After several rumors and reports of a potential port/remake of classic 3D Super Mario games, Nintendo eventually revealed the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection. Commemorating the 35th anniversary of one of video games’ most iconic franchises, 3D All-Stars brings together Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy together on Switch. Not only was it one of the first times classic Super Mario games were re-released from their original platforms, but it also opened the door as a proof of concept for more ports of classic games. However, despite all of that, the game garnered controversy for its limited physical and digital release.
The unfortunate truth is Super Mario 3D All-Stars reflects an approach to Nintendo’s backlog that’s been around for a long time, but is only now becoming far more egregious and controversial. As the March 2021 deadline to buy Super Mario 3D All-Stars comes closer, Nintendo still stands firm in its limited release treatment for the game. Even if this release was orchestrated and intended for the “celebration” of Mario‘s anniversary, that isn’t a viable answer for why it’s being taken off the eShop next year.
Doug Bowser’s comments on Super Mario 3D All-Stars‘ release reflects Nintendo’s continued desire to enforce a new false scarcity on Nintendo’s back catalog. Previously the Wii/Wii U eShop would port older games to the shop for a price via Virtual Console. There was nothing inherently anti-consumer about that approach by any means, as re-selling classic games on a modern platform, for a premium, is a common practice for all game consoles. However, with 3D All-Stars enforcing a timed purchase period on a downloadable game, it certainly sets a disappointing precedent. Especially considering the massive sales numbers for these games, it’s clearly working as intended.
Having a limited-time digital release for legacy content is practically unheard of across the gaming industry, much less from triple-A game publishers. Nintendo is creating demand out of scarcity, even when it doesn’t need to. The various 3D Super Mario games in that collection are some of the most beloved platformers (and games in general) of all time. Fans, and new players, would absolutely snatch up this collection regardless of if it was disappearing off of storefronts or not. And yet, despite this, Nintendo has decided that the best way to release Super Mario 3D All-Stars is to test a limited-time offer with no currently announced alternative.
It’s strange to see specifically from Nintendo, a company in the past that has generally handled backwards compatibility in stride. Virtual Console not only made it convenient to play a variety of classic titles, but simply offered games up at a (relatively) discounted price. Even on the Switch itself, if players opt-in for Nintendo Switch Online, they get a slew of different NES/SNES games alongside their subscription. Again, this kind of unnecessary time limit makes little sense compared to other business decisions Nintendo has made on the Switch console already. Enforcing this kind of unfair exclusivity is unfortunate, especially in the context of Xbox Series X/S and PS5.
Xbox’s widespread acceptance of backwards compatibility is reminiscent of what Wii/Wii U did with Virtual Console, and has only done wonders for the Xbox Series X/S launch as well. Even the PS5 has dipped into backwards compatibility, alongside remakes and remasters of classic PlayStation games. With Nintendo Switch, it’s as if the situation has inverted; players are snatching up 3D All-Stars fearing its disappearance, even if they’re not necessarily going to play any time soon. Not to mention these games aren’t remakes/remasters: In fact, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy are running on proprietary emulators, rather than being rebuilt for Switch.
Assuming this collection is not re-released, or the games themselves are not sold separately later on, imagine what a new Nintendo Switch owner in April will have to do to play these games. Much like the scalper problem for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, soon a microcosmic version of scalping issues will occur with Super Mario 3D All-Stars. If that new Nintendo Switch owner wants to play that collection of iconic Super Mario games, they’ll have to pay a pretty penny on eBay just to get the physical release. They won’t even have access to purchasing the game digitally, which is often the most convenient avenue for buying and playing games on Nintendo Switch.
Ultimately, it’s a strange decision from a company that’s normally been pretty strong in supporting legacy content on newer hardware. Backwards compatibility used to be one of Nintendo’s strong suits, and some efforts on the Switch still reflect that desire to support classic game content proactively. However, this absurd anti-consumer activity just makes it unnecessarily difficult to play some of Nintendo’s best games.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars is available from now until March 31, 2021.
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