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Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Mario Tennis Fever and More Coming for Mario’s 40th Anniversary

It’s another big year for the Nintendo mascot.

Friday’s Nintendo Direct, the company’s regular promotional livestream, celebrated the 40th anniversary of the company’s legendary mascot. Mario is getting a new sports game for the Switch 2, a compilation of some of the best games in the series, a new Yoshi game and a new movie. 

Sept. 13 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Super Mario Bros. and Nintendo has a lot planned for the following year, the company announced during Friday’s Nintendo Direct. For this anniversary, Nintendo is doing more than just a new game or two — a whole range of Mario content is heading our way. 

The first big news for Mario during the event is a new movie. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will hit theaters next April, and it brings back the voice cast from the first movie, with Chris Pratt as Mario, Jack Black as Bowser, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad and Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek. 

Speaking of Super Mario Galaxy, Nintendo will release a compilation of both Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, which were both first released on the Nintendo Wii. The games will likely have updated graphics, but not much else will be added to the games, aside from more pages in the storybook of Rosalina, the Watcher of the Stars, who helps Mario and Luigi in both games.

The compilation will be released for the Switch, making it playable on the Switch 2. Nintendo didn’t provide a release date during the show, although it will give more details sometime on Friday. 

A brand new game is Mario Tennis Fever. This powered-up sports game features 38 characters and will have some new moves and Fever rackets, which will let characters unleash special moves. An adventure mode will feature the baby Mario characters, who learn how to play tennis and take part in mini-games. Mario Tennis Fever comes out on Switch 2 on Feb. 12.

Another game Nintendo is bringing back is Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The Switch 2 version of the 2023 game will also include Meetup in Bellabel Park, a side area filled with minigames for players to compete with each other. Super Mario Bros. Wonder for the Switch 2 will come out sometime next spring. 

Finishing out the Mario-focused part of the Nintendo Direct, a new Yoshi game was shown. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book will feature Mario’s hungry dinosaur buddy in his own platforming adventure involving a magical book. Only a small portion of gameplay was shown, as Nintendo plans to release more details in the coming year, but it looks charming. The new Yoshi game will come out for the Switch 2 next spring. 

Mario’s 40th anniversary officially starts Saturday. There could be more Mario-themed content coming from Nintendo over the coming year, but for Mario fans, there’s plenty to enjoy already. 

Technologies

Google’s Pixel 10A Is Coming to Japan With an Exclusive Blue Edition and Special Wallpaper

This model comes with creatively designed stickers and a special look for Pixel’s 10th anniversary.

Don’t be blue: Google is releasing an Isai blue edition of the Pixel 10A to celebrate the Android phone line’s 10th anniversary, setting it apart with its own sticker set, specialized wallpaper and custom icons. But it’ll only be available in Japan.

Announced Tuesday on the Google Japan blog, the Isai blue Pixel 10A has a dark blue look and includes bonus decorations designed in collaboration with Japan’s Heralbony art company. These include an exclusive bumper case and stickers for customization.

This edition of the Pixel 10A will arrive in Japan on May 20, following the April 14 release of the Pixel 10A in its original colors of lavender, berry, fog and obsidian. The Isai blue model costs 94,900 yen, which roughly translates to $595, and includes 256GB of storage. 

This makes it slightly less expensive than the US model’s 256GB edition, but it comes with a number of fun extras at no additional cost.

Google’s creation of a country-specific model for Japan may also reflect strong sales in that market. In 2023, the IDC analytics firm (via 9to5Google) reported that the Pixel 7 series accounted for 10.7% of the country’s market share, a 527% increase from 2022.

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Technologies

Can’t Wait for New Emoji? Here’s How to Create Your Own on iPhone

Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhones can create custom emoji in a few easy steps.

Apple brought new emoji to all iPhones when the company released iOS 26.4 on March 24. The new emoji include «🫍» orca, «🫪» distorted face and «🫈» hairy creature — or as we might normally call it, Sasquatch. According to Emojipedia, there are 3,953 emoji with more on the way, including a pickle. But there’s no emoji for a dog wearing pajamas, a plate with burgers and fries and many other things. But if you have Genmoji on your iPhone you can create these emoji and many more.

Apple released iOS 18.2 in 2024 and the company introduced its own emoji generator, called Genmoji, to Apple Intelligence-capable iPhones at that time. The Unicode Standard, a universal character encoding standard, is responsible for creating new emoji, and approved emoji are added to all devices once a year. With Genmoji, you don’t have to wait for new emoji to appear on your iPhone each year. You can just create them as you need them.

Read on to learn how to use Genmoji on iPhone to create your own custom emoji. Just note that only iPhones with Apple Intelligence, like the iPhone 17 lineup, can use Genmoji at this time.

Note: The new emoji may not display correctly for Apple users whose devices aren’t on a 26.4 software version.

How to make custom emoji

1. Open Messages and go into a chat.
2. Tap the plus (+) button next to your text box.
3. Tap Genmoji.

You can then type a description of an emoji into the text box near the bottom of your screen and tap the check mark on your keyboard to enter that description into Genmoji. You can also tap different suggestions and themes that are right above the text box. And with iOS 26 or later, you can also combine and use emoji to create others rather than describing a new emoji or using suggestions.

Your iPhone will generate a series of new emoji for you to pick from according to your description, and you can swipe through these new emoji. When you find the one you want, tap Add in the top right corner of your screen and the new emoji will be available to use as an emoji, tapback or a sticker. Now you don’t have to wait for the Unicode Standard to propose, create and bring new emoji to devices.

For more iOS news, here’s what to know about iOS 26.4 and iOS 26.3. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet for other tips and tricks.

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Technologies

Save Over 20% on This Handy 10,000-mAh Anker Nano Power Bank

Keep your devices charged on the go with this Anker Nano power bank, now down to just $46.

We’ve just spotted the Anker Nano 45-watt portable power bank for just $46 at Amazon right now. This saves you $14 — a 23% discount on its list price. Though it’s $6 more than the lowest-ever price we saw during Black Friday, it’s still a solid discount when you take the rising cost of tech accessories into account. It also matches the lowest price we’ve seen in 2026. It comes in four colors: black, green, pink and white. They’re all on sale for the same price.

This Anker Nano portable charger weighs approximately 8.2 ounces and measures a compact 3.21×1.99×1.42 inches. Despite its small size, it has a retractable cable and supports fast charging in compatible Apple, Samsung, Google Pixel and other smartphones. It also has a large 10,000-mAh capacity and a smart display so you always know how much juice is left in your power bank.

The Nano can charge an iPhone 17 to up to 50% battery in an estimated 20 minutes, and is powerful enough to charge tablets and laptops. Need to charge your devices while charging your power bank? You can do so safely thanks to pass-through charging so you’ll never have to go without battery life.

We’ve also compiled a list of the best power banks for iPhones and for Android, in case this deal isn’t quite a fit for you.

Why this deal matters

If you travel, have a long commute time or are otherwise always on the go, a portable charger can help you keep your devices fully powered. This 45-watt Anker Nano power bank is compact, includes a loop that lets you keep track of it easily and has a built-in cable so you don’t have to keep up with extra cords. Amazon’s $14 discount makes this a solid deal for anyone looking for a compact power bank.

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