Review: Super Mario All-Stars – All That Glitters Isn’t Necessarily Gold
Now that SNES games are available on Nintendo Switch Online, we’ve decided to revisit each of them in a fresh review. Enjoy!
On its mid-1993 bow, Super Mario All-Stars was greeted with the sort of rapturous praise usually reserved for pontiffs, or a new Daft Punk album. This was a compilation of a generosity never-before-seen goodies, packing in the stone-cold classic NES titles Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3. Not only that, but each game had been remade; brand new and totally redrawn graphics taking advantage of the rich colour palette of the Super Nintendo, a save feature for each game and – best of all – the first western release of the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, presented here as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.
To play these games back then, it was either via the NES and original copies, or All-Stars. That made it an invaluable and unprecedented package. Now, though, the original NES titles – including Lost Levels – aren’t just widely available at an affordable price; they’re right there on the Switch’s NES Online app. So, the question arises – why play All-Stars on the SNES app when the originals are very much accessible?
We’re going to assume you’re familiar with the NES Mario titles – after all, you are a Nintendo fan – and we wouldn’t want to waste space explaining the basic mechanics of such widely-played classics. The best approach is to take a look at each game on Super Mario All-Stars individually and assess any meaningful differences, advantages and disadvantages.
Naturally, this begins with Super Mario Bros., where the Mario legend really started and recreated in 16-bit colour here. Unfortunately, it’s not an auspicious start. Due to a single error in the code, Mario doesn’t properly rebound off bricks when he leaps up to break them. This may sound very minor, and in some ways it is, but Super Mario Bros. is a game based around momentum and has very few mechanics. Changing one of them wholesale like this has a drastic effect on the feel of the game, as Mario seems to sink into the smashed bricks, usually resulting in a complete loss of speed. Is this picky? We honestly don’t think so. The visual update, which perfectly pleasant, isn’t enough to compensate for a fundamentally incorrect version of a platforming classic.
Thankfully, Super Mario Bros. 2 fares much better, with a graphical overhaul that doesn’t compromise its feel. The original NES version was the series odd-one-out already (it’s a reskinned version of the Japanese Famicom title Yume Koujou Doki Doki Panic, and not really a true Mario game at all), so a little aesthetic dissonance doesn’t jar with the player as much as it does in the other games. It’s worth pointing out that calling it the odd-one-out doesn’t actually reflect a distaste for it; in fact, Super Mario Bros. 2 is an excellent game with a sense of adventure and exploration to it that still sets it apart from every other Mario title. The All-Stars incarnation of this classic platformer improves its visuals, retains its gameplay and doesn’t compromise any aspect of what makes it so much fun. As a result, we consider it the strongest achievement of Super Mario All-Stars, and the best way to play Super Mario Bros. 2.
Still one of the very greatest platform games of all time, Super Mario Bros. 3 is by-and-large extremely enjoyable as a part of All-Stars, with the gameplay present and correct. The new graphics, however, are a bit of a mixed bag. Some areas look downright beautiful – richly redrawn and shaded. We feel, however, that some of the aesthetic decisions remove some of the joyously strange, abstract choices from the game; the cave levels, previously taking place in bizarre, twinkling void-like darkness, are now dull, relatively realistic brown rock. Additionally, the final few stages have been similarly changed from their oppressive jet-black finality to more standard, cosier backgrounds. This doesn’t ruin the game by any stretch of the imagination, and some of the modifications are actually pretty good (the airship stages now take place on a stormy night, with periodic cracks of atmospheric lighting) but overall it’s a little less interesting and a little more homogenous than the NES original. Nonetheless, this is a fine way to play what this writer considers the best Super Mario game of all time.
Which brings us to Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, the Famicom Disk System sequel to the original Super Mario Bros. And it’s a bit of a doozy, with an amped-up difficulty level that surely inspired the fandom’s “kaizo” Mario hacks with their psychotically tricky stage design. Thankfully, Lost Levels isn’t on that level of cruelty, but it can be an absolute pig in places.
What doesn’t help is that this SNES version is a little bit botched, making certain stages harder than they were in the original – most notably any that involve mandatory enemy bounces. Still, the Switch version lets you save anywhere and rewind at will, which also lets you negate the mean-spirited reverse warp zones you may run into. Sadly, the same issue present in Super Mario Bros.’ All-Stars incarnation remains; breaking bricks simply feels wrong.
