Super Mario 3D All-Stars Games are Said to Just be Running on Emulator

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All three titles included in Super Mario 3D All-Stars look as though they haven't natively been ported over to the Switch and instead are running off of emulators.

There’s no doubt about it that Super Mario 3D All-Stars is the biggest release of this week, but ahead of the bundle’s launch this Friday, it seems as though some information of the collection has already leaked out.

As it has become standard with recent Nintendo first-party releases, Super Mario 3D All-Stars has leaked out ahead of time and people are already data mining the game for information. As for what the data mining has produced so far, it seems as though the most notable piece of information is in regards to the All-Stars collection itself and how each title runs. Rather than porting Super Mario 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy over to the Switch natively, Nintendo has opted to have each game running via emulation on the platform instead.

In a pretty comprehensive thread over on Twitter, user @OatmealDome broke down the details pretty thoroughly. Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy look to be running on a Wii and GameCube emulator that is perhaps known as “hagi” and seems to have been made by a Nintendo division in Europe. Super Mario 64 is then running on an emulator as well, but it’s not currently known which one. Galaxy, however, is said to have its original code running on the Switch’s CPU, but the other functions of the game are still performing via an emulator, which is pretty odd.

Super Mario 3D All Stars has leaked onto the Internet.

It appears all the games are emulated.

Galaxy and Sunshine run under a Wii and GameCube emulator named "hagi"(?) possibly made by NERD (Nintendo of Europe division).

Mario 64 is running under an N64 emulator. Dunno which.
— OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) September 15, 2020

For some, the fact that Nintendo opted to run the games in this manner on the Switch is potentially a bit disappointing. Many in the larger Nintendo community have been replaying these three games, and many others, off of emulators for years at this point, so for Nintendo to not natively port them all and instead just opt to use emulators as well is a bit disappointing. It also makes the collection’s availability, which only extends to March 2021, a bit more unusual.

Regardless of how all three games run though, I imagine many who are looking to pick up Super Mario 3D All-Stars this week won’t have had their purchasing decision swayed by the news. Does that stand true for you? Let me know down in the comments.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars is set to launch later this week on Friday, September 18, exclusively on the Switch.