Super Mario 3D All-Stars (2020)

3D All-Stars provides EXACTLY what you'd expect from the cover: a direct port of Mario 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy. Unfortunately, these games pretty much look exactly the same and generally feel a bit worse to play since their controls don't translate particularly well when taken from their original consoles. 64 felt fine enough, but losing the GameCube's fantastic analog triggers takes away a lot of the charm from Mario Sunshine's controls, and the lack of the GameCube control stick's 8-directional notches also makes movement just feel worse to me somehow. Don't even get me started on the reproduction of the wiimote pointer in Galaxy. Combine that with the full-price $60 price tag that Nintendo slapped on this game along with the FOMO-driven limited time release, and you have a title that I just can't defend to anyone who has access to the originals in any way.

Simply put, if you don't have an alternative way to play these three games and you can get your hands on a cartridge, sure. Give it a go, have fun, they're still all great games. But if you have alternative options, ESPECIALLY if you have the original games, there's just no reason to pick this one up.

Ok, I know this is terrible, but I was doomscrooling Instagram and someone was complaining, in 2023, about how this is a better year for Mario than Mario's 35th anniversary, in 2020.

First of all, 35 isn't even an anniversary worth celebrating. 30, yes. 40, yes. But 35? Are we going to get wildly mad every 5 years with massive expectations that ultimately never get met? Sounds exhausting. And that's just for Mario. It'll always be somebody's 35th. "I can't believe the disrespect for (insert nintendo IP) on its 35th anniversary!". Oh jog on you melt.

Also, we know how disruptive 2020 was. The Mario 3D collection might have been better if everyone wasn't, you remember right? Stuck at home away from all the things you need to, you know, do your job?

Nintendo didn't help themselves by hyping it up. But we're closer to the 40th anniversary now then the 35th and the whole cycle is going to start again.

"The 40th anniversary collection will be full 3D remakes of all the Mario games ever made!" No. It won't. You said this last time... learn! Learn!

... I'm tired and hot and in a place I can't properly relax... sorry.

It blows my mind that I obsessed over this game (and N64 in general) in my childhood, and I just cracked open Super Mario 64 for the first time in probably ~10 years and it still holds as one of my favorite games. I'm trying to save some money so I'm waiting a few weeks until I can nab Metroid Dread on a sale, but in the meantime I'm relishing in my childhood a bit.

So much raw nostalgia for me in this game, just oozing from every corner!

But what really blows my mind is just how fun a 25 year game was to me when I was 10 years old, and now when I'm in my mid-30s. Some things are best left unchanged.

This is a fun selection of games. Super Mario Galaxy is the strongest of the bunch, with tight controls and impressive cinematic cutscenes, but all three are great in their own way. Super Mario Sunshine is perhaps the weakest as it contains some odd gameplay choices and there are a few glitches here and there, but it doesn't detract too much from the gameplay experience.

There clearly hasn't been much effort placed into this release by Nintendo though. The games are basically just simple ports, upgraded into HD visuals.

Borrowing this from a friend. I am currently bouncing between all three games. It's a revisit for 64, but first time for Sunshine and Galaxy. I'm probably 1/3 to 1/2 way through each right now (in terms of story, definitely not in terms of 100% completion).

• Mario 64 -- It was only a couple years ago that I played this. I don't think my opinion will change for it -- it's fine, but dated. The earlier levels are a lot more fun than the later ones. People complain about the camera, but for me it's the imprecise controls that make it frustrating. Still a lot of charm to it all though. I think it was a huge missed opportunity to not include the DS extra content here.

• Mario Sunshine -- Whoo boy. So this is the infamous weird 3D Mario game, which has since been determined to be an underrated classic that most people seem to love a lot now (even the reviews that complain a ton about it still give it a 4/5). I actually kind of like how weird it is in terms of premise and presentation. But the level design just isn't good, movement is janky, and there are probably like a dozen or so little things that consistently frustrate me... and those little things add up. I'll see if I can reach the ending at least.

