Support NeoGAF

[K' Dash]

I agree the rescue mission is better but everything I said is true. Nintendo games have fallen off and none have reached the height of Astro. I beat odyssey around launch and never cared to ever come back to it because it's not interesting and has mediocre level design.

well, if you didn't come back to it, then I guess that's the case for everyone else.

 

[Zacfoldor]

The word "almost" means it still lags behind Mario, just fyi.

"Nintendo has fallen off" is the most ignorant take I've ever heard. Sony has fucking fallen off, Nintendo still puts out bangers. Astro won goty during a down year and you think you've done shit. Just wait. Nintendo will lap you again.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Have you seen some of the ways players use cappy to get around the level and reach places almost not intended to reach? It's absolutely mind blowing.

I haven't seen ANYTHING even close to that in Astro Bot.

I haven't seen that.

But I recently played both Astrobot and Super Mario Bros. Wonder (which I also loved very, very much!), but I found the controls, input, and feel much better in Astrobot.

 

[Muddy]

Which is fine. A huge part of gamers are a new generation who have never experienced the past. So you take proven mechanics and enhance them, and make a winning package.

It didn’t enhance the experience.

That’s the thing.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

well, if you didn't come back to it, then I guess that's the case for everyone else.

Sure everyone is different. If you liked it more, all power to ya. Just find it good not great. Mario 3d platformers are the rare games I'll go back to years later. I have zero interest in odyssey again, wasn't all that special. In fact I actually replayed all the platformers on 3d all stars after and found those much more fun, even though I've beaten them all multiple times already

The word "almost" means it still lags behind Mario, just fyi.

"Nintendo has fallen off" is the most ignorant take I've ever heard. Sony has fucking fallen off, Nintendo still puts out bangers. Astro won goty during a down year and you think you've done shit. Just wait. Nintendo will lap you again.

Nintendo has not had a single banger in over 18 months and that game (ToTK) isn't a top 5 Zelda. It's remakes, which they don't get shit for, and a medicore Zelda in echos of wisdom. Jamboree in is their biggest savings grace this year and that's just fine.

 

[Gambit2483]

I haven't seen that.

But I recently played both Astrobot and Super Mario Bros. Wonder (which I also loved very, very much!), but I found the controls, input, and feel much better in Astrobot.

Ahh ok, I was referring to Mario Odyssey, it's 3D counterpart.



The traversal options in that game are insane, from transitions to cancelations its nearly unmatched.

 

[xanaum]

I agree with him. It's the coolest and most amazing platform game since Mario Galaxy.

 

[Robb]

I can believe it. It’s the most exciting first party Sony release in a very long time for me.

I hope Sony treasure Team Asobi, because I want to see a lot more of their stuff in the future.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Nintendo fans in the thread

Sorry if I hit a nerve but I haven’t played a Mario game since Super Mario 64

I’m mostly PC and retro gaming nowadays

 

[Three]

I haven’t played a Mario game since Super Mario 64

I’m mostly PC nowadays

Ok, you're not a Nintendo fan then.

 

[nnytk]

Astrobot is a great game, me and my son have had a great time, just collecting the remaining 20 or so bots left.

It's better than sunshine and odyssey easily imo. I agree with a few people here odyssey was a slog tbh.

I wished for more of those levels where you got teleported to different environments/places. They were so experimental and fun. I also enjoyed Donk City or whatever it was called. But I didn't like how you had to hunt for cryptic rewards/moons and such.

Bowser's Fury was better imho. The enemy boss designs, those bunny's, in Mario Odyssey (and some of those transformations) were really great though.

 

[Elfstar]

Reggie stop pretending you actually play videogames!

 

[Sorcerer]

Just to play devil's advocate, Astrobot benefitted from years of Mario Games. You pack all that into one game, and execute well, it's a no brainer you will hit it out of the park. It's always possible Nintendo can blow Astrobot out of the water with the next Mario game.

 

[noob smokes]

It was better than 3d mario & odyssey not as good as 64 tho

 

[Raven117]

Braindead easy to the point that you could have 0 skill in terms of gaming and still beat the game. Making a game this ridiculously easy takes all the fun out of a game for me because if there's no challenge in a game and no story then what's the point exactly 'And no the endgame isn't hard and you shouldn't have to wait till the literal end of the game for a challenge'. Add to that you got moons in your face every two seconds which took the excitement out of finding them and searching for them out the window because there's wayyyy too many and they're wayyyyy too frequent which again takes away any sense of accomplishment in finding them.



