This collection of three of Mario’s earliest 3D platformers was Nintendo’s worst kept secret for a while back in 2020. In March of that year, [rumors abounded](https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/super-mario-bros-35th-anniversary/) that Nintendo had plans to go all out for Mario’s 35th anniversary. These plans included announcing a new Paper Mario game, more information about Super Nintendo World and the Illumination Mario movie, and plans to remaster Mario’s platforming back catalogue for the Switch. However due to the state of the world at that time, those plans were unsurprisingly scuttled. Paper Mario would be revealed in a Twitter drop, and both Super Nintendo World and the Mario Movie wouldn’t be shown off in any major detail until much later.
But as for those Mario remasters. We hadn’t gotten 3D World on Switch yet, which seemed inevitable given how many Wii U ports made it to Switch over the years. But the real question was that platforming back catalogue. Could this mean 64? Sunshine? The Galaxy games? Maybe Nintendo could bundle them all together in a collection, like Super Mario All Stars on the SNES. As such nearly every single day up until the reveal, people were speculating about if and when these remasters were ever coming out.
Until the day finally arrived on September 3rd, 2020, where Nintendo announced Super Mario 3D All Stars to cap off their Mario 35th anniversary direct. However upon the official reveal, two things bugged me: 1) No Super Mario Galaxy 2, and 2) this collection would be a limited time offer. After March 31st, 2021, Nintendo would not only stop manufacturing physical copies but also delist the digital version from the eShop. Yep, Nintendo was pulling a “Disney Vault” with this highly-sought-after collection. I went digital at first but eventually double dipped and also went physical. In my opinion Nintendo probably had to pull these FOMO tactics because they knew they couldn’t compete with fanmade remasters that had been available for years at that point, so they forced a cutoff date so you wouldn’t have to think too hard about getting it.
I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting at least two of the games in the collection purely on their own merits, since I never played Sunshine until now. But as for my thoughts on the quality of the port jobs themselves, I definitely have issues. Mario 64 has delayed audio for voices and sound effects which was never fixed; once I heard it I couldn’t unhear it. And while I appreciate the added rumble in this version, it also took out some popular speedrunning tricks in the process. Mario Sunshine’s inverted camera controls were annoying as hell to get accustomed to, and it didn’t natively support the GameCube controller adapter initially. Finally I only play Galaxy with the Pro Controller because I don’t find the split Joy-Cons to be as satisfying to use as the Wiimote and Nunchuk, but at least it’s still serviceable. However I hate that the touchscreen is used for the pointer in handheld mode; it’s so awkward and kills the pace so hard for me that I don’t bother playing undocked unless I have a Pro Controller. Some of these issues were addressed in patches but it’s like, why even bother when you’re delisting the collection in a couple months?
by Asad_Farooqui
37 Comments
>why even bother when you’re delisting the collection in a couple months?
9 million physical copies sold + however many digital copies sold in the short amount of time it was available is why.
I’m glad to have them all on one cartridge, and I’ll always be thankful for that. Honestly I probably would have paid $40 for a physical copy of each so to get all three together for $60 was great. My biggest issue is that Galaxy 2 wasn’t included, so I don’t know what format we’ll ever get that in physically on the Switch. It seems weird to release it by itself. Are we going to get a re-released All Stars someday that is the same but it just includes Galaxy 2 as well? Just a bit annoying.
It shouldn’t have been a temporary game, and it should have included Galaxy 2. I enjoyed my time with it, and enjoyed playing through Sunshine more than I did when I was a kid playing it on the gamecube. I still have to go back and play through Galaxy as Luigi.
FOMO tactics and lack of Galaxy 2 aside, it’s a serviceable enough collection. It’s not amazing and could’ve been better, but at the same time, the game itself is not what I’d call a disaster like some other remasters we’ve seen hit the Switch like GTA Trilogy, Sonic Colors Ultimate, and Tales of Symphonia.
