Super Mario 3D World

[tegan]

It's been a long time since an actual first party Wario title. Not since Wario Land 4 (Which I haven't gotten to yet).

 

There was Wario World two years after that, Wario: Master of Disguise in 2007, and Wario Land: Shake It in 2008.

Wario's kind of weird in that he's now spent more time as the curator of weird minigame collections than he did as a platformer star. I don't think he's going back.

 

*Mario OST*

 

Oh man I hope this isn't just a Japanese Club Nintendo reward or something. Between this and Nintendo's announcement that they're releasing a bunch of Pokémon soundtracks, maybe Nintendo's just going to regularly release their soundtracks like a lot of other Japanese devs do.

[RubixsQube]

I am mostly just excited for that cover-art. Mario 3D World Big Band!

[Zeusthecat]

Wario Land on the Virtual Boy is one awesome fucking game. Just figured I'd throw that out there.

[Roderick]

To be fair, after the original Wario Land on Game Boy - arguably the best game on the entire platform - the series has struggled to live up to the quality of its originator. The later Wario Land titles were all kind of weird and puzzley thingies. Master of Disguise was pretty fun, but also flawed. I'd like another Wario game, but it has to be really good, and I dunno, maybe less about farting and picking noses?

[Twig]

Another thread hijack for want of Wario Land 3DS!

 

It's been a long time since an actual first party Wario title. Not since Wario Land 4 (Which I haven't gotten to yet). I guess the Wario games aren't as popular with fans and have taken a backseat to development, but I think it's my favorite series in the Marioverse. There's just something so satisfying about the weird "state of Wario" playing style and also being overly powerful and driven by greed. They just promote exploration and nonlinearity in levels for the sole purpose satisfaction of collecting more stuff. Wario games tend to be very addictive because they flow so well. I think maybe that's why I really loved Rabbids Go Home, it seems very similar in the need for exploration just to collect a bunch of stuff only for the satisfaction. Neither the Wario series or Rabbids Go Home really holds you to getting all the collectables like a Rare title or something. Also having finished Wario Land Virtual Boy this year on an actual Virtual Boy only makes me wish Nintendo would get on it and convert all the VB titles to be playable from the 3DS, it'd be perfect even if they only decided to port Wario Land. Updated color graphics would be even better.

 

So less of this year of Luigi and maybe next year, year of Wario. Waluigi can eat a bowl of shit.

I agree completely. The problem, I think, is that WarioWare overtook Wario Land as The Wario Franchise.

 

The Wii one was supposed to be good, but I never got around to it. Much to my shame.

[syntheticgerbil]

There was Wario World two years after that, Wario: Master of Disguise in 2007, and Wario Land: Shake It in 2008.

They are all third party. No first party Warios since 4. They were developed by Treasure, Suzak, and Good Feel.

 

I mean not to speak of the quality of thosee releases, but it's just that Nintendo's development seems to have ignored Wario if it's not Warioware. Instead we get a fuckload of useless New Super Mario Bros. titles.

[Twig]

At least Shake It was supposed to be good. Although I haven't played it, much to my shame.

[toblix]

So Rosalina is to Peach what Princess Toadstool is to explain Super Mario to me.

[Sno]

At least Shake It was supposed to be good. Although I haven't played it, much to my shame.

I have played it, it's pretty good. Nothing amazing, but i was never a fan of the Wario Land games to begin with.

[miffy495]

Yeah, I enjoy it a lot. In my opinion, the pinnacle of the Wario games was Land 3 for the puzzle levels and VB for sheer platforming. I love the hell out of those games. My virtual boy is sitting on top of my bookshelf with Wario Land permanently in it. Shake It was a fun game though, especially if you're down for a cartoony platformer. I don't like the "escape the level" mechanic that came in in Wario Land 4 though, and Shake It holds on to that, so that's the big drawback for me. Escape levels can be fun, but when it's EVERY level you start to get sick of them.

[Twig]

i was never a fan of the Wario Land games to begin with.

IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?!

 

Wario Land 4 is by far my favorite GBA game. Well, unless you count Mother 3 which never came out here, then it's sorta up in the air.

[tegan]

So Rosalina is to Peach what Princess Toadstool is to explain Super Mario to me.

 

Rosalina is a separate character introduced in Super Mario Galaxy who lets Mario chill out in her space house between levels. She's only appeared in a few cameo appearances since. She's notable for having an uncharacteristically sad backstory viewable through optional unlockable cutscenes, for being the only Mario character who talks like a regular goddamn human being, and for being significantly less prone to kidnapping than any other female character in the Mario series.