Then you got cappy which started off awesome i admit. Transforming into a dinosaur had me saying wtf this is cool but then i slowly realized how lame it was to control a massive dinosaur in a condensed tiny environment to where i felt constricted on his movement and constricted in general. And the dinosaur powerup is the peak of cappy and his powers because the other cappy abilities are beyond gimmicky and lame. A bullet bill who can just fly woo hooo a guy who can jump in the air high woo hoooo. All of cappy and his abilities have like 2 button presses or sometimes just 1 that you can use for said ability which again was simplistic and lame sorry it was.


Add to all this that the worlds themselves are wayyy too tiny and condensed and i never felt like i was on an actual 'odyssey'. When i played mario galaxy 1 and 2 i felt like i was in space because of the gravity mechanic the worlds themselves, the music, the enemies etc etc. In odyssey you just feel like you're playing a basic 3d mario game and that's it because you can't control the ship it's just for show and the planets again just look like mario levels and not space levels at all. I could go on and on but mario odyssey is way too easy, way too basic, way too formulaic, and just plain boring in my opinion considering the standard that 3d mario games before it have set.

Meh.

I liked it and enjoyed the chill vibes and fun. Hope they continue to go that route.

I tell ya, the older I’m getting the less interested i am in “challenge” ((unless that is the point… ie Souls, Monster Hunter)

 

[Raven117]

Just to play devil's advocate, Astrobot benefitted from years of Mario Games. You pack all that into one game, and execute well, it's a no brainer you will hit it out of the park. It's always possible Nintendo can blow Astrobot out of the water with the next Mario game.

They will or they won’t, but it won’t be because of AstroBot. One would assume they are damn near done with that game to be a launch title for Switch 2

 

[Sorcerer]

They will or they won’t, but it won’t be because of AstroBot. One would assume they are damn near done with that game to be a launch title for Switch 2

As a direct response to Astrobot no. I'm sure the next Mario mainline game was either in development slightly before or simultaneously with Astrobot.

 

[hyperbertha]

Might have been good for 60 year old casuals like reggie. For anyone wanting a gameplay challenge (which games are supposed to provide) it was lacking sorely

 

[dorkimoe]

love this game. Would love to see more games like this from different devs

 

[ultrazilla]

Nintendo fans incoming.... a few already here.

Huge Nintendo mark.

Astrobot/Team Asobi rocked Nintendo with this game. It oozes charm and it's just a pleasure to play.

If anything I hope this pushes Nintendo even harder for their 3D action games. I'm not sure it's beaten Super Mario Odyssey but it's really, really close.

 

[MrJangles]

Don't have a ps5 but Astrobot vr was better than any 3D Mario game imo. Easily the most charming game ever made.

 

[darrylgorn]

 

[brenobnfm]

"Almost" lmao

It rawdogged Nintendo, when was the last time a Nintendo platformer was consensus game of the year? Oh, that never happened.

 

[Hero_Select]

"Almost" lmao

It rawdogged Nintendo, when was the last time a Nintendo platformer was consensus game of the year? Oh, that never happened.

 

[DeepEnigma]

It rawdogged Nintendo

 

[existensmaximum]

It was far better than Super Mario Odyssey.

So much better it's not even funny. Odyssey really was both weird and mediocre, easily the worst 3D Mario game for me.

 

[Rawbutt Jellybean]

"Almost" lmao

It rawdogged Nintendo, when was the last time a Nintendo platformer was consensus game of the year? Oh, that never happened.

I'm sure Nintendo is super disappointed in their 97 MC, 30 million copy selling Odyssey and would rather have a 94 MC game that sold maybe a few million and won GOTY is a very soft year.

 

[brenobnfm]

I'm sure Nintendo is super disappointed in their 97 MC, 30 million copy selling Odyssey and would rather have a 94 MC game that sold maybe a few million and won GOTY is a very soft year.

What Nintendo feel is irrelevant, facts are facts. Also about "weak" year, you know that freaking Horizon got twice as many GOTYs as Odyssey, right? So yeah, big chance it wouldn't win this weak year too.

