Nintendo Announces 3 Retro Mario Games Returning for Mario Day

Next week’s annual celebration of Super Mario will be marked by the return of three retro games via Nintendo Switch Online.

Nintendo will add two more Virtual Console titles and a popular Game Boy Advance classic to its subscription service on March 10, otherwise known as Mario Day (because its date is MAR10).

The recently-launched Nintendo Switch Online Virtual Console range will get Mario Tennis and Mario Clash, both released in 1995, while its Game Boy Advance catalog will add 2004’s Mario vs. Donkey Kong. You will, however, need the Switch Online’s pricier Expansion Pack tier to access the games.

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/2028999114575212759?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

If you like peering into a peripheral and batting away balls, Mario Tennis is a fairly standard sport experience that happens to feature Nintendo’s mascot and other Mushroom Kingdom residents on the court. Mario Clash, meanwhile, is set within the a series of underground pipes and lets you go bowling with Koopa Troopa shells.

Of the three, Mario vs. Donkey Kong is the most interesting. A spiritual successor to the original Donkey Kong, this puzzle platformer was successful enough that it spawned a whole spinoff series, and a full Switch remake that launched in 2024. Here, you can see where that all started.

Nintendo has not yet announced any other celebrations to mark Mario Day, though fans are hoping we hear more from the company soon following a recent third-party Partner Direct and this week’s Indie World broadcast. The company has often held a full Nintendo Direct in March, ahead of the financial year’s end. Maybe we’ll hear more about that next week too.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social