Following the somewhat underwhelming Super Mario 3D All-Stars back in 2020, we now have both Super Mario Galaxy games for Switch, and they’re great.
The best instalment of Super Mario 3D All-Stars was definitely the first Super Mario Galaxy. While I still think the Wii Remote controls are better suited for the game than the Joy-Cons, especially with the pointer functionality, the Pro pad continues to do a very good job covering that off with its built-in gyro controls.
This time around, although this is a Switch release, I played through both games on my Switch 2 with the new Pro controller. The results were excellent throughout.
Over the Super Mario 3D All-Stars version, both games have had work done to clean up their respective textures, and on the Switch 2, the game runs at a buttery smooth 60fps in 4K throughout.
My only minor quibble, and it is just a mild annoyance, is that I cannot import my save data from Super Mario 3D All-Stars into this new Super Mario Galaxy release. I wouldn’t mind so much, except that on the prior version, I made a point of collecting all 121 stars all over again.
As for the games themselves, while they are sold as a package, they appear as individual games in the Switch menu.
I also still feel that the world layout, story, and levels in the first game are just done so much better than in the second. While adding Yoshi to the sequel was fun, especially with his reaction to eating chillies (shown above), the world map and a lot else felt more typical of other Super Mario games.
This is obviously a personal preference, but I found the first Super Mario Galaxy to be probably one of the definitive games in the series, not only in terms of its groundbreaking functionality but also its gravity and mind-bending level design.
I also loved the hub level in the first game, and that too is rendered wonderfully on this updated release.
When it comes to these new updated versions of each game, you also get a soundtrack option on the main menu and a co-op mode to play with friends. Both are nice additions, and coupled with the subtle but extensive improvements to the respective games’ textures, this is a much better release over the rather phoned-in Super Mario 3D All-Stars.
Overall, since Super Mario 3D All-Stars is hard to come by, and we haven’t seen a re-release of Super Mario Galaxy 2 since 2010, this package is definitely worth getting. I still prefer the first game over its sequel, but both games are brilliantly made with a genuine craftsmanship that is very rare these days.
Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2
Platform: Switch (Switch 2 Reviewed)
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 2nd October 2025
Price: $69.99
Score: 9/10
Disclosure: Nintendo sent me a copy of this game for the purposes of this review.
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