Underwhelming but serviceable is the best way I’d describe it
SMB 35 should have been permanent too!!! I will never forget what they took from me
Still salty about the lack of effort put into SM64. Really: Was rendering it in 16:9 and adding the changes from SM64 DS too much to ask? Really low effort on that front. Nintendo, sadly, is hit or miss when it comes to their old stuff. On one hand, you’ll get amazing projects like Link’s Awakening and then again, you’ll get something that’s barely more than a ROM-File and a wrapper for an emulator.
I wish I bought it digitally when it was around.
FOMO sucks!
Thankful it wasn’t only available for a limited time via NSO…
Nintendo makes superb games but Super Mario 3D All Stars was the shittiest tactic they’ve ever made
Bought physical but wish I also bought digital so I could just load it up at any point without having to switch out cartridges
Some may disagree with the pricing and practice of delisting it after a couple months which I understand, but i’m a sucker for 3D Mario.
Super Mario 64 in particular is my second favorite game of all time and I never bought a Wii so Galaxy was pretty much a brand new game to me. So it was very much worth it and i’m glad to have the games playable to me forever. $60 for 3 barely upgraded “remasters” may seem like a lot at the time, but $60 for 3 instant classics forever available feels very much worth it if you look at it that way.
I’m glad it came out, but there was a lot of missed potential with the package and some very cynical marketing.
Super Mario 64 was barebones and it just doesn’t have to be that way anymore. In-emulation enhancements have come a very long way since Nintendo first started selling roms of that game and it really wouldn’t have hurt to at least put in a widescreen mode.
Super Mario Sunshine gets some good visual enhancements but its main problems run deeper. I spent a lot of time with this game, and it’s sadly a few bug fixes away from being a truly excellent game, but they’re fixes it’s never likely to get without a full blown remake.
Super Mario Galaxy is great, the port’s solid and it’s certainly the definitive way to play it. There’s a few wonkier gyro moments, but the fact that controller shaking has been reduced to a button is the kind of quality of life updates these releases should be about.
The package is good but the release management of this game is horrible. All Stars for the SNES was a mainstay that made the best seller list easily, it was a pack in title several times and a product Nintendo quite proudly made every opportunity for customers to be able to have.
The limited release of 3D All Stars in contrast was extremely cynical and I’ll never consider there any good grounds to justify it. Super Mario Sunshine went almost 20 years without an official rerelease, and it’s now effectively back to the wilderness of the second hand market where speculators only continue to hike its price. Even if it comes back in the form of a Gamecube NSO, this was the first chance in a long time to own the game physically. There was no necessity behind Nintendo’s tactics, they were always going to make money on this release. They will do it again too.
It’s a great package if you can get a hold of a copy for a reasonable price. I’m just annoyed they made it a limited run, because now it regularly sells for $130ish dollars (Canadian).
One of the laziest ports Nintendo has done and that’s saying something
It’s good, the patches most issues. Especially nice to have Super Mario sunshine
Yeah I know it’s a lazy collection that relied on emulation and all, but the 3 games are strong enough that I’m willing to overlook the fact that they did the bare minimum, and they do run well. I’ve played worse collections before (some of the PS2 to PS3/Vita collections back in the day were quite horrendous in comparison with numerous glitches and missing features compared to their original versions).
While it would’ve been great to have Galaxy 2 as well, I can actually imagine one particular reason it’s not there: with the way Yoshi works in that game, his segments sometimes require a lot more dexterity with the Wii Remote’s pointing than Galaxy 1 ever does. There are sections where you have to platform with the buttons while also moving the pointer to aim Yoshi’s tongue, which is fine on the Wii and perhaps in docked mode, but would be nearly impossible in handheld mode where you’d have to use the buttons while *also* using the touchscreen to deal with the pointer. I actually think this was a fair reason to exclude the game from the collection as fixing this would’ve required reworking some major parts of the game.
My real issue is with the limited time bs that Nintendo pulled with this game (and more egregiously Super Mario 35). Nintendo tapping into hype/fomo culture like that was really icky and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.