This is a little less of an issue here as speed is so rarely of the essence in Lost Levels; it’s so demanding that a slow and steady pace really is the order of the day. The graphics are acceptable, again, but we’d still recommend playing the Famicom version on the NES app over this; the ability to save your game natively as part of Super Mario All-Stars was useful on the original cartridge, but with access to save states it becomes far less crucial to anyone but purists who want to tackle the game as it was originally presented. More power to them, as Lost Levels/Super Mario Bros. 2 is a brilliantly-designed expert take on a landmark Nintendo title.
Conclusion
Super Mario All-Stars is quite obviously an extremely impressive package and the presentation still offers something of a nostalgic thrill – that opening sequence with the Mario cast chatting it up in silhouette is up there with the Super Street Fighter 2 intro for classic SNES attract modes – but, ultimately, we believe that it only offers the best experience possible with one of its four included games. It’s a very, very cool thing to have as part of the SNES Online service and an important watershed for retro compilations that’s a treat to revisit – but only really out of curiosity. Great stuff, but we say stick with the NES originals. The major problem with Super Mario All-Stars on Switch in 2020 is that it’s on Switch in 2020; the benefits it conferred over the original 8-bit games back in ’93 are rendered somewhat moot by the user-friendly functionality of the NES app that’s already available.
The official Marvel Twitter account announced Friday morning that the previously aired ABC 2020 Special, Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute To A King, is now available to stream on Disney+.
It can be found under the "extras" section when you select Black Panther. The 40-minute special, hosted by Robin Roberts, celebrates Chadwick Boseman's life, career, and legacy as well as the massive cultural imprint he made in and out of the role of T'Challa.
The special also features tributes from celebrities, political figures, and some fans from around the world. His Avengers and Black Panther co-stars share some special words about his courage and commitment to the craft, and the kindness he showed in the world. His death shocked the world last week as it came to light that the 43-year-old actor had been battling colon cancer for more than four years.
A lambda function allows you to define a function in a single line. It starts with the keyword lambda, followed by a comma-separated list of zero or more arguments, followed by the colon and the return expression. For example, lambda x, y: x+y calculates the sum of the two argument values x+y in one line of Python code.
Problem: How to define a function in a single line of Python code?
Example: Say, you’ve got the following function in three lines. How to compress them into a single line of Python code?
def say_hi(*friends): for friend in friends: print('hi', friend) friends = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann']
say_hi(*friends)
The code defines a function say_hi that takes an iterable as input—the names of your friends—and prints 'hi x' for each element x in your iterable.
The output is:
'''
hi Alice
hi Bob
hi Ann '''
Let’s dive into the different methods to accomplish this! First, here’s a quick interactive overview to test the waters:
Exercise: Run the code—is the output the same for all four methods?
Next, you’ll learn about each method in greater detail!
A lambda function is an anonymous function in Python. It starts with the keyword lambda, followed by a comma-separated list of zero or more arguments, followed by the colon and the return expression. For example, lambda x, y, z: x+y+z would calculate the sum of the three argument values x+y+z.
friends = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann'] # Method 1: Lambda Function
hi = lambda lst: [print('hi', x) for x in lst]
In the example, you want to print a string for each element in an iterable—but the lambda function only returns an object. Thus, we return a dummy object: a list of None objects. The only purpose of creating this list is to execute the print() function repeatedly, for each element in the friends list.
You obtain the following output:
hi(friends) '''
hi Alice
hi Bob
hi Ann '''
Method 2: Function Definition
A similar idea is employed in this one-liner example—but instead of using a lambda function, we define a regular function and simply skip the newline. This is possible if the function body has only one expression:
friends = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann'] # Method 2: Function Definition
def hi(lst): [print('hi', x) for x in lst]
The output is the same as before:
hi(friends) '''
hi Alice
hi Bob
hi Ann '''
This approach is more Pythonic than the first one because there’s no throw-away return value and it’s more concise.
To make a Python one-liner out of any multi-line Python script, replace the new lines with a new line character '\n' and pass the result into the exec(...) function. You can run this script from the outside (command line, shell, terminal) by using the command python -c "exec(...)".
