Nintendo celebrates the holidays with Super Mario Galaxy and your favorite games of 2015

By Gabe Gurwin December 26, 2015

Nintendo has never been a company that does what is expected of it. For three years, the Wii classic Super Mario Galaxy has been unavailable on the Wii U eShop, becoming one of the largest omissions in the Virtual Console service. But fret not, because the wait is finally over.

Super Mario Galaxy on Wii U plays exactly as you remember it; that is, it doesn’t make use of the GamePad, but relies on the classic Remote and Nunchuk setup. If you already own the game on the Wii, there isn’t much reason to download it on the Virtual Console, but it does give newcomers to Nintendo’s platforms a chance to try out a legendary platformer.

Slim as the offerings for both the Wii U and the 3DS were this past year, Nintendo gave the Miiverse community a chance to vote on their favorites for both systems. Unsurprisingly, the fantastic Super Mario Maker, and Splatoon were among the favorites on Wii U, as well as this month’s Xenoblade Chronicles X. Interstingly, the poorly-received Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, and Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water also made the list.

The 3DS may have a large game library at this point, but there weren’t very many high-profile titles in 2015, and the “fan faves” prove it. Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. and The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes were among the only AAA games released for the system that weren’t ports, while Nintendo Badge Arcade (a crane machine) and Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer were able to sneak onto the list.

If you want to get a little more social this holiday season, then the “National StreetPass Weekend” is something you’ll want to check out. By visiting the “more than 29,000 Nintendo Zone hotspots across North America,” you’ll have the chance to gather StreetPass tags to use in games like Super Smash Bros. and Yo-Kai Watch. The event runs through January 4, so there’s still plenty of time to collect!

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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