Super Mario 3D All-Stars

Super Mario 3D All-Stars is a platform game compilation developed by Nintendo EPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It launched on September 18, 2020, as part of the celebrations for the 35th anniversary of the Super Mario series, and it gathers high-definition versions of the first three 3D Mario adventures in a single package that can be played on a TV or in handheld mode.

The collection contains Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy, each with its own setting and goal. In Super Mario 64, Mario leaps into paintings scattered around Princess Peach’s castle to gather Power Stars and stop Bowser. Super Mario Sunshine takes him to the tropical Isle Delfino, where he must collect Shine Sprites and clean up the goop left behind by Shadow Mario. Super Mario Galaxy sends him from planet to planet in a gravity-bending journey to keep Bowser from seizing control of the universe.

All three games run through emulation, with Galaxy partly recompiled to run natively on the Switch, and they display at higher resolutions than the originals. Sunshine and Galaxy run at 1080p in TV mode and 720p in handheld mode, while Super Mario 64 runs at 720p in a 4:3 frame. Controls were adapted to Joy-Con and the Pro Controller: the water pack F.L.U.D.D. in Sunshine moved to the shoulder buttons, and the motion pointer in Galaxy uses gyro aiming or, in handheld mode, the touchscreen. Galaxy’s two-player cooperative mode is also supported.

Alongside the three games, the compilation includes a music player holding 175 tracks from the original soundtracks, which can keep playing with the screen switched off. Post-launch updates added camera inversion options for all three games, GameCube controller support for Sunshine, and support for the Nintendo 64 controller offered to Nintendo Switch Online members. Nintendo offered the game for a limited time only: the digital edition left the Nintendo eShop on March 31, 2021, and the physical edition was discontinued on the same date, although existing stock remained in some stores afterward.

During development, the team aimed to keep the design and spirit of the original games while improving resolution and controller layouts, and Nintendo European Research and Development built the emulation used for Sunshine. Critics generally praised the games themselves and the improved controls, but many were let down by the plain presentation, the lack of extra content, the time-limited release, and the absence of Super Mario Galaxy 2. The compilation still sold more than 9 million copies by March 2021, ranking among the best-selling games of 2020.