Super Mario All-Stars wont work!

[Thoun]

I recently came upon Super Mario All Stars for 19.99 at Wal-Mart. I had no idea this game was available for the Nintendo Wii. So of coarse I picked it up.

I grew up on this compilation with the SNES.

The issue I am having is getting the game to play. When I insert the disc and choose the all-stars button in the top left then press Start the game begins and I am able to get to the screen where you select 1 of 4 games. On the wii remote I am able to cycle through the 4 games but no button allows me to choose an actual game.

Is this a problem anybody else has had? Does anyone have any solutions or experience?

For your info I also own SM Galaxy, DKC Returns, LOZ Twilight Princess, and Zack and Wiki. All these games work 100% with my Wii remote.

[Austin]

I believe Mario All-Stars is treated the same way as any normal SNES Virtual Console game and you need a classic controller attached to your Wiimote to play it.

[Thoun]

Okay. Thanks for the speedy reply. I just bought this around January. (1st time wii owner)

So to be honest I am not sure what you mean by classic controller.

The controller I have is the wii remote.

On the case it says:

 

The ability to use wii controllers has been added to this version.

 

Also there is a picture of the wii remote being held sideways without anything else attached with the caption:

 

Hold the Wii remote sideways, and your ready to play!

Edited March 28, 2018 by Thoun

[Thoun]

So what is a classic controller? Like a GC controller? Im just confused. The only controller I saw at my used game store was a Wii pro controller. I am willing to do what it takes to play this game. Im just ignorant of all things wii.

[Austin]

Never used Google before, I take it?

 

Here's the original model: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Classic-controller-for-Wii-and-WiiU-White/191463471?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=403&adid=22222222227039727181&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=98282594074&wl4=pla-226015792834&wl5=9007893&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=111838604&wl11=online&wl12=191463471&wl13=&veh=sem

 

There is a "Pro" model as well: https://www.walmart.com/ip/2-Classic-Controller-Pro-For-Nintendo-Wii-Remote-White-US-Ship/928307029?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1810&adid=22222222227091829078&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=204606908801&wl4=aud-310687321802:pla-331447856360&wl5=9007893&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=113489790&wl11=online&wl12=928307029&wl13=&veh=sem

[Austin]

For a visual:

 

 

[Thoun]

Thanks alot. I saw a nice used Pro Controller in black at a local used game shop. I'll pick that up.

And yes i googled my problem. From everything I read I could never find anything that mentioned anyone with my problem so I figured I needed to find some wii vets. Also i could have googled what a classic controller is but I signed up to get help in the first place so better to be sure.

Thanks again though.

[Atariboy]

Was there ever a retail Wii release shipped that mandates a Classic Controller be used?

 

Either way, the game would display a warning if it wasn't compatible with just a Wii remote, instead of the partial functionality that you're getting. You just need to press the + button to confirm your selection.

 

No manual in the Nintendo Select's rerelease of this? Mine from the first run came with a nice color manual that explains all the controller options and button mapping for each controller choice. Nintendo has it uploaded as a PDF file.

 

Like the case insert suggests, you do not need a Classic Controller or GameCube controller for this game. Nintendo did the sensible thing for a change, and even though SNES Virtual Console downloads don't work with a sideways Wii remote for obvious reasons, allowed the option here. After all, these are just NES games upgraded with 16 bit graphics and audio. One of videogaming's first remasters.

 

I still second the recommendation though since it's such a useful accessory. But I'd suggest buying a used Classic Controller in person like it sounds like you intend to do. Pictured in both of those Wal-Mart links for instance are counterfeit low quality controllers rather than genuine Nintendo Classic Controllers. Buying Classic Controller/Classic Controller Pro's online sight unseen is a real crap shoot. The bootleggers ran rampant with these, so you're going to want to be able to see what you're buying.

 

A sure sign of a fake is the missing Wii logo on the front. And make sure it's not a Wii U Pro Controller that you're buying. It's not the same as a Wii Classic Controller Pro and won't work with Wii games, even if you're playing them on a Wii U

 

Incidentally, bootleggers also make Wii U Pro Controllers and it's much harder to differentiate these from real 1st party controllers.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Atariboy

[Thoun]

Hahaha Atariboy thank you so much! I was really confused by the controller working up to the point of the game selection screen. The odd thing is I remember trying to press all the buttons to the point of frustration but now after reading your post i tried it, poof it works. So im assuming I never tried the plus button or maybe i didn't press it hard enough idk. Crazy.

My edition of Super Mario All-Stars had no color manual. I believe its the last edition. It has only the game in case. No box or music. Only a black and white manual that that lists health concerns and the such. I suppose their is a online manual that im just now seeing.

