Nintendo Switch Online Users Can Download Two Super Mario Games for Free to Celebrate Anniversary
Nintendo Switch Online users can download two Super Mario games for free to celebrate each of their respective anniversaries. One of these Super Mario games is one of the best Super Mario games of all time. Meanwhile, unlike some Nintendo Switch Online offers, this one is not locked behind the Expansion Pack. Rather, it is available for all Nintendo Switch Online subscribers across both consoles: Switch and Switch 2, just like some free new Super Mario icons released by Nintendo.
One of these two games is Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins for the original Game Boy. As you may know, this Super Mario game celebrated its 34-year anniversary on October 21. While it didn’t come to the West until November 2, 1992, it debuted in Japan on October 21, 1992. The Super Mario Land series, which was modeled after the original 1985 Super Mario Bros., has a couple of claim to fames, including the first game being the first handheld entry in the series and the first mainline title not designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the series. That said, it’s also a series that has been dormant since the 1990s.
The second of these two games is Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES, one of the greatest video games ever made. Again, this wouldn’t come to the West until 1990, but two years earlier, on October 23, 1988, it was released in Japan via the NES and the NES only. And while Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins was one of the best-selling Game Boy games, it is one of the best-selling NES games. While Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is often a forgotten Super Mario game, despite its popularity, Super Mario Bros. 3 is often cited as one of the best games in the franchise’s storied history.
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
For those who know nothing about Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, it is a platformer, like most of the Mario games from this time. It picks up where the first game ends, with Mario returning from his adventure in Super Mario Land, only to discover that his rival, Wario, has taken control of his castle in his absence. Not only that, but the whole realm has been placed over the land, leaving the castle locked. To break the spell, Mario needs to collect all six Golden Coins, hence the name of the game. The problem is they are scattered across the Mushroom Kingdom and are all being controlled by various powerful bosses.
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Bros. 3 is also a platformer, and a sequel to 1985’s Super Mario Bros. and fellow 1988 release Super Mario Bros. 2. In it, Mario and Luigi must come together to once again save the Mushroom World, which is under threat by Bowser and his seven children, the Koopalings. Each of the Koopalings has taken control of each of the seven kingdoms of the Mushroom World, using powerful wands to transform each of their respective rulers into animals. Mario and Luigi must defeat each of these seven Koopalings, recover the wands, and restore normality. And of course, Princess Peach ends up needing rescuing as well.