Earlier this year, Nintendo confirmed the long-rumored Super Mario 3D All-Stars for the Switch, announcing it and then releasing it in September. The title was a huge financial success, becoming the second best-selling game for the month of September and reaching the top 10 best-selling games of the year, after being on sale for just one month. But with that said, the collection was by no means perfect; fans complaints ranged from the package's lack of additional features, to the collection overall feeling incomplete. While it did include the classic titles Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy, many fans were frustrated by the exclusion of other 3D Mario games such as Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Super Mario 3D Land.
While 3D Land's absence is somewhat forgivable, there seems less reason for Galaxy 2 not being included in this package. Sitting at a near-perfect 97, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is tied with both Super Mario Odyssey and the first Galaxy game as the highest-ranked Mario platformer on Metacritic, so it's understandable that many Nintendo fans were frustrated by the game's absence. But just because the title wasn't present in this package doesn't mean that Nintendo doesn't have plans to bring Super Mario Galaxy 2 to its console hybrid at all.
Here are some of the possible ways in which the title could come to the Switch later down the road.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars DLC
The first option that Nintendo could go with is adding Super Mario Galaxy 2 onto 3D All-Stars by the means of downloadable content. Either as free or paid DLC, Super Mario Galaxy 2 could easily get ported over and adde to the three-game collection. This option does feel doubtful, however, as the collection is a limited-release. If Super Mario 3D All-Stars wasn't limited-release, this would seem like the most logical way to bring the title over, but as it stands, it seems a little tricky.
A Stand-Alone Port
Instead of downloadable content, Nintendo could also be planning Super Mario Galaxy 2 to be released as a stand-alone port for the Switch. This wouldn't be the first time that Nintendo has released old games with small upgrades in stand-alone packages for full price, with both The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD as prime examples of this. The company loves repackaging old games for new consoles, and has been doing so for years so it doesn't seem totally out of the question for Nintendo to do it again. This would seem a bit odd however, since Mario just received a collection.
If Nintendo were to ever announce a third Super Mario Galaxy title, however, this route would probably be the most likely. It's unknown if the company will ever return to the Galaxy games, and if fans will ever get one anytime remotely soon. But it is worth mentioning that a new Galaxy would mean a re-release of the sequel would be much more likely.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars 2
If Nintendo really wanted to, it could release an entirely new collection, featuring all of the 3D Mario games that didn't originally make the cut. Though it wouldn't be quite as good a package as the first one, there are still technically three 3D Mario games that have not made their way onto Switch: Super Mario Galaxy 2, Super Mario 3D Land, and Super Mario 64 DS. This package would be able to fill in the gaps for all of the Mario games currently absence on the Switch, and would give Switch owners more of a reason to pick up these titles. With that said, it would feel very odd to get a second 3D All-Stars collection, and it would be extra weird to get a second version of Super Mario 64 ported onto the same console. As nice as it would be to get some sort of second collection, it seems very unlikely and is a bit of a stretch.
40th Anniversary Collection or Later
The other possibility is that, perhaps, Nintendo is waiting to port Super Mario Galaxy 2 at a later date, for Mario's next big anniversary. Since Nintendo is appearing to go the Disney Vault way of things by releasing collections for a limited time, it could be possible that the company will attempt to sell players yet another Mario anniversary collection for, say, the red plumber's 40th anniversary. And how would Nintendo convince players to buy a supposed new collection? Why, with additional games included, of course. It doesn't seem all that unrealistic for the company to announce a new collection that included Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy, and Galaxy 2 for the next home console after the Switch. This practice has been done in the past, with game companies and film studios repackaging old games and movies with additional content in order to sell the same product multiple times over.
It's not too far of a stretch to think that perhaps Nintendo is holding on to some of its older games in order to make fans desperate to play them. Super Mario 3D All-Stars for Switch marks the first time that Super Mario Sunshine has ever gotten a re-release since its initial 2002 debut on the GameCube, after all. Looking outside of Mario games, other Nintendo titles have taken years and years to receive any sort of re-releases at all, with Luigi's Mansion taking a whopping 17 years to finally get a port to the 3DS in 2018, and other games like Chibi-Robo for GameCube never receiving re-releases of any kind, causing the game to cost insanely high prices through resale websites like eBay. It would be nice to see more games get re-releases, with Super Mario Galaxy 2 as the currently highest requested of all.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars is available now for the Nintendo Switch.