Super Mario 3D All-Stars - The Chris Pratt Collection

[Sprite Machine]

Playing Mario Galaxy with split joy-cons so almost captures the feel of playing on the Wii. It's just a shame about the pointer drift.

 

It looks fuckin' lush, though. Hard to believe this game was originally made on two sellotaped-together Gamecubes.

[therearerules]

I never appreciated Galaxy much when it was first released- much preferred the crazy playgrounds of 64 and Sunshine. Going back to them now though it stands out as quite amazing. In the end I think Odyssey* pretty much perfected the playgorunds with the fine tuning of the controls. If only the rightstick was inplace of the waggle on certain sectons

 

*Had to check the spelling on this, and now I'm convinced it's not a word. Just look at it. Odyssey. Odyssey.

[Jarik]

Mario Galaxy is a joy to replay.  I was a little hesitant about using a pointer with a Pro controller at first, but after a little adjustment it works really well.  I think the frequent drifting shows why we might never get that Metroid Prime Trilogy port though.

 

The visuals look stunning.  They looked pretty good on the Wii, but now with the uprezzed graphics the bright colours & distinctive levels stand out so much more.

 

But the best part of the whole thing IMO is the level design.  3D Mario tends to be either Sandbox (like Mario 64, Sunshine & Odyssey) or 'reach the goal' objectives (Galaxy 1&2 & 3D Land/World) & if Odyssey shows the strength of the first design, this definitely shows the strength of the second.  I like how there's so little fat, or unnecessary filler in the levels (Something that plagued Sunshine & even Odyssey had some of).  Everything has a purpose, you're always making progress, & that make the occasional 'scour the level' objectives (Secret Stars, Hungry Lumas, Purple Coins) a refreshing change rather than a regularity, & while in other games i would groan when such an objective came up, in Galaxy the levels are just so much fun to get around (Launch Stars! Whee!  ) i often find myself throwing myself into them without a second thought.

[Marlew]

On 19/10/2020 at 11:53, therearerules said:

*Had to check the spelling on this, and now I'm convinced it's not a word. Just look at it. Odyssey. Odyssey.

 

I finally read the Odyssey this summer and it's fucking brilliant. Gonna get on the Iliad next, albeit I've read them the wrong way around. Would definitely recommend. 

[Sprite Machine]

I was thinking "'Luigi's Purple Coins' is faaaaaaar harder than I remember it being", until thirty attempts later I realised there's actually more than a hundred coins and you don't have to get all of them. 

 

Anyway, that's Galaxy done. 120 stars (Mario only). Absolutely delightful to play this again. I don't think I can quite bring myself to do the Luigi run, having done it on the Wii in '07. Three play throughs is more than most of my games get. The 'star' of this collection, without a doubt.

 

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On 14/10/2020 at 12:41, Sprite Machine said:

I put together this little compilation using the Switch's 30-second video capture facility. I wanted to record some of the more memorable moments, of joy, satisfaction and - at times - frustration. And basically just to capture the essence of Mario Sunshine in the form of a highlights reel.

 

 

 

I did another of these 'highlight' videos. It's much harder to trim down to the core essence of Super Mario Galaxy, because it's just so goddamned massive and varied. So it's twenty minutes long.   Hopefully it sums up the epic journey and sheer joy I experienced along the way (even if the Switch's video encoding doesn't do the visuals justice).

 

 

[teddymeow]

Camera Inversion patch incoming!!!

 

17th November

 

[Calashnikov]

THANK FUCK

[the_debaser]

Not too bothered by that as I’ve given up on sunshine. Was half expecting a Galaxy 2 shadow drop. 

[DarhkFox]

But why wait till 17th to release it when it seems ready now 

[Kevvy Metal]

Just now, Darhkwing said:

But why wait till 17th to release it when it seems ready now 

 

Nintendo will probably retest all three games, to death just for a camera change. 

That doesn't mean they'll test and fix the issues in SMS that have always been there. Maybe check they still are! 

