The special hardware for Super Mario 35th anniversary may present issues to a select few European nations.
Announced in a September Mario Direct, the special Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. hardware has the ability to play Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. There’s also a special version of Game & Watch: Ball and other easter eggs. While we are just days away from the device’s launch, it seems it will launch with an unusual error. The “Mario Drawing” song which plays in the digital clock displays the wrong set of lyrics unless you speak English, Dutch or Japanese. French, Spanish, German, and Italian will display wrong.
The Nintendo UK website released a full statement:
“Please note: We would like to inform you about an error with one of the digital clock’s 35 little touches in the Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. system. Unfortunately, the ‘Mario Drawing’ song (vocalised in English only) that can be accessed by holding the A button, displays an incorrect language’s set of lyrics if German, French, Italian or Spanish is selected from the title screen. English, Dutch and Japanese languages remain unaffected. However, it is possible to change the language of the lyrics shown at any time while the song plays. Please see the table below for further details. Language settings can only be selected for the ‘Mario Drawing’ song. The system launch is not affected. Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. will launch on November 13th as planned. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
The device allows you to set the language. Basically, if you set it to French, it will display lyrics as German. The website also released a full chart.
| Chosen language in title screen | Language of song lyrics to be shown |
|---|---|
| French | German |
| Spanish | French |
| German | Italian |
| Italian | Spanish |
The Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. device will release on November 13, 2020, worldwide. It is not available for pre-order in North America.
Dave’s first Nintendo platform was the GameCube when he was age 7; however, he was introduced to Nintendo through Duck Hunt on NES.