--
Enjoying Super Mario 3D All-Stars? Good. They’re fantastic
games, and with the state of the world right now, anything that gives us enjoyment is probably a
good thing. While you’re playing through those games, I want you to ask yourself something:
Is this collection really worth the price I paid? Does it offer anything that I can’t get
anywhere else? And is this a better option than using an unofficial emulator? If your
answer to any of these questions is even a minute variation of “yes,” stick around.
The case I’m about to make won’t invalidate your enjoyment of the games in question, but it
just might make you think twice about Nintendo pulling a stunt like this in the future, or
retroactively make you regret supporting them.
--
When it comes to legacy content, Nintendo’s track record is absolutely awful. There really
is no contest. Not only do they refuse to release their older games at a rate even marginally faster
than a snail’s pace, when they actually do get around to porting those old games, it’s always the
most half-hearted attempt possible, like there’s someone at Nintendo who is just so angry that
their fans want to play Super Mario 64 without buying an N64 on Ebay with all of the controllers
and cables and expansion packs and controller paks and RGB or HDMI modding to get it working on
modern displays and an OSSC if you want it to actually look good, and will do everything in
their power to make sure they get the shittiest product possible. Super Mario 3D All-Stars is a
collection of 3D Mario games to celebrate Mario’s 35th Anniversary- er, sorry. It’s a collection
of three of the 3D Mario games to celebrate Mario’s 35th Anniversary. I guess Super Mario
Galaxy 2 doesn’t exist? Neither does 3D Land, but don’t worry about that one because apparently
nobody cares about that game. Also Super Mario 64 DS never happened and you shouldn’t think about
that because it isn’t part of the collection, avert your eyes! AND BEFORE YOU COMMENT: yes, you
can port DS games to modern hardware, the Mega Man Zero Legacy Collection is on the damn Switch!
Everything about this collection is wrong, in almost every way. It’s extremely low effort and
it boggles my mind that people are willing to go to bat defending it; and I’m the guy who defends
Sword and Shield, so that’s saying something. Look, I’m really not trying to step on anyone’s
toes here. I don’t think you’re a terrible person if you buy this 3D Mario collection, I really
don’t. Nintendo has starved us of these games, Sunshine especially, for so long that I really
can’t blame anyone for wanting to play these games on the Switch. Even I can’t deny the prospect of
playing 3D Mario in the bathroom is a tantalizing one; however, I need to vent. I can’t hold this
in anymore. This is about a lot more than just the 3D Mario All-Stars collection, it was just the
straw that broke the camel’s already broken back. Let’s get this out of the way now: yes, I bought
the collection. A bunch of comments are going to tell me that all of my points are invalid because
I bought the collection, I recognize that: but the alternative is that I get a bunch of comments
telling me my points are invalid because I pirated it. It is a lose-lose scenario, if you attempt
to “call me out” for buying the collection, I’m just going to ignore you. Cool? Cool.
Alright, so what’s in this collection. We have Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super
Mario Galaxy, plus all of their soundtracks. That’s it. If you were expecting a ton of
concept art or old trailers or promotional art: nah, you don’t get any of that. You get a
Powerpoint slide of the box art with some text blurbs thrown in there. Anyone remember the days
where we got stuff like the Sonic Mega Collection, where you could look at comic book covers
and Yuji Uekawa art and old trailers for the games. You get to peruse all this
stuff with some chill original music too, man video game collections used to
be so good. [perusing artwork]
Wait a second, we never left that age did
we? The Mega Man Legacy Collections have all of this stuff. Concept art for each game,
an animated short from Maverick Hunter X, a bunch of old Japanese trailers, chill music, the
full lineup of toys released throughout the years: and these collections go for $20 a pop. For $40
you get the entire Classic Mega Man series or the entire X series with all of these extra goodies
and quality of life features like in-game saving and an easy mode. They even went through the
trouble of giving each collection a themed menu that fits each series aesthetic. Tell me:
what is this collection’s excuse when it retails for $60 big ones? Oh cool, you can play
Mario music on the title screen, I like that: what is there to even do on the title
screen? You can select your games, or listen to a sound test. That’s all you can
do. Oh but sure, those are other companies, Nintendo has never shown that level of effort in
their collections before have they-[cut to Kirby’s Dream Collection].
Oh wow, look at this! Kirby’s entire game
timeline, with videos showcasing each game, little trivia about important events that
occurred during the year the game released, Kirby even sucks up the games when you select
them, how cute. The menus are stylized to fit a Kirby game, you get 6 games in the collection,
plus entirely new challenge stages in the style of Return to Dreamland as a little side mode.
You can even watch a few episodes of the anime. This came with a soundtrack CD that has 3
entirely new arrangements and an art book, and you wanna know what it all retailed for?