• Mario Galaxy -- I admit I had my doubts at first. Wonky gravity levels are a bit of a hard sell for me, and here was a whole game devoted to them. I also just do not care for what I'll call "Wii gimmicks," which this one has plenty of (including a kind of pointless star cursor that is always distracting me on-screen). But still, I'm finding this one gradually winning me over. The levels are well-designed and engaging, the controls are polished and smooth, and the general presentation of it all is excellent. The full orchestra music is a real standout here, and I'm finding the "lore" with the side characters a pleasant surprise. I'll probably end this one really wishing Galaxy 2 was included as well.

Now as some may already outlined, this isn't a review of the games themselves per se. All of these games are established classics, well sunshine may be debatable, but all are great games. However, this is a shameless cash grab and I don't advise anyone to purchase.

For someone like me who never got a chance to play these games when they released, the upgrades are piss poor. Mario 64 isn't even 1080p and it's letter boxed. The camera is still shit which makes the game unplayable. Nintendo should have fixed these issues to preserve the game for future generations to appreciate.

Sunshine looks beautiful but again is held back by camera issues. Fixes to that would have gone a long way. Of the three, this one is probably the best to me.

Mario galaxy...ehhh, I'm not feeling it. It's too easy and feels very tied to the wii's controls. It runs the best of the three but I'm not feeling it in this package.

For the little they did to package this, it's def not worth $60. I read that it is basically running on emulation. Nintendo played the nostalgia card and it worked beautifully. However, it's going to make me hesitant to buy similar collections in the future.

THIS IS NOT A REVIEW OF THE GAMES OF THIS COLLECTION! THIS IS A REVIEW OF 3D ALL STARS AS A COLLECTION AND HOW MUCH IT INCLUDES

MY REVIEWS OF THE GAMES ARE LINKED HERE

MARIO 64

MARIO SUNSHINE

MARIO GALAXY

With that out of the way, This is my review

Super Mario 3D All-Stars is a weird one. It was created to celebrate Mario's 35th Anniversary and is a Compilation of 3 (Very great) Mario games which are Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy. I'm happy these games are on here but I feel like there should've been more...

Most video game collections will have more than just games. They will have music, art, trailers, etc.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars only has the 3 games with brief summaries on them and the 3 soundtracks of these games. No artwork (Unless you count the loading screens), no trailers, etc. There's not much here.

These games are also simply ports. They aren't changed all that much (apart from some minor changes in Mario 64 such as the removal of the Backwards Long Jump and "So long gay Bowser".)

The games have all gotten new controls for the Switch (Which you can't change by the way), Are all bumped up to HD which makes games like Mario Galaxy look incredible and made Mario Sunshine widescreen. Mario 64 weirdly doesn't have widescreen.

The controls I've heard bothers people. But I didn't really mind apart from a few times.

Nintendo has also seemed to just pretend that Super Mario Galaxy 2 doesn't exist as it isn't on here.

It's also full price at 60 dollars and is a limited release. The game should be 40 dollars and if they wanted to make it limited, they could've just made the physical release limited rather than both.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars is a fun experience that takes you through the history of Nintendo's Red Italian Plumber... But the price, limited run, and lack of features hurts it...

If you have a Switch, please buy... But don't expect a whole lot

Happy 35 Years Mario

Would Lightly Recommend

3/5

Super Mario 3D All-Stars is the game many of us knew was coming, but with Nintendo being more secretive than Willy Wonka and his Chocolate Factory, we just never knew when. Well, it's here, and while the complaints people have for the game are legitimate, such as the limited release window, few bonus features added to the game or the minor upgrades in graphics and gameplay, you are still getting three of the greatest video games of all time in one package, playable either on your TV or on the go. That, in my mind, is worth the $60 price tag.

As for the games themselves, remember these are games that are now at least 13 years old. The age at times shows up. Super Mario 64, a game I loved as a teen when I had the N64, still has that awkward camera that I hated back then. Super Mario Sunshine still has that "black sheep" aura about it, even if the game itself is more fun than people made it out to be. Galaxy is absolutely gorgeous and looks like it could be a Switch era release. No longer forcing players to use the motion controls and allowing you to play the game with a pro controller makes it so much more fun than when I tried it years ago and quit because I hated having to use the motion controls.

Overall, are there nitpicks? Yes. Are the games still legendary? Yes. I highly recommend picking this up, sooner rather than later.