Back in 2020, two prominent Nintendo franchises celebrated their anniversaries in different ways: Super Mario Bros and Fire Emblem. The former celebrated 35 years with a big anniversary Nintendo Direct, detailing multiple announcements such as an enhanced port of 3D World, Mario items coming to Animal Crossing New Horizons, merch and NSO drops, a fancy new Game & Watch system, and two new offers to celebrate the 35th anniversary:
**[Super Mario 3D All Stars](https://youtu.be/p1DMxyopFx4)** had been heavily rumored for months in the leadup to the official announcement. And it was finally announced and launched that September. As a collection, I find it to be a basic barebones effort with upscaled emulation, minimal control enhancements, and missed potential. But the games themselves are still anywhere from good to fantastic, and at the very least having the official soundtracks is something. The most common criticism was the omission of Galaxy 2, which would’ve gone a long way towards justifying the $60 price tag. As it stands, I find the Crash, Spyro, Mega Man, and TMNT collections to be better offerings. And even the recent Advance Wars Reboot Camp is still a better deal in my eyes since those at least are from-the-ground-up remakes. But if you have no other means of getting them, this collection is still a fine alternative.
The other notable release from Mario was **[Super Mario Bros. 35](https://youtu.be/a8DJpeCy8CQ)**, a Tetris 99-style battle royale where 35 players compete online to get as far as you can while also screwing with other players in the process. I didn’t play this one much, but it was a free download so I snagged it anyway.
The last big Nintendo release of 2020 came at the end of the year with **[Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light](https://youtu.be/YVp5Ov3cneI)**. This was an official localization of the very first FE game to commemorate the franchise’s 30th anniversary, which I can tell was a much bigger effort than Mario 3D All Stars. It was released on the eShop for only $6 dollars and featured save states and rewind features, which were definitely needed. I had decent fun with it, and I’m glad to have been able to experience the origins of a series I’ve come to appreciate.
But… now we get to the kicker. By the end of March 2021, all three titles were delisted from the eShop as a way to “close off the anniversary celebrations.” In Mario 35’s case even the servers were shut down, so even though you downloaded it you couldn’t play online anymore. And while you can hopefully find physical copies of 3D All Stars somewhere these days, the other two were digital only. I suppose I should consider myself part of the problem for buying into it, and [plenty of people have made jokes and gags about what kind of precedent this could set for future releases](https://youtu.be/t-keY1wvpLg). Happy anniversary to Punch Out next year, I guess? Here’s hoping we get an HD remaster of the Wii game only available digitally for 3 days.
by Asad_Farooqui
35 Comments
wouldn’t nintendo earn more money if they kept all stars on shelves like every other game? i’m curious if they lost out on potential sales.
I’ll never understand why they made those limited. I really didn’t purchase all stars or fire emblem because I had them on other consoles (in All-Stars’s case two out of the three games in the collection). While I didn’t regret not purchasing all stars, but I did regret not purchasing fire emblem for a while when I realized I didn’t like three houses that much and had to wait a while for engage. I suspect that since the games are older they might not have had a lot of people buy them if they weren’t limited, but it doesn’t stop it from being frustrating and scummy that they used the tactic.
For an anniversary release, IMO it was *very* lacklustre. Starting with the omission of SMG2. But even the choice of Mario 64, for example, was strange, considering Mario 64 DS exist. I get the whole nostalgia angle, but then why not just have both?
From an actual functional perspective, compared to what these games can look like just from a straight emulation perspective, much less QOL mods, it really felt like Nintendo phoned it in.
Considering how Nintendo hasn’t done something like it in three years, it’s probably safe to assume they took note of the negative reception.
Bring back Mario 35
I don’t regret buying All Stars because I have children and SM64/Galaxy are such timeless classics that I’ll never be upset having access to them on whatever the current console is…but artificial scarcity is lame and I’ll never understand how it could make a company more money than just…having the title available for as long as the console is in service. It’s not like a freaking Mario collection is not going to do well on your most successful console ever, you know? You can even just make it digital only if you don’t want to pay manufacturing costs, but do *something* other than just…deleting it.
Luckily they made so many physical copies that I get the feeling most people who would want the game got it. I saw All Stars on store shelves for years after it was “discontinued.”
If it had galaxy 2 no one would be complaining
At the time I decided there was no way I was going to buy the first Fire Emblem just because it was a timed release.
Fast forward to now, and I wish I had just shelled out the $6.
Really hate these timed releases.
I found it hilarious that 3D All Star was limited release, but they most likely produced more copies of it than Three Houses.
I miss Super Mario 35 so much 🙁
Yeah, stuff like this is why I really prefer to buy hard copies of games. That and I can let people borrow them.
I would have loved to get fire emblem. It should have had a physical release.
The mario collection I would have liked mostly for Sunshine, my favorite of the bunch.
I had never played galaxy before and I think it will be one I go back to every year or two. So so good. I wanted to like Sunshine (also hadn’t played it before) but I found it to be super clunky. The platforming was so frustrating. Maybe you just had to be there. Mario 64 is an all time classic. Also frustrating mostly because of camera stuff but I’ve played it so much in my life that I’m just used to it
All star is my top 3 most played games on switch. Some nicer pixel enhancement to the UI in 64/sunshine, music albums etc. Love it!!
