Super Mario Bros. 35

Development and release

Super Mario Bros. 35 was built by Arika, with work starting before their earlier title Tetris 99 came out in February 2019. The game was revealed on September 3, 2020, as part of the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary. When it was announced, people compared it to Mario Royale, a fan-made game by InfernoPlus that Nintendo had taken down a year earlier for copyright issues. Arika said they did not copy that project, explaining that their own game was already in development before Mario Royale appeared.

The game launched on October 1 for free to Nintendo Switch Online members. A week later, a patch fixed small bugs and improved connection stability. For Halloween, from October 20 to November 2, 2020, the Special Battle mode only offered underground and night-themed courses. The final Special Battle ran from March 30 to April 1, featuring every course in order.

Some players were accused of cheating to get 99,999 coins in one round, which gave them an easy supply of power-ups and helped them top the leaderboards. Nintendo responded by removing online videos that showed gameplay suspected of being hacked. Super Mario Bros. 35 was shut down on April 1, 2021. Doug Bowser, president of Nintendo of America, explained that the 35th-anniversary products were ended because the celebration was meant to be a one-time event.

He called the concept a success, pointing out that Super Mario 3D All-Stars sold over 2 million copies during its limited run. He also said that limited-time events were not planned as a regular marketing tactic for future anniversaries. In June 2021, Hackaday reported that a reverse-engineered game server had been set up.

Reception

Super Mario Bros. 35 earned a "generally favorable" score of 75 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 28 reviews. On OpenCritic, 58% of critics recommended the game. It was playable until April 1, with its removal from the Nintendo eShop happening the day before. Reviewers liked the game's fresh ideas and fun gameplay but pointed out its repetitive nature and lack of depth. Chris Button of GameSpot highlighted how it added a competitive spin to the original game. Chris Scullion of Nintendo Life said it took the classic and "dials it to 11." Kirstin Swalley of Hardcore Gamer called the concept creative and "silly in the best kind of way." Ethan Gach of Kotaku enjoyed the idea, describing the late-game as a "true gauntlet of death," but noted the "novelty doesn't last long." Seth Macy of IGN agreed, stating that "the repetition of the early levels... definitely makes it feel less super."

The main criticism centered on how often players had to replay early stages. At the start, only one level is available, and more unlock as you play. This forces beginners—who haven't unlocked many levels—to keep playing the same early ones. Zachary Cuevas of iMore said the unlocking method was confusing. Chris Carter of Destructoid thought too few players chose different levels before matches, likely because there was no in-game tutorial. Button observed that this repetition hurt the game's pacing and intensity, though he found the Special Battle mode a good competitive option.

Other complaints involved the final moments of rounds, which often became a test of endurance between two players running through the same levels. Ozzie Mejia of Shacknews said the last two players would "find themselves in a deadlock after playing the same levels over and over," but appreciated that the in-game timer sped up to match the tension. Gach felt the ending relied only on standard platforming, though it could challenge skilled players. Scullion noted the back-and-forth between final players until someone won. Aubin Gregoire of Jeuxvideo.com commented that these face-to-face battles could last up to five minutes, with the gameplay starting to loop.