Time Is Running Out To Pick Up Super Mario 3D All-Stars On Nintendo Switch
If Super Mario 3D All-Stars has been on your radar and you've yet to actually buy it, you'll want to do that soon. Nintendo will soon be delisting Super Mario 3D All-Stars from the Switch eShop, at the same time halting production on new physical copies of the game. That means outside of buying a used copy – which are probably going to rise in price – your options for buying a copy of the game will be non-existent.Super Mario 3D All-Stars was originally announced as part of Super Mario's 35th anniversary. The game bundles Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy together into one compilation, making all three games playable on the Switch for the first time. In our review of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, we found that the games play well and are just as fun as ever, but they're included in a rather bare-bones package that doesn't do much else to celebrate the legacy of the Super Mario franchise.
Nintendo has always intended this to be a time-limited product, but aside from tapping into the fear of missing out in prospective buyers, there isn't really a good reason for that decision. Despite a heap of criticism for that decision, Nintendo has stuck to its guns, and Super Mario 3D All-Stars will be removed from the Switch eShop on March 31st – one week from today.
After that point, Nintendo will also stop producing physical copies of the game, so we expect the price of second-hand copies to inflate after the 31st. The good news is that you can still buy a physical copy of the game for retail price from a variety of retailers for the time being, but now is the time to do so. On March 31st, the free-to-play Super Mario Bros 35 will also disappear from the Switch eShop, so fans of that game should get some more playtime in while they still can.
Once Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Super Mario Bros 35 are gone, we're not expecting them to come back; the Wii port of Super Mario All-Stars, which Nintendo released for Super Mario's 25th anniversary, was a similar release in that it was only available for a limited time, and we haven't seen that return to shelves since. We don't know the exact time Super Mario 3D All-Stars will be delisted on the 31st, so if you want a copy, it's probably a good idea to buy it sooner rather than later.