Super Mario 3D All-Stars – How to Play 2 Player Co-op

For the first few years of the Super Mario series it was a solo experience. Sure, you could tack on a second player to play whenever you died, but actually playing together was rare or impossible. The release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, which combines three classic adventures into one package, comes after the series has offered many ways to play together, including full co-op platforming. The three games here don’t quite reach that level though, with only one actually featuring 2 player co-op support. Here’s how to play 2 player co-op in Super Mario 3D All-Stars, specifically in Super Mario Galaxy.

How to Play 2 Player Co-op in Super Mario Galaxy

That’s right, if you’re looking to add a second player for Super Mario 64 or Sunshine you are unfortunately out of luck. Those games never featured multiplayer support and it was not added for the 3D All-Stars release. However, Super Mario Galaxy did launch with 2 player co-op and that has been carried over for the Switch version. Getting it setup takes a bit more effort this time around though, so here’s the steps.

The feature is called the Co-Star mode, and it allows two players to work together as one controls Mario and the other collects star bits along the way. All you need to do is press Minus and choose Co-Star Mode from this menu, press A to activate the mode and you’ll be presented with the controller connect screen. Here you can connect any two controllers, whether it’s a set of Joy-Con, a single one, or a Pro Controller. Once both are connected just start playing again and you’ll be in 2 player co-op mode.

One player will control Mario while the other will have a cursor on screen that they can use to collect Star Bits or use them to attack enemies. It’s not full co-op with both players controlling characters on screen, but that will arrive next year with the release of Super Mario 3D World Deluxe, so you have that to look forward to instead. But hopefully this helps explain how to play 2 player co-op in Super Mario 3D All-Stars, specifically in Super Mario Galaxy.