Video: Digital Foundry's Technical Analysis Of Super Mario 3D All-Stars

I think they all look pretty good, it's just a shame that they didn't do more.

The Zelda HD remakes had a lot more effort put into them, and the N64 games were completely overhauled. I guess they were full price for each remake, but it's not like they won't profit from this anyway.

This guy definitely knows what he is talking about! I love these games, but as a said before, SM3DAS is nothing more than a quick and dirty cash grab.

Do yourselves a favor and play SMS and SMG in Dolphin instead, and play the native Switch port of SM64 if you have CFW (or better yet, the modded PC version).

Nintendo with their milking fanbase episodes.

@IpwnedU123 the modded PC version of SM64 is 60fps, 16:9 with upscaled HD texture. Its a way better option.

I'm kinda fine with just keeping the games true to the original but with modifications for modern displays.

It's a shame that Mario 64 isn't 16:9 and of course it'd be great if they were all 1080p and 60FPS, but I'm kind of fine with them leaving the original 3D models and stuff intact and to retain the original experience and not like, doing a full remake with newer game engines or whatever.

Eh. More and more I'm content with cancelling my preorder. FOMO almost made me second-guess myself, but buying Age of Calamity instead just cements it.

My copy of 3D Allstars arrives tomorrow. I'll definitely watch that Digital Foundry video, but not until after I've played 3d allstars first.

So they go through all the problems, talk about how Nintendo did NOT go the extra mile but in the end they still recommend it. What a waste of time.

Damn. The one game in the collection I was really interested in, and it got the least love. Surprising. Mario 64 put these guys on the map. They should have done better, but most Nintendo fans don’t hold their mascot to a standard. Just look at Pokémon, and how people just continue to lap it up.

@TG16_IS_BAE Mario 64 put who on the map?

Holding off on this one. Haven’t really been in a Mario mood anyway. Patiently waiting for Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity.

Why are they complaining that it's not at 60 FPS? Then it doesn't feel like I'm playing a retro Mario game.

@backup368 It’s a common complaint these days. Too many gamers are more concerned with frame rate and resolution than gameplay.

Couldn't care less that it is emulation. Other (legal) alternative is to buy a preowned console and copy of these games.

Nintendo fans expect decades of libraries on a silver platter because of the Wii's Virtual Console offerings, when Sony has never offered such a thing. Just saying.

One thing I want to point out is that John is neglecting to mention that while Sunshine has been made to run at 60fps by the homebrew community, it has introduced a lot of problems, glitches, errors, etc.. So it's more like they've achieved it but with imperfect results. I'm sure they'll iron out those flaws but still, it's not as easy as john is making it sound. Even the almighty homebrew community is struggling to make 60fps Sunshine work.

There could have been many additional improvements. But I don't think you can dismiss the simple beauty of being able to play these on a Switch, anywhere, anytime, and no emulator configuration and glitches. I went down that road for awhile and I spent more time "flipping switches" than playing. It's a fun experiment, but usually I just want to play.

Metroid Prime in VR in emulation was a trip for the short time I did it. Just for the scale and scope of it. But it is nowhere near prime time for long sessions. (yes prime time, I said that).

@Onion
One is people hacking the game in their free time the other has the source code and is a multi billion dollar company.

As someone who doesnt own and has no plans of getting a gaming pc in the near future I am more than happy with this collection. Could they have done more? Definitely! Of course! 100%! But lets judge this for what it is instead of what it isn't. What it is is a collection of 3 of the best platformers ever, one that never saw a release outside of japan, one that was stuck on a decades old system with resell prices more expensive than this entire collection and one that deserved to be hd from the beginning because that game is a masterpiece. So please stop whining that a 2000 dollar pc can emulate games better than a 300 dollar tablet, we know.

@graysoncharles Poor wording on my part. Nintendo have also offered similar in the past.

The disappointing thing is neither company even offers those same games on their next-gen systems.

I want a collection like this for 3D Zelda's... The last Zelda I played before BotW was A Link to the Past 🙈

@Ulysses same here Age of Calamity looks like it has put way more effort put towards earning my hard earned cash.

Controls on Sunshine are not fun.
Analog is sorely missing.
Jet Swimming is barely working.
Press CStick in to aim properly, again to move.
No close shooting or low strength, only max strength and distance.