$40. Does it feel like a Kirby Anniversary celebration? Hell yeah! 3D Mario All-Stars
feels so clinical in its presentation, but hey: that stuff doesn’t matter right? As
long as the port jobs are nice?
Well, I’m sorry to say they aren’t getting
off the hook with the actual games either. My expectations weren’t even that high. Just take
the games, upres them, add button mapping, a few graphics options, and bam: we’re golden ponyboy!
Nintendo themselves have had button mapping, screen filters and screen sizing options: this
is stuff they’ve done before, so you can’t say I have my expectations through the roof here.
They didn’t even do that, and somehow it’s worse than it sounds. None of these games have
any options to speak of. There just aren’t any. Rumble is on by default in 64, you can't turn
it off. They actually inverted aiming and camera controls, with no option to re-invert them. You
can't even use the Switch controller remapping system to invert the camera, which is flawed in
its own way because it's a system-wide remapper. You are stuck with the default control scheme,
and I hope you like aiming FLUDD by pressing in the right analog stick, because
that’s the only way you can aim with him. If you wanted to aim the pointer in Super Mario
Galaxy with the right analog stick, a mechanic which is mostly used to casually pick up star bits
and only rarely requires any kind of precision: you just can’t. Gyro only. But hey, if you play in
handheld mode, you can use the touch screen. How did they put in the effort required to allow the
pointer to work with touch screen controls, but didn’t even bother to let people who are using the
Pro Controller use the right analog stick instead of awkwardly shaking the controller around. If
you think this is some pipe dream, by the way, you actually could use the right analog stick for
the cursor in the NVIDIA shield release. I suppose touch screen support was more important, I'm sure
people are getting a ton of mileage out of that addition. You know, in regards to gyro: both of
the joycons have it, but you can only control the pointer with the right controller. Soooooo, what
if you're left-handed? Would have been nice to have yet another one of those accessibility
options Nintendo is so damn allergic to.
Don’t even get me started on Super Mario 64, oh
my god. It’s actually tragic. Stay with me here: no widescreen, audio delay, it’s using the patched
version which means there’s no backwards long jump and “so long gay bowser” is out, there is an awful
screen smoothing effect that you can’t turn off, especially noticeable with the UI and
text. And don’t you come crying to me about preservation, ugh. There is nothing about
this collection that screams to me that the goal was about preservation, nothing. Using a port
of the game that isn't even used in speedruns is akin to taking a shit over its legacy. What if
new players of Super Mario 64 want to get into speed running? This could have easily become an
official category, but speedrunners caught wind of the problems with it and… well, I guess you're
stuck either shelling out hundreds of dollars to speed run the game officially, or using an
emulator. Cool. You know, speaking of emulators: Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine are
fully emulated, they have not been recompiled, they are being emulated. Sunshine is in 1080p
widescreen, and both of them have updated HUD elements. Nothing about them is being less
preserved had they decided to give Super Mario 64 widescreen support, and there was clearly
an interest in updating some things about them. But not the framerate, we’ll keep that the
same. It just doesn’t make sense to me.
More importantly, what does this collection
offer me that I can’t get through unofficial emulation? Convenience? Does $60 for a collection
of barely upscaled games that are over 13 years old sound convenient to you? For christ’s sake,
someone made a Super Mario 64 PC port by reverse engineering the game’s source code, and already
we have widescreen, 60fps, and texture packs that bring the game closer to its promotional artwork.
There’s full camera control, AI-upscaled textures, and with the right tools, you can even get it
running on your Nintendo Switch. Right next to this garbage. What was Nintendo’s response to this
port? What do you think their damn response was, it’s their go-to, their M.O. They nuked it. Just
like they nuked all the ROMs of the games they aren’t putting on the Switch. Alright,
so what about Sunshine? It’s never been ported to anything. You could only ever play it on
Gamecube and Wii through backwards compatibility, which they don’t do anymore, by the way. Okay,
so let’s see what I can accomplish with Super Mario Sunshine on my Dolphin Emulator, and we
can compare the two. Only seems fair, Nintendo themselves are emulating it, so at least they’re
admitting it’s a perfectly fine way to play their games. Alright, so we have the Gecko Widescreen
hack, which Nintendo is allegedly using. We’ll switch on the 60fps Gecko hack, since
I guess Gecko hacks are on the table now, turn up the AA, set the internal resolution to
1080p, and presto: they look almost identical, except this one is at 60. Amazing. And if I really
wanted updated text and HUD elements, I could just download the HD texture pack. You can even tell
Nintendo are emulating the game because the Secret of the Dirty Lake still has debug bounding boxes.