We can apply this technique to the first example code snippet (the multi-line function definition) and rename the variables to make it more concise:
friends = ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Ann'] # Method 3: exec()
exec("def hi(*lst):\n for x in lst:\n print('hi', x)\nhi(*friends)")
If you run the code, you’ll see the same output as before:
hi(friends) '''
hi Alice
hi Bob
hi Ann '''
This is very hard to read—our brain cannot grasp the whitespaces and newline characters easily. But I still wanted to include this method here because it shows how you or anyone else can compress complicated algorithms in a single line of Python code!
Watch the video if you want to learn more details about this technique:
Python One-Liners Book
Python programmers will improve their computer science skills with these useful one-liners.
Python One-Linerswill teach you how to read and write “one-liners”: concise statements of useful functionality packed into a single line of code. You’ll learn how to systematically unpack and understand any line of Python code, and write eloquent, powerfully compressed Python like an expert.
The book’s five chapters cover tips and tricks, regular expressions, machine learning, core data science topics, and useful algorithms. Detailed explanations of one-liners introduce key computer science concepts and boost your coding and analytical skills. You’ll learn about advanced Python features such as list comprehension, slicing, lambda functions, regular expressions, map and reduce functions, and slice assignments. You’ll also learn how to:
• Leverage data structures to solve real-world problems, like using Boolean indexing to find cities with above-average pollution • Use NumPy basics such as array, shape, axis, type, broadcasting, advanced indexing, slicing, sorting, searching, aggregating, and statistics • Calculate basic statistics of multidimensional data arrays and the K-Means algorithms for unsupervised learning • Create more advanced regular expressions using grouping and named groups, negative lookaheads, escaped characters, whitespaces, character sets (and negative characters sets), and greedy/nongreedy operators • Understand a wide range of computer science topics, including anagrams, palindromes, supersets, permutations, factorials, prime numbers, Fibonacci numbers, obfuscation, searching, and algorithmic sorting
By the end of the book, you’ll know how to write Python at its most refined, and create concise, beautiful pieces of “Python art” in merely a single line.
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Nintendo Reinstates Pikmin 3 On The Wii U eShop Ahead Of The Switch Release
Update: The game has apparently now reappeared for digital purchase on the Wii U eShop. So, if you haven’t played Pikmin 3 before, this means you still have the option to buy and experience the game in its non-Deluxe, vanilla (and much cheaper) form on the hardware it was originally designed for.
Here at Nintendo Life, that’s what we like to call A Very Good Thing™. Thanks to Dogorilla for the tip!
Original Story (Thu 6th Aug, 2020 01:55 BST): It’s official: Pikmin 3 Deluxe is arriving on the Nintendo Switch this October and will come packed with all of the DLC and even some brand new side story content featuring Olimar and Louie.
What does this mean for the future of Pikmin 3 on the Wii U, though? While we wouldn’t normally be asking a question like this – as discovered by Nintendo Everything, the original version of this game has now been delisted from this particular eShop (this includes the removal of the DLC as well). Yep, it’s gone!
On the Nintendo website, the Wii U game page for Pikmin 3 is there, but there’s no longer a way to purchase the game. If you own a physical copy of this title, you can obviously still play it on your Wii U and if you’ve already bought a digital copy from the system’s eShop, you shouldn’t have any problems downloading the game.
Nintendo has pulled this same move in the past with games like Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze – ahead of ‘Deluxe’ re-releases on Switch (although in saying this, DKC:TF has since returned to the Wii U eShop – at least in Europe – and is available for purchase). Pikmin 3 on Wii U was priced at $19.99 and the Deluxe version is valued at $59.99 on Nintendo’s hybrid system.
Did you manage to grab a digital copy of Pikmin 3 for Wii U before it was pulled? Could this just be a temporary removal? How do you feel about Nintendo taking down games while the Wii U eShop is still up and running? Share your thoughts below.
The latest Nintendo Download update for Europe has arrived, and it’s bringing new games galore to the eShop in your region.As always, be sure to drop a vote in our poll and comment down below with your potential picks for the week. Enjoy!
