Well, the anniversary itself doesn't suck. Rather, Nintendo has seen fit to release (in Europe and Japan, anyways) special edition red Wiis, red DSes, and potentially most exciting of all, a 25th anniversary special collector's edition box set including Super Mario All-Stars, a music CD, and a DVD about the history of the series.
As a rabid fan of gaming's biggest icon, I would normally be all over this, except… well, it kind of has the air of slapdashness to it. The music CD and the DVD are both extremely interesting to me, and there's no denying that that box art is cool, but the game that comes with it – seriously? Super Mario All-Stars? That's it?
This is Mario's 25th anniversary. I get not including Super Mario Galaxy (1 and 2) or New Super Mario Bros. Wii, as those are still money makers for Nintendo. But what we should be getting here is every main series Mario game up until Sunshine. I'm talking about Super Mario World, Super Mario World 2, Super Mario 64 – heck, even some of the GBA games. So what if people bought this or are buying it on Virtual Console? People who bought it on Virtual Console probably had the original to begin with, so buying something again doesn't seem to be a problem. And having all of those games in one place would just be so, so awesome.
Instead, we're getting a Super Nintendo game from 1993.
The sad thing is, I'll probably still buy this if it comes to North America, if only for the extras. And seeing as I already have all of those games, it's a small concern to me, but seriously, Nintendo: you did us right with the Metroid Prime Trilogy. It's time to step up your game with Mario.