Back in the days of the Super Nintendo, the company released a game called Super Mario All-Stars. It was a compilation of Mario's past four main series games: Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (which is actually Japan's SMB2). Each game received a graphical and audible overhaul to take advantage of the Super Nintendo's 16-bit graphics. The game was a virtual success, becoming the 15th best-selling game for the system.
So someone at Nintendo got this brilliant idea and said, "Remember how we celebrated Mario's 5th anniversary? Well let's get lazy and do the same thing for his 25th anniversary!" And so Super Mario All-Stars was born...again, but this time for the Wii and this time with a book of history and character art as well as a CD soundtrack of various Mario tunes from throughout his history. Of course, some fans were ecstatic, myself included; other were not, convinced that Nintendo just wanted another quick buck and was using the commemorative event to get it. Below are some of the most common complaints I've seen about this release.
"The game itself includes nothing original"
This is true; the Wii remake of Super Mario All-Stars isn't as much of a remake as it is a port. Nintendo has changed nothing; they didn't include any additional games or content and the game is still shown in its original 16-bit format. Now I ask you: is that really such a bad thing? The biggest reason Nintendo released this game is so players could have a collectors item more than a unique gaming adventure. While there may not be anything new, there's plenty of memories to relive in this game. And besides, not everybody still owns the Super Nintendo they grew up with.
"A Super Nintendo game is not worth $30 today"
I will agree with this; I don't think I would ever be caught paying $30 for a Super Nintendo game unless it was one that I desperately wanted. However, Nintendo was well aware of how much a 17-year old game depreciates in this time and decided to include a little incentive to compensate. SNES titles go for about $8 on the Virtual Console. Couple that with the CD and art book included with each copy of the game, I would value it at about $40 altogether; you're actually getting a bit of a deal here.
"They could have at least upgraded the graphics."
Yeah, they could have, but they didn't. They probably wanted to retain the classic feel; we are, after all, celebrating the good old days.
"They could have included Super Mario World, or some other games."
Again, yeah, they could have, but they didn't. At least there are legitimate reasons behind that one: Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 are already on the Virtual Console, Super Mario Sunshine can be played on a Wii, as can Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
"They could have released it to the Virtual Console to save me some money."
Again, yeah, but again, they didn't want to. At some point in time, Nintendo decided it would be better to put the game on a disc and include an otherwise unobtainable CD and book; maybe there's a good reason, maybe there isn't. If you don't like it, don't buy it. And in case you hadn't noticed, Nintendo has pretty much forgotten they even have the Virtual Console since WiiWare launched a couple years ago.
I think given every complaint I've seen, and I have seen quite a few, the biggest recurring issue is people are impulse buying this game; they see 'Mario" in the title and assume it's his next big hit game. The problem is when they impulse buy it, they never take the time to look into it; they don't realize what is included and that it's only a port and nothing more. They don't realize that this wasn't supposed to be a big seller, nor was it intended to be innovative; it's a limited edition collector's item more than anything else. Just enjoy what you get and move on with your life.
On that note, it is a Limited Edition Collector's item, which means Nintendo is only shipping so many units, and once their gone, eBay is your best bet (and while the prices may be reasonable right now, I can't say they will be once the game sells out). If you think it's something you need, you may want to act as soon as possible to ensure you get your piece of history.