Switch Retail eShop – New Releases
Ary and the Secret of Seasons(Modus Games, 1st Sep, £34.99 / €39.99) – Ary and the Secret of Seasons is an award-winning adventure game following a young girl named Aryelle, or Ary, as she journeys across the great world of Valdi. By becoming the Guardian of Winter, Ary gains the ability to manipulate the seasons around her. Ary will learn to control the seasons and use them to defeat enemies, overcome obstacles, and solve complex puzzles on her adventure across Valdi. Long ago, the world of Valdi was threatened by an evil mage.
MX vs ATV All Out(THQ Nordic, 1st Sep, £34.99 / €39.99) – All Terrain, All Vehicles, All You! MX vs ATV All Out is the complete off-road racing and lifestyle experience! Choose between bikes, ATVs, UTVs, refine your rider style at your private compound and blast across massive open worlds to compete head to head in various game modes! The all new Freestyle mode allows you to win with style and crazy stunts! Or go All Out and show your riding skills in Multiplayer!
NBA 2K21(£49.99 / €59.99) – NBA 2K21 is the latest title in the world-renowned, best-selling NBA 2K series, delivering an industry-leading sports video game experience. With extensive improvements upon its best-in-class graphics and gameplay, competitive and community online features, and deep, varied game modes, NBA 2K21 offers one-of-a-kind immersion into all facets of NBA basketball and culture – where Everything is Game.
Awakening of Cthulhu(£9.09 / €10.12) – How can a day go so mad? This is the question that runs on our hero Walter’s mind who is a jobless ex-veteran and suffers from PTSD. On the top all, Cthulhu is rising again from his eternal sleep from the deepest shadows of Earth to bring the apocalypse.
BallzOut(4MB Interactive, 31st Aug, £1.99 / €2.19) – Simple, competitive, and absolutely loads of fun, BallzOut is the Ball flinging/smashing game you have been waiting for. It’s a bit like Lawn Bowls, a bit like Air Hockey and a lot like absolute nonsense. Take it in turns to roll your Ballz into the scoring zone – do you tactically place your Ballz in an area your opponent cannot reach or attempt to smash their Ballz out of the scoring zone? Tough one. Over three rounds and with the help of such powers ups as Big Ballz and Sticky Ballz, can you outwit and outmanoeuvre your opponent to become the BallzOut Champion?
BREAK DOT(£3.19 / €3.64) – ARCADE MODE Try clearing all 20 stages in a row. You can enjoy as speedrun challenge or highest score challenge. The secrets of this world will appear as you move forward . . . Will you reach to the truth? CREATE MODE You can create your own original stage. Changing the colour, the arrangement of items, background, etc. Enjoy with storing locally, or publishing it ONLINE. ONLINE MODE Play stages posted from all around the world. The wide variety of stages may lead to new tales. Press Good! for your favourite stages.
Fantasy Tower Defense(£3.74 / €3.74) – Hurry up! Go back to your castle before rushing enemies arrive there and defend it in the final battle! Customize your tactic depending on enemies you encounter with different towers, special skills and courageous reinforcements. – 20 unique levels which require different strategies – Wide variety of enemies with unique abilities and weaknesses – 5 powerful towers which can be upgraded to be even more destructive – Special skills of towers crucial to accomplish your goal – Long battles which will provide you hours of gameplay – Beautiful, hand made fantasy world – Spectacular boss fights
Good Pizza, Great Pizza(PM Studios, 3rd Sep, £7.59 / €8.42) – Do your best to fulfil pizza orders from customers while making enough money to keep your restaurant open. Upgrade your restaurant with new toppings, decor and kitchen equipment to compete against your pizza rival!
Here Be Dragons(Red Zero Games, 3rd Sep, £10.07 / €11.19) – Here Be Dragons is a satirical turn-based strategy game featuring a unique “living map” graphics, where you lead a group of crazed captains. Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492. In 10 weeks. With 100 men. With 3 ships. This is a LIE!
Jelly Champs!(Art Games Studio, 3rd Sep, £8.63 / €9.59) – Lead your Jelly Champion to victory! Their movements may look clumsy but don’t be fooled by their appearances, cause they are real fighters! Knock down or eliminate your opponent to win the battle.
