Note: This is a review of the collection itself and does not reflect my score of the games in them. I might eventually review each game individually in the future.

Prior to when this compilation was officially revealed, it was something that was the topic of numerous rumors and speculation. Despite owning all 3 games, I was really hoping for it to be real since I never completed any of these games at the time and the idea of playing the past 3d Mario games on a portable device was one that I found fascinating. However, I didn't just want these three, I was hoping they'd add Galaxy 2 and maybe 3d Land & 64 DS too if Nintendo were feeling generous. Unfortunately, my wish did not come to fruition.

One good thing I can say is that the games that are in this compilation remain virtually untouched. Each game feels and plays exactly like they did when I played them on their original consoles. I also like how they allow you to use your pro controller for Mario Galaxy. I still had to waggle around my pro controller a little bit, but it successfully managed to carry over the motion controls from the original version nicely. For those who have not played the originals or own the consoles they were on, these are good versions to play. I would recommend this collection to those people if it is still sold at a reasonable price as in terms of quality these games range from good to fantastic.

In terms of extras, the only extras added are the music player mode that plays tracks from the three games. It's a neat feature, but this collection definitely would have benefitted from having a few more extras. Several collections usually have an artwork/memorabilia gallery, challenges, or behind-the-scenes videos like what Rare Replay had with the Rare Revealed videos. Even some of Nintendo's past compilations have had more content and care put into them. Kirby's Dream Collection had most of these including even a few episodes of the anime.

While I'm happy this collection exists, I'm disappointed in how low effort it is. The lack of Galaxy 2 and extra features in this compilation really make this feel like a half-assed attempt at celebrating Mario's 35th anniversary. Mario is the most iconic & influential video game character in the world, our plumber deserves more than a lazy, incomplete collection for his 35th birthday.

Review for Mario Galaxy:

Let me say this first: I am probably one of the only gamers, who never owned a Nintendo Wii, therefore I missed some classics of which I knew I'd love them. I was really happy to get the 3D Mario All Stars Collection, so I could finally play Super Mario Galaxy after all these years.
Playing it with a decade worth of games that came after it in mind, it's very obvious that Galaxy was as influential as most of the games from Nintendo are. It is unbelievable to me, how this game is still the absolute best in its genre. It's full of creative ideas that drive every single galaxy and its worlds to be nothing but an absolute joy. I stated that already for Odyssey, there is just nothing in those games that is not a blast to do. While Odyssey is also a perfect game that manages to smoothly transition into an open world structure, the specific galaxy/world structure here is absolutely genius. All worlds are unique and evolve around sometimes single or multiple ideas and gameplay mechanics and because of that, they can go absolutely wild with creating the environments. I consistently had the urge to find every star in every area. What I also truly love about the 3d Mario games are the boss fights. While not being too hard of course, they still offer a good enough variety and beautifully animated patterns. I can't overstate how much I love the Mario games and especially the 3d ones. If there is a series that managed to stay relevant and immensely influential over the course of multiple decades, it's this. It speaks to the 5 year old kid in me getting started with video games the same way, as it speaks to me now, a 32 year old gamer who's played close to a thousand games since then. It's the magic that sucked me into the world of gaming and will keep me there forever.

Idk how I managed to miss this, I completed this way back a few years ago when I finished all 3 of the Mario games on this collection. I guess I just forgot to log it during that time which…I suppose speaks perfectly for the quality of this collection as whole.

So here’s what you get with this collection: you get all 3 games in HD, Mario 64 with some amount of visual improvements, Sunshine in widescreen, Galaxy with (frankly unintuitive) joycon pointer controls, the soundtrack of each game…and that’s it. All games are locked to their original framerates, none of them are native ports, the presentation is shockingly barebones, Galaxy 2 isn’t on this collection for really no discernible reason, there’s no customization options to speak of nor are there any extras to browse like concept art or…ANYTHING really outside of the soundtracks. The features on this collection are so desolate it’s insane, even Sonic Origins has way more to offer than this. On top of that, Nintendo had the absolute GALL to not only charge $60 for 3 old roms that have barley been improved in any meaningful way, but on top of that they decided it would be a fantastic idea to make this a limited time release, because artificial scarcity is what gamers truly desire. At the time of this writing it’s basically impossible to buy this collection on the Nintendo eshop, the only way to experience this collection is to get it physically, which isn’t too much of a hassle as I still see a boatload of copies of these games on store shelves, or…yknow…Vimm’s lair, because honestly that’s a way better option and is far more morally correct than giving Nintendo any of your money for this sorry excuse for a collection.

