2020 marked the 35th anniversary of Nintendo’s mascot, and one of the most iconic video game characters out there: Chibi Robo.

Wait. *checks notes*

Sorry, Mario. Mario celebrated his 35th anniversary this year (though if you ask him, it’s just the sixth time he’s turned 29).

To celebrate Mario’s 35th anniversary, Nintendo released the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, which includes nicer-looking versions of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy. (They also just released Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, which we’ve been rather excited to try out!) I was so jazzed to hear about this collection because I didn’t really get to play these games much as a kid. I couldn’t wait to finally try them out, and on the Nintendo Switch! But, the release of 3D All-Stars came with a catch: The collection is only available until March 28, 2021. 

Why Nintendo chose to celebrate this way, I can’t fathom. That’s not the point of this post, but it does sort of affect the focus. While we absolutely recommend getting the 3D All Stars collection while the getting’s good, there is kind of expiration date to that recommendation (though you can always try to find a used copy even after Nintendo pulls the plug on production). 

So really, this is a post recommending these three awesome Mario titles in their own right, just with the side note that you can get them all as a collection for the Switch until the end of March 2021. With that out of the way, on to the main event!

Super Mario 64

While I remember playing Super Mario 64 as a kid on the N64, I don’t remember actually owning it. So I must have played it with my cousins or something. However I played it, I never got further than the level where you can “accidentally” drop the baby penguin off the side of the mountain… 

At some point, I got my hands on the DS remake, but I still never beat the game.

The 3D All-Stars version is the only version I’ve actually beaten. That’s not to say that it’s the best version. As near as I can tell, it’s pretty faithful to the original N64 in just about every way. It keeps the same spiky art and the same awful camera controls that are harder to manage than a toddler who doesn’t want to brush his teeth.

And yet I had a lot of fun playing through Mario 64. The story isn’t anything special—Mario gets invited to Peach’s castle for some cake. But it turns out Bowser has kidnapped the princess and locked up the castle and all of the Toads who live there. And worst of all, there’s not even any cake left! That kind of nonsense cannot be allowed to stand, so Mario has to travel to various worlds to collect a bunch of power stars and defeat Bowser.

I like most of the worlds, and I really appreciate that you don’t have to spend any more time in the ones you don’t like than you want to. Let’s be honest, I took one look at Tick Tock Clock and got out of there faster than Scooby-Doo when there’s a goblin in the closet. I think that level was specifically designed to anger people who like to see where they’re going (which should be everybody).

But most of the levels were tons of fun, and there were plenty of great ideas that went into Super Mario 64. It’s a historically significant game because of its groundbreaking 3D platforming, and I think it’s still worth playing today.

Super Mario Sunshine

While I recognize that Super Mario 64 is probably the most historically significant game in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, I was most excited to play Super Mario Sunshine. I never played this one as a kid. I don’t even think I knew what it was until I reached adulthood (though Michela played it on the GameCube). As an adult, I began to hear the fairy tales and stories, I saw the YouTube videos, and I wanted in.

And boy did Super Mario Sunshine deliver. It’s super fun, and I appreciated that Nintendo did something different with the story. This time, Mario, Peach, and their entourage of Toads are taking a vacation to Isle Delfino. Once they get there, they discover that a shadowy, much-uglier version of Mario has been painting the town with poisonous goop. Everybody thinks Mario is the culprit, so they make him clean up the island as penance for his bad deed.

You have to go all around the island fighting Shadow Mario and cleaning up his mess (and your good name!). You do the cleaning with the help of a sentient spray gun named F.L.U.D.D. He even has different spray nozzles to let you hover or rocketship high up into the air to help with the various platforming challenges found around the island (oh, and I guess the cleaning).

I was amazed at how well the team at Nintendo could make the different areas of the island unique while still keeping to a theme. Each location seems like a part of the larger island, so the game does not have the same sort of stark level variety as Super Mario 64 (no ice world, no big castles, etc.). But each area capitalizes on different mechanics and platforming scenarios to keep everything fresh.

For the most part, the controls in Super Mario Sunshine are significant improvements over Super Mario 64. The camera actually works now (gasp!), and the movements are not quite so floaty. There were a few things that did not work quite as well as I might have hoped. There are a couple of levels where you have to use F.L.U.D.D. to navigate underwater…and that was awful. The game also struggles with slopes. Sometimes you’re fine on a slope, but other times a minimal incline will send you careening off into the abyss.

Even with the minor control hiccoughs, though, I really loved playing Super Mario Sunshine on the Switch. 

Super Mario Galaxy

I do remember at least witnessing Super Mario Galaxy as a kid. I think my older brother may have had it on his Wii, and I thought it looked weird. But I never played it until I married Michela and became co-owner of her fabulous collection of Wii games.  Super Mario Galaxy is a classic 3D Mario game, and the 3D Mario All-Stars version holds up well.

Once again, Nintendo pulled out all the creative stops for Super Mario Galaxy. This time, we’re taking Super Mario 64’s plot, ditching the cake (unfortunately), and putting it IN SPACE! Okay, maybe there’s a bit more than that, but that’s the basic gist. Bowser absconds with Peach into deep space during the Star Festival, and Mario has to save her. To do so, he pairs up with Rosalina and attempts to collect enough power stars to power Rosalina’s spaceship and chase after Bowser.

To obtain said power stars, you have to work your way through dozens of planets, each with unique mechanics, transformations, and gravitational gimmicks. At first, the 3D environments and gravity flopping are a bit jarring. But once you get used to things, the game is crazy fun. The levels are beautifully designed, and you never get stuck doing the same thing for too long.

How does the Super Mario 3D All-Stars version compare to the original, you ask? I’d say pretty well. Playing Super Mario Galaxy in docked mode is essentially the same as playing on the Wii. With gyro instead of IR for the  motion controls, your pointing may not be quite as precise, but I don’t think it’s a significant difference.

I will say that I was not a fan of handheld mode for Super Mario Galaxy.  Sunshine and 64 both did just as well in handheld as they did docked, but Galaxy asks you to collect star bits in each level using your pointer. In docked mode, that means just pointing at the screen with your joycon.  But in handheld, you have to touch the screen with your finger to collect stuff. It’s kind of awkward to try to grab star bits on the fly if you can’t use one of your hands.

Nevertheless, the game does work well enough in handheld. Frankly, I’m happy that Nintendo could get it to work at all. Super Mario Galaxy is full of fun and creativity, so I hope you’ll enjoy playing it as much as I did.

Who to Play With

Super Mario 3D All-Stars would be great to play with anybody. Geekling prefers Pokémon to Mario, but these games were all built to be played with the whole family. There is nothing inappropriate or especially violent (well, you do jump on a lot of goombas and things) in any Mario game. Each game in the Super Mario 3D-All Stars collection is single-player, but they’re all super fun to play and watch together all the same.

Until the end of March, you can get a new copy of Super Mario 3D All-Stars over on Amazon. After that, you can try to get a used copy somewhere (assuming the dirty scalpers don’t ratchet up the price). You can also grab a Nintendo Switch or Switch Lite over there, if you haven’t already got one. 

Or, if you have the older systems, you can get the original games to play on their own. Super Mario 64 might be tougher to find, since the N64 is…you know, old, and the Wii shop is down, and nobody bought a Wii U. So the easiest way to get that one is probably to find a copy of the DS rerelease. Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy are a bit easier to find on eBay, Gamestop, LukieGames, or other sites. 

Did you play any of these games growing up? Share your favorite memories in the comments! And be sure to subscribe to our email list so you don’t miss any of our updates.