It has been noticed by savvy consumers proficient in the black art of arithmetic that the new Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition for Wii may not actually be the best deal. PC World recently advised against picking it up, noting that all four of the included classic Mario games can be purchased from the Wii Shop for a total of $21, which is $9 less than the $29.99 MSRP of the new Wii compilation. The author points out that with the money left over, you could throw in Super Mario World, which was inexplicably left out of the Wii remake, despite the fact that an alternate version of the SNES Super Mario All-Stars game also included Super Mario World, rounding out the collection with 5 games and making it an incredible value. They have a point.
That means the Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition has the following advantages over the original (non-SMW included) SNES version and the Wii Shop downloads:
– Bonus 20-track soundtrack CD with music and sound effects by Koji Kondo
– 32-page booklet detailing history of the Mario series
– Features the same updated graphics as the SNES Super Mario All-Stars, which means this is the only way to play the updated versions on the Wii, since the versions in the Wii Shop are still the 8-bit originals (which are actually preferred by many gamers, making this more of a disadvantage than an appealing feature to some)
What do you think? Does the convenience of having all four installments of Mario’s NES exploits in a pretty Wii case with a couple bonus goodies warrant the $29.99 price tag? Or does it seem that it really wouldn’t have been that difficult to pack a few more Mario classics (say, Super Mario World 1 and/or 2) onto that ample Wii disc? Do you already have the original games and the Super Mario All-Stars SNES edition, and either way, will you be picking up the Limited Edition for Wii? Weigh in, Infendo darlings.
Theres a bit of discrepancy with the math. Never knew $21 + $9 = $39.99! 😛
Argh! Bad time for a typo on my part. Thanks for pointing it out – fixed.
First off it's only 10 tracks of songs. The sound effects are absolute throwaways. Including world would have been great I guess. But what they should have done was add some new content. Personally I would have remade smb2 USA with nsmbwii engine and made it coop. And add 10 additional songs to the soundtrack (including super Mario land 1 and 2 tracks). Oh well. Like many have already said it was a wasted opportunity. Just think in 5 years they'll improve the package for the 30th anniversary and make u buy it again.
@AC
But the 30th anniversary will be on Wii2! I frequently use my club Nintendo surveys as a platform to complain about the abysmal online state of the Wii, but I guess I can do it here too. I would really like to play Super Mario Bros. with my brother, who lives 600 miles away. I mean how hard would it have been to add online functionality so we could both play? Wasted opportunity indeed.
BTW I won a contest, so I get all the 1st party Nintendo games for free. That booklet is pretty nice.
Yea there's no doubt nsmbwii should have been online. I found it hard to believe that it wasn't possible. Can u imagine how many old friends and family from far away would have gotten together for that?
I own the original SMA + SMW SNES cart, so I just load up my homebrew channel and play it on the emulator for free!!!!
@benny
But the only drawback is you don't have the soundtrack. Though its too bad it wasn't grander the 10 tracks that are there are amazing. The book is ok I guess, I'm not that impressed with it.
Unless you want the updated graphics, I don't think its worth it. Also the booklet isn't anything special. Whose gonna read that thing more than once? its a good gift though!
I completely agree with Electrifuture – it's a great gift and I think its release is timed to be exactly that.
I was really looking forward to the CD, and was ver disappointed to find that it only holds 10 music tracks…and no Starship Mario theme!
At this point, I have to ask myself if it's worthwhile to pay $30 to play what should have been an $8 VC release. The whole package makes for a nice gift, though.
Nintendo, I would gladly pay $50 for a comprehensive multi-disc set of Mario music!
This compilation could have been so much more. At bare minimum, Nintendo should have included the NES, Super NES and Game Boy Advance version of every sprite-based 2D Mario game (Including Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island). Nintendo would have received bonus points by allowing you to mix graphic and sound modes (like Cave Story Wii only bigger). The ultimate scenario would have been to remake these games using the NSMB engine. Is that really so much to ask?