 

[Rawbutt Jellybean]

What Nintendo feel is irrelevant, facts are facts. Also about "weak" year, you know that freaking Horizon got twice as many GOTYs as Odyssey, right? So yeah, big chance it wouldn't win this weak year too.

Facts are facts like Odyssey was critically and commercially better received. Astro Bot sure as hell wasn't winning in 2017 against BOTW either lol.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Ahh ok, I was referring to Mario Odyssey, it's 3D counterpart.



The traversal options in that game are insane, from transitions to cancelations its nearly unmatched.

The game isn't designed around the traversal options, so that's why it's not particularly interesting. The two need to go hand in hand.

 

[nial]

The big irony is that these people go into Nintendo threads and post that Nintendo's stuff is "for kids" while celebrating Astro Bot.

Yeah sorry, I doubt those people are PlayStation fans, they're most likely folks who dislike Nintendo in general.
I mean, for the all the console wars out there, Sony is probably the most similar publisher to Nintendo; it would be dumb for a PS fan to laugh about kids games when Sony was just releasing New Everybody's Golf and Knack 2.

 

[brenobnfm]

Facts are facts like Odyssey was critically and commercially better received. Astro Bot sure as hell wasn't winning in 2017 against BOTW either lol.

But Odyssey wasn't even the runner up, why are you talking about beating BotW? lol

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Mario Oddysey - 30 million units sold.

Astro Bot - 1.5 million units sold.

Almost Reggie, almost.

 

[Rawbutt Jellybean]

But Odyssey wasn't even the runner up, why are you talking about beating BotW? lol

You don't know if HZD would have won if BOTW didn't exist so it's kind of useless to say HZD was definitively ahead of Odyssey.

Regardless, Odyssey had a higher MC, far higher sales, and had tougher competition. It also clearly inspired Astro Bot.

 

[apple_of_enlightenment]

I don't get the comparison. Astro Bot is nothing like Mario.

Does there need to be a conversation about the nuance control, physics and game feel in the 3D platformer? It's just not there in Astro Bot.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

You don't know if HZD would have won if BOTW didn't exist so it's kind of useless to say HZD was definitively ahead of Odyssey.

Regardless, Odyssey had a higher MC, far higher sales, and had tougher competition. It also clearly inspired Astro Bot.

And yet AstroBot is still the better game, despite all of that.

It doesn't have the inflated Nintendo score bump from 30 years of hyping up the IP and being the brand that put a system on the map.

 

[Rawbutt Jellybean]

And yet AstroBot is still the better game, despite all of that.

It doesn't have the inflated Nintendo score bump from 30 years of hyping up the IP and being the brand that put a system on the map.

Turns out when you're the best at making platformers you get the best scores and most sales for them. You even get copycats.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

I don't get the comparison. Astro Bot is nothing like Mario.

Does there need to be a conversation about the nuance control, physics and game feel in the 3D platformer? It's just not there in Astro Bot.

There needs to be a conversation about the nuance of level and objective design, as well as power up design, and it's just not there in Mario Odyssey. I can do acrobatic flips and it means fuck all of the levels aren't designed around it

Turns out when you're the best at making platformers you get the best scores and most sales for them. You even get copycats.

You also get the most inflated scores because of relying on nostalgia instead of actual talent.

 

[Rawbutt Jellybean]

You also get the most inflated scores because of relying on nostalgia instead of actual talent.

 

[Rikku-X]

The one thing I don't like about Astro Bot is that it's almost too good.

 

[Trilobit]

They're quite different games though. Astro-Bot has very basic jump mechanics and the hovering mechanic simplifies it further. But it's very pretty.

 

[Halfkut]

There needs to be a conversation about the nuance of level and objective design, as well as power up design, and it's just not there in Mario Odyssey. I can do acrobatic flips and it means fuck all of the levels aren't designed around it

The levels are designed around it though? Just because you lack the creativity to use the tools given to you doesn’t mean they are useless

Maybe if they put a big way point up for every task and cappy told you exactly how to get past every jump before you even tried it you might enjoy the game more?

You also get the most inflated scores because of relying on nostalgia instead of actual talent.

That’s not a very nice thing to say about team adobi. It was the 30th anniversary of PlayStation at all

 

[Hero_Select]

You also get the most inflated scores because of relying on nostalgia instead of actual talent.

This is extremely ironic and hilarious when you remember that Astro Bot is literally built around playstation nostalgia lmfao.