The Super Mario series is known for having classic games released across each generation of consoles, including a mix of 2D and 3D Mario titles. The 2D Mario games have been re-released tons of times over the years, but the 3D titles have definitely not gotten the re-release treatment anywhere near as much outside of the VC release for Super Mario 64. This has finally changed with the release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars that just released for the Nintendo Switch with three iconic Mario titles, but it has left us wondering where another fan favorite is for this game.
Where Is Super Mario Galaxy 2?
Super Mario 3D All-Stars just released for the Nintendo Switch and comes with three games that span the Nintendo 64 to the Nintendo Wii with Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy. With this release, it pretty much puts every single major non-handheld Mario game on the Nintendo Switch in some form, but there is one game missing from that bunch.
Super Mario Galaxy released for the Nintendo Wii in 2007 and was a massive success critically and financially for the system. This was followed up only a few years later with Super Mario Galaxy 2 in 2010, which received equal critical praise for taking the formula started with the first game and building upon it, even if the game really did not have a story like the first did.
With Super Mario 3D All-Stars putting the 3D Mario titles of the past together, you would have thought that Galaxy 2 would be a shoo in to be included in the collection. However, for whatever reason, it has been left out completely from the collection.
As for the reasons why it was not included, we really don’t know for sure and probably never well. There have been rumors for years that Super Mario Galaxy 2 was kind of viewed behind the scenes as more of a redheaded stepchild in comparison to the first in how the development for the game went down. That is all just hearsay though, so we really don’t know for sure.
The other thought that a lot of people have ties back to the fact that the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection will be available for a limited time. After March, Nintendo has said the game won’t be up for sale anymore, which has us thinking that there’s a good chance that they will be split up and sold separately on the eShop after that. When they very likely do get split up on the eShop and sold separately, that would be a perfect time to also drop Super Mario Galaxy 2 onto the eShop as well at the same price as Super Mario Galaxy 2.
Hopefully Nintendo actually has plans for Super Mario Galaxy 2, as it is a stellar game that does not need to be buried and forgotten about for whatever reason. I think the most likely reason is Nintendo didn’t want to pack more than three of these games in one collection for the $60 price tag and there was no way they were going to be selling the collection for more than that.
