Super Mario 3D All-Stars (September 18, Limited Release; Available until March 2021)

[shdowhunt60]

So, wait, am I understanding it right that it's going to be completely unavailable after March?

[Ryannumber1gamer]

2 minutes ago, shdowhunt60 said:

So, wait, am I understanding it right that it's going to be completely unavailable after March?

Yes.

Again, it's being rumoured that they might make all three games available separately at a higher cost after March, but that's pure speculation. All we know for now is the collection will be completely unavailable after March.

[JezMM]

A friend (Mark (a.k.a. Mahzes) on here, I forget how often he posts still but I'll give credit where it's due) pointed out to me that one reason Galaxy 2 might, MAYBE, have been omitted, is that shooting star bits in Galaxy 1 is mostly optional, so it's not a big deal if players aren't using motion controls and only use the slightly more cumbersome touch screen/right stick (if they're going that route as an option) to shoot them on occasion (I'm pretty sure the only mandatory parts are feeding hungry Lumas).

However in Galaxy 2, aiming and using Yoshi's tongue on the fly, midway through tricky platforming sections in the later stages, is a mandatory part of the experience.  It's hard to imagine how they could adapt that without cheapening it to an auto-aim system that just attaches to the nearest thing like his tongue does in Sunshine, which... I haven't played the game recently enough to figure out if that'd be perfectly servicable, or whether it'd rob the player of agency in moments where they have a choice on what to grapple.

It's possible they couldn't find an alternative for non-motion users that meets their internal quality standards for user experience (this is Nintendo after all).  Just a theory but seems like a sensible one (that will only really hold ground if Galaxy 2 just simply never gets a re-release).

[shdowhunt60]

Just now, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Yes.

Again, it's being rumoured that they might make all three games available separately at a higher cost after March, but that's pure speculation. All we know for now is the collection will be completely unavailable after March.

I know that Nintendo has a penchant for artificial scarcity, but this is ridiculous. I'll still get it anyways, but it just strikes me as being pointless.

It kinda begs the question too if that's the case, what price would they be selling them at? Because like.... SEGA is selling SA:DX for $7.99, and SA2:B is like $12.99 with the DLC. 

Mario 3D All-Stars already has a pre-order price of $60. That's already super expensive for what are really old games at this point. How much more can Nintendo justify charging at this point? Especially when it looks like they put minimal effort into it.

I was super enthused when this was first announced, but I'm not gonna lie when I say that this has curbed that substantially.

[StaticMania]

17 minutes ago, JezMM said:

I haven't played the game recently enough to figure out if that'd be perfectly servicable, or whether it'd rob the player of agency in moments where they have a choice on what to grapple.

Well, aiming Yoshi's reticule is part of 2 bosses...and without that manual aiming, both bosses would need to be reworked significantly as to not be complete joke fights.

Also you need the pointer for more than just shooting starbits...pull stars, aiming a blower for directing bubbles, and pulling some sticky spider webs to aim yourself are all mandatory things in Galaxy 1. So that pointer thing can't exactly  be the reason, Galaxy 2 actually has a lot less of this anyway.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

4 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Well, aiming Yoshi's reticule is part of 2 bosses...and without that manual aiming, both bosses would need to be reworked significantly as to not be complete joke fights.

Also you need the pointer for more than just shooting starbits...pull stars, aiming a blower for directing bubbles, and pulling some sticky spider webs to aim yourself are all mandatory things in Galaxy 1. So that pointer thing can't exactly  be the reason, Galaxy 2 actually has a lot less of this anyway.

I honestly don't know how much this affects Galaxy anyways, I thought Joycons had the pointer capabilities of the Wiimote anyways?

Gonna be fun seeing Nintendo work out how they're gonna handle it with the Pro Controller.

[Sean]

I guess Nintendo never ported Galaxy 2 to the Nvidia Shield so that could be true. It seems like the games that are on that platform are mostly ones where the waggle can be easily mimicked with a button press, like DKCR and Twilight Princess. Not sure how important the wiimote is in Punch Out, though.

[StaticMania]

The Joycons are seen using the Pointer to collect starbits in the trailers.