Lucah: Born of a Dream(Syndicate Atomic, 3rd Sep, £10.79 / €11.99) – HACK, SLASH, ASCEND. Lucah: Born of a Dream is a harrowing struggle through our worst nightmares. You have been MARKED, cursed to have your inner demons come to life as vicious Nightmares. After awakening a false god, you must atone. Traverse the hellish realm of dreams, endure the nightmare onslaught, and uncover the strength to accept yourself. KEY FEATURES Master a deep combat system that blends ranged and melee-action with rich customization. Explore an atmospheric world of repressed memories and unspeakable feelings. – Read our Lucah: Born of a Dream review
Mask of Mists(Sometimes You, 2nd Sep, £13.49 / €14.99) – In this game, you are a mercenary who was assigned to find a missing person. One of the Archmages of the Academy broke the communication when he was conducting his research in the depths of the Infected Territory. At one time this area had been exposed to the monstrous amount of magic, and it is filled now with creatures of the Abyss. Go on the trail of the missing Archmage and plunge into the atmosphere of an adventure full of magic and dangers! Features: Explore ancient ruins, mysterious caves and abandoned houses; Fight with magical creatures; Collect items and use them to solve puzzles; Create alchemical potions from the magic plants you found; Open the passageway between the worlds and find the legendary artefact!
Office Lovers(£13.49 / €14.99) – A romance game with a female protagonist for those who’d like to experience the thrills of a secretive office romance. You are an employee at Viola, a major corporation in the cosmetics industry. While you’ve been devoting your time to working on new makeup, your own makeup has suffered as a result. Needless to say, love is nowhere in sight.
Panda Jump(£5.99 / €5.99) – Jump your Panda through never-ending challenging levels. Collect Coins as you jump higher to collect powerups and cute Panda characters. Jump on bad guys or just avoid them as you get as high as possible. Fun for the whole family!
Paradise Killer(£12.39 / €15.99) – An island outside of reality. A rogue human civilization hoping to resurrect dead alien gods. A murder behind locked doors. Paradise is an island that regenerates every few millennia. The psychic power that the alien worshipers within release into the universe is meant to feed and eventually resurrect their fallen deities. But this force also attracts undesired interest from demons, who eventually corrupt each island — until a new alternate reality is birthed by the Council.
Perfect Traffic Simulator(Prison Games, 3rd Sep, £5.99 / €6.99) – Imagine the world without drivers. It can’t end well. . . unless you will control them before they start their journey! Take control of each car on the streets and strategize your moves so cars driving on full speed smoothly pass by each other without waiting any second in the traffic! Each scenario will require different approach so please, be careful- with great power comes great responsibility. 30 challenging levels More than 20 different vehicles Realistic physics in all conditionsRandom weather and time of the day Chilling music which will drive you in a great mood
Phoenotopia : Awakening(Cape Cosmic, 3rd Sep, £17.99 / €19.99) – Join Gail, a simple villager, who must heed the call for adventure when a great starship appears in the night sky and abducts all the adults. As the new oldest member of her fragmented community, she must set out to solve this great mystery. Little does she know of the grand adventure before her, the evil lurking in the shadows, and the role she will play in the fight for Earth’s very existence! Features: A narrative-driven single-player adventure filled with charming characters, vibrant towns, and dangerous dungeons. – Read our Phoenotopia : Awakening review
Piffle(Hipster Whale, 2nd Sep, £15.99 / €16.99) – Line up your best shot in this adorable puzzle arcade adventure! Collect an army of cute Piffle Balls to help you clear a mishmash of challenging blocks and obstacles. Why you’ll love Piffle? It’s Chill! Play at your own pace A positively cute and colourful game, filled with crafty characters! Discover fun-filled worlds with hundreds of levels to adventure through Dozens of adorable Piffle Balls to craft and collect! It’s simple to play! Break all the blocks! Just aim your Piffle Balls and releaseBoost your score!
Pocket Circuit(Ultimate Games, 31st Aug, £3.59 / €3.99) – A number of amazing tracks will draw you in for hours. Discover your favourite car from different brands and models. Improve and develop your car, check how easy it is! Join the best drivers in the world and try to win. Fast cars, winding tracks, high power and adrenaline . . . will you be able to finish the Tournament?
