Super Mario 3D All-Stars
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 Lo and behold, Nintendo's worst excuse for an anniversary game.
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Super Mario 3D All-Stars is a compilation developed and published by Nintendo. It was released on September 18, 2020, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Super Mario franchise, along with Super Mario Bros. 35. The compilation, along with Super Mario Bros. 35, were delisted on March 31, 2021, once the anniversary ended. This is one of the games for the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary, alongside Paper Mario: The Origami King, Super Mario All-Stars for Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online, Super Mario Bros. 35, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros., and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. Despite the positive reviews from critics, the compilation is arguably one of the most polarizing games of 2020, along with The Last of Us Part II.
Plot
Super Mario 64
Bowser has taken over Princess Peach's castle and taken the Power Stars and hidden them in other worlds hidden in the walls. Mario (Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario in the DS version) must rescue the Princess, acquire the Power Stars, and defeat his nemesis.
Super Mario Sunshine
Mario, Peach, and several Toads go on a vacation to Isle Delfino, a tropical resort island shaped like a dolphin. Upon arriving, however, they find the whole island has been vandalized with a strange paint-like goop which caused the island's source of power, the Shine Sprites, to get scattered all over the place.
Mario obtains a powerful water spraying device named F.L.U.D.D. which he can use to clean the goop, however the resident Piantas blame Mario for the mess and force him to clean all the goop. Mario soon realizes that there's a "Shadow Mario" who is responsible for the goop and incriminating him. Mario embarks on a quest to recover the Shine Sprites, clean Isle Delfino, and capture his impersonator in order to clear his reputation.
Super Mario Galaxy
Every hundred years a huge comet (Grand Star) flies by in the skies above the Mushroom Kingdom. One year, that comet filled the entire sky, and from it fell a stream of shooting stars. The Toads scooped up the Star Bits and brought them to the castle, where they were reborn as a great Power Star. That night Mario received a letter:
"Dear Mario, I'll be waiting for you at the castle on the night of the Star Festival. There's something I'd like to give you." — from Peach.
With an invitation in hand, Mario headed off to the castle just as the Star Festival was getting into full swing. Surrounded by Toads gleefully trying to catch falling Star Bits, Mario was looking forward to the night's festivities.
Before he reached Peach's castle, Bowser attacked the Toads with his airships and froze them in crystals. He "invited" Peach to the creation of his new galaxy and warped into space with her castle to the center of the universe. When Mario tried to save her, a Magikoopa named Kamek broke the airborne path to the castle causing Mario to fall into an unknown land.
Mario later woke up on a small grassy moon and met three Star Bunnies who promised to tell Mario where he was if he caught them. When he did, they took him to meet Princess Rosalina, who told Mario that the universe was in great peril after Bowser had attacked her "ship", the Comet Observatory and stole the Power Stars, including the seven Grand Stars. Without them, the Comet Observatory was doomed. Rosalina asked Mario to rescue the Grand Stars to defeat Bowser, who took Peach to the center of the universe. Mario then started his journey across the galaxies, freeing Power and Grand Stars. Once five of the Grand Stars were collected, the Comet Observatory became a starship and was able to take Mario to the center of the universe.
There he defeated Bowser in his brand-new galaxy, retrieved the last Grand Star, and rescued Princess Peach. Without this Grand Star, the sun of Bowser's near-complete galaxy went supernova and became a gigantic black hole. Everything in the universe began to fall into the black hole. The Lumas from the Comet Observatory, including the Luma who had faithfully accompanied Mario, sacrificed themselves to neutralize it. The Lumas attacked the black hole's singularity, and it soon disintegrated in a massive explosion. Mario appeared in front of Rosalina, who had somehow managed to save him from the cataclysm. She told him that "this was not the end, but a new beginning for the universe," and that "the universe was an endless cycle, but one that never repeats itself exactly the same way each time." She then rewinds history and creates a New Era for the Mario universe.
Mario later awoke in the Mushroom Kingdom near Peach's castle. He saw everyone he'd met throughout his adventure celebrating, while Bowser and Peach sat next to him. When he looked into the sky, he noticed the green light of a new galaxy. "Welcome! Welcome, new galaxy!" Mario exclaimed as the camera zoomed out into space, revealing that the whole universe had been merged into one giant galaxy (although the galaxy Mario saw in the sky was not shown). If the player continues with the file, Rosalina will say if all 120 Power Stars are collected, the player can travel the new world. If the player has finished the game with 120 stars, after the credits Rosalina and a group of Lumas appear on the planet Mario started on at the beginning of the game. Rosalina says, "I will watch over you from beyond the stars," and flies off to the Comet Observatory. Then the white baby Luma is shown to be alive, now residing on the small planet. Finally, if the player has just beaten the game with 120 Stars with Mario, a Luigi tab will appear with him saying: "Super Luigi Galaxy!".