[Paulando]

3 minutes ago, Darhkwing said:

But why wait till 17th to release it when it seems ready now 

They need to test it to make sure Super Mario Sunshine is just as buggy as it ever was.

[therearerules]

Just completed Galaxy. It's the only one of the three I hadn't completed before, but definitely the one I had most fun with this time. Now I was going to chuck the game in the trading folder, but I'm actually thinking it might be better to wait until after March 2021 seeing as how people won't be able to buy them new from that point. Does anybody know what's going on with Nintendo there? Why stop selling the game at that point?

[Paulando]

3 hours ago, therearerules said:

Just completed Galaxy. It's the only one of the three I hadn't completed before, but definitely the one I had most fun with this time. Now I was going to chuck the game in the trading folder, but I'm actually thinking it might be better to wait until after March 2021 seeing as how people won't be able to buy them new from that point. Does anybody know what's going on with Nintendo there? Why stop selling the game at that point?

They’ll be selling them individually, probably with some more emulated GC/Wii games.

[Oh Danny Boy]

I’m never into 100% a game. So never really get to the point of being frustrated at finding the final cruelly placed trinket. Once a game stop being fun I stop playing it. 
 

On a similar note I’m preferring sunshine much more than 64. At the time I’d have said that Sunshine wasn’t fit to lick 64’s boots but it’s aged so much better. It’s certainly benefited from the 16:9 and higher res. It’s opened up the world somewhat. I also prefer the camera which I thought was dodgy back on release but after 64 having the ability to manipulate the camera how I want feels like I’ve had a hand untied. The game is far more difficult from the off but it expects you to do much more with the 3D space than 64 does, which has aged due to a lot of its gameplay involving around the player getting to grips with a 3D world. In that sense I’m more forgiving if Sunshine’s camera as it’s accommodating far more complex 3D environments and movement. 
 

This release has given me a chance to reassess the 3D Mario games. 64, which I’ve always held highly, feels aged. I thought it would hold me but once the nostalgia went and the much more fun early levels passed I lost the desire to play it. While Sunshine, which I’ve always viewed as the Mario USA of the 3D games, to me now is totally under rated. I’d never be so much of a masochist to even attempt all the shines however. 
 

Never played Galaxy. I’m leaving that experience to last. It would be good to see how it holds up to Odyssey. 

[CarloOos]

Funny you've just posted that, I was coming on to say the same.

 

Besides the occasional short go on a mates copy back in the day, I'd never owned or finished any of these. And I've got to say, without the benefit of nostalgia, I found SM64 a real slog to finish. Clumsy controls, a stodgy camera and obtuse objectives which occasionally require pure luck to solve. I crawled my way to 70 stars and couldn't fathom going back for any more. There's one star in particular that highlighted my issues with it, it's the elevator ride in the volcano. What you actually have to do is incredibly simple; climb a pole, jump over some flames, climb another pole and jump across 3 small steps. Trying to actually to do it with Mario's laggy movement and a camera that refuses to be useful made me want to throw my Switch out the window.

 

Sunshine, by contrast, is an absolute joy. I'm hooked, can't stop playing it. The controls are tight, the camera responsive, it looks superb and I feel like I can actually gauge the distance I'm jumping with some accuracy, which I really couldn't in SM64. I'm 40 shines in and unlocked the first four stages easily enough but I must admit I had to google how to unlock Noki Bay and Sirena Beach, neither of those would have occurred to me. I've had a few bugs, fell through the floor a couple of times, so I can see where some of the criticisms come from but fuck me, it's so much more accessible and enjoyable from a modern perspective.

 

I obviously appreciate SM64's place in history, compared to the other 3D platformers of the time it's night and day (imagine trying to play Croc or Rascal now). But I can't agree with sentiments that Nintendo got it perfect first time, the handling of Mario has improved with each successive title imo (never played 3D World). Looking forward to getting stuck into Galaxy next, I tested it out for an hour or so and had to tear myself away.

[CarloOos]

Also I still think Nintendo's port of 64 is piss-poor, particularly when compared to Rare's ports of the Banjo games from over 10 years ago.

