When news leaked about a 3D Mario game collection several months ahead of the official announcement, I was instantly hyped. As a life-long Mario fan, the mustachioed plumber’s 3D adventures hold a special place in my heart. Each of these games meant so much to me personally that I knew I had to snag the collection as soon as physically possible. And so I did.

Looking at Super Mario 3D All-Stars as a whole, this is a nice and tidy collection of three landmark titles, finally playable on the Switch. But that’s not to say that Nintendo pulled out all the stops here; on the contrary, they did the absolute bear minimum required to get this “All-Stars” out the door! This collection is just three games—Super Mario 64 (N64), Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube), & Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)—and their soundtracks. That is all.

It is a little disappointing that Nintendo didn’t put in more effort. Granted, this is first time any of these games have been officially released in HD, and a few tweaks needed to made in order for things work on the Switch control-wise. But considering that all changes are accomplished here through emulation tricks—and that the game is still running old roms from a decade or two ago—there’s little in this package that screams quality. Hell, this game didn’t even have GameCube controller support on release, an omission which rendered Sunshine virtually unplayable (at least in my opinion).

As barebones as it is though, Super Mario 3D All-Stars has some good muthaf^%kin’ bones! These three titles are undisputed classics—YES, even Sunshine!—and the magic of their gameplay lives on to this day. While you mileage with each entry may vary, and nostalgia is still probably the biggest draw for your particular favorite, these games are truly stellar experiences. Hell, it’s almost worth playing a bit of each game for the historical value alone. Mario 64, for example, basically perfected the 3D platformer at a time where nobody could get it to work!

Interestingly, Nintendo has announced that this collection will only be available to purchase for a limited time, through March 31, 2021. What’s truly odd is that this limitation is apparently true for both physical and digital copies of the game, meaning you won’t even be able to buy the collection digitally after March next year. Hopefully Nintendo reconsiders this artificial scarcity tactic, because it’s not only dumb, but it makes them look like manipulative @$$holes.

Super Mario 64

Of the three games in this collection, it’s Grand Pappy 64 that I was most excited to jump back into. This game absolutely blew my mind back in 1996. In fact, before the N64 was officially released, I found a display unit with Mario 64 in my local Blockbuster video. For what must have been two solid hours, I stood there, gripping the bizarre three-pronged controller, trying to wrap my head around navigating Mario through 3D space. The N64’s analog thumbstick was the craziest thing I had ever seen up to the point, and I was determined to master the controls before I stopped playing and left the video store.

Here’s the single most important thing about Super Mario 64: jumping around with Mario feels amazing from the outset and those controls are damn near perfect, even today! Sure, the wall jumps are finicky to the point of basically being broken, but that’s literally Mario’s only athletic shortcoming. The triple jump, the backflip, the ground pound, the side-flip, the LONG JUMP—every single move at our hero’s disposal feel great to pull off.

That’s not to say that Super Mario 64 is a perfect game. Being one of the first 3D platformers ever, it doesn’t look so pretty today. In fact, this is the one game in the collection that can’t be played in widescreen; it’s the original 4:3 ratio and 30fps, that’s it. While the game looks sharper than ever here, it’s too bad Nintendo didn’t go further in optimizing the visuals. There’s even a funny quirk that’s visible now in HD, where Mario switches to a low-polygon model when he’s far enough away from the camera. Apparently the game had always done this, but without the burring effect of the N64 on an old CRT TV, it’s suddenly very noticeable.

Far worse than any surface-level blemishes though, is the fact that Mario 64’s camera is truly awful. While Nintendo nailed the controls and overall feel right out of the gate, their first attempt at a 3D camera was not as successful. Bowser may have a gauntlet of deadly traps and army of minions at his disposal, but Mario’s single greatest foe is actually the camera in this game. (That Lakitu cameraman is truly diabolical!) While I understand not wanting to mess with a classic, the camera is another aspect which Nintendo could have (and really should have) improved upon for this collection.

Still, even with lackluster wall jumps, dated visuals, and a horrible camera, this game is masterpiece. Exploring Peach’s castle, jumping into paintings to travel to various lands, collecting all 120 Stars—because how could stop at 70?—the journey is still magical from start to finish. You absolutely must play Super Mario 64 to the end, the credits music is just so good!