There are debug boxes in Super Mario 3D All-Stars. Another hallmark of emulation? The pause button
murdering the framerate. Obviously Nintendo has access to the cutscenes so I assume that’s
how they were able to upscale them with ease, but guess what Dolphin has that this port doesn't?
A Gecko code to skip cutscenes! I can even use the Gamecube controller device that I bought for
my Switch and use it with Dolphin. Gamecube controller doesn't work with Sunshine on Switch,
so there's yet another reason I'm not buying the "preservation" angle. If you can't even use the
analog triggers the game is so well-known for, are we really preserving Super Mario Sunshine?
There was a perfect opportunity here, the Gamecube controller already works with
games like Smash Bros. How much time could it have really taken when Dolphin has
fucking Gamecube controller support?
Why, pray tell, would I buy this collection over
emulating? Why? I can’t think of a reason. If this was a $20-$30 collection, maybe I'd be singing
a different tune. It would still be pretty lackluster, but at least they wouldn't be charging
full price. It would be far more understandable. I mean, there are a ton of other collections out
there that don’t have the same bells and whistles, but they were also priced appropriately. The
Sly, Jak, and Devil May Cry HD collections were only $40, Ratchet was only $30, and they all had
widescreen. There were some graphical glitches, but at least they bothered to implement even
the most basic of changes you’d expect in a collection. If you want value for money,
the Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection has every mainline Metal Gear game for $50. The Master
Chief Collection has every single Halo game except 5 for $40. Kingdom Hearts has every single game
going for $40. Sure, they weren't always in one package, but even when it was just 1.5 and
2.5, they retailed for $40 and had artbooks. Plus, they included the Final Mix releases, which
had additional content and were never translated outside of Japan. We basically got lost content
in these collections, and they still were not full price. All of the games I've mentioned, by the by,
are in HD, widescreen, and some of them even run at 60. What's particularly insidious about
this release is that it comes with the context that the Switch's Virtual Console equivalent is
hot garbage. Games release at a rate which borders on parody, only recently did they add Donkey Kong
Country 2. They didn't release the DKC Trilogy together or anything, no: instead we had to wait
months after DKC1 to play DKC2: I expect DKC3 by next year. Their existing library of NES and SNES
games is fucking pitiful. In comparison to the amount of games Wii and Wii U had, there is just
no contest. There are no N64 games, no Gamecube games. It actually feels like they've been pumping
out "enhanced Wii U ports" faster than their retro lineup, which of course is probably because they
can sell those games back to you at full price, and fuck over Wii U owners by delisting them from
the Wii U eshop. They may have put Pikmin 3 back on the eshop, after massive fan outcry might I
add, but Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is still MIA. Gotta get that funky edition I guess.
They had N64 on the Nintendo Wii faster than it took them to release a few SNES games on Switch.
Apparently they have an emulator running 64 and Sunshine on the Switch, so are they going to
use that to port more games? Who the hell knows! At the rate they're going, we'll be lucky to see
Luigi's Mansion and Kirby Air Ride by 2025, which they sell back to us at $60, assuming the process
doesn't start all over again for the Switch 2.
Don't think this wasn't a calculated decision.
Nintendo singled out the 3D Mario games to hold back from this service. They probably could have
put 64 and Sunshine on their online service, but they didn't. They held them back for a
half-hearted collection they could sell at $60 and made it a limited time release. You
can't buy the game past March of next year: not physically, not digitally. You just can't do
it. Three strikes for the preservation argument! To be perfectly frank: I couldn't even tell you
why. The Kirby Dream Collection at least had a reason to be a limited run, there were physical
rewards in that one. My hypothesis is that they're trying to scare people into immediately
buying it before it becomes a scalper's paradise. Judging by the Amazon rankings, it seems
to have worked. Others have said they're going to release each game separately
once the collection is out of stock: oh joy, won't that make owners of the
collection feel even more cheated.
I do not see a way this ends well, for anyone. I'm
tired of it. I'm done with this barely functional online service that can't even handle a 2D
Mario game with other players. I can't handle a Super Smash Bros. Online experience that is
purportedly just as bad as it was on Wii U, which was only somewhat better than on Wii. I
can't stomach this slow drip feed of older titles. I can't fathom how this is meant to be okay when
compared to the offerings of other companies. I hate to break it to you, folks, but Activision is
doing a better job re-releasing their older games. Full on remakes of Crash and Spyro, Nitro-Fueled
has Nitro Kart stages AND a metric ton of skins, with a newly released remake of the Tony Hawk
Pro Skater games. Sure, the N.Sane Trilogy has its own creative problems, I tend to agree
with a lot of what B Mask says on the topic, but I also can't deny that they really put a lot
of stuff in there for fans. Time trial relics for 1 and 2, reviving a dropped level for Crash 1,
and creating an all new bonus level for Crash 3 which is considered to be one of the best
levels in the collection. Vicarious Visions at least understood what made the games tick
on a gameplay level. All for $40. Nitro-fueled, up until recently, was constantly adding entirely
new tracks and characters from Crash's history, turning it into one of the best kart racers I've
ever played. Yeah, the microtransactions suck: you could say the 3D All-Stars Collection is
better because it doesn't have microtransactions. But tell me this: are microtransactions the
only qualifier for a scummy business?
