Super Mario 3D All-Stars

Super Mario 3D All-Stars

"So long, King Bowser!".... I mean .."Bye-bye!"''

Protagonist:	Mario
Genre:	Platformer
Platforms:	Nintendo Switch
Release Date:	September 18, 2020
Developer:	Nintendo EAD
Publisher:	Nintendo
Franchise:	Super Mario
Previous Game:	Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition

Super Mario 3D All-Stars, also known as Super Mario 3D Collection in East Asia, is a compilation of the first three mainstream 3D Mario titles on the Nintendo Switch, and was released on September 18, 2020. The games have upscaled graphics and widescreen adjustments for Super Mario Sunshine and Galaxy. The collection includes Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy.

Bad Qualities

Overall

The compilation feels bare-boned, especially with the $60 price tag, as there are only three games that are just emulated without any major improvements graphically or gameplay wise (other than higher quality visuals and slightly improved controls), and their respective soundtracks. In other words: nostalgia pandering. Sound familiar? In comparison to other remaster compilations:
- Super Mario All-Stars remade the three original games (and Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels, which was the real Super Mario Bros. 2 that was only in Japan) and enhanced the graphics in all four of them. The Super Mario Advance games would later add further graphical improvements and extra content.
- Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy feature complete remakes of the first three Crash Bandicoot and Spyro games, not ports unlike this, With N.Sane Trilogy features two new levels, both cost $40.
- Rare Replay is a well-made compilation that features 30 of Rare's past titles, including many that are comparable in length and quality to Nintendo's own 3D Mario titles, along with a plethora of bonus features likes snapshots and interviews. Three of the Nintendo 64 games even had improved visuals, framerate, and widescreen support. When it launched, it retailed for $30.
- Sonic Mega Collection included a whopping twelve games (with even more depending on the version), old artwork and trailers, and that only costed $20.
- Halo: The Master Chief Collection features every main Halo game released up to that point (and Halo: Custom Edition on PC) except Halo 5 for $40.
- Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga features every level in the first two Lego Star Wars games with improved lighting and graphics, new characters and (almost) every level cut from the original games added back in as bonus levels or part of the campaign all for $40.
- Even Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition ported six games despite having no enhancements over them, but also included additional Challenge Stages based on the Kirby's Return to Dream Land engine, a soundtrack CD, episodes taken from the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! anime, and a collectible book for $40.
Galaxy 2 was left out for some unknown reason, which could have made the collection at least somewhat worth the $60 price tag.
- Adding to that point, during Mario's 35th anniversary announcement, Nintendo deliberately ignored Galaxy 2 in the montage of Mario games over the years, despite certain titles like The Lost Levels being mentioned, as if they wanted to ignore the fact that Super Mario Galaxy had a sequel.
The collection is a limited release that will last until March 31, 2021, both physical and digital. While it does make sense for the physical version to be limited, it doesn't make sense for the digital version to also be limited. Luckily, when this game is delisted, people who have archived the game can still re-download it.
- This is especially embarrassing, because even the other bad Switch bundles like Mega Man: Legacy Collection 1 + 2 were released for an unlimited time.
Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario 64 use emulation instead of native ports, even when the latter received a open-source native port to the PC by fans which can be easily ported to other platforms, this becomes very apparent when going to the map menu in Sunshine, which causes the frame rate to drastically drop (something that doesn't even happen in the original).
All the games have their camera controls inverted with no option to un-invert it, which can be very frustrating to people used to the original cameras. Eventually, Nintendo is actually adding an option to invert the camera.
64 and Sunshine did not get framerate upgrades.
Like Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition, it seems like this game was marketed to audiences that are new to the Mario franchise.
With the collection being bare-boned, having no frame-rate upgrades (besides Galaxy), no Galaxy 2, sound delays, and having several emulation issues at launch. This could mean that the game was rushed to coincide with Super Mario's 35th Anniversary.
- It doesn't help that this game worsened Nintendo's Business Downfall.

Super Mario 64

It's based on the Japanese Shindou (新堂) re-release, which patches the backwards long jump, leading to criticism from speedrunners and changed the "So long, King Bowser!" line to "Bye-bye!" While people would think that this was because of the former line that is famously misheard as "So long, Gay Bowser!", the real reason to this is because Bowser is known as King Koopa in Japan.
While Sunshine and Galaxy run in 1080p, 64 only runs in 720p.
Unlike Sunshine, 64 wasn't upgraded to a widescreen aspect ratio.
The atrocious camera has not been fixed.
There's even a big sound delay in this version, which was not in any version of the original, not even the Shindou version, which it is based on.