@mazzel
I don't.
I want a properly done Collection!

these games would be so much much better if they fixed they camera, but no they decided to do almost nothing and leave us with games which would be good but get ruined by cameras that are aweful (except galaxy, that one is fine although not perfect)

When did the Nintendo fanboys become a bunch of videogaming Karens? Y'all said you want something on the Super Mario 35th anniversary and you got it so just enjoy it.

Um... not sure what everyone is going about. The games are fine the way they are. God they are gorgous on switch.. galaxy and sunshine star here. 64 is still great fun

@Kev_Morrison Will be downloading this later and this was my main concern for sunshine.

It’s possible the ultimate and most accurate way to play these games may in the long term actually end up being original consoles + CRT. No inaccuracies, latency, control issues or frame pacing problems there. And with original hardware, viewing on CRTs is much nicer to look at than the HDMI mods if you do it right.

Not for everyone, but if you’re a purist and want the gameplay preserved exactly as it was originally intended with decent image quality then this still seems to be the only way to go.

Everybody: “Could have done soooo much more.”

Nintendolife:9/10
We love you Nintendo!!

Remaster? That’s funny. Great game though. Currently playing

Well the camera is an issue in 64, big time. I'm a massive Nintendo fan but I still can't believe people defend not fixing it on here!

Wow these look very crisp.

@Kev_Morrison so you also want one! No need to read my comment literally word by word

@SalvorHardin

I wasn't being critical of the homebrew community (the "almighty" comment was just sarcasm and not meant to be an insult or a jab), just pointing out that the results are not perfect. I'm well aware of the difference between the two. John made it sound like it was up and running at 60fps without a hitch and I'm just pointing out that is currently not true.

Got started on 64 a few days ago, I think it looks pretty good due to the clarity of all the 2d sprite assets. I notice new details every time I play. The issues and missed opportunities are right there, but I’ve had a big dumb smile playing it, so mission accomplished

Hey NintendoLife ! You say Super Mario 64 is 1280x720 ! But that can't be true can it ! As it's 4:3 aspect ratio !! Come on ! MATHS 👍😆 720 in 4:3 is 960x720 😉

Nintendo was lazy. People in their basements have put more effort into mods. Nintendo is getting $59 profit on each sale.

Even DF confirms that Nintendo could of done more... I.e lazy cash grab

@DanElectrode this doesnt stay true to the original tho

sunshine has frame pacing issues and galaxy has colour banding issues

Good grief! Gamers ask for games and then cry when we get them. These games were great fun back when they released and they are great fun now. If you don't want them because they do not have top-end PC graphics then don't get them.

@Crono1973 I mean why wouldn't they recommend it? Like yes it's not a super amazing port but they are still good games, it's not super buggy, and it's still a good way to play it legally on modern hardware.

Just because it's not the ideal way to play it doesn't mean it shouldn't be played at all especially if this is your only option to play it and/or you want portability. It would be different if this was actually a terrible broken and buggy port but it's not, it's still better than playing the games on original hardware even if it's not the best way to play it in general.

@andykara2003 youd be surprised how close some shaders can look to a crt image especially if u tweak them to how u want it

I use royale shaders on retroarch and its night and day compared to using none at all, official rereleases like this NEVER use shaders just some vrappy generic "scanline" filter that doesnt look accurate

@rdrunner1178 no one here is complaining specifically about "graphics". You seem like the sort of person who is against ANY criticism of any kind

@Retro_Player_77 you dont know what "karen" means, do you?

@Supadav03 Take a wild guess, you might get it right. If you need help, I’m talking about Nintendo, the people who made the game. Did it really take that much to figure that out?

@koekiemonster Define "everybody". There are super fans and they gather into comment sections like this. They like to talk details and the old days. That is a very small percentage of Mario fans.

I will give you this: 3D Mario players are much smaller group than 2D Mario players, and when you are going back to the vault of old games, it is self-selecting those that even care about the old games to begin with, which is a smaller group. So, it is expected there will be of the most critical people in that group.

Thing is, the review is reviewing the games, and the games remain intact. Another review that holds it up to a very subjective bar of "what could have been" or what some other remasters have done, would rate it more poorly.

