“With three games, modern upgrades, and music-player mode, this collection is filled with fun for both new players and 3D platforming Mario masters”

These are 3 of the most memorable games in not only Mario history, but in video game history as well. People were asking Nintendo to make a 3D All-Stars collection for so many years, and in 2020 they actually did it for the Switch.

It is general knowledge by this point – these are not complete remasters of the original game nor do they receive the full HD treatment like some of the 3D Zelda games. But there are some small graphical improvements here that shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Sunshine and Galaxy receive the full 1080p resolution upgrade, however 64 does not. A bit of a bummer since the online mod community has shown adding widescreen resolution to 64 is definitely possible, but considering how none of the games on N64 Online are widescreen it’s not a total loss. 64’s visual improvements come in the form of sharpening up polygons and the UI – going back and playing the game on an N64 will make you realize the original game was a lot blurrier than you may remember.

Sunshine’s art style in my opinion has fairly well. You can still tell it’s an early Gamecube game in some areas, but with the new resolution it’s hard to not appreciate that it’s a pretty game with the whole tropical island theme. Galaxy looks the best out of the bunch. Outside of during cutscenes, it has aged incredibly well. All the rough edges are smoothed out and it’s just fun to look at.

Gameplay wise everything holds up. I don’t know if N64 controller support was ever added to 64, but there was an update that added Gamecube support to Sunshine. The biggest concern for me, as someone who never wants to return to motion controls, was how were they going to handle Galaxy. Although you do have to point the controller around to pick up star bits while docked, all you have to is press a button to do a spin and it’s so nice.

A majority of fans were upset nothing substantial was added to the collection. I personally did not mind. I never 100% completed any of these games and as usual with games from my childhood being ported to the Switch, I was able to get every star in all 3 games. I can say for a fact that if there was one thing I really wish was added to the collection, it would be to add a blue coin tracker to Sunshine for every level. If you plan on getting every shine, just know it’s a pain in the ass and I will never attempt it again.