Nintendo’s surprise Direct earlier today brought with it a bunch of announcements related to theSuper Marioseries' 35th anniversary, with the biggest one easily beingSuper Mario 3D All-Stars,acompilation of three of Mario’s previous 3D adventures:Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine,andSuper Mario Galaxy.
While this was first reported on back in March, the official announcement still has a lot of fans happy to see these three classic titles be re-released on Switch in one package. However, some key details have left some either annoyed or scratching their heads in confusion.
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First of all,Super Mario 3D All-Starswill have a limited release, both physically and digitally, and is set to become unavailable for purchase in March 2021. What’s more, one beloved 3DMariotitle is completely absent from the collection:Super Mario Galaxy 2.
Not only that, but during the Direct, a line-up of majorMariotitles was shown, including the newly announced ones, butSuper Mario Galaxy 2isn’t among them. Even the Rabbids and Sonic the Hedgehog have more of a presence here than that game.
It’s not like the game is an old shame of the company’s. Despite being a follow-up to the critical darling that was the first game,Super Mario Galaxy 2still went on to receive overwhelmingly positive reviews and is even lauded by many as one of the best video games of all time. Plenty consider it to be the bestMariogame ever made.
So, why the omission from the compilation? Since Nintendo hasn’t commented at the time of writing, we can only speculate. It’s possible that trying to fit four of these games into one compilation simply wasn’t feasible due to the size of them, as opposed to thefirstAll-Starscompilationfrom 1993.
Or maybe it’s because Nintendo wanted every game in the compilation to be distinct and unique?Super Mario Galaxy 2is the only time Nintendo has made a direct sequel to a 3DMariotitle, one that further expands and builds on the core elements of its predecessor.
In fact,Galaxy 2was never meant to be a sequel and was initially envisioned as an expansion that used all the leftover ideas that weren’t implemented in the first game. Initially dubbedSuper Mario Galaxy 1.5, the project grew in scope and scale to the point where it was decided to make it a full-fledged sequel.
It’s always possible that Nintendo will re-releaseSuper Mario Galaxy 2at a later date. Even if that’s not the plan, it may reconsider it following the ongoing demand on social media. Not that it really needs the money right now, as it has been recently named as therichest company in Japan.
