After the game's announcement took the internet by storm, fans are less than impressed with design of Super Mario 3D All-Stars' cartridge.
After a long period of time between full Nintendo Directs, this week's announcement surrounding the 35th anniversary of the Mario series had fans on the edge of their seats. Rumors from earlier this year were proven to be true, as Nintendo revealed that Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy would all be making their way to the Nintendo Switch later in September.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and the Direct itself, surprised a lot of fans who were desperate for a first party reveal. Porting three of the most beloved games from Mario's long line of successful platformers was a safe bet to excite long-time Mario fans, but it seems like nobody is excited about the design of the game's cartridge.
Thanks to Twitter, an image of the physical game card has been leaked, and it isn't exactly the pinnacle of graphic design. The majority of the image is taken up by the ESRB rating, forcing the game's logo to be small and off center.
It is strange that the designers of this graphic didn't create an alternate logo that would look better on a small card. Because the logo is so tall, it would be obscured by the ESRB rating if placed in the center of the cartridge.
Additionally, the golden background seems slightly uninspired. It makes sense from the fact that the game is a celebration of Mario's anniversary, an important event and one worthy of being golden. But in execution, the card as a whole looks very plain, and downright boring.
While the game releases on September 18th, fans will only be able to purchase Super Mario 3D All-Stars, both digitally and physically, until March of 2021. Nintendo has adopted Disney's concept of the vault, making older content limited in order to drive sales.
Given Nintendo's long history of under-producing hardware, making it difficult for fans to find consoles and games on launch day, it might be a good idea to preorder a physical edition if you really want the box art on your shelf.
Source: Twitter