Chad, I quite agree. If they didn't want to include more games (or at least as many games as they did before with All-Stars + SMW), they should've included more new features and options to justify this game's existence and price point. If they expect us to fork over more money than the individual games are worth (according to Nintendo's own Virtual Console pricing), then they need to give us some much better incentives to buy and re-buy these games. Given the sheer amount of re-releases in the Mario series (Mario Advance series, Mario All-Stars, Super Mario 64 DS, etc) there is a surprisingly limited amount of actual improvement or new features between the different editions. I bought the Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island re-release for GBA because they actually bothered to include some new levels. Since no similar effort was made with this release, I'm going to have to pass on it.
If the Limited Edition was intended for gamers who are new to the Mario series (who wouldn't really appreciate the extra CD and booklet because they're not long-time fans anyway), those people would be better served by the lower prices in the Wii Shop. If it's geared more towards nostalgia-prone Mario veterans, Nintendo needs to try a little harder to at least make it look like they're making an effort to convince us why we should open our wallets yet again for a compilation that was already released years ago.
Is it sad that I think Super Mario Crossover and the New Super Mario Bros. 3 DS Hack are better 25th anniversary tributes than what Nintendo whipped up?
There is one reason why I would buy this, Virtual Console titles are non-transferable.
If my Wii dies, I can get a new Wii and still play this disc. If I want to play it at my parents house I can bring this disc. When the Wii2 comes out it will likely have backwards compatability and I will still be able to play this disc.
VC titles really need to be tied to an account, even if the license is only good for one console generation. Additionally it would be cool if you could transfer the VC games to your Wiimote to take to someone elses house (The game wouldn't work without the remote or some kind of DRM).
baelnic, good point. The fact that Virtual Console downloads are tied to the Wii didn't occur to me. And I agree that all downloads, Wii settings, etc should definitely be tied to an account in the future, not the machine itself. The way things are now, it's a pain if your Wii 'asplodes; I was able to restore my downloads on the new Wii Nintendo sent me when my old Wii blew up, but not without Nintendo's assistance.
well, these versions are not available on the virtual console are they? i think the art book and soundtrack are worth it. but mario world should have been on there
Maybe Nintendo could have bundled this software with SMW on WiiWare for 1500-2000 points.
I bought it even though I'm not sure I really want it and I don't really think it's worth it. I already own the SNES cart.
Playing on an emulator on a computer is better because you can save anywhere and you can rewind and the screen is higher resolution.
It's a great gift. Its pretty lame to give a download code sometimes. My sister-in-law hasn't played games since the SNES and they are getting a Wii for Christmas, so this is the perfect present for her.
If this had been done right, I would have bought it.
At the minimum for it to have been done right, Super Mario World would need to be included and all graphic updated to Wii standards. Then I would be buying this game.
It would be a MUST HAVE, if also Super Mario 64 were included with graphics updated to Super Mario Galaxy level and with Super Mario Galaxy controls.
Well, I'm gladly paying an extra $9 for the packaging, booklet and CD so, what's the problem?
Also, february 2011 is the 25th anniversary of Zelda so Nintendo might do a CE of the Zelda GC disc you could get by pre-ordering Windwaker, subscribing to Nintendo Power or registering games (also by purchasing a special GC bundle). Adding a CD and booklet would get me to spend $30-40 on that.
the All-Stars versions of the mario games are in every way superior to the originals.
that is all.
I love SMA:LE
Does anyone know if the new 25th Anniversary Edition include different configurations for the Wii remote??
If it does, that might be worth it. If it doesn't, then you are better off with the portable versions made for the GameBoy Advance, don't you think?
I grew up on the 16-bit versions of the games (minus the original Super Mario Bros, which I strangely prefer the original to the Super NES one to this day) so I prefer them, if only because they're burned into my brain. Besides that, this pack does seem a bit piss poor, especially since it doesn't even include Super Mario World. It's not a remake or even heavily updated, and besides, they should have made an All-Stars 2, as in graphical updates of later Mario games like Yoshi's Island, Mario 64, that stuff.