[Popo]

Mario 64 has clumsy controls?!

 

¡Ai dios mio!

[Paulando]

5 hours ago, CarloOos said:

There's one star in particular that highlighted my issues with it, it's the elevator ride in the volcano. What you actually have to do is incredibly simple; climb a pole, jump over some flames, climb another pole and jump across 3 small steps. Trying to actually to do it with Mario's laggy movement and a camera that refuses to be useful made me want to throw my Switch out the window.

 Couldn’t agree more with this. Probably fine if you still have the muscle memory from when you were eight years old, but not being able to put the camera where you  need it to be makes this far more difficult than it should be. There are more examples of stars like this throughout the game.

 

I’m up to about 85ish stars in Super Mario 64 - the most I’ve ever got to I think - but the later levels really are poor in places. I’ve had far more trouble with the camera than in Super Mario Sunshine too; it gets stuck behind things sometimes in Sunshine, but not having full control in 64 is worse.

 

But when it’s good, it’s very good. Just like Sunshine, and Galaxy, and Galaxy 2, and 3D World, and Odyssey. I’d rather play 64 than any non-Mario 3D platformer.

[the_debaser]

Not having this. Sunshine is annoying and shit. Let’s not be giving Nintendo ideas to the contrary. 

[Dudley]

Mario 64 is absolutely a little awkward in 2020.

 

The fact a 1997 game is only "A little awkward" is a fucking miracle of design back then.

[Paulando]

There are plenty of annoying and shit stars in 64. The one in Shifting Sands Land where you have to jump down onto the platforms that you can’t see properly was a nightmare, and the four platforms was a pain until I found out that standing on a shell makes you invincible to the sinking sand (who knew?).

 

I can’t work out how to roll the snowman’s body to him either. I’ve even watched YouTube videos. It just rolls past every time. Any advice for that?

 

On the other hand, I don’t think I’ve ever played the ghost house stage, but finished it in one sitting in this and loved it. Loved Dire, Dire Docks Wet-Dry World too. That Big/Small world can get tae fuck though, and some of the other later stages.

[CarloOos]

I had to google the snowman's body one, Big Boo's balcony (where you have to wall jump to a hidden ledge that the camera refuses to show you even if you try to look up) and grabbing onto the bird in sinking sand land (I was trying to use the cannon, do they ever signpost that you can just walk up those walls?).

 

I also had to google how to unlock the metal hat and the flight hat, the latter of which seemed insanely obscure. I would never have figured out the equivalent 'look at the sun' puzzle in Sunshine, either.

[deKay]

27 minutes ago, Paulando said:

until I found out that standing on a shell makes you invincible to the sinking sand (who knew?).

 

There is a sign or a Toad that tells you this.

[wretcherd]

1 hour ago, Paulando said:

I can’t work out how to roll the snowman’s body to him either. I’ve even watched YouTube videos. It just rolls past every time. Any advice for that?

IIRC you have to race the snowball down the path and get there first for it to count.

[BabelRich]

2 hours ago, Paulando said:

I can’t work out how to roll the snowman’s body to him either. I’ve even watched YouTube videos. It just rolls past every time. Any advice for that?

 

57 minutes ago, wretcherd said:

IIRC you have to race the snowball down the path and get there first for it to count.

You also have to make sure you are standing by his head, preferably with it between you and the oncoming snow ball as it will aim for Mario. 

[Paulando]

2 hours ago, deKay said:

 

There is a sign or a Toad that tells you this.

What’s this, an RPG now?

[Popo]

2 hours ago, deKay said:

 

There is a sign or a Toad that tells you this.

 

Also - it's a Mario game, jumping on the shells of recently despatched Koopas should be instinctive!

[Alex W.]

Good news: the new patch which adds an invert camera option also lets you play Sunshine with a GC pad via an adaptor.

[R0b]

And the analog shoulder buttons function is in. Even the newer Smash GC controllers' shoulders are analog.

[auntyclimax]

Anyone know if the patch allows GC pads to be used via the 8bitdo asdaptor?