In the end, I think a lot of the core fans of these games that played them originally might look at a totally redone graphics makeover, play it for 5 minutes, then switch to the mode where it is much closer to the original.

Shrug.

I would actually like to see how Nintendo might reimagine and invent these games, but really that's what each new 3D Mario does already. Making the camera better, even, would really change what the games are and were. What is the goal of these, really? Enter the difficulty in "reviewing" and rating this release.

@rdrunner1178 that’s great but don’t charge premium price for zero effort.

@rdrunner1178 People want things of higher quality, not emulated ROMs that cost $60.

@Doktor-Mandrake Isn’t the whole Karen thing just an American slang? This website is UK based, if I remember right. I don’t know if that term is used in that region, or in other places in the world.

@TG16_IS_BAE it means entitled woman, but I'm not a woman nor entitled, if people want to buy this fair enough but I'm still going to be critical over it being £50 and a rather lazy cash grab imo, the price is insane to me for what is on offer

@stevenw45 "less than the originals" ?? 30FPS is exactly what the originals were. It even says so in the article.

@Doktor-Mandrake Thats 100% unrelated to what I was saying. I know what it means, but I live in the states. This is a UK website, and there may be tons of people from other regions that haven’t heard anything that has to do with Americans identity politics. You asked the person if they knew what a Karen was, well, I’m reminding you that not everybody has to keep up with all these stupid terms.

@TG16_IS_BAE if they dont know what it means then they shouldn't use the word to begin with

Is that a common thing in the US? To blurt out words when you have no idea what they mean? LOL

@Doktor-Mandrake That happens all across the world, that’s a human trait not exclusive to America.

@TG16_IS_BAE and I'm reminding you, if someone uses a word incorrectly b, some buzzword on the internet.. then I'm going to point that out to them.

@TG16_IS_BAE I'd settle for either roms at a reasonable price, or higher quality efforts at £50.

This is neither.

@Liam_Doolan OK then ! 😉 I bow to DF's superior knowledge 😆

@Richnj Yep!

@Doktor-Mandrake Have fun wasting time on silly things, then.

@TG16_IS_BAE ironic that, you really want that last word huh? Let me ask, was this worth your time or was it a waste?

You approached me, maybe next time mind your own business

@Doktor-Mandrake I don't need the last word. Public forum, so your business is out in the open, I didn't butt in on a private conversation. Just keep the bs in your own head.

@TG16_IS_BAE what bs though? You're the one actively getting annoyed at me and spewing bs at me for NO reason lmao

Do you often go around getting triggered at people for seemingly no good reason??

You go around using dumb buzzwords like "karen" and you dont even know what the phrase means. Gold.

@WOLF13
It's not exactly "zero effort" though, is it? I would like them to be 4K and 60fps too, but I can still play them and enjoy them. They definitely look better than they did originally. $60 I guess may seem high to some people, but you can look at it as $30 for Galaxy, $20 for Sunshine, and $10 for Mario 64. I haven't played Sunshine in almost 20 years.

@Doktor-Mandrake yeah, as I said I'd prefer if they were all 1080P 16:9 and 60FPS (with no color banding issues). Just saying I'm fine with them not like re-building all the 3D models and stuff.

@TG16_IS_BAE
I understand. I would definitely be even more excited too if these were completely remade/remastered/optimized, all for $60. But these are still great games that many of us would love to play again (without getting out older systems to do so). Three great games for $60 is not a bad price in current times. And they are a little better quality than they were on their original systems.

@rdrunner1178 I think that is based on how people value money, so that's good that you think it's a value. Yes, games are getting more expensive, between buying base games+DLC/add ons and such. I have a feeling we are going to start seeing our first $75 based game in the next gen, too.

@Doktor-Mandrake
No. And these are not simple "zero effort" ROM dumps. They look better than they did originally and yet there's been A LOT of comments on here about how they need to be full 60fps and full wide-screen for Mario 64, etc. I would like that too as much as anyone else. But I will still enjoy them, and at what is a good price for 3 great games. Especially for one of them (Sunshine) that I haven't played since I bought for my son for Christmas in 2002!

@dil_power I keep waiting for Nintendo to do their own FF7R with a Super Mario 64 Remake and Ocarina of Time Remake, but I guess we will have to wait a good while longer for something like that to happen.