Maybe some day collections can reach the absolute peak of Sonic Mega Collection. Some day. But not today.

This one is so hard to rate. Do I rate it as a collection and how the collection should be? Or do I rate this solely based on how much I love the included games? Both? Ugh… should I even consider that this was a lazy cashgrab? All of it?

Alright…
Super Mario 64 is great, Super Mario Sunshine is flawed, but I love it and Super Mario Galaxy is a straight masterpiece. Galaxy plays best on Switch, Sunshine has a few technical errors compared to Dolphin Emulation and 64 could’ve gotten updated graphics and wide screen and even the extra content of the DS version and this collection should’ve included Super Mario Galaxy 2, so this was a missed opportunity. For three emulated games, it was or is too expensive. The time-limited release is FOMO at its best, screw this.

Nonetheless, great games. What can I say? Could’ve been a 10/10 collection, is a 7/10 collection, but the games are still great and all, so 8/10.

You all know the pros and cons.

This score is for 3D All Stars as a collection. I have individual reviews for the games in the collection already. It's mediocre at best, and really has no reason to exist, especially without Mario Galaxy 2. Nothing much was actually done to the games to improve them, be that gameplay tweaks or graphics; it's not even really a remaster collection, it's a repackaging collection. If you want to play these three games on Switch and that's all you want to do, then this is great, but if you're looking for a solid remaster that makes improvements and adds more than just the games' soundtracks, then this is very disappointing.

In October, Nintendo opened a limited-time buffet.

"589,00 Norwegian Krone to enter!" they said. "Come now or miss a chance to try some of our best hits!"

Nintendo? They had always been a pretty good chef. I'd always enjoyed their dishes, even if I've had a bone to pick with many of their newer recipes.

"Say what you will about their lows," I thought to myself, "but their highs have always been some of the highest I've ever tried. All right, I'm interested."

I walked in, thanking my boyfriend for being willing to get the reservation as a Christmas-turned-Valentines-turned-Easter-turned-birthday present for me.

"Thanks for waiting. Here's your spaghetti, served with mushrooms and alfredo sauce just like you remember it!" Nintendo said, getting me settled at a table. "And the tropical fruit salad, and one of our most beloved specials: the black forest cake!"
And they served it all up on one big plate.

I froze for a second, and looked up at the corporation serving me my plate.

I asked: "Um, wouldn't it have been better if you worked on how you'd serve this up just a bit? I mean, it's kind of weird to imagine eating spaghetti, salad and cake all out of one plate, and I thought a chef like you would know better."

"Not at all!" Nintendo immediately responded, so quickly they almost snapped. "This is the most direct way of serving you our classic recipes just how you remember it, isn't it? No nonsense!"

I blinked. "Maybe? I mean, it still all tastes good. But shouldn't I get to pick my own plate at a buffet? It's how you used to do at The VC."

"Oh, we decided that we know what's best for you." Nintendo casually said, waving their hand with confident nonchalance. "It's like our Switch Online cookbook, right? You get to try our repertoire exactly the way we decide you should!"

"...sure. but why are you closing down in April?"

"I, well, you see... it's to encourage everyone who wants to come to get their reservations!"
And with that, Nintendo walked away.

I get it, Nintendo. You've had a rough year, and you probably wanted to make sure your fiscal year would end on a profit, even if it involved resorting to pretty desperate measures.

But we've all been hit by recent events. We're all getting quite impatient with a lot of things, and I'd like to think our tolerance for hostile decisions is getting lower by the day.

I liked the spaghetti and the salad, right? And the cake was fine, I guess. I don't necessarily regret that, but if this is the kind of ventures you see fit to do more regularly from here on, I think I'll be happy looking for my noodles elsewhere, even if nobody makes spaghetti like you do.

It's funny how both of my All-Stars review ended up being food-themed.

This is Dark Souls Remastered all over again.

Bottom line, if you haven't played these games before and this is the only/most convenient way for you to play them, then give it a shot. These are very competent versions of fantastic games.

If you have played these games before and/or are upset at what was done here, complain as much as you want. Your views are justified, and more could have and should have been done here.

Both of these statements are true and they can co-exist.

In a vacuum this would be 5 stars, no questions asked. Galaxy is already one of my favorite games ever but adding on Sunshine and 64, two solid games in their own right, makes the entire package more than worth it. However, I'm sure you've heard more than enough people go on about how weak of a collection this is and I will keep this brief since I agree with the common consensus.