Anyway thanks for the warning on the controllers. The wii pro controller im looking is definitely for wii. And I do intend to buy it. Right now im playing DkC returns and its much harder and longer than i expected so I have been pretty engrossed in that.

 

Anyway thanks so much. Mario Bros. 3 is an all time favorite of mine and cant wait to relive some ole glories.

[Atariboy]

Since the NES Classic Edition and SNES Classic Editions have been such hits (With the former set to be rereleased this summer), seems worth adding that these are all Wii Classic Controllers at heart and both work great with this Wii rerelease.

 

So if you own a SNES Classic Edition, you're all set with a Classic Controller for this game. And by switching to the B button layout in Super Mario All-Stars, you can use a NES Classic controller.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Atariboy

[Austin]

And yes i googled my problem. From everything I read I could never find anything that mentioned anyone with my problem so I figured I needed to find some wii vets. Also i could have googled what a classic controller is but I signed up to get help in the first place so better to be sure.

 

I was referring to Googling what the controller is. This is 2018. You have a brain and some hands, right? Use them.

 

Like the case insert suggests, you do not need a Classic Controller or GameCube controller for this game. Nintendo did the sensible thing for a change, and even though SNES Virtual Console downloads don't work with a sideways Wii remote for obvious reasons, allowed the option here. After all, these are just NES games upgraded with 16 bit graphics and audio. One of videogaming's first remasters.

Good to know it doesn't require the Classic Controller. When he stated he pressed every button, I assumed he tried the plus and minus keys as well. Heh.

[Thoun]

I was not aware the SNES Classic Controller works with the wii. Well when I bought the SNES Classic I do remember reading its compatible with the wii but at the time i did not own a Wii and never thought i would so in one ear and out the other. That's awesome because no offense to The Wii but the Wii remote is not fun with certain games SM All-Stars being one of them.

Wii is the oldest generation console I own so Im very outdated. And originally bought to play later Zelda models.

 

The SNES Classic is more recent but is it really a console in the true sense... Idk. Still glad i bought it.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Thoun

[Thoun]

I was referring to Googling what the controller is. This is 2018. You have a brain and some hands, right? Use them.

 

 

Good to know it doesn't require the Classic Controller. When he stated he pressed every button, I assumed he tried the plus and minus keys as well. Heh.

 

Hey Austin I can swear I pressed and mashed all buttons at some point but obviously i didnt. Maybe i just kept hitting the minus or whatever idk. Its weird and embarrassing at how simple the solution was. But i still am glad for your help. As far as bing I searched a lot but I prefer this forum to be sure. You all know a lot more than I ever will

[Andromeda Stardust]

Be wary of using the classic nes controllers with all stars. Certain functions, such as accessing the item menu screen in super mario bros 3 won't work, even with the control scheme in A/B mode. I used to use a retrousb wii to nes adapter and ran into problems. Presumably the nes classic maps the same as wii vc so thought I'd pass this along.

[Atariboy]

I can't swear that I tried it fully in SMB3, but the NES Classic controller works perfectly in SMB1. Ran through it this way a few months ago.

 

So even though B button is changed to the run button with the alternate button layout, it doesn't remap B to also perform the other functions that Y does in SMB3 like displaying your items? I'll have to go check later, since that's an odd move to switch the game to a 3 button layout just because you want to use B/A instead of Y/B.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Atariboy

[Thoun]

Hmm that's interesting. I actually only have the SNES Classic so I cant test out the NES controller. But that seems to me a huge oversight. Nintendo could have used the Select button if nothing else. But I had actually considered of trying to find an NES classic controller for Lost Levels and MB1 for a natural feel after learning they were compatible with Wii system.

I have not tried SNES Classic controller yet. But I am excited I put it back on its box after beating Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts only to find out i had to find some bracelet. I spent countless hours on it.

[Atariboy]

This is just a SNES emulator running an unmodified Super Mario All-Stars rom.

 

So if remapping Y's primary functions to the B button by switching to the alternate control scheme doesn't also remap the secondary functions that the Y button performed, it's because of how the game was originally programmed in 1993.

 

Nintendo had no consideration that 25 years later this SNES collection would be available in emulated form on a successor several generations removed from the SNES, with a 2 button NES style controller available for use with the system. All Super Nintendo gamepads and arcade sticks had a Y button, so there was no problem if something remained mapped to it when switching to the B layout.

 

I do find it peculiar though. NES Super Mario Bros. 3 of courses uses two action buttons and with the default SNES layout, that remains true with the Y button and the B button. So I wonder why switching to the B option only partially remaps functionality to the B button, converting it to a three button game that needs B/A/Y.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

Be wary of using the classic nes controllers with all stars. Certain functions, such as accessing the item menu screen in super mario bros 3 won't work, even with the control scheme in A/B mode. I used to use a retrousb wii to nes adapter and ran into problems. Presumably the nes classic maps the same as wii vc so thought I'd pass this along.