Roommates(£15.99 / €15.99) – Play as either rock god Max or book smart Anne as they make their way through the first year of their college experience. Between bitter tenured professors and a ridiculously distracting student body, it’s going to take everything they’ve got just to make it to year two. They’ll share their dorm life with four other tenants as they pick their class load, pick their jobs, and maybe even pick someone to have a little extracurricular fun with. Features: * Play as Anne and romance Dominic, Rakesh, Max and Isabella * Play as Max and romance Sally, Anne, Isabella and Rakesh * Hilarious light comedy writing guaranteed to make you laugh * Life simulation gameplay with full scheduler and stats raising * Original soundtrack by Leetstreet Boys including the main theme “My Name In Lights”
Secret Files 3(Koch Media, 3rd Sep, £13.49 / €14.99) – It is supposed to be the happiest day of Nina’s life: her wedding to Max. But the groom is arrested in front of her eyes under suspicion of terrorism and disappears without a trace. Thus begins our heroine’s greatest adventure to date. Not only does she venture throughout the world, but she also journeys in her dreams. Here she experiences the history of the world; not only events from the past, but also glimpses of what the future holds. What dark secret is concealed behind the number pi? What is at the heart of this millennia-old conspiracy, where even Archimedes and Leonardo da Vinci appear to have been entangled? Who are the mysterious guardians Nina first encountered in the Tunguska region? What started many years ago, now comes to an end. . . Or rather four different ends. The outcome of the story is entirely in your hands!
Solitaire Spider Minimal(£0.91 / €0.99) – Play classic Spider Solitaire with 1/2/4 suits – Beautiful minimalist design, nothing will disturb you from puzzle – View your game stats on Statistics screen – Progress saving, pause game anytime – Play with touch screen, Joy-Con™ or Nintendo Switch Pro Controller – Relaxing music
Spellbreak(Free) – Spellbreak is a multiplayer action-spellcasting game where you unleash your inner battlemage. Master elemental magic to fit your playstyle and cast powerful spell combinations to dominate other players across the Hollow Lands. Unleash your inner battlemage in Spellbreak.
Spinch(Akupara Games, 3rd Sep, £10.16 / €11.24) – Enter into a world thick with bubbling psychedelia. Descend deep into a new ecology teeming with multiple pathways, luminous levels, and complex obstacles. Transcend the material realm and assume your true form as Spinch, a hyper-agile organism consumed by the quest to rescue its litter of missing offspring from an endless invasion of misshapen and malformed offbeats and oddities. Bringing back old school difficulty, Spinch will have you replaying sections until you master your timing and reflexes.
Under the Jolly Roger(HeroCraft, 3rd Sep, £16.19 / €17.99) – Under the Jolly Roger is offering an ultimate ability to free roam three vast worlds filled with dozens of colonies and forts, hundreds of quests, and countless ships to plunder. You can trade, fight, explore on your own, or call friends to do the same together! Set your foot on the land to plunder it! Game features: – Limitless sailing in real-time – use Global Map only if you want to! – A system of levelling your pirates, let them grow from sailor boys to skilled old salts! – Hundreds of quests
Switch eShop – Demos
DLC / Add-On Content
Nintendo Switch games with new DLC this week:
So that’s your lot for this week’s Nintendo Download. Go on, be a sport and drop a vote in the poll above, and comment below with your hot picks!
Super Mario Galaxy For Switch To Use Touch Controls In Handheld Mode
Nintendo surprise-announced the long-rumored Super Mario 3D All-Stars recently: a Switch compilation of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy. While it's easy enough to see how Mario 64 and Sunshine would map to a Switch control scheme, Galaxy on the Wii made heavy use of pointer functionality. So how does that map onto a handheld hybrid?
In a statement to Polygon, Nintendo clarified that in TV or tabletop modes, you'll need to use the Joy-Con controllers for pointer functionality. But if you switch to handheld mode, with the Joy-Con controllers attached to the screen, that functionality will use the touch screen instead.
The pointer in Super Mario Galaxy was used to fire star bits, and a second player could help Mario in co-op by using the cursor to perform some of the same functions. That functionality will still be available, even on the Switch Lite, though Nintendo notes that you'll have to use separate Joy-Cons for that. According to the trailer, to play in co-op each player will just need one Joy-Con. All-Stars will also support the Pro controller.