Well it's seen controlling the pointer while demonstrating shaking.

[Wraith]

18 minutes ago, Sean said:

I guess Nintendo never ported Galaxy 2 to the Nvidia Shield so that could be true. It seems like the games that are on that platform are mostly ones where the waggle can be easily mimicked with a button press, like DKCR and Twilight Princess. Not sure how important the wiimote is in Punch Out, though.

You can straight up play Punch Out with the buttons so it wouldn't be a big deal. You're right in that every game on the Shield has motion controls as a minor feature. 

[shdowhunt60]

34 minutes ago, Sean said:

I guess Nintendo never ported Galaxy 2 to the Nvidia Shield so that could be true. It seems like the games that are on that platform are mostly ones where the waggle can be easily mimicked with a button press, like DKCR and Twilight Princess. Not sure how important the wiimote is in Punch Out, though.

This is a fairly good point. Maybe this could be solved somewhat by Nintendo supporting 3rd party Wii sensors like the Mayflash Dolphinbar.

It's not a perfect solution but it would make more Wii titles viable on the Switch. Who knows, maybe this is why the long-rumored Metroid Prime Trilogy still hasn't popped up on Switch.

[Tracker_TD]

FWIW they've confirmed that in handheld mode/on the Switch Lite, the touch screen is used for Galaxy's pointer stuff.

I think Jez/Mahzes' theory holds water; in Galaxy as far as I remember, the pointer stuff is all fairly divorced from active platforming gameplay. Pull Stars and all that exist, yes, but you're not juggling with other controls while doing so, so touching the screen to drag Mario around isn't intrusive.

With Yoshi... well, I can't imagine platforming through The Perfect Run's Yoshi segment while trying to tap the screen constantly would be that fun, I know that much. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Don't know if it was posted yet, but apparently the resolution details is that Mario 64 is upgraded from 480p up to 720p, while Sunshine and Galaxy are both upgraded to 1080p.

On top of that, 64 got new texture work:

(Source)

[NegaMix]

I'm conflicted about this collection. On the one hand, having all three games on Switch would be rather handy, especially Sunshine. And it's a good selection of games too, all of which I genuinely love.

But on the other hand, the seeming lack of enhancements (mere texture updates for 64, 16:9 ratio for Sunshine, and handheld play for Galaxy) as well as Galaxy 2 not making the cut leaves me feeling underwhelmed with the collection's contents.

And then there's the limited release, both physically AND digitally. Just... why?! Who the hell thought that putting such a time limit on the collection's availablity was a good idea?!

I almost want to wait for a discount before thinking about picking this up, but considering the limited time until it becomes unavailable, I dunno if that'll even be a possibility.

[Dr. Detective]

Hmm...

It took a bit of time to summon up the courage to post what I feel about this because I'm honestly not quite sure how to take it. 

A big reason as to why I haven't played any of Nintendo's franchises, whether it be Mario, Zelda, Kirby, or what have you is because in order for me to make the confident leap to give them a try, I first need to dip my toes into it safely. That usually requires me relying on a collection or waiting for the price to drop, which is something that Nintendo never seems interested in doing. By this point a lot of the old gamecube games are being sold for way higher prices than they usually were online.

I've played Super Mario Sunshine amongst a collection of  Gamecube games over at my grandma's house alongside Sonic Adventure 2: Battle and Smash Bros. Melee. It's pointless pointing out which of those I enjoyed the most but Sunshine I played a fair bit of and while I didn't fall in love with it, I could see how fun could have been squeezed from it had I both been more patient and more willing to embrace Delfino Isle. There was no way I was going to pass up running fast, destroying robots, blowing shit up, and going into space with that other game but I didn't hate what I played.

When I got a chance to hook up a Nintendo 64, I also got to play Super Mario 64 for about five or so minutes back when I was a small boy and I didn't enjoy it because I was confused as to where to go and I thought Mario was way slower than Sonic. Surprisingly, the original Smash Bros. and the first two Pokemon Stadiums were the games me and my younger brother were obsessed with playing on that thing. It's funny because neither of us cared that much about Melee in comparison to the first one. It's really strange, I know.

