Mama Mia! Did Nintendo of America File a New Mario & Luigi Trademark?

There’s been a fair bit of doubt about the future of the Mario & Luigi series since developer Alpha Dream filed for bankruptcy last year. However, a new trademark surfaced in Argentina that could point to a new Mario & Luigi Switch game on the horizon.

Nintendo of America was responsible for filing the trademark, and the trademark was first uncovered by Let’sGoDigital — the same outlet responsible for uncovering the PS5 devkit and possible new PS VR patent. There’s no doubt the trademark is for Mario & Luigi games, because the description reads:

Computer game cartridges; game memory cards; computer game software; video game memory cards; interactive entertainment software to play video games; covers for mobile phones.

Whether it’s for a new Mario & Luigi game is a bit murkier. Normally, we’d expect to find a Japanese-filed trademark for a new installment in a Nintendo franchise. The trademark does include mention of things like phone cases, but that could just be general legal jargon; after all, we’ve never seen official Mario & Luigi memory cards, and even the official Nintendo-published Switch SD cards don’t have licensed properties on them.

So, this could sadly just be a case of keeping hold of trademark IP so it doesn’t get into the wrong hands. If so, it’s a bit of a shame. The Mario & Luigi series was a shining (bean)star among handheld RPGs, but it faltered thanks to a slew of remakes and declining interest in the 3DS after the Switch launched.

We’ll be following this in the months to come, so stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Mario & Luigi news as it develops.