Super Mario All Stars 25th Anniversary Edition
Rating: E
Score: 7.0/10
Three decades ago, video gaming wasn't the most commonly accepted hobby in the world. A few lucky people had Ataris, but that's about it. Two decades ago, it was all about video gaming. What changed so drastically in the industry? Simply put, Nintendo became a competitor, and Super Mario Bros was an overnight success. It's been a quarter of a century since then, so Nintendo is celebrating with this package for gamers! It was pretty much a Christmas gift, and it took a surprisingly long time to review this bad boy. This game is exclusive to the Nintendo Wii system.
A little history before the main event: The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES a.k.a. the "Nintendo" for short) released Super Mario Bros 1, which was a HUGE success. Super Mario Bros 2 was not released into North America, and instead North Americans got a Mario version of Doki Doki Panic, but still titled Super Mario Bros 2. It was...odd, but still quite fun. Then Super Mario Bros 3 came and gamers went bananas. It was THE game: addictive, fun, fluent, strategic, and VERY challenging. Then, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES a.k.a the "Super Nintendo" for short) succeeded the NES, and Super Mario All Stars got released, having all three Super Mario Bros games PLUS the Super Mario Bros 2 never released outside Japan (titled Super Mario Bros: the Lost Levels). Basically, it was a complete package...in 1993.
So how about its 25th Anniversary Edition? It has more classic games, more great Mario, and extra goodies, right? Nope. It's classic Mario, aged 18 years to date. You get the original cartridge in a disc form and a bonus disc. This bonus disc is an audio disc with a small history booklet. Ironically, the audio disc CANNOT be played in a Wii (the Nintendo Wii doesn't have the functionality). The audio is standard themes, nothing big. The booklet is where it seems like Nintendo was figuratively just milking gamers. There's concept art, a brief description of SOME Mario games (11 big ones, to be exact). Big names in Nintendo Co. give their thoughts on the games, but some are just...odd. For Super Mario 64, Miyamoto wrote: "Mario runs around like a hamster in this game. In fact, I had a pet hamster around this time." That's right, the creator of Mario and president of Nintendo just said that about Super Mario 64, one of the most revolutionary games of all time. Wow, just...wow.
Even so, you get lots of great Mario. Super Mario Bros is a classic, and for good reason. Super Mario Bros 2 is odd, but very addictive. Super Mario Bros 3 is all around a masterpiece in video gaming, and Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels is...difficult. It's a tough challenge for any willing to take it on. Getting to play all of these is all fine and dandy, but one must remember: This is a port of a 1993 game that ported even older games. The lack of improvement is just disgraceful, even if the content already ported is godly.
One thing is for sure though: it can introduce new gamers to the classics of Mario. If you added just two games: Yoshi's Island and Super Mario World, you'd have the dream childhood of any kid from the 90’s. Why it lacks any improvements from old cartridge to disc is beyond me. It's less a game in a sense as it is a trophy of Nintendo's achievements most young gamers would never get a chance to play (except for, you know, that Virtual Console functionality on the Wii for just that purpose). For 70 bucks, it's an expensive trophy, but that doesn't take away from its original and overall glory, even if it's lacking in some ways.