 

 

[tegan]

[tegan]

I bought a digital copy of this this morning (and a Pro Controller for maximum effect). So far, it's pretty damn rad.

 

And for anyone else who was wondering like I was; yes, Peach does turn into a tin, cuter Peach when she takes damage.

 

[posh_somme]

I bought a digital copy of this this morning (and a Pro Controller for maximum effect). So far, it's pretty damn rad.

 

And for anyone else who was wondering like I was; yes, Peach does turn into a tin, cuter Peach when she takes damage.

 

 

ever since galaxy 1 spoiled me with that fantastic hub seeing the super mario world map like that really irks me. it's one of the reasons i felt kinda detached from SMG2, too. I totally get why it's in SM3DW but it just makes me want another super mario galaxy 1

[tegan]

ever since galaxy 1 spoiled me with that fantastic hub seeing the super mario world map like that really irks me. it's one of the reasons i felt kinda detached from SMG2, too. I totally get why it's in SM3DW but it just makes me want another super mario galaxy 1

 

I've always preferred the 64/Sunshine/Galaxy hubs to the classic-style maps, but this is alright. What I like is that it's not just a glorified level select screen. You can run around wherever you like and hit blocks and stuff.

[Roderick]

And then consider that I was already disappointed in the Galaxy map because it wasn't nearly as cool, secretive and involved as the best hub of all time: Sunshine's Delfino Plaza!

[Twig]

Yeah the Galaxy hub was totally lame by comparison. In fact it's probably my least favorite hub/map out of all the Mario games. There was nothing to do!

[lobotomy42]

Super Mario 64 was, in retrospect, the most deviant of the main Mario platforming games.  Sunshine tried to replicate the experience, but all of the 3D Mario games since then have been slowly walking the Mario experience back to a more linear, streamlined format, similar to the 2D games but in 3D. 

[Squid Division]

My one complaint so far is that the characters seem to move slower than in Land. This, coupled with the fact that the levels are bigger for four players make it feel like slow going, even with the not-very-convenient Dash button. It was probably done to keep everyone on the same screen together, but it makes playing as Princess Toadstool kinda tough for me.

 

What I love about 3D Land/World is that they get back to the weird and abstract levels that occupied the upper-half of the castle in Mario 64. Small, contained, abstracted levels that put the focus squarely on platforming.

[posh_somme]

And then consider that I was already disappointed in the Galaxy map because it wasn't nearly as cool, secretive and involved as the best hub of all time: Sunshine's Delfino Plaza!

 

Yeah the Galaxy hub was totally lame by comparison. In fact it's probably my least favorite hub/map out of all the Mario games. There was nothing to do!

 

delfino plaza was cool and I am a Sunshine apologist but I preferred the galaxy one for being so abstract and it felt more like a hub. both definitely fit their respective settings really well though. I don't really care for the mario 64 hub too much in comparison

 

edit: how is the tablet used in this game? still haven't really seen a game that uses the tablet as intuitively as i might like except for maybe Funky Barn

[tegan]

edit: how is the tablet used in this game? still haven't really seen a game that uses the tablet as intuitively as i might like except for maybe Funky Barn

I've been using a Pro Controller that I just picked up today (which feels absolutely fantastic). In the one stage where I've been required to use the tablet (one of the optional Captain Toad stages), I haven't had any complaints. It uses the gyroscope for when you need nuanced camera control, and you sometimes need to use the mic for small stage gimmicks.

 

Also, you can do the thing 3D Land did where you blow into the mic and it blows the scattered dandelions in the stage away.

 

 

Incidentally, it's such a weird and wonderful experience playing a Mario game where you never have to see ol' whatshisface. I've been playing as Peach for my entire run so far.

[tegan]

I've been using a Pro Controller that I just picked up today (which feels absolutely fantastic). In the one stage where I've been required to use the tablet (one of the optional Captain Toad stages), I haven't had any complaints. It uses the gyroscope for when you need nuanced camera control, and you sometimes need to use the mic for small stage gimmicks.

 

RIGHT AFTER writing this post I had to do a tablet-only level. The microphone stuff works perfectly and is pretty non-intrusive, but using standard controls to move while also having to touch shit to make it turn into platforms gets really clunky.

[Sno]

ever since galaxy 1 spoiled me with that fantastic hub seeing the super mario world map like that really irks me. it's one of the reasons i felt kinda detached from SMG2, too. I totally get why it's in SM3DW but it just makes me want another super mario galaxy 1

 

I think it's cool that the 3D World map has you free-romaing around and looking for secrets and basically treating the overworld like its own level. (This is said having not played 3D World.)

[tegan]