Nintendo Re-Releasing Super Mario Galaxy Proves That It Needs to Undo Its Biggest Mistake of the Past Decade

The big scoop from the latest Nintendo Direct is that both Super Mario Galaxy titles (which are also going to be the basis of the second animated movie) are coming to the Switch 2. Both Super Mario Galaxy games are being ported and released as a collection and individually on the eShop. That said, Nintendo likely hasn’t touched the first game since it arrived on the Switch five years ago as part of the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection. Its presence in that collection, as well as the new one coming out next year, highlights that Nintendo has made a mistake, but they could easily undo it.

Mario Galaxy Is Back, But Why Not Mario 64 and Sunshine?

Now that both Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be available on modern consoles together, all the 3D Mario titles can be played from a single platform. Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine are both included with the first Galaxy in 2020’s 3D All-Stars. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury and Super Mario Odyssey were Switch originals, too. It’s all there, except there’s a major caveat with 64 and Sunshine.

That caveat is that both games are technically no longer available. They were part of a limited-time release of the 3D All-Stars, which was available for roughly six months in late 2020 and early 2021. Unless you bought it then, you didn’t get it. You can get a physical copy now through resale channels, but a quick eBay search shows that this artificial scarcity has resulted in it now selling for over $100 on average.

Obviously, Nintendo doesn’t care about Super Mario Galaxy‘s exclusivity, given that it’s now getting re-released, so why do they still insist on keeping Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine locked away in this manner? The fact that anyone buying a Switch or Switch 2 now can’t readily buy all of these games is extremely weird.

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Nintendo’s Removal of Super Mario Bros. 35 Still Stings

It would’ve been perfect to announce this return of all three games as a celebration of Mario’s 40th anniversary, too. If Nintendo did the collection for 35 years and then them back for the 40th anniversary in a permanent capacity, it would make a bit more sense. The artificial scarcity helped people buy the game then, and now Nintendo can capitalize on the ongoing desire now. It’s a great way to celebrate Mario while also, and this is the most important part, requiring little effort and producing a lot of money.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars Remains Nintendo’s Most Bizarre Release Ever

Nintendo, for all its good character traits, is extremely money-hungry. Everything is done in the service of making as much money as possible, which is why the release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars is so strange. Nintendo purposefully limited the money they could make over the game’s lifetime. Sure, it pumped up sales in the short term, but that just can’t make up for the almost five years since that has had zero sales.

If Nintendo is fine with bringing Super Mario Galaxy back in a permanent capacity, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be fine with bringing back the other two games. The ported versions are available to the company, so they can easily just pop them on the eShop and rake in the money.

Nintendo is quite literally sitting on a gold mine here. Super Mario Galaxy coming back makes a ton of sense in conjunction with the film next year, but that shouldn’t hold back the other two classics. It’s not going to cost Nintendo a single cent to release them because they’re already made and ready for modern consoles. All it would take is a few button presses to send that out into the world and make a ton of money.

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