When I got my copy of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, I jumped right into Mario 64. And after just three play sessions, I had completed it, 100%. Clearly I’ve played through this one many times before, but man oh man, it’s just wonderful.

If you’re speedrunner then I am sorry to inform you that the rom used in this collection is the Shindou Pak (振動パック) version. This version of Super Mario 64 came out in Japan after the US release of the game, adding Rumble Pak support and fixing some bugs. Unfortunately that means the Backwards Long Jump, a famous bug which opened the door for some impressive speedrunning exploits, has been patched out. Mario also never says “Bowser” out loud in this version, since the character has always been known as Koopa (クッパ) in Japan.

Super Mario Sunshine

It’s common knowledge that Sunshine is a flawed game. After the triumph that was Super Mario 64, Nintendo aimed to do something original with Sunshine, something more unique than just a straight sequel. So they built the game around the GameCube controller and its uniquely long-travel-yet-also-clicky analog shoulder buttons. Apparently the development team thought the R Button felt enough like a trigger that they decided on new mechanics built around a squirt gun.

And thus Mario’s FLUDD waterpack was born!

Along with the FLUDD, the environment of Sunshine is also more narrowly focused. The entire adventure takes place on the lush and vibrant Isle Delfino, a tropical vacation destination that’s essentially Hawaii in the shape of a dolphin. The game actually introduced a few new races to the Mario cannon, like the Pianta and Noki, so characters could potentially be something other than mushroom people. This is also the only Mario game to feature fully-voiced cutscenes! (Which nobody asked for, by the way.) And yet Mario is mostly silent in all story conversations.

So what’s not to love about this colorful, creative adventure? Well, it has some pretty obvious issues. First of all—and I realize this is an extremely minor gripe—they took away Mario’s long jump. You don’t really need it in Sunshine, especially when you can use FLUDD to hover, but I’m still sad it’s gone. I love that long jump…

The next problem is honestly FLUDD itself. How you feel about Mario’s super soaker gimmick will largely determine whether you love or hate this game. I remember being cautiously optimistic back in 2002, and then eventually came to enjoy it quit a bit. But I can totally understand if players just can’t into pressure washing sludge off of Isle Delfino’s sidewalks.

Third, and this is Sunshine’s most egregious flaw, there are just too many unfun challenges, with goals clearly designed to pad out the game’s runtime. The developers came up with a lot of unique ideas for challenges in Sunshine, but a good chunk of them end up feeling like work.

The most obvious example of this is Sunshine’s Blue Coins, a collectable item hidden throughout the game—in both levels and the hub area, Defino Plaza—which can be exchanged for Shine Sprites (the new Stars in this game). Instead of making more levels, or hiding more Shines in each level, Nintendo opted to hide 240 Blue Coins everywhere and then make every 10 Blue Coins exchangeable for one Shine. Now I love exploring, but that is some straight-up, time-wasting garbage. No one derives satisfaction from collecting a token worth ⅒ of the standard, run-of-the-mill collectable.

There’s also the fact that—unlike Mario 64, and later Mario Odyssey—each time you enter a level, you can only collect the one specific Shine Sprite for that challenge. In Mario 64 you could collect Stars in whatever order you’d like, regardless of what challenge was selected upon entering the level. In Odyssey, you can collect as many Moons as you can find and you’re never taken out of the area until you choose to leave. In Sunshine however, you can only get that one Shine designated at the beginning. Even if you collect 100 coins and grab the Shine for that, you are immediately pulled out of the level. It’s annoying.

A random Blue Coin, swimming with the fishes.

Imperfect as it may be, Sunshine is still a great game! I genuinely do love that whole game in confined to a single island. And the topical vacation theme is surprisingly refreshing—especially this year! Also, and this genuinely surprised me, the game looks drop-dead gorgeous in HD! (Damn, the GameCube was really an awesome console and never gots its due.) The camera here is very-much improved from Mario 64, though still not perfect. And exploring the various island locales is well worth another visit.

Here’s the thing about Sunshine though: it has to be played with GameCube controller or it just plain doesn’t work. When Super Mario 3D All-Stars was first released, it somehow didn’t have GC controller support, despite the fact that A) the Switch already has GC controller support, and B) Sunshine was built around that specific controller. Initially this was the biggest letdown of the collection, so I am very glad that they rectified this with an update two months after launch.

