While the fan response to this announcement has been generally positive and full of excitement and anticipation, one concern quickly arose. One of the three titles in the collection, Super Mario Galaxy, was noted to require Joy-Con motion controls to activate certain powers and abilities. In particular, shaking a Joy-Con would be necessary to activate Mario’s Spin ability, while handing a Joy-Con to another player would allow them to help out in Co-Star Mode. Gamers were worried that this might make Galaxy difficult or impossible to play using the Nintendo Switch Lite, which does not feature detached Joy-Cons.
However, Nintendo confirmed in a statement to news source Polygon that this would not be the case. Their official statement reads as follows:
“Super Mario Galaxy is supported in TV, Tabletop, and Handheld Modes. In TV and Tabletop modes, motion controls are required for pointer functionality. In Handheld Mode, pointer functionality has been adapted to use Touch Screen.”
While playing with detached Joy-Cons might enhance the Super Mario Galaxy experience on the Nintendo Switch, they will not be required to play the game. This announcement is being heralded as good news for Nintendo Switch Lite users, who will be able to enjoy the game via the Touch Screen in Handheld Mode.
During the same interview, Nintendo also confirmed that the Switch Pro controller would be compatible with all three games in the collection.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars will release on September 18. Both the physical and digital editions of the game will be a limited product and remain available only until March 31, 2021.