Selling three old games at a full price is already sketchy compared to what other companies are doing but not even giving a shit to include anything extra besides the soundtrack like concept art or any real enhancements beyond simple face-lifts is beyond me. Also include the fact that this game is supposedly still being printed (copies are surprisingly easy to find) even though Nintendo made it appear like it would be gone after March 31st feels really scummy. This game is just a summary of Nintendo as a whole if you think about it. Great games, lousy business practices.

A collection of the three of the most notable Mario titles from the N64, GameCube, and Wii eras upscaled in HD. It doesn't offer anything in the way of improvements or new content, so the only the only real bonus you'll get from the package is the option to listen to each game's full soundtrack in its entirety any time you want. This understandably makes it a hard sell for those who have already experienced these games, but if you're like me and never played them before it's not so much of a big deal. Especially since each one still carries the distinctive feel of its original console even on this new hardware.

I was surprised how well Super Mario 64 still holds up after all these years. The restrictive camera is a constant source of frustration, but with a few exceptions (those dang slides...) the level design and puzzles are still some of the best in the genre. It's easy to see why this is considered one of the best platformers ever made. Plus it might be more playable than ever here on the Switch because you don't have to put up with the Nintendo 64's awkward M-shaped controller.

9/10

Shockingly the title that's aged the worst is Sunshine which originally came out on the GameCube back in 2002 making it a full 6 years younger than the game I just got finished talking about! On top of the controls being somewhat loose, Mario's movements feel too unwieldy in design for the level of precision required to make it past some obstacles. This leads to a portion of the challenges being an absolute nightmare to complete and to make matters worse this is the only game where you don't have the freedom to skip certain stages if you want to. Meaning that you have to suffer through its worst moments to see the end. The majority of the time it's still an excellent experience and I absolutely loved the visual style and bright, colorful island environments. Yet, the way it frequently shifts between being a masterpiece to reaching 3D Sonic levels of bad makes it easily the worst Mario I've played to date. Which at the end of the day is still actually pretty great.

8.3/10

Galaxy, being the newest and therefore the most refined, of course stands out as the best part of the package. It's unique gravity mechanics turn the platforming quite literally on its head allowing for one of a kind scenarios that remarkably haven't been replicated anywhere other than in the game's own sequel since. Plus it has so much content that in order to fully complete everything you have to play through it more than once, and nearly every aspect has been so meticulously crafted that it's genuinely worth doing so. The one quibble I have is with the motion controls. I can't attest to their quality on the Wii as I never tried that version, but I feel fairly confident in saying they didn't make the jump over to the Switch very well. Those playing in handheld mode or who own the "Lite" model must often make unsatisfactory use of the touchscreen and at its lowest points resort to things like tilting or rotating the actual console itself. Far from game breaking, but are nonetheless elements of an otherwise incredible game that I would have rather not experienced.

9.2/10

Due to it's time-limited release (which as of this writing has already passed) 3D All-Stars will one day make a nice collector's item, and if you've never played the games before this is probably the best way to do so as it's likely going to be cheaper the hunting them all three down individually. My overall score for the compilation itself is based on an average of the scores you can see listed above that I gave to each of the included titles themselves.

8.8/10

Good enough collection, my first opportunity playing Mario Sunshine and I'm enjoying that game quite a bit. However, this collection is as bare-bones as you can get. Having the three games and their soundtracks is not enough when this was supposed to be a celebration of Mario's anniversary. There's so much more that could have been included. At the very least, scans of all the manuals, concept art, just something fun to keep me entertained while not playing a game. I'm really passionate about keeping the legacy of older games going, and this feels like Nintendo doesn't share that. I hate corporate Nintendo, bring back the passion.

An incredibly half-assed collection of two great games and Super Mario Sunshine. This is a shameless cash grab.

Super Mario 64 should have been 1080p 16:9 60 FPS instead of 720p 4:3 30 FPS.

Super Mario Sunshine needs a checklist for blue coins since trying to mentally keep track is a nightmare. Some of the more BS levels need tweaks as well (e.g., the pachinko and lilly pad stages). The framerate is still capped at 30, which is inexcusable.

All three titles should've received completely reworked graphics as well (like the Crash and Spyro trilogy remakes, which were also $60).

Super Mario Galaxy 2 shouldn't have been omitted.

The FOMO "Disney Vault" approach Nintendo took when selling this is disgusting. They are one of the most blatantly disrespectful companies in the industry when it comes to game preservation. Nintendo has always been greedy and anti-consumer (like virtually every other publicly traded for-profit corporation), but they've gotten especially bad in the Switch era.