On the fact that Super Mario is a videogame icon there is little to object: the mascot Nintendo has been so successful that it indirectly influenced the performance of other companies (see Sonic for SEGA). Yet, despite the famous Jumpman having been around for 35 years, there are those who love him and those who hate him: if in fact the fans of the Big N continue to be in love with this brand, those who are not very close to the Nintendo philosophy define his games "always the same". Funny to think instead that, thanks to Super Mario 3D All-Stars, this new "collection" that brings together (again, after already two similar operations) some of the best Mario games, it is possible to see how the brand has always passed through innovations of all kinds (especially gameplay).
Super Mario 3D All-Stars offers the player three titles that have remained in the hearts of fans: Super Mario 64, the first 3D title dedicated to the mustachioed character, Super Mario Sunshine, that tropical chapter at times brilliant, e Super Mario Galaxy, Mario's adventure in space. The first of these titles proposed three-dimensionality on a brand that was previously only 2D, the second experimented with different environments than usual and in-depth gameplay, with new abilities given to the character, while Galaxy inserted a real system that exploited the curvature of the planets as fourth dimension (as well as a clever use of Wii controllers). Now, this package (on sale for a limited time), proposes the three games in a (slightly) improved version on Nintendo Switch: let's go and see them one by one.
Super Mario 64 and the hated 4: 3
Of the three, unfortunately, Super Mario 64 is the worst aged chapter: Only available in the classic 4: 3, the game offers the classic of a lifetime with many small improvements. The polygons have been refined (albeit little), it has been remastered at 720p (both docked and handheld) but the past 23 years are showing themselves, especially in terms of aesthetics. The gameplay, on the other hand, remains timeless and takes advantage of brilliant ideas that are still used today in modern titles. Furthermore, the sandbox structure differs greatly from the classic spirit of Super Mario (in 2D), giving total freedom to the player and a really sketchy story, only useful to contextualize everything. Even advancement, much more linked to exploration than just advancing, adds a different spirit and sometimes manages to make us understand how, since that distant 1997, Nintendo has carried on the various 3D chapters of Super Mario with a single fil rouge that , from time to time, he took the brand's bar one step further.
On the other hand, we cannot speak too well of the commands, adapted to the Switch controller but managed by a really poorly structured camera: in '97 this was more than normal, but an adjustment of this in Super Mario 3D All-Stars would have benefited the title not a little. . All in all, we are not facing a remake of the title (so it is useless to complain about outdated textures and polygons) but an excellent remastered of a title that, despite the years, still knows how to get respected. Too bad for the absent Spanish language.
Super Mario Sunshine and the strange setting
The most awaited chapter of this trilogy is without a doubt Super Mario Sunshine, the Nintendo title released for GameCube: thanks to a particular location and a reduced success of the console, the game was not appreciated by many. However, this did not stop the fans of the brand, who with Sunshine found a modern title, with graphics that match the power of the GameCube and different, fresh game mechanics: the SPLACC 3000 (which follows the fashion of those 2000s where Nintendo he loved to put backpacks on his characters, see Luigi's Mansion) in fact allows to clean up the disaster made on the island of Delfinia, really fantastic at the time and now even better. The game, in fact, is proposed in a 720p handheld and 1080p docked with 30 fixed frames (solved in fact the drop problems that the original had) and 16: 9 ratio.
The real magic of this Super Mario Sunshine, already further back in time than Galaxy (which had an impressive installed base of Wii from his), is his know-how. keep up with the times today: the dynamics of the game have aged very well, proposing a title that only those who know its history would be able to call it a few generations ago. The controls are well structured (except for the aim, still linked to dogmas of the past in disuse) and the game is proposed in its very well structured sandbox.
Super Mario Galaxy and the Wiimote
As a constant evolution, Super Mario Galaxy is the newest of the three games in Super Mario 3D All-Stars and the closest to Super Mario Odyssey: a game that put everything into the ingenious use of the Wii controllers, which are now replaced by the two Joy-Con. However, you will not be able to use this feature on Nintendo Switch Lite or when playing in portability: for this reason the game adapts some controls to the touchscreen, slightly damaging the magic that appeared with the original. Super Mario Galaxy is also the game that made Super Mario 3D rich in content, bonuses and many increasingly structured challenges: the controls are now much more fluid and well refined, and many gameplay mechanics abandon the use of some strange gadget within the game in favor of the Wiimote and the Nunchuck.
Technically, the game was already sparkling on Wii, and for this there was not much work to be done for porting to the Switch, now aided only by the HD resolution (which, however, you may have already tried by inserting the original title into a WiiU). . On the contrary, the cutscenes, which on Wii and WiiU showed some defects, have now been refined and improved, making everything "smoother". The resolution remains the same as Sunshine: 720p handheld, 1080p docked.
Super Mario All-Stars: the idea of the concept
As soon as this collection was announced, the people immediately rose up screaming at comparisons between remakes like Crash, high-level remastered and this Super Mario 3D All-Stars, pointing to Nintendo as a company that just wants to speculate on old and not retouched products. You need to play this collection to understand the work behind similar titles: the ideas, the concept and everything that the fans of the mustachioed character loved are pieces of the history of the video game, products from different eras that, like a time machine, take new players and old aficionados to travel in fantastic worlds (which fans have been asking for for years).
Just having Super Mario Sunshine on the Switch is fantastic, and also trying 64 and Galaxy (with an attached soundtrack that can be heard from the menu of all three titles) makes this title a must for fans. We are talking about € 60 cost for a collection of three games: a really affordable price if we think that each of these three titles would cost us, in practice, € 20. For the rest, in front of us we have an operation that has been going on for decades: the All-Stars brand already in the past allowed Super Nintendo players to try the classic Super Mario of Nintendo, and for the 25 years a similar thing was done for Wii, featuring classic titles of the icon. In 2020, when the three-dimensional Mario is so widespread and inspired (just look at the various titles released, including the sequel Galaxy 2, the 3D Land and World titles and the very recent Odyssey), it is necessary to have access to these products that, in In spite of so many other titles of the time, they have aged damn well.
