Starshi, the developer of the incredible Super Mario fangame 'Super Mario & The Rainbow Stars', has announced she will be releasing a second chapter to the game next year, in 2026.
Super Mario & The Rainbow Stars, in case you aren't familiar with it, is a popular Mario fangame for PC that has been in development for several years now.
It was built using Redigit's fan-made SMBX 2 engine, and is inspired by the Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario games, featuring a brand-new story about Mario having to team up with a bunch of new characters to locate and rescue his missing friends after their hot air balloon crashed.
Its story is set to be told across various chapters, with its creator having released the first of these back in August 2024, which saw the mustachioed plumber partnering with a character named Starry to venture across various beach and water-themed levels.
Since the first chapter was released, Starshi has released several updates for it, focusing on fine-tuning this original chapter and adding in things like a new badge system and a bonus multiplayer mode. But that isn't all she has been focusing on behind the scenes, as she has also been hard at work on building the next chapter, releasing the occasional sneak peek over on their YouTube channel.
These sneak peeks give us our first look at Mario's next companion, Ralle, who is a ghostly flame spirit, capable of lighting ghostly lanterns to reveal hidden platforms, as well as some of the new forest-themed levels players will have to work through.
We'll keep an eye open for any updates as they arrive, but until then, you can follow Starshi on YouTube or Twitter/X to show your support.