Super Mario 3D All-Stars (Parent Review): A surprising history lesson

Final Impressions

Super Mario 3D All-Stars is something I would highly recommend getting despite its flaws. Getting three of Mario’s biggest titles in a time when Super Mario Odyssey 2 is probably years away is a steal.

For parents, it’s an interesting history lesson on the progression of digital entertainment as Mario 64 is incredibly dated and it gives kids a moment to see how controls have evolved over the years. There’s also an option to play the soundtracks from these games. I’m sure that’s for someone I just don’t know them.

My biggest gripe with the collection is that they could have done more to modernize it. A lot more. Updated camera controls would have improved Mario 64 greatly. Third-person shooter controls would have made an entirely new and better experience of Super Mario Sunshine. And having me pretend to use a Wiimote in Super Mario Galaxy was just bizarre (by the way, if you are using a third party controller without gyroscopic support, you will not be playing this).

The biggest take away I’d say is that if your kid loves platformers and/or Mario and they’re having a hard time reading, hang out with them and read it out loud. I looked like the biggest dork in the world doing it but it was kind of fun doing the voices for all of them, even though a day later my throat hurts from doing Toad’s voice.