The Luigi Story goes the same as Mario's. Even the Luigi in Mario's story is still Luigi. When the player has defeated Bowser and continues with the Luigi Story, Rosalina will again say if Luigi collects all 120 stars, the player can travel to a new world. When the player collects 120 Stars, the player can travel to the Grand Finale Galaxy, the new world and the same new galaxy Mario saw in the ending movie. This galaxy is parallel to the Mushroom World. This explains why there are two Luigi's. The 121st, and final star can be found here.
Bad Qualities
Overall
- First off, the compilation was simply rushed to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the franchise, and it definitely shows, due to how barebones the changes were, as well the amount of content it has.
- Even Super Mario All-Stars, which has remakes of Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2, and Super Mario Bros. 3, are remakes instead of ports with enchanted graphics and lighting.
- 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 Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, which came out a year after this game and is a Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary game, is an enchanted port and not a regular port with a Bowser's Fury add on.
- Instead of being remasters, they're just emulations, with Sunshine and Galaxy using the Dolphin emulator. This isn't a bad thing given that most collections are emulated, but this is incredibly hypocritical for Nintendo, as they're heavily against modding of their consoles, as well emulation, and yet, they use a third-party emulator for these games.
- Much like Sonic Origins, the compilation is way too overpriced, costing at $60, especially with how old the games were at the time. Considering Super Mario 64 and its PAL port (including the Shindou version in Japan) was later released on Nintendo Switch Online, and the fact that there's virtually not really any differences between these versions except for the Nintendo Switch Online menu being added, the port of Super Mario 64 feels completely pointless.
- Bad presentation: The box art is incredibly simplistic. The front and back are ok, nothing special, but they're pretty fine, but the inside is incredibly simplistic, filled with screenshots plastered around the box. On top of that, the game was also released with no bonus features, such as interviews, snapshots, nothing. The only bonus content is the soundtrack, and that's it.
- The menu is also incredibly lazy and bland.
- Like Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition, it seems like this game was marketed to audiences that are new to the Mario franchise.
- Missed opportunity: One of the main criticisms of this game is that it lacks Super Mario 64 DS, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Super Mario 3D Land, and even after the collection was delisted, Nintendo refused to give it a reason of why Super Mario Galaxy 2 and the other games are not in this game.
- Ironically enough, "You Got a Star!" from Super Mario Galaxy 2, but higher pitched and slightly abridged, plays when the player starts the game.
- Although, it might be excusable, since the games included in the collection are the most distinctive 3D Mario games, as well as the game being developed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- So much missed potentials in the three games that are supposed to be the remastered versions of their original counterparts:
- Overall
- Updating the graphics.
- Remixing songs.
- Adding in more playable characters.
- Given the bosses new attacks.
- Super Mario 64
- Adding in the Super Mario 64 DS Exclusive elements (E.G. adding in Luigi, Yoshi, Wario, the extra Power Stars, Playable Characters, Stages, Mini-Games and bosses).
- Saving the Coin-Count in every stage should the Player lose a life.
- Saving the Life Count.
- Given the Player(s) the option to either leave or continue the stage after collecting the Power Star.
- Updating its 100% reward.
- Super Mario Sunshine
- Saving the Coin-Count in every stage should the Player lose a life.
- Adding in new stages and bosses.
- Featuring a proper restart pipe for the Lily Pad Mini-Game.
- Removing the Blue Coin hunt and adding in new Mini-Games for the Shine Sprite.
- Adding in a cutscene where after beating the main game, the Pinatas would apologized to Mario for accusing him, as well as another cutscene, where after collecting all of the Shine Sprite from the two tanookis, the Pinantas would arrest the two tanookis for stealing their Shine Sprites.
- Adding Mario to speak in full sentences in the cutscenes instead of being completely silent.
- Greatly improving and adding in more to the game's 100% reward.
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Adding in new stages and bosses.
- Letting the Player(s) keep their power up after finishing the stage.
- Making the Power-Ups not have a time limit.
- Updating both the Rolling Ball and Spring Mario Power-Up with better controls.
- Overall
- One of the most common criticisms of this game is that it is limited time and was only available until March 31, 2021. While it can be excused that Doug Bowser felt like it was an opportunity to have these games be limited time, it's still bad regardless. Especially since they were doing it when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its worst and had people losing money. If they did it in another period, that would be much better.
Super Mario 64
- One of the main criticisms of the game in the compilation is that it is based on the infamous Shindou version.