 

Put in new buttons on my Emio Edge joystick just now and was testing it out in SNES9X and happened to get playing Super Mario All-Stars, and suddenly remembered this thread. Was able to select items in SMB3 without issue.

 

Edit: Did end up running into some issues upon further playing, so please strike this.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Atariboy

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

Put in new buttons on my Emio Edge joystick just now and was testing it out in SNES9X and happened to get playing Super Mario All-Stars, and suddenly remembered this thread. Was able to select items in SMB3 without issue.

 

Edit: Did end up running into some issues upon further playing, so please strike this.

No need to use strike out as you and I were not using the same hardware setup.

 

Edit: Nevermind, you were talking about yourself, not my quoted post.The remainder of this message serves as a technical reminder of the differences between button mapings between Wii VC and original NES/SNES hardware and why the gamer will get varying experiences when using certain combinations of officialy and unofficially available hardware on both vintage and modern setups.

 

My experience was using the RetroUSB GameCube (Wii) NES Adapter running the Wii Super Mario Allstars game on a Wii.

 

Super Mario Allstars does utilize the X button to back up in the menu and A to delete a file. Also the Wii VC used B/A not Y/B arrangement with NES VC games. This was reflected by mapping the B/A buttons on the RetroUSB adapter to use B/A on the Game Cube input so that they would function properly in NES VC games.

 

Playing the disc version of Super Mario Allstars on a Wii console involves either conneting the NES Classic controller to the Wiimote (which maps to B/A, not Y/B) or connecting the discontinued RetroUSB Game Cube Adapter to a Game Cube compatible Wii and using a real NES controller. Using either of these two setups, you will not have access to Y or X on the game input when playing AllStars Wii or SNES Virtual Console games.

 

To get around this limitation, the All Stars menu for each game can be toggled to use B type control scheme (B+A on SNES controller) instead of A type (Y+B). Due to some programmer oversight when designing the AllStars port on the original SNES, the "B type" control scheme still requires Y instead of B to toggle the item select menu on the SMB3 map. So when using an NES Classic controller on a retail copy of Super Mario All Stars, you cannot access this context menu while playing Super Mario Bros 3.

 

Super Mario All Stars for SNES does not explicitly require pressing A or X (except to delete save files) when loading and playing the included games using the default "A type" control mode, and as well this game specifically does not check that the ID bits on the SNES controller are correct when a controller is plugged in. As a result, you can use a real stock NES controller with an NES/SNES patch cable in order to play Super Mario Allstars using an original NES controller. The SNES reads the NES controller B and A buttons as Y and B on the SNES pinout. Early in development, the SNES was planned for backwards compatibility with NES by running the 16-bit 65C816 derivitave CPU in a backwards compatible 8-bit mode.

 

This mode was eventually scrapped as Nintendo determined it would be too expensive to include the NES PPU bus into the SNES hardware design. However, the similar architecture made it very easy to port NES code to SNES and likewise many 1st and 3rd party games in the early 90s saw simultaneous release on NES and SNES with minor graphical and musical overhauls for the 16-bit ports of the games. Games like Yoshi's Cookie and Wario's Woods run almost identical on both platforms save for upgraded visuals and sound.

 

Back on point, the fact that AllStars was basically running directly ported NES codebase from the original NES Mario releases, the game engine could be run entirely from unmodified NES controllers. For gamers with the technical skill to rewire the controller cables, this provides a nice throwback, though unmodified NES controllers have little to no functionality for the vast majority of other SNES titles.

 

Back on point, because Classic NES edition and Wii Virtual Console map B+A NES to B+A SNES instead of Y+B like original SNES hardware, this causes complications when attempting to run the Wii version of Super Mario AllStars with a Classic NES edition controller without the diamond pad. Again, it mostly works except for the bug in Super Mario Bros 3 which requires you to hit Y to access the item menu regardless of control scheme when playing. Again, this was a programming oversight in the original SNES game and ported over to the SNES-ROM-on-a-disc that is Wii Super Mario All Stars.

 

This disc is the only official reissue of Super Mario AllStars as it existed on SNES. It was never released as standalone VC from the Wii shop. You had success running the game with a Classic NES controller using presumably a soft-modded Wii with 3rd party emulators and illegally downloaded ROMs. I illustrated the fact that there are some caveats to running the retail disc version of the game with a Classic Edition NES controller, or running the Super Mario Allstars ROM on a soft-modded SNES classic (using the official Nintendo supplied system menu and emulator) with only the NES Classic controller.