@TG16_IS_BAE To your point, Pokemon Sword/Shield costs $90 for the full package, which would have been an equivalent purchase of $40 back in the day for older generations like Black 2, SoulSilver, etc.

I played some SM64 this morning (I can still remember the Secret Stars), and played 15mins of Sunshine. I am pleased the the Camera Direction is opposite to the GC original.
Most importantly I had a very big smile whilst playing, and having lots of fun.
I prefer they haven’t deviated too far from the originals.
DF videos are pointless for games that are this good (IMO)

@Doktor-Mandrake Yes I love that shader - it does look beautiful, I concur.

I'm just happy to be able to play these without any fuss on the Switch. Missed out on Sunshine and Galaxy first time around. No point complaining that they're not perfect. Hopefully Nintendo are applying their efforts on Odyssey 2 or a new Mario game altogether.

@Supadav03 Apparently Nintendo didn't exist before 1997

@TG16_IS_BAE so they weren't on the map before SM64?....ok, you must be living in an alternative universe.

@aaronsullivan everybody who has played videogames the last few years know that this should have been much better. Especially if you look at software available for the other systems like Tony Hawk, Spyro, Crash, Medival etc.

Moet of them are way cheaper to buy and had way more effort. Everything about this collection screams cheap.

And that is a shame for 3 of the best 3D Mariogames

@rdrunner1178 I’ve about given up trying to convince people here that it isn’t just a lazy cash grab.

1. Sunshine has never been on VC. It is awesome that it was included.

2. The Wii U was backwards compatible with the Wii, so Nintendo could literally do $20 ROM dumps for Wii games (and you had to use Wii controls, you couldn’t use the gamepad). There is a development cost to get these three games running on Switch with Switch controls.

3. The ROMs themselves have value. You can’t include Galaxy 2 in this bundle and still expect it to sell for $60.

4. Link’s Awakening is $60. A very cute HD remake of a Zelda GBC game. One game. Not a collection. Doesn’t include Link to the Past. Not even a 64 title. I would rather pay $60 for 3D all stars than $180 for HD remakes of the three titles. Throw in Galaxy 2 and we are talking $240.

5. The GC, Wii, and Wii U are not portable. We can now play these games on the go.

6. It brings access to these games for a whole new generation of gamers.

7. Unlike renting games on NSO, you are buying these.

Personally, I would pay more for NSO if they started including N64 and GC games. Maybe the success of 3D All Stars will motivate them to do more with NSO.

@XO-Frats Okay! Not sure what you're looking for.

@koekiemonster So, "everyone" is everyone who has played video games in the last few years? Huh. But this group of people commenting here have various views on the matter and they are playing games enough to regularly participate in the comments in a game website. I have a feeling they've been playing games in the last few years.

I feel a bit differently about Zelda, I think, but for Mario, the same worlds and bosses and enemies are riffed on and improved from game to game. Yes, there are big additions in each 3D game, but we are basically seeing year-to-year remasters of the same enemies and characters within those games already.

I'm just not sure how valuable or effective making new modern models, textures, and lighting would be with the old Mario 64 gameplay, for instance. It is such a game of its time and the designs and gameplay are partly defined by the limits of working on something very new and very limited. In other words, the simplicity of the graphics is part of the charm.

That's not to say it wouldn't be interesting to see it. There are a few levels and creatures that would be fun to see what would probably amount to a completely new and different interpretation... but I guess I just don't see the value in that when the next 3D Mario game is going to do all of that for most of the characters we've seen before... again. I can get that fix there along with a brand new game.

So the expectations of some not being met is interesting. I think the leaks/rumors gave people a little too much time to dream, maybe. If this was sprung as a fun anniversary purchase with no anticipation, I think there would be less concern.

That said, you, along with some others, are disappointed and wanted more, or at least wanted something very different. I get it. I only disagree with your notion of "everyone" knowing what it "should have" been.

Curious if you really would have expected to pay $60 for 4 3D Mario games that were fully redone to your hopes?

@Tandy255
Yeah. I guess we can look forward to next year when it is Legend of Zelda's turn. We'll probably get Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword. Oh well

Sunshine on the gamecube was 60 fps but 30 on the switch.