- Another one of the main criticisms of the game in the compilation is that the game doesn't have widescreen support, which doesn't make sense, since Super Mario Sunshine received widescreen support, and Galaxy already had that. People tried to defend the criticism by stating that it doesn't support that, since it wasn't released with widescreen support unlike most of Rare's games, this is inexcusable, however, as a user named Mors from MFGG made an unofficial PC port of Super Mario 64 called Super Mario 64 Plus (which came out four months before the collection in 2020), and not only it fully supports widescreen, but it also fixed the bad camera controls and runs in 60 FPS. Ironically, the Super Mario 64 DS minigame in WarioWare Move It! is in widescreen.
- The bad camera controls still haven't 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.
- A really infamous change is the removal of the "Backwards Long Jump" glitch. This was prominent in the Shindou version of the game.
- Another infamous change is the "So long-a, Bowser!" to "Bye Bye!" which that line used to be a famous meme. This was also prominent in the original Japanese version of the game.
- 100 Coin Stars are still rather tedious to obtain and if you lose a life, you are still kicked out of the level, which still means that you have to start from scratch each time you die. While this still isn't a big issue in most stages since they're often small and open, it is very problematic in Tick Tock Clock and Rainbow Ride since both of those stages are very long, linear, and it's still very easy to die in them. And some stages still have little more than 100 coins to collect, such as Jolly Roger Bay with its 103 coins and Dire, Dire Docks with its 101 coins.
- Much like the original, slopes will still often make Mario slide down either to his death or to the bottom of the stage out of your control, and this is still made worse by most inclined surfaces being treated as a slope.
- This is still especially problematic in Tiny-Huge Island, since Mario will still often get stuck in the sliding animation while trying to climb the mountain and slide to his death.
- Much like Super Mario Land and Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Luigi is still not seen nor mentioned in the game (though he does appear and be playable in the Nintendo DS remake alongside Yoshi and Wario) despite appearing in the previous Mario games. Although, a leak in 2020 (the year that Super Mario 3D All-Stars was released, ironically) at Nintendo proved that Luigi was going to be in the game for the second player for co-op, but this was sadly scrapped due to time constraints.
- This game can be seen as the most bare-bones game in Super Mario 3D All-Stars, especially since it was twenty-four years old at the time.
- The Wing Cap, despite still being an interesting take on a power-up, is still terribly finicky to control in the air, even with the airplane-like manoeuvring.
- You still go back to four lives when you reload your save.
- The game is still capped in 30 FPS.
- An although this might be a nitpick, this port can also be seen as an insult to the SM64 community in general.
- While the game is still universally considered a milestone of video game history and very playable to this day, (especially in comparison to lots of contemporary games that transferred to 3D) the game's age is still very telling nowadays thanks to many of its technical achievements becoming the norm.
- Toad is still only seen at the beginning of the game.
- The game can still crash at times on a modded Nintendo Switch, similar to the original. It's not helping by the fact the original Super Mario 3D All-Stars.[1][2]
Super Mario Sunshine
- Getting 120 shines in the game is still really hard (especially if compared to previous Mario games as Super Mario World or last 3D title) by getting 96 shines in every mission and additional 24 for 240 blue coins (10 blues for a shine can be got in Racoon's house after defeating the Proto Piranha; there are 30 blues per seven stages, 19 from the hub, 10 from Corona Mountain and the last from Delfino Airport after you complete the game).
- Much like Super Mario 64, you still need to collect 100 coins in every level, but since all the stages are still different unlike the 1996 game (except for the minimal changes that don't matter such as an Ukiki on top of mountain in the stage Tall, Tall Mountain, who appears only on the 2nd star hence its name), you should still find the best way to earn 100 coins, and even the most optimal ways save you, but not too much (most notably Gelato Beach, which is still possible only in one episode).
- The HUD effect that occurs when using the turbo nozzle underwater was not readjusted for the widescreen display.
- Prior to version 1.1.0, despite being a port of a Nintendo GameCube game, this isn't optimized for use with the Nintendo GameCube controller. While you can still use the Nintendo 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 Adapter.
- The Piantas are still unlikable at the beginning because they all accused Mario of contaminating Delfino Plaza, even though all of the graffiti came before he even arrived at the island, and Mario doesn't still entirely appear blue unlike the real criminal. In addition, they are still never shown apologizing.
- You still can't pause the game while Mario is in mid-air and can still only do so whenever he's on the ground.
- You can still lose a life instantly if you still lose a race with Il Piantissimo or if you still fail to pop all twenty balloons on the Roller Coaster Balloons.
