Earlier this month, Nintendo revealed their plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of the original Super Mario Bros on the NES: by driving all of Japan completely Mario-crazy. First, Nintendo revealed a special edition red DSi XL, emblazoned with popular Mario iconography. Following that, Nintendo announced a special edition 25th Anniversary red Wii, complete with a red Wii Remote Plus (that’s the one with the built-in Motion Plus Adaptor!) and a special modified anniversary version of the original Super Mario Bros on the console. It was all festive and fun, but there was no confirmation that either of the recolored consoles would make their way out of Japan at all.
Until now, that is. Kotaku is reporting that both Mario 25th Anniversary consoles— the Red DSi XL and the Red Wii—would both be coming stateside in the near future.
== TEASER ==The Red DSi XL bundle comes with that special edition of the hardware, as well as a copy of Mario Kart DS and three great DSiWare games ( two-thirds of Brain Age: Express and the Photo Clock), all for the DSi XL’s standard $180 retail price. No announced released date has been reported at this time, but with the 3DS on the way before too long, I have to imagine that this special edition DSi will be out before years end.
The 25th Anniversary Mario Wii bundle, however, does have a release date; expect the Wii bundle to pop out of a pipe on November 7 in the U.S. And it’s pretty good bundle set: you’ll get the red Wii, a Red Wii Remote Plus, a red Nunchuk, Wii Sports, and New Super Mario Bros Wii, which is perfect, because you can’t release a Mario-themed console bundle if it ain’t got a Mario game in it, and NSMBWii is like an old Mario game, except that it's more like playing a less-old Mario game that isn't getting it's anniversary release this year, but no one is going to know the difference anyway. And you'll get all of that for the Wii's standard $200 price.
Unfortunately, that copy of NSMBWii will be the only Mario game in the bundle; the special modified 25th Anniversary version of Super Mario Bros will not be included with the package. Still, if you're thinking about picking up a new Wii right now—like, for instance, if a really awesome looking game that will finally drain the cynicism out of your mind was released, but you needed a Wii to play it—this bundle sounds like a pretty good way to go about it.
If nothing else, hopefully these red Wii consoles will get the ball rolling for Nintendo to release other colored consoles. What other game-themed color would you like to see rendered in iPod plastic on a Wii? A green Zelda Wii? A yellow Pikachu Wii? A pink Kirby Wii?