Nintendo has always been bang-on when it comes to
their software development, that much is true and will probably forever be true. They seek to make
fun video games, not live services. But I think this has allowed them to get away with other
things people don't traditionally see as bad. Starving fans of legacy content, taking down ROM
sites, and reselling decades old games back to you at full price. Is that not considered bad?
Have our standards really been pushed this low that it's a Christmas miracle that Nintendo have
slapped a couple 3D Mario games onto the Switch? I don't see it that way. Emulation is our future.
It's our future not only in terms of preservation, but in terms of adaptation. Frank Cifaldi,
responsible for the Mega Man Legacy Collection, Street Fighter Arcade collection, and SNK
collection, puts it best in his two GDC talks on the topic. [Insert]. These talks will
be linked in the description. They're fantastic, I recommend watching both of them to the end.
Where is Chibi-Robo? Seriously, where is it? I'll give you the answer: hundreds of dollars on Ebay,
or free to download on the internet. Nintendo has never re-released Chibi-Robo. Shit like this is
why I'm not excited for 3D All-Stars. If Nintendo is allowed to repackage their old video games
at full price with next to zero improvements, new features, or content: what precedent does
that spell for their Disney vault of older games? What's going to happen with the inevitable
Zelda collection? If Super Mario Galaxy 2 isn't important enough to Mario's history to put
in this 3D Mario collection, perhaps one of the 3D Zelda games isn't either. If it's perfectly
acceptable to throw a half-assed emulation job of 64 in the collection, it's probably fine to
throw Ocarina of Time in there and keep it 4:3. Throw out the Master Quest version, no one cares
about that. Maybe even invert the camera controls for added kicks. You know what I am excited for
nowadays? The dozens of mods popping up for the Super Mario 64 PC port. The Zelda randomizers
which offer so much more replay value to those older titles. Netplay which gives us all the
opportunity to play our favorite games online. Hell, my friends and I were able to play the long
extinct Four Swords by using Parsec and mGBA. I got to experience a Zelda game that I had
never played before, and thought I'd never get to experience again, through emulation. Despite
Four Swords being an absolute perfect fit for the Switch, it will likely never be ported there,
because they already tried with the DSi. Suppose it isn't worth keeping that game around.
If Nintendo isn't gonna put in the time to have Galaxy 2 on the Switch, I guess I'll have to get
it running in HD myself. What you're watching is Super Mario Galaxy 2 running near flawlessly
in native 1080p. All it takes is a Wii mote, a sensor bar, or hell you could even use
two candles. Wiimotes have Bluetooth, and Dolphin is such a fantastic emulator that
it can immediately pick up the things and you can start using one. It takes literal seconds
for me to boot up Super Mario Galaxy 2 in HD, and if I really wanted to preserve the original
experience, I could bump it down to its native resolution. Pray tell, what is Nintendo's excuse?
Would it have taken an extra few precious months? Or do they simply not care because they knew
the collection was going to sell anyway if they slapped a "limited time offer" onto it?
Judging by the praise this collection is getting by other outlets, maybe I'm just the downer.
Maybe none of this stuff really matters to anyone. Like I said at the beginning of this video, I
won't lambast anyone for buying and enjoying something. I'm just not that petty. But there must
be people out there like me, right? I can't be the only one fed up with Nintendo right now. They have
the biggest and best back catalogue out there, it's why they became so popular. They could be
doing so much more with it… yet they aren't. They don't have to. They'll make their tub loads
of money one way or the other, so they may as well take the path of least resistance. They don't
have to pour quality into these collections, because they are going to sell by the truckload
anyway. They are currently the richest company in Japan. It's times like these where I wonder
who the true villain is. While everyone is pointing and yelling at companies like EA,
who shout their sliminess to the heavens, I can't help but wonder if anyone else notices
the dagger pressed up against their backs.
Yes
i agree and disagree with some things in this video. i payed for the game and enjoyed it all, but i do agree with you that the 3 mario games are just emulators and not remasters, or at least didnt patch some glitches. thats something im kinda disappointed in when it comes to nintendo as a company. however, im just glad that i can relive my childhood mario games in hd, whether the game be amazing or terrible. :)
EDIT: THIS got downvoted? ok....