 

Your success running it with unofficial SNES9x (presumably on a Wii or hacked mini console) does not discredit the OP's concern or my observations running official versions of the game without a full featured controller.

 

 

This is just a SNES emulator running an unmodified Super Mario All-Stars rom.

 

So if remapping Y's primary functions to the B button by switching to the alternate control scheme doesn't also remap the secondary functions that the Y button performed, it's because of how the game was originally programmed in 1993.

 

Nintendo had no consideration that 25 years later this SNES collection would be available in emulated form on a successor several generations removed from the SNES, with a 2 button NES style controller available for use with the system. All Super Nintendo gamepads and arcade sticks had a Y button, so there was no problem if something remained mapped to it when switching to the B layout.

 

I do find it peculiar though. NES Super Mario Bros. 3 of courses uses two action buttons and with the default SNES layout, that remains true with the Y button and the B button. So I wonder why switching to the B option only partially remaps functionality to the B button, converting it to a three button game that needs B/A/Y.

Yes, you explained it better than I could and with far less verbiage. I played Super Mario Allstars (disc version) on Wii shortly after release with a RetroUSB NES adapter and ran into problems when I started SMB3, then quickly obtained, but was unable to actually select and use the first warp whistle. When I plugging in an official Classic Controller or (discontinued) RetroUSB SNES Game Cube adapter, I quickly realized that pressing Y was still required to access and use items in your inventory from the map screen. Mapping is identical to Wii VC on the Classic NES Mini controllers, so the same bug persists when attempting to play the disc version of Allstars on Wii with official NES Classic mini controllers. I am not aware of any compatibility issues with Super Mario Bros, Lost Levels (SMB2 Japan), or SMB2 (USA) when using B type control scheme.

 

One more, rather annoying programming bug persists in the All Stars ports, in that when Mario bashes bricks in SMB1 or Lost Levels, his vertical trajectory goes up into the block instead of bouncing down. This is due to a sign change error in the physics calculations, and has the added effect of devastating horizontal velocity as Mario clips the edge of the brick when hitting a ceiling while running. A lot of places in Lost Levels this results in untimely deaths when Mario is required to run and jump over a chasm with low ceilings.

[Video]

Love all stars and bought it new when it came out with the music disc. It uses the +&- buttons like start and select and the rest is just like a nes pad.

 

I'd recommend the classic controller too. It's great for the games that use it.

[atarilovesyou]

I heard this game suffered from lag, regardless of controller...whih was a big reason I passed on it back when you could find it at retail (and already have it on SNES). Do wish I trued ine out for myself, even though I can sense a small amount of lag even on Mario Bros Wii...Im using component cables on an hdtv.

[Atariboy]

I didn't read it all since I'm in a rush and on my way out the door, but I indeed was talking about my post and not yours, Stardust. You were entirely correct and I can't believe I made the mistake I did, but obviously couldn't delete it when I realized it after the fact.

 

In a semi related note, if anyone with a Wii U buys the GBA port of the Super Mario All-Stars remaster of Super Mario Bros. 3 on the eShop (It's titled Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3), give your NES Classic gamepad a try with this one.

 

It does fully work this time, but you'll have to map the shoulder button used for opening your inventory to the unused select button on the NES gamepad. And it includes all the eReader levels we never got in North America, which is the main allure this digital release has.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Atariboy

[FixMyTech]

On 3/28/2018 at 4:08 AM, Austin said:

I believe Mario All-Stars is treated the same way as any normal SNES Virtual Console game and you need a classic controller attached to your Wiimote to play it.

This is not true, although it might be nice to use a Classic Controller it is not a requirement of the game.

 

I know this is an old thread but I thought I would clarify the correct answer as some of the comments are misleading. I just spent the last 20 mins trying to figure it out and I have. At the Mario All Stars screen you need to press the "+" button on the remote (all other buttons dont do anything, which is very unintuitive), then it takes you to the menu where the direction buttons work and can be used to select which game you want to play, you use the "+" button on the remote as select (A, B, 1, 2, "-" dont do anything) to chose a game, then (for example on Supper Mario 3) you can configure the controls by pressing the "-" button, use the direction button to chose a save file and then press the "+" button to select the save file and start the game, the game will load (at this point dont press buttons 1 or 2 as this will reset the game back to the Mario All Stars screen), then press the "+" at the Super Mario Bros 3 holding screen to get the menu to appear, then the directions buttons work to allow you to select how you want to play, then press the "+" button to select (dont press buttons 1 or 2 as this will reset the game back to the Mario All Stars screen), at this point buttons 1 and 2 behave as you would expect (for dash and jump and selecting a level to play).

 

Hope this helps someone.