Now sure, you can play Sunshine with Joy-cons or a Pro controller or whatever, but I think you’ll find that the experience fails far short. Those options lack analog shoulder buttons, so they map FLUDD controllers to two separate buttons (R & ZR) instead of one. You might think that’d be fine, but it actually sucks real bad. As it turns out, the feel of the GameCube’s R Button, and the variable pressure you can intuitively exert with the waterpack, is absolutely crucial to the feel of this game. Trying to steer a boat (or leaf) in this game without it is flat-out impossible.

Beyond FLUDD actions, Sunshine controls simply feel better with a GC controller in general; more natural and fine-tuned. If you are going to play Super Mario Sunshine, use a GC controller or you’re gonna have a bad time.

Super Mario Galaxy

As the most recent game on offer in 3D All-Stars, Super Mario Galaxy will be seen by many as the crown jewel of the collection. If I’m honest though, I think Super Mario Galaxy is rather overrated. It’s not bad by any means, and there’s some impressive creativity on display in this game. But for my money, Galaxy entry is just nowhere near as magical as Super Mario 64.

That said, this version Mario Galaxy is definitely the best rendition of the game so far. Of the three Marios in this collection, Galaxy has received the most tweaks to make it accessible on Switch, and this just happens to have (mostly) removed the game’s single worse element: motion controls!

When playing Mario Galaxy on the Wii, one had to waggle the controller to make Mario spin, swing on vines, throw fireballs—anything that you’d normally map to the Y Button. And honestly, I hated it. Now you can do these moves at the touch of button, which is a great relief.

Wii games also featured point-at-the-screen cursor controls, and unfortunately those still remain in this version. Luckily this can be achieved pretty well just using standard Switch motion controls—or using the touchscreen in handheld mode—so it’s not much of an issue.

Visually Galaxy looks great in HD, and even runs at a smooth 60fps. Comparing Mario 64’s 4:3 polygonal jaggies to Galaxy’s silky widescreen clarity is night and day; what a difference a decade makes! Ironically though, Sunshine still looks the most impressive to my eye somehow…maybe it’s just a matter of each game’s art style. The game’s score, fully orchestrated for the first time in the series history, is of course also excellent.

Well that’s unexpected in a kid’s game. — Well *that’s* unexpected in a kid’s game.

In the gameplay department, Super Mario Galaxy is pretty stellar. The levels constructed of gravity-based planetoids which Mario can run completely around is an extremely cool idea, and it’s put to good use many times over. For some reason though, this style of Mario level doesn’t hold my attention for very long. Of all of Mario’s adventures, I seem to tire of Galaxy the quickest. (And my first time booting this game up on Switch, I almost felt a bit of motion sickness from the upside-down-ness of it all.)

Part of the issue might be that my favorite part of Mario adventures is the exploration—especially in the 3D games—and Galaxy is lacking in that department. Objectives in this game feel very straightforward, and despite the wild variance in level and boss design, there doesn’t seem to be much room to stray from the beaten path. Arguably there are some secrets to find along the way, but the sense of discovery felt in other 3D Marios is completely absent here.

Also, and I don’t mean to gripe, but there is way too much text in this Mario game. Roslina and the Lumas are the worst offenders by far, but also the Toads, Bowser Jr., Luigi—these characters simply will not shut up! Even the game itself will pop instructions onto the screen that almost nobody wants or needs. The Wii era was Nintendo at their peak hand-holdy-ness and it’s still annoying 13 years later.

Is Super Mario Galaxy great game? Yes absolutely, it’s bonafide classic with some truly brilliant game mechanics. Is it the best game in Super Mario 3D All-Stars? I don’t think so, but perhaps you do.

Let’s wrap this up…

Super Mario 3D All-Stars is an easy recommendation, I definitely think any Mario fan should get this game for their collection. If merely for the convenience of having these three titles playable on the Switch, the admittedly slim package is worth its price tag…this time.

It is truly baffling that Nintendo says they won’t sell this game after March 31, 2021, and I can understand not wanting to reinforce their shenanigans. But of course, I always knew I’d be buying this game immediately, even back when it was merely a rumor. So I’d still put this game cart at the top of my Christmas list this year. Now, let-sa go!