- Despite being a Mario game, Luigi is still nowhere to be seen, nor is he still mentioned, like in Super Mario 64, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, and the first Super Mario Land game.
- 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, and his dialogue can be hilariously laughable.
- 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).
- The controls can still be a bit hard at times, especially when Mario is without F.L.U.D.D., in the levels The Hideside Cave Secret, The Secret of the Dirty Lake, The Secret of Ricco Tower, Dune Bud Sand Castle Secret, The Beach Cannon's Secret, The Yoshi-Go-Round's Secret, The Hotel Lobby's Secret, The Shell's Secret, and Secret of the Village Underside.
- For some odd reason and weirdly enough, the opening demo was removed, even if this can be seen as somewhat of a nitpick. This can especially come across as sad if you loved the opening demo, especially if you were a kid born in 1990-2009 who played Super Mario Sunshine.
Super Mario Galaxy
- Surprisingly, much like the Nvidia Shield port, you can no longer use your Mii for your profile icon, even though Miis are on the Switch.
- Playing the game with the Pro Controller is very awkward, since the game was intended to be played with motion controls, and feels clunky to navigate in the menus.
- 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).
- Much like the original, when you quit the game, your lives will be reset to 4.
- Much like the original, the Spring Mushroom is often considered one of the worst power-ups in the entire Mario franchise, and this game in general. Spring Mario is still nearly impossible to control, and this form still leads to cheap deaths unless used correctly. However, it is still used only in Toy Time Galaxy.
- There are still some bad levels in the game, such as Dusty Dune Galaxy, Rolling Gizmo Galaxy, Bubble Blast Galaxy, and Snow Cap Galaxy.
- Some of the levels still force you to use motion controls (e.g. Star Ball and manta ray levels) instead of simply using the Pro Controller, which can still be very frustrating.
- Mario's jumping moveset is still rather limited compared to other 3D Mario games (e.g. you can't dive), especially Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario 64 DS, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Super Mario 3D Land, Super Mario 3D World, Super Mario Odyssey, and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury.
- When you enter frozen water in the Freezeflame Galaxy, the screen will still go fuzzy.
- In the Super Luigi Galaxy mode, even though Luigi is still the controllable character and the main protagonist of Super Luigi Galaxy, the NPC Luigi is still once again here and not Mario, essentially still having two Luigis in the game; therefore, this concept can still be very confusing and very outputting to several gamers, especially new gamers of 2020.
- One of the boss battles is still against a giant spider that shoots out pus, which is still disgusting.
All-Star Qualities
- It provides people who never got the chance to play these games when they first came out with the ability to play them for the first time, and can make people feel nostalgic for the games they played as a child and make them feel like they are a kid again. Especially Super Mario Sunshine, which never got an official or an official digital re-release on newer hardware unlike Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy, although these people are better off using unofficial emulation. Also, this release ends up working out pricewise, since the Super Mario Sunshine's GameCube disc alone is now more expensive than this compilation of games.
- 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.
- Even with all its issues, the game is still playable from start to finish.
- Unlike what Rockstar did with the Nintendo Switch and PS4 ports of Red Dead Redemption and Ubisoft with Far Cry 3, at least Nintendo did add some new improvements in this collection pack.
Super Mario 64
- The controls are now more fluent than before, this being the Shindou edition of the game, despite not being the best.
- The voice acting is still pretty great, and the original version of Super Mario 64 marks the first Super Mario game where Charles Martinet voices Mario and he manages to reprise his role via archive recordings, and still he also voices almost all the other characters in this game via archive recordings.
- Unlike the original, this game will not crash, especially since this is a port and is not its own separate game.
- The camera, despite still being bad and wonky, is marginally fixed, especially compared to the original.
- The icons are in HD.
- Amazing soundtrack that is still considered one of the most iconic in gaming.
- When you boot up the game, you're still greeted by an interactive 3D model of Mario's head, which you can still mess around with and stretch. This title screen is still iconic.
- Mario still has a lot of "new" moves that take advantage of the 3D setting such as long jumping, wall jumping, back jump, and ground pound. You can also use Peach's castle to practice Mario's new move set in a safe place.
- The main collectible of the game is still the Power Stars. There is still a total of 120 Power Stars, 15 of them are still Secret Stars either found in secret areas or held by Toads, and at least 70 Power Stars are still required to beat the game. They're still all scattered throughout the various courses, most of which pertain to a mission. Power Stars still appear either in plain sight or after the player completes a mission objective, such as defeating a boss. The only exceptions to this are still the Red Coin and 100 Coin stars.
- There are still eight Red Coins in each course, and collecting all of them still causes a Power Star to appear over a Star Marker.
