This is not a review of the games included in this collection. I'll say now that all three games are some of the best platformers to exist. I'm instead giving this collection a bad rating because of how lazy the ports are. Nintendo charged $60 for a collection including 1-2 decade-old games which have nothing more done to them than what an emulator could do for free. Mario 64 had a few upscaled textures slapped onto it, Mario Sunshine was put into widescreen, and Mario Galaxy... well they didn't even change anything about Galaxy. Sunshine and Galaxy are playable in 1080p in docked mode at least, but these are all just roms with the bare minimum changes made to them. Nintendo didn't even put Mario 64 in widescreen, nor was Mario Galaxy 2 Included at all. I feel this collection is just a rip-off, only truly worth it if you've never played these games before, as they are all amazing. But Super Mario 3D Allstars, as a collection of ports, is lazy and overpriced. The only reason I don't give this game a lower score is because the games at least run well, unlike many other rereleases that have come out recently, but that's all I'm giving it.

I think Mario Sunshine gets a lot more hate nowadays than it deserves. Sure, it's very janky and glitchy at times, but so are many other games of this time, and I think if you can look past that, then there's a lot to love about this game. It's very fun, charming, and relaxing; and the most unique Mario game there is due to the gimmick with Fludd (Mario's water pack). Furthermore, I find it impressive that they managed to create a Mario game with nothing but beach levels and still make them so distinctive from one another while also making them all feel connected at the same time. The setting of the game, Isle Delfino, feels so lively and immersive, especially when compared to other games from the time. The NPCs are all quirky and fun to talk to, and the island feels like it's actually growing and changing throughout the story as Mario helps more and more people. I truly believe this is an amazing game; not perfect, but still a wonderful experience. Most of the people who hate on this game point to things like specific levels or the tedious blue coins. However, those broken levels that people make an example of AND all of the blue coins are completely optional. You can avoid them entirely if you don't want to deal with them, so don't let that deter you from this game. In short, Mario Sunshine is fun, silly, and just an overall good time. I'd definitely recommend it.

Sonic Lost World doesn't feel like a Sonic game. For the most part, it's just a generic, bland, and broken platformer with sonic assets plastered over it. The parkour gimmick had potential, as the wall running can be fun at times, but it was just executed too poorly. Furthermore, the level themes are just your basic grassland, desert, snow, jungle, etc that's seen in nearly every platformer, and the villains (The Zetis/Deadly Six) all have cardboard personalities. All their dialogue and jokes are completely based on a single defining trait. For example, one's fat so every line has something to do with food, one's emo so he just acts depressed constantly, and one's a woman so her entire personality is based around liking boys, fashion, and shopping. It's just all so uninspired; the game feels as if it was designed by a parent who calls every console a "Nintendo", like the creators had only the most basic concept of what a video game is supposed to be and went through a checklist of the bare minimum requirements and left it at that. And then there's the writing of Sonic, Tails, and Eggman... Their characters were butchered so badly, especially that of Tails. All three of them just argue the entire game and Tails is just a whiny asshole because he's sooo jealous that Eggman is helping Sonic fight the Zetis. Again, the only interesting thing about this game is the parkour mechanic, but the controls are so buggy and the level design is so bad that you can't even fully enjoy the parkour. Everything else is just boring at best. The Zelda DLC level was really cool though, I wish Sonic and Nintendo would do more crossovers in better games.

Sonic 4 Episode II is much better than its predecessor: Episode I. It improves quite a few issues from the first game, including having better physics, level design, and boss fights. Although, none of these things are good now, just better. The game overall is just a bland experience that feels nothing like the classic games. However, I'll give this game one thing: The level themes are very unique, giving you a waterlogged medieval castle, a snowy amusement park, and a Mad Max-style desert filled with old, rusted oil refineries. These things have never been used for levels in Sonic before, and as a result, it does spice this game up a little. You could argue it's just a water level, snow level, and desert level... and in a way that is true, but Sonic 4 Episode II puts its own spin on them to make them stand out and I think that's the best part about this game. But beyond that, everything else is simply mid at best.

Super Mario 3D Land is just wonderful. I really want to rate it higher but the only reason I don't is because I know that just about every other 3D Mario game is better than this one. However, that does not at all speak of a lack of quality; Instead, it shows just how great all the 3D Mario games are for a game this solid to be one of the "worst". The game is packed full of content, having 16 worlds total, and the level design is fantastic. After achieving 100% completion, there's not a single level I can think of that I didn't like. The game is much more linear in design than most other 3D Mario games, but that works to its advantage making it feel very cozy and relaxing: perfect for a handheld game. Furthermore, Mario 3D Land saw a return of the tanuki suit from Mario Bros 3 and it feels great. It's implemented so well that it has become one of my all-time favorite Mario power-ups. This is also one of the few games that is actually complimented by the 3D gimmick of the 3DS, as having that extra sense of depth can help with platforming a lot. I really have no complaints about this game. I think it's as perfect as it can be for the hardware it's on. Again, the only reason I don't rate this game higher is that nearly all the 3D Mario games exceed this one in quality, but if I were to ignore all of those and rank this game strictly among all the other 3DS games, then it would definitely be 5 stars.

For an early metroidvania, this is a pretty decent game. Definitely better than Metroid and Castlevania. For me personally, it did get a bit stale the more I played, especially when I had to backtrack, but for what it is the world is well-designed and was fun to explore. The controls also feel good, the upgrades are cool, and I especially love the boss designs. It's no wonder why they used one of them as the centerpiece for the box art. The sprites are massive compared to your character and that allowed them to be much more detailed, making them look very grotesque and menacing. Furthermore, the variety in gameplay is very nice. Having half the game be a side view in your car exploring the overworld, then going into a dungeon area where it turns into an overhead perspective adds a lot of diversity to spice things up. Overall I think it could use some work, but for an NES game, it's fun nonetheless. I'll definitely be checking out more games in this series as I'm sure they'll be even better.

There's no denying that Super Mario Bros. was revolutionary at launch. When compared to the next best thing available at the time, that being atari games, this game is very impressive. Everything about it is a huge upgrade from the gameplay, graphics, music, etc. However, it has not aged well at all. It's unfairly difficult, hard to control, and just overall bland. It's an icon of a game, yet nowadays the only purpose it serves is to showcase just how much video games as a whole have evolved over the years. For that reason, Super Mario Bros. is a respectable part of history, but god is it boring as hell to play now.

Simply put, I feel that Double Dragon is a very basic beat-em-up game. There's nothing that makes it stand out in comparison to other NES games of the same genre and the gameplay is pretty annoying in general. Enemies felt much faster at attacking than me and they can completely dodge my jump kicks by crouching, while, to my knowledge, I can do no such thing against any of their attacks. It's pretty short as well but, in this case, that's a positive. If it were any longer, I probably wouldn't have finished it.

Lovely game from start to finish. I enjoy every Kirby game I play and this one is no exception. Most NES games feel so outdated and primitive to me, but Kirby's Adventure is one of the biggest exceptions. I understand this could be in part to it being a late-release NES game, but my point stands regardless. Simply put it's one of the best games on the NES. Kirby's Adventure is the second game in the Kirby franchise, but I'd argue it's even more influential than its predecessor, Kirby's Dream Land. This was the first game to introduce copy abilities, a defining feature of the Kirby franchise, as well as many other game mechanics and characters including one of the most iconic characters of the series: Meta Knight. Everything about this game has aged greatly, from the graphics, gameplay, controls, level design, and music, and it all adds up to a peak experience on the NES.