Nintendo has been on a remake kick lately. Since 2014, we’ve seen remakes of Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, and Xenoblade Chronicles, among others, and the cycle continues with the upcoming release of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD on March 4. With that release, Nintendo is just about out of its main source of remake games—3D Zelda titles (Skyward Sword isn’t really a candidate because of its controls). So, what’s next? The next step should be a remake of the Super Mario Galaxy games—not for the Wii U, but for the Nintendo NX.
After Twilight Princess HD, Nintendo Should Remake Super Mario Galaxy
Nintendo has done well with its Zelda remakes (and presumably with Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, too). Nintendo 64 and GameCube-era games don’t really look great nowadays on their own, but the gameplay is still as compelling and sophisticated as ever, so it’s a natural move to remake them. Up until now, Nintendo has mostly focused on Zelda. It’s the low-hanging fruit.
But Super Mario Galaxy is the next and most obvious choice for a 3D remake—especially with the Nintendo NX potentially right around the corner. After all, both the original and the sequel are among the best-selling titles for the Wii, and continue to be held in very high esteem. Like Twilight Princess Wii, the titles are still backwards compatible with Wii U. We don’t know yet if Nintendo NX will have any backwards compatibility, but we do know it’ll be more powerful than the Wii U, roughly on par with the PS4 . And that’s a big graphical upgrade from way back in 2007.
Besides, we know for a fact that Nintendo is making a major new 3D Mario game. There are some intimations that it may—possibly—even be Super Mario Galaxy 3, although the most recent reports indicate otherwise. Since the game was a no-show at E3 2015 , it seems pretty likely that Nintendo is holding it for the Nintendo NX—possibly as a launch title. Either way, the launch of the Nintendo NX is the perfect time to introduce Super Mario Galaxy to a new generation, with modernized controls and beautiful graphics.
Much as we’d all love to see a new remake of the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Mario games have always been bigger sellers. If we see any new HD remakes in the early days of the Nintendo NX era—or even the waning Wii U days—it’s most likely to be Super Mario Galaxy. It’s a natural fit, and a natural evolution of the Zelda remakes. As for Metroid Prime, we can only dream.