Super Mario Sunshine

The cutscenes are slightly zoomed in, likely as a side-effect of them being cropped down from their original 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9.
The audio clips of FLUDD demonstrating his controls have been changed. It no longer says the name of the button to press (except for the button that switches between spray modes, which is the same button in this port). This can especially be confusing if you have the subtitles turned off.
The HUD effect that occurs when using the turbo nozzle underwater was not readjusted for the widescreen display.
It has some common Dolphin emulation problems. Some examples include:
- Visible debug boxes in some levels (patched in v1.1.0).
- You only need to clean a small portion of electric goo in Sirena Beach.
- Opening the map can sometimes cause framerate drops (patched in v1.1.0).
Prior to version 1.1.0, despite being a port of a GameCube game, this isn't optimized for use with the GameCube controller. While you can still use the GameCube controller with the adapter, it'll still be read as a Pro Controller, so the controls won't be the same and the pressure sensitivity on the triggers won't work. This was later added in an update where it now supports the GameCube Adaptor.
- Despite this, the UI still shows the X button from the GameCube controller instead of the X button from the Joy-Con, which can confuse people into thinking this works with the GameCube controller.
For some reason, the sound effect that plays at the start of a race was changed to a censor bleep (patched in v1.1.0).

Super Mario Galaxy

You can no longer use your Mii for your profile icon, even though Miis are on the Switch.
You are still forced to move your controller as a cursor, which feels awkward with the Pro Controller. And to make this worse, there is an obscure (yet surprisingly official) Nvidia Shield release of Super Mario Galaxy which let you use the right joy-stick as a cursor, though its China-only.
Aiming can get out of sync, so you frequently have to press the button to recenter the cursor.
When playing with the joy-cons, you can only aim with the right joy-con, which is a problem for left-handed players.
While it's nice to have the game play in 1080p, it also makes the low poly shape on some models and color banding on certain sprites more apparent.
As mentioned for aiming, the cursor will intend to lag at times (patched in v1.1.0).

Good Qualities

Overall

It provides people who never got the chance to play these games when they first came out the ability to play them for the first time. Especially Sunshine, which never got a digital re-release on newer hardware unlike 64 and Galaxy, although these people are better off using unofficial emulation.
At least Nintendo was somewhat nice enough to fix some issues in the v1.1.0 update like the emulation issues and lag, as well as adding an option to invert the camera.
The games are now in HD.
Textures have been upscaled, for example, the UI now looks cleaner.
Overall, despite its problems, the games are at least playable.

Super Mario 64

The controls are now more fluent than before, this being the Shindou edition of the game.
Text is easier to read.

Super Mario Sunshine

The game is now in widescreen. Though this was possible before using the Nintendont loader on the Wii.

Super Mario Galaxy

The spin move is now mapped to the Y button, making it more comfortable than the forced motion controls.
While not as graphically advanced as Super Mario Odyssey or Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the 2007 Wii game still holds up visually, especially now the game is natively playable in 1080p.

Reception

While this game received generally positive reviews from critics, the game received mostly mixed (and some positive) reviews from fans and gamers with criticism for some of the flaws for all the three games that weren't even bothered to be fixed. However, it's usually considered better than the Wii version of Super Mario All Stars and some bad game collections.

Trivia

This game was rumored since March 2020 when someone leaked the entire schedule for the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. While the rumor was believed false at the time, it gained more credibility after Paper Mario: The Origami King was announced.
Super Mario Sunshine technically did get a framerate upgrade: the ISO included is the PAL version of the game, which normally runs at 25 FPS, but now runs at 30 FPS.
By extracting the ROM of the game, it is revealed that there is a folder literally called Lazy_texture_replace, which is ironic considering the low level of effort this game appears to have.

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Glitchedblood

4 months ago

Score 5

Yeah I would understand how it has recieved a little bit of negative criticism now. It is still worth buying, but go play the original versions instead.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars

Bad Qualities

Overall

Super Mario 64

Super Mario Sunshine

Super Mario Galaxy

Good Qualities

Overall

Super Mario 64

Super Mario Sunshine

Super Mario Galaxy

Reception

Trivia

Videos

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