Galaxy, I've just straight up never played. 

The only pure Mario game I own is Odyssey and even then I had to ask for it for Christmas. I played it and LOVED it, sure, but one Mario game (especially one that's said to not be a typical traditional Mario game) wouldn't be enough to completely sell me on a confident $60 dollar buy.

Not to mention, there's the desire to play as much as I can in as easily digestible a manner as possible. Even if something is of a lower price, buying it before I had the chance to play the game before it would usually give me pause.

As such, I feel like this collection could go a long way towards giving me a chance to give those first two games a do-over and Galaxy a chance... however, the very fact that there's a time limit for getting it and the fact that I would never pre-order something I normally would need a lot of time thinking about getting is hindering my ability to put a positive spin on this. 

Something like this is exactly what I wanted and yet I'm not being given the proper amount of respect for my time and money to make the decision to go for it. This would only push me to making a choice faster than I'd be willing to and I don't really like the fact that it's making me feel that way. 

Doing something like that does carry the risk of making me feel a bit dirty purchasing it right off the bat if the tactic is truly so that they can rake in the dough with pre-orders rather than satisfy proper demand. 

So I'm torn. I don't like that this is how they've decided to do it. 

Also, about that 35 player battle royale-esque Mario game thing... I don't have too much to say about it but... is Nintendo Online connectivity good enough to handle that yet?

[StaticMania]

25 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Also, about that 35 player battle royale-esque Mario game thing... I don't have too much to say about it but... is Nintendo Online connectivity good enough to handle that yet?

It wouldn't matter.

[shdowhunt60]

More importantly, is Infernoplus involved?

 

[Tornado]

https://gonintendo.com/stories/368135-super-mario-sunshine-in-super-mario-3d-all-stars-doesn-t-support

 

Sure bringing their A-Game here.

[mayday2592]

Really trying to understand how three games from over a decade ago are being sold for sixty dollars when absolutely nothing is being added and it doesn't even take full advantage of the technology being used.

[StaticMania]

16 minutes ago, mayday2592 said:

...and it doesn't even take full advantage of the technology being used.

Graphically...

[mayday2592]

I doubt they’re changing much that pushes the boundaries on Switch on an audio or technical standpoint either. Especially if they’re not even altering the button prompts in Sunshine.

[shdowhunt60]

7 hours ago, Tornado said:

https://gonintendo.com/stories/368135-super-mario-sunshine-in-super-mario-3d-all-stars-doesn-t-support

 

Sure bringing their A-Game here.

Man, they're putting the most minimal effort into this as possible. I'm about to take a hard pass, and just play Sunshine and Galaxy on Dolphin, because this is effectively going to just be the same thing. Plus Mario 64 is on PC right now and supports wide screen aspect ratios plus and can run at 60fps lmao.

What's sad is that Nintendo is going to be completely validated in behaving like this, because it's going to sell ridiculously well.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Not shocking, considering the short release, but looks like the game has already been printed and probably being shipped as we speak. Don't be surprised if we start seeing it break street date long before the 18th.

Looking at what the game itself has...it becomes even more ridiculous that this is a limited release.

This is not like the All-Stars Wii release, or the Kirby 20th anniversary collection that released on Wii with a host of bonus features, including a soundtrack, and other goodies physically. With this, you are quite literally getting just the Switch case, and the cartridge, along with a spread of Mario screenshots on the inner box. 

So yeah, this is pretty much exactly the same as your average Switch game. You won't get anything special physically.

[JezMM]

To be honest if they are sticking with the limited release shtick, it would've been even shittier if you got anything special out of the physical version, so no harm done there.  (You are sort of getting the soundtracks though lol).

[Mars]

I feel like scalpers will buy this, wait a few months after March, then sell the game at top dollar. I thought about that myself, but I decided against it. I'm still deciding if this will be something I buy for myself or not.

Mario's a classic though so *maybe*?

 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Finally, Mario 64 on the Switch!

Been waiting ages to play this masterpiece again. Honestly had more fun with it than Galaxy looking back.