IMHO it’s fine for what it is (a collection of upscaled emulated games) but it was a bit overpriced, and the limited digital release was total bullshit. I wish it came with some extra content (concept art, a booklet, or guides, something that made it feel an anniversary celebration) other than an in-game sound test no one is going to use.
It could have gone in history like the collection to go if you want to play old 3D Mario’s just like SNES All Stars is for old 2D Mario, but no they left out Galaxy 2
It was a basic HD port that seems to have been rushed in certain aspects (COUGH Sunshine COUGH) and seriously needed Galaxy 2 to feel complete. Also, while I get the limited physical release, it truly didn’t need to be delisted from the eShop. There are literally millions of potential customers who never even got the chance to get it (lost sales).
That said, with all the updates and such, they are the definitive OFFICIAL ways to enjoy SM64 and especially Sunshine. Galaxy… It’s good, but the pointer controls aren’t as precise as on Wii. The fact that you can use the GameCube and N64 NSO controllers for Sunshine and 64 makes this much better. The only issue is the “patching” of the BLJ in 64, but hey, there’s the NSO version for that.
I am so upset Mario Galaxy 2 isn’t on there.
The omission feels very silly.
Uninspired
As lazy as a serviceable port can be. The games work, so that puts it above GTA I guess
I know this is not really the kind of comment you wanted, but it was one of the last games my mom bought me. Super Mario 64 was the first game we finished together. I know the ports are not that great on the switch, but I very strong ties to this game now.
So, while not great, I like it.
At the time I know people were upset they didn’t really update the games or fix any glitches but honestly I just love having these three games playable on one cart
I think one of my friends needs to fess up to having my copy and I need to remember to write down who has my stuff lol
They could’ve done more with it and it’s stupid they made it limited
I’m still mad it doesn’t have Galaxy 2 in it, especially cause it ruins the symmetry. The original All-Stars had 4 games, 3D All-Stars should have 4 games.
It made me *certain* that we were going to get a similar collection for Zelda’s anniversary, and I was hoping against hope that it would mean Wind Waker would finally be on the Switch.
Where the fuck is Wind Waker, Nintendo???
3D All-Stars is good if you don’t feel like dusting off the old consoles to replay the games. Other than that, pretty meh.
Should be sold any time of the year, and for what it’s worth, 20 bucks (don’t get me wrong, I own it and beaten every game, they’re masterpieces).
No reason to delist it aside from marketing purposes, lazy portings without many upgrades (Sunshine runs at 30 FPS, and don’t even let me start about Mario 64), priced as any other brand new AAA game, and as the cherry on top, it doesn’t include Galaxy 2 for some reason.
I’m glad Nintendo gave a way to play its old 3D Mario games legally on Switch, but of course it did in the most scammy and lazy way possible. Just a gigantic wasted opportunity
It’s a lazy port. They should have remastered at least super Mario 64 and sunshine. Galaxy with the new controls was fine as it’s not that old a game. I wish I never opened mine as it would be worth a small fortune now over here in the UK at least. Selling for £150.
It’s still ok but just lazy
Pretty pissed i missed it when it came out and the only people selling them sell it for 150$+
It’s a pretty piss poor package. I paid around U$70 dollars for the physical version and sold it off for nearly U$80 bucks.
Emulation works fine, but it isn’t the greatest. Also, the motion controls are a no-go on the switch lite. Super Mario Galaxy is nearly unplayable.
The gyro controls drive me nuts on galaxy and I ended up enjoying this way less than hooking my Wii back up to play galaxy
I bought the physical copy out of FOMO (it’smy only physical game since I was worried about them deleting it on e-shop, but I really prefer digital), was sad it didn’t include Galaxy 2 since I loved that one, and didn’t end up playing it much anyway 😅 I still have my GameCube with Super Mario Sunshine if I really wanted some nostalgia. Maybe I’ll pick this game up again in the future.
I literally only bought it for galaxy because I skipped the Wii. Was really looking forward too it but could not stand the motion controls at all.