As in the original games, players control the Italian plumber Mario and his brother Luigi through themed worlds, collecting power-ups, avoiding obstacles, and finding secrets.

The developers based the updated designs on those from Super Mario World (1990) and strove to retain the feel of the original games.

The Wii rerelease sold 2.24 million copies by 2011 but received mixed reviews, with criticism for its lack of new games and features.

They jump between platforms, avoid enemies and inanimate obstacles, find hidden secrets (such as warp zones and vertical vines), and collect power-ups like the mushroom and the Invincibility Star.

The games feature updates that take advantage of the 16-bit hardware of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), ranging from remastered soundtracks to revamped graphics and the addition of parallax scrolling.

[19] The next major Mario game, Yoshi's Island (1995), was still in production, creating a gap in Nintendo's release schedule.

According to assistant director and designer Tadashi Sugiyama, Miyamoto's idea was to give players a chance to experience The Lost Levels.

[24] Designer Naoki Mori recalled feeling intimidated, as it was only his third year at Nintendo and he had been tasked with updating its flagship series.

The team strove to retain the feel of the original games by leaving level designs and Mario's movement unaltered.

Sugiyama recalled the team fixed glitches they thought would hinder players' progress, although this created some differences in the controls.

[11] Nintendo released Super Mario All-Stars in Japan on July 14, 1993, in North America on August 11, 1993, and in Europe on December 16, 1993.

[3] Between September and October 1993, Nintendo Power held a contest in which players who reached a specific area in The Lost Levels would receive a Mario iron-on patch.

[3] A version of Super Mario Collection was also released on Nintendo's Satellaview, a Japan-exclusive SNES add-on allowing users to receive games via satellite radio.

[7] Critics praised the collection's games as excellent remakes, stating they aged well and appreciating the effort that went into retrofitting them for the SNES.

[15][43][44] For AllGame, retrospectively reviewing the version including Super Mario World, the compilation represented "the absolute pinnacle of the 2D platform genre".

[7][15][44] Nintendo Power, for instance, praised the addition of a save feature, believing it would give players who never finished the games a chance to do so.

[15] The updated graphics were praised;[6][12][47] NMS's reviewers admired the attention to detail, which they said made the compilation worth buying,[47] and AllGame called the visuals colorful and cartoonish.

[7][15][38] Aside from the 16-bit updates, save feature, and (for American audiences) The Lost Levels, Nintendo Power wrote, the compilation did not present anything new,[15] a sentiment CVG echoed.

[7][48] NMS, CVG, and Edge, however, criticized The Lost Levels for its difficulty,[37][38][47] with Nintendo Magazine System viewing it as just an interesting bonus.

[33][50][51][52][55] The Guardian compared the 25th Anniversary Edition unfavorably to the Wii remake of the Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye 007 (1997) released earlier that year.

The writer argued that though GoldenEye offered new graphics, levels, and reasons to play, Super Mario All-Stars was just the same compilation released on the SNES in 1993.

[33][52][56] For instance, Nintendo Life said it "doesn't even fill half of that potential running time" of 74 minutes of CD audio.

[52] Conversely, The Guardian said the CD would make players happy and GamesRadar+ thought it was rare for Nintendo to release game soundtracks outside Japan.

[51][55] GamesRadar+ said the CD helped make the compilation seem important, noting that it contained the first official release of the Super Mario Bros. "Ground Theme".

[33][50][52][55][56] Some admitted to preferring the NES originals,[51][56] but others thought the updated 16-bit graphics and addition of a save feature were great.