Mario and pals are coming back to UK Happy Meals this week

The most famous Italian plumber, well... ever has been unexpectedly popping up all over the place lately. But skateboard shoes, late-night TV and smartphones were just the beginning. Now Mario is sliding back into Happy Meals from McDonald's according to Nintendo Life. His appearance is flawlessly timed ahead of this week's big livestream for the Wii U successor, Switch, too.

Officially starting the day of said broadcast, January 11th in the UK (sorry fellow Yanks, we're getting left out this time), there will be two new toys in each meal a week, for four weeks. Mario and Yoshi are the first offerings, with Princess Peach and a red shell on offer for week two. Bowser and a star block with bricks are on tap for the third week while Luigi and a Piranha Plant round out the collection.

As VG247 writes, these toys have become something of an annual UK tradition since their first appearance in 2014. Nintendo's timing for 2017, however, is almost assuredly intentional here. After all, stopping by McDonald's after your Switch demo and bringing home a Nintendo-themed keepsake seems too perfect to be an accident.