- Collecting 100 coins in each course will still net Mario a hidden Power Star.
- Due to hardware limitations, the Nintendo 64 can't produce enough environments in 3D to have as many levels as the previous Mario games. Nintendo solved this problem by instead making the worlds bigger and having multiple objectives in them. These worlds are open-ended allowing you to explore and obtain the Power Stars in whatever order you want, with a few exceptions.
Super Mario Sunshine
- Unlike the original game, the game is not glitchy (though all of the glitches from the original are still in this port), and it is thankfully fixed and an improvement over the original.
- Unlike Super Mario 64, the game is in widescreen, thus making the graphics look beautiful.
- Great OST, on the top being the music that play in the hub and still being rearranged four times total.
- Since the game still takes place on a distant island far away from the Mushroom Kingdom, all the enemies in Super Mario Sunshine are still less common than from other games.
- It's great to see characters such as F.L.U.D.D., Toadsworth, the Piantas (all of which physically return since Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) the Hotel manager, II Piantissimo , etc.
- This is Bowser's Jr.'s debut game, and he affords a lot of funny moments in the game, the greatest example is a cringeworthy cutscene after the player defeats Mecha-Bowser in the first Pinna Park mission where Bowser. Jr reveals his face and says that Peach is his mother and he tried to "rescue" the Princess by sending Mario to prison because Bowser told him that "Mario is a bad man who wants to kidnap Peach". However, at the end of the game, Bowser' Jr. acknowledges to his father that Peach isn't his mama, and he wants to refight Mario when he grows up, which makes Bowser proud of his son.
Super Mario Galaxy
- The soundtrack is still fantastic and orchestral, which still contains a lot of great themes such as Gusty Garden Galaxy, Good Egg Galaxy, Bowser's Dark Matter Plant/Star Reactor (which is a rearranged Koopa's Road from Super Mario 64), Bowser's Galaxy Reactor, rearranged Ground theme from Toy Time Galaxy, Purple Coins theme, and a lot of boss themes as Bowser fight, etc.
- Creative-level design that makes good use of gravity-based platforming. At the same time, not every level is based around planetoids.
- Mario has a "new" Spin Attack, which still allows him to attack and helps with platforming.
- Proper power-ups still return to the 3D games, with classics like the Fire Flower and new ones like the Ice Flower and Bee Mushroom.
- Still High amount of replay value, with 242 collectible stars (121 for each character), making for a game that can last for at least eleven hours.
- Obtaining every Power Star still unlocks Luigi as a playable character, still allowing you to replay the game with him. Luigi still controls slightly differently from Mario so it doesn't feel like a simple character skin change. Completing the game with both Mario and Luigi still unlocks one final mini-level Grand Finale Galaxy, which is still Peach's castle before it was destroyed, which is still a nice reward, and in comparison to previous 3D titles (such as Super Mario Sunshine, which gives you a postcard after 120 shines).
- Throughout the level appear crystals called Star Bits, collecting them is still not only a very satisfying thing to do, but also collecting at least 50 of them still earns you a 1-up (as opposed to 100 coins in older Mario games). They can still also be used to feed hungry Lumas and unlock levels.
Reception
Super Mario 3D All-Stars received positive reviews from critics and some Internet reviewers, praising the enhancements, and the bug fixes, although the presentation received criticism. Other Internet reviewers and the fans, however, have been pretty divisive on this game. They criticized the compilation for not upgrading much from their original versions, the glitches, and the price tag. Many people were also fed up when Nintendo made the awful decision of making the game a limited release. The game ended up being one of the most polarizing games of 2020, along with The Last of Us Part II.
Scott The Woz, while still saying that the game was worth 60$, criticized the collection's lack of major upgrades, and bad controls in Super Mario Galaxy, as well the lackluster content it was included. He also said that it's impossible to deny that this compilation is pretty lackluster compared to others that had more care and love than this. In his Game Deals video, he said that the collection was at least worth 50$/55$.
Videos
Overall
Comments
- Mediocre media
- 2020s games
- Games for everyone
- Nintendo
- Nintendo Switch games
- Mario games
- Super Mario games
- Remakes/remasters
- Game compilations
- Games made in Japan
- Average games
- Bad games from good franchises
- Bad ports of good games
- Porting disasters
- Overpriced
- Unfinished games
- Overhyped games
- Hard games
- Delisted games
- Scott The Woz episodes
- Games reviewed by Nathaniel Bandy
- Games reviewed by SomecallmeJohnny
- Games featured in Everything Wrong With
- Commercial successes
- Abusing the franchise
- Cash grabs
- Nostalgia pandering