The year 2020 marked the 35th anniversary of Mario, Nintendo’s biggest mascot, and to celebrate the occasion Nintendo released several products to celebrate their famous plumber; items that ranged from clothes to pins, but the one thing that excited fans the most was a compilation of games that features Mario’s 3D adventures. The game compilation features Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy; three games that are widely regarded as must plays for anyone who enjoys video games. You might be asking yourself, why is this opinion piece labeling the compilation as a disappointment then? Well Super Mario 3D All-Stars does little to modernize the games and fails to do anything to commemorate 35 years of Mario.
Super Mario 64 was a groundbreaking title when it comes to 3D platformers, it laid the blueprint for how a 3D platformer should feel and how a map should be built in one. The game still came with a few flaws though, one being the camera which was clunky and hard to control. The original was released in 1996 as a launch title for the Nintendo 64 and because of this it was understandable that it would have such issues. But unfortunately the camera is still a problem in the All-Stars collection, 24 years later it is still hard to control and often leaves you unable to see where you need to progress, a problem that was understandable back then, but unacceptable now.
Another issue that is prominent in both Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine is the lack of upgrades made to their visuals. The graphics and frame rates have been improved in every game, but the games are still largely untouched. I understand that the developers wanted to showcase how much progress has been made visually from the Nintendo 64 era to the Wii era, but the lack of upgrades just feel lazy in an era where remakes and remasters are released on a regular basis.
An example they could have followed comes from Halo: The Master Chief Collection, where it keeps the original graphics from Halo, but with the press of the button you can toggle the upgraded ones. I understand that this would have been difficult on the switch’s limited hardware, but they could have used the upgraded graphics that were used on the Nintendo DS version of Mario 64, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate already shows us that the console is able to load at fast speeds.
One of the biggest issues of this game compilation is its price, the game retailed at a new game standard of 60 dollars. The issue here is that these aren’t new games, they have been slightly upgraded and include some music tracks, but nothing to justify the price point. It is fairly normal for a game to be re-released as a remaster at a 40 dollar price tag, this can be seen in titles like the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy or the aforementioned Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
The main difference is that these collections worked a lot on the originals to make them feel modern. The Crash Bandicoot collection used all the same levels, but the developers basically had to start the game from scratch, as seen in an article by Sam Machkovech at arsetechnica.com, while The Master Chief Collection includes the graphic toggling that I previously mentioned, remade several multiplayer maps and has expanded the collection over time to where it now features 6 Halo games.
If you want to enjoy three classic video games that you might have played in your youth, then I would recommend the collection. But unfortunately I wont be able to do so after March 2021, since Nintendo has decided to vault the game at the end of the month. Nintendo has decided that they want to keep the game exclusive to Mario’s 35 anniversary and limiting the supply run on purpose. This seems like a purposeful anti-consumer move to increase the number of sales during its short run, and make the consumer feel like they have to buy it before its gone.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars is a disappointing compilation that ironically features three of the best games of all time. As you may have noticed I didn’t really cover Super Mario Galaxy and that was because it aged the best out of all three games and still looks stunning in this form. Unfortunately the compilation also forgets that Super Mario Galaxy 2 exists, which would have been a welcome addition to the bundle of games. The compilation is meant to celebrate Mario’s anniversary, but sadly the Super Mario 3D All-Stars package feels like a rushed attempt to cash in on his birthday rather than honor it.
The Gaming Diary 