Super Nintendo World theme parks and Super Mario movie. With E3 cancelled, we’re still likely to get some sort of Nintendo-Direct-style event announcing all this in the coming months.

　　Take these rumors with a grain of salt for now, but this would make sense. Nintendo likes to celebrate major franchise milestones, and re-releasing all the Super Mario games would be a great way to fill out their schedule. Games like Breath of the Wild 2 have reportedly been delayed, and who knows how COVID-19 might effect the development of other titles, so Super Mario might need to come to the rescue.

　　If these rumors pan out, which Super Mario games are you most excited to revisit? I’ve always been a bit of a Mario Sunshine apologist, and I’d love to play the 3DS’ Mario 3D Land on a bigger screen.