Andrew Bates

electric newspaperman

Is the Super Mario All-Stars port a ripoff?

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Image from nintendo.com

It’s Super Mario Bros.’ 25th birthday this year, and Nintendo are giving them/you a present.

It’s been out for a while in Japan, but Nintendo have just released a new Wii port of Super Mario All-Stars. All-Stars is a 17-year old collection of Super Mario Bros. 1-3 and The Lost Levels, which was released as Super Mario 2 in Japan–updated to 1993 standards and presented in a glorious 16 bits. The original came packaged with Super Mario World for the SNES–no such luck here.

I’d question whether or not it’s a good deal, as its value exists almost solely in the Limited Edition pack-ins. But we can actually measure whether or not it’s a raw deal: You can price it out based on what you feel is the fairest equivalence with the prices set for these types of games on the Virtual Console, the Wii app that lets you purchase downloadable ports of old Nintendo games.

The new release is listed at $30. If you were to purchase a hypothetical Virtual Console version of Super Mario All-Stars, as a SNES game it would cost $8, which makes the total cost of the CD and booklet $22.

If you were to purchase each of the three US Super Marios for NES and a hypothetical Japanese Super Mario 2 port on Virtual Console, it would cost $20, which would make the CD and booklet $10.

The only extrapolation would make this a real deal is the $32 it would cost you to purchase all four remakes if they were priced as if they were individual Super Nintendo games, which they are not.

It’s not terribly bad–it’s up to you whether or not a booklet and CD is worth $22. But the game could have easily had its own individual value. Jack the price to $40 and throw in Super Mario World, or unlockable NES versions of the main titles, or Mario Kart, or something.

As released, it’s the 17-year-old port that’s the pack-in, not the booklet and soundtrack. But, hey, they are great games, and it’s a good present to give your family–while giving Nintendo a present at the same time. A present of money.