Mario 35 is the one that stings. It was a genuinely excellent game.
SM Sunshine and Galaxy is worth. I was bummed they didn’t include Galaxy 2 since it was just as good. I almost would have preferred that over SM 64, but no way Nintendo would have passed on making even more money on a 20+ year old game.
For me it was a kicker because it meant that the slim chance of 64 and Sunshine especially (don’t care about Galaxy) getting a proper remake on Switch went from admittedly slim to incredibly likely to ***NOT*** happen…
I didn’t miss out so no fear.
64 is still as awesome as I remembered
Sunshine’s movement is still goated
Galaxy’s presentation is top notch
I got a physical of 3DAS and bought Shadow Dragon digitally, but the fact that Mario 35 is just gone forever pisses me off to no end
Anytime a company utilizes FOMO, it’s pretty scummy IMO. But nearly all the consoles/platforms are learning that nostalgia is a very dangerous drug and that nearly all of us are willing to try. Nintendo by far probably has the biggest carrot on the end of the stick for this race. PlayStation is maybe a distant second, but Super Mario is a global phenomenon.
1. Great game, my personal favorite in the pack, but this is a terrible version of SM64 because it has BLJs patched out. Also this game feels terrible without notches on the control stick assembly.
2. Super Mario sunshine is fine. I liked it more as a kid to be honest but still feels really nice to play
3. I had never played Galaxy before because I hate motion controls and skipped the Wii when I was in college. I had always heard great things about these games though but could not have been less impressed. Each stage was very simple and by the time the game finally started introducing some interesting concepts in the stages, the game was basically over. Additionally Mario controls HORRENDOUSLY in this one
It’s stuff like this that makes me think piracy is not so bad. All Nintendo had to do was leave this up on the eShop and let the money roll in, but noooooo. So many people have bought games like Super Mario 64 like 5 or 6 times now. All they’re doing is fueling resellers who jack the prices up on eBay.
I feel bad for anyone getting a Switch now and not having easy access to 3D All-stars. Sunshine and Galaxy are great and only playable through this collection. Two fantastic Mario games completely inaccessible.
It’s a practice that hurts consumers and is especially egregious for something like Mario 35 where there is no other option to play it. I’m lucky in that I can hook up my GameCube and play sunshine if I missed 3D all-stars, but no one will ever be able to play Mario 35 again unless Nintendo decides to bring it out of the vault.
64 is crusty. Mario Sunshine is borderline crusty but the music still is fun, Galaxy is padded.
I liked Mario 3D All Stars cause I never played any other main series Mario game before it when I got it for my Switch in 2020. Mario Galaxy is my favorite of the three.
I already had 64 downloaded on my Wii and it’s one of the earlier models so it’s backwards compatible if I ever decide to get a copy of Sunshine. Finally I still have my copy of Galaxy 2 so I’m not hurting for that.
Mario 64 was on sale for $10 in the Wii U eShop
Mario Galaxy was on sale for $20 in the Wii U eShop
As they price their retro games based on release date, Mario Sunshine should be valued around $11-$19. Let’s be generous and say it’s worth $19
The total value of what you get is $49, and they be charging $60
I don’t hate the idea of having a compilation be the same price as a regular new game. But if it is, there needs to be enough games for it to actually be worth it. I feel like having 4-6 games would’ve been a more reasonable offer for a $60 pricetag. I feel like Galaxy 2 being added would be a fair offer, as they’d be valuing the Galaxy at $20 a pop and the others at $10 a pop. Maybe throw in a random Spinoff or Easter Egg game as a bonus if you beat all the existing games as well
Miss Mario 35 something fierce…this was a fantastic concept; addictive and fresh. Really wanna see this one make a comeback.
I’m so pissed I got into fire emblem after Shadow Dragon stopped selling
That Nintendo partakes in their own flavor of corporate greed and scummy business practices that, while different from other hack developers like EA, are still gross and a pain to support them through. Nintendo’s first party games are generally great to masterful, definitely, but their legacy content support has been nothing short of exploitative and their fans really should be calling them out more and demanding better.
This trilogy is just as obnoxiously lazy and greedy for what it is as the PS2 GTA and RDR ports from Rockstar have been, and it’s a real shame given the pedigree of all these games.
Mario 35 and Mario 3D All Stars is such a big shame they’re no longer available digitally to play or purchase.
Anyways Mario 3D All Stars is a nice simple package of the 3 games and that’s all that there is to say about it, I’m happy it exists so that I can replay those games.
Mario 35 is something I’m so sad is no longer available since between Tetris and Pac Man I’m far better at Mario than those games and had a lot more fun during those tense moments.
Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, I bought the collectors edition because I’m a big fan of the series. That said, you’re not missing much by not playing this game even with the rewind feature. I played the first chapter, went *neat* and haven’t touched the game since I bought it.
I essentially bought this thing just to give galaxy an honest go. I didn’t like it on the Wii and kind of expected to not like it on the switch but I truly enjoyed the heck out of it.
64 I played on ds and that’s my definitive version of it.
I don’t like sunshine. Controls feel weird. Camera stinks. Don’t really love the cleaning thing.
Don’t care for fire emblem, and while Mario 35 was a very cool concept, I didn’t play it much. I bought a copy of 3d all stars at launch, and haven’t really played it much since