Biggest Video Game News Of The Week (February 11
Mario’s Super Bowl ad, Dead Island’s new date, and all of the other biggest stories from the video game world this week.
If you had told 10-year-old me that in 2023, Sonic, Mario, and Pokemon would all still be making major video game headlines, I’d have probably believed you because they’re all awesome, so why wouldn’t they? With almost a century of video game experience combined between the three series, Mario’s movie, Sonic’s frontiers, and what’s potentially next for Pokemon were all among the biggest news stories in gaming this past week. Everything you need to know on why those video game stalwarts were in the news and more as we recap the biggest stories from the past seven days.
Super Mario Bros. Movie’s Super Bowl Spot Revives Super Show Rap
As the world was preparing for the Super Bowl last weekend, a new ad for the Super Mario Bros. Movie that would air during the game debuted. Not a trailer, per se, but a faux advert for Mario and Luigi’s plumbing business. One that revived the rap from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, ensuring it was an instant hit with long-time fans. After the ad aired, fans discovered the website it includes is real, and that if you call the number shown, you’ll hear a recorded message from Luigi. Plus, the world is still wondering whether the customer is actually voiced by the same actor who played Princess Toadstool in Super Show.
Rihanna’s Super Smash Bros. Super Stage
After everyone had recovered from the excitement that was the Mario ad, video game Twitter was set ablaze by Super Bowl hype for a second time via Rihanna’s halftime show. Not because it was great but because the impressive stage on which she performed looked like something that had been pulled from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The memes adding the finishing touches, turning Rihanna into the latest Super Smash Bros. roster addition, and now that’s all most of us will see whenever we see footage and images from the performance from now until the end of time.
Sonic Frontiers Success And More 2D Games
There was a lot of Sonic news this week, beginning with fans guessing what a rumored Sonic Origins Plus will add to the collection. That speculation was followed with a Sega director confirming that there will be more 2D games in the Blue Blur’s future, and the Sonic Frontiers director revealing an interest in introducing comic characters to upcoming titles. The biggest Sonic news of all was confirmation that Frontiers exceeded expectations which means whatever’s next will have additional money pumped into it. Evidence that reviews aren’t the be-all, end-all as Sega also admitted Frontiers’ Metacritic score was lower than expected.
Stacked Expectations For Pokemon Day
Pokemon Day is fast approaching and fans are expecting a lot of big reveals on February 27. That’s despite Pokemon not claiming it has anything to reveal at all. People have pieced together clues suggesting a number of Pokemon games from the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance will be added to Nintendo Switch Online, largely because none were announced when the libraries were revealed during last week’s Direct. Others have found evidence suggesting a new Mystery Dungeon game is in development. Suffice to say, if Pokemon Day passes with nothing announced, a lot of people are going to be very unhappy.
Dead Island 2 Is Done And Launching Earlier Than Expected
There are a lot of big games coming in the first half of 2023. That has resulted in a release date minefield for pretty much anything that isn’t Tears of the Kingdom. Launching an additional seven days earlier than the new Zelda game, and also moving away from arriving on the same day as Jedi: Survivor, it was revealed this week that Dead Island 2 will now be here on April 21. Revealed alongside the news the sequel has gone gold, whether you can really claim Dead Island 2 will be here earlier than expected ultimately depends on when you were expecting it. If you were expecting it on April 28, then yes it is arriving early. If you’re one of the people who has been holding onto their pre-order for the better part of the last decade, maybe not so much.
Ragnarok Almost Began With The Killing Of Kratos
If you haven’t played God of War Ragnarok yet then watch out, mild spoilers lie ahead. A writer who worked on the sequel revealed this week that a very early draft had Thor killing Kratos right at the beginning of the game. While that intense first battle was kept, Kratos being killed and then rescued after a 20-year time jump did not make it into the final cut of the game. It was also revealed this week that many of the game’s devs weren’t aware characters would yell solutions to Ragnarok’s puzzles at players until after their work was done.