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New Super Mario Bros. 2 |OT| Coins!

Glix

Member
Game is pretty sweet so far. Nothing crazy. Seems almost like an expansion for NSMB.

I am LOVING my xl though. This thing is amazing.
 
The game has yet another typo.
This is from the back of the Action Guide:
"Note: Co-op Play requires two Nintendo 3DS systems and two game cards and two game cards (each sold separately).

IMG_1189-1.jpg


The game was obviously rushed.
 

jarosh

Member
I'll have 1,000 lives by the end of world 4. :p

I rarely die and I'm quite good at 2d platformers. I've cleared all the levels and have 90% of all the star coins. And I'm not even at 400 lives, which *is* a ton to begin with.

I just want someone to say that the 1000 lives thing is bullshit. I mean, come on!
 

zroid

Banned
I just want someone to say that the 1000 lives thing is bullshit. I mean, come on!

I don't know, I'm pretty much of the opinion that the "lives thing" in general is bullshit. I just see Nintendo as having two options in their Mario game design these days. Remove lives altogether, or dole out lives like jelly beans.

Choosing the latter is a bit of a farce, but it does tickle that nostalgic "feel-good" bone to collect 1Ups. That's probably why they're still around.


EDIT: I guess I misunderstood your post. >.<

ALSO SPOILERS D: *runs away*
 

ffdgh

Member
I rarely die and I'm quite good at 2d platformers. I've cleared all the levels and have 90% of all the star coins. And I'm not even at 400 lives, which *is* a ton to begin with.

I just want someone to say that the 1000 lives thing is bullshit. I mean, come on!

Yeah the 1000 lives is bull***
its actually 1110 lives :p
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
I don't know, I'm pretty much of the opinion that the "lives thing" in general is bullshit. I just see Nintendo as having two options in their Mario game design these days. Remove lives altogether, or dole out lives like jelly beans.

Choosing the latter is a bit of a farce, but it does tickle that nostalgic "feel-good" bone to collect 1Ups. That's probably why they're still around.

For a while I've felt they need to use lives like Mario Galaxy does.

You don't keep your huge stock of lives when quiting the game session. You always start out with 5 lives. Lives become more of a dynamic resources, to stock up on during one run and increase tension.

In NSMB Wii, don't forget, lives are rather important in multiplayer due to how fast the clusterfuck of players can burn through lives trying to clear a course. So there's a place for them, but they should be tweaked.

Right, lives in (single player) NSMB and in Mario 3D Land serve more as a marker of how well you're doing; if you get to a hard level in 3D Land for instance, you can drain 40 lives before you know it (like in a timed special world), and seeing the counter dip way down does provide tension.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
I rarely die and I'm quite good at 2d platformers. I've cleared all the levels and have 90% of all the star coins. And I'm not even at 400 lives, which *is* a ton to begin with.

I've 100%'d 1, 2, 3, 4,
Mushroom and Flower
and I haven't died much, and I'm a hair under 300. Now, I haven't replayed any levels except to get hidden coins and when I do that I don't go for all the coins / 1ups, but I'd say 400 would basically be a cap without replaying / grinding.
 

Reclaimer

Member
Anyone playing with the circle pad? I'm using the dpad right now (recently finish the first ds NSMB), but the 3DS XL dpad is still a cramp for me compared to the DSiXL.
 

noobasuar

Banned
Anyone playing with the circle pad? I'm using the dpad right now (recently finish the first ds NSMB), but the 3DS XL dpad is still a cramp for me compared to the DSiXL.

Yeah I keep switching between the circle pad and the d-pad and I think the circle pad works as good as the d-pad or maybe even better. I thought it would suck but naw it works fine in this Mario game.
 

RagnarokX

Member
For a while I've felt they need to use lives like Mario Galaxy does.

You don't keep your huge stock of lives when quiting the game session. You always start out with 5 lives. Lives become more of a dynamic resources, to stock up on during one run and increase tension.

In NSMB Wii, don't forget, lives are rather important in multiplayer due to how fast the clusterfuck of players can burn through lives trying to clear a course. So there's a place for them, but they should be tweaked.

Right, lives in (single player) NSMB and in Mario 3D Land serve more as a marker of how well you're doing; if you get to a hard level in 3D Land for instance, you can drain 40 lives before you know it (like in a timed special world), and seeing the counter dip way down does provide tension.

Nah. Lives really serve no purpose other than to inconvenience and punish you arbitrarily for having a difficult time on a specific part of a level. If I'm having trouble on a specific series of jumps in a level, what good is it to send me back to redo several levels that I didn't have trouble with after a completely arbitrary number of attempts? Lives are a completely outdated concept that only make sense if you're putting quarters in a slot for each one. They don't make the game more difficult. Nintendo can't completely get rid of lives because 1UPs are nostalgic, so instead they throw them at you like candy.

However, although I think the superguide is a great idea for allowing Nintendo games to be difficult without alienating the casuals, I don't like having to reset my game if I die enough to make the superguide block appear (gotta have those shiny stars!). Of course I've only had to do that like once, but still.
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
It just feels wrong to use analog for a 2d Mario.

Also, my biggest complaint regarding level variety? It's not like the series is lacking on unique settings. I would love to see a Sunshine inspired level, or a Galaxy stage with gravity play. Why has Nintendo not tried to do anything with that for the 2D games?
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Nah. Lives really serve no purpose other than to inconvenience and punish you arbitrarily for having a difficult time on a specific part of a level. If I'm having trouble on a specific series of jumps in a level, what good is it to send me back to redo several levels that I didn't have trouble with after a completely arbitrary number of attempts? Lives are a completely outdated concept that only make sense if you're putting quarters in a slot for each one. They don't make the game more difficult. Nintendo can't completely get rid of lives because 1UPs are nostalgic, so instead they throw them at you like candy.

However, although I think the superguide is a great idea for allowing Nintendo games to be difficult without alienating the casuals, I don't like having to reset my game if I die enough to make the superguide block appear (gotta have those shiny stars!). Of course I've only had to do that like once, but still.

Plenty of games still use lives or an equivalent, like shmups, score attack games, etc. A game is a system of rules and conditions - all games are built around arbitrary punishment in that regard. Why not let the batter in baseball take an infinite number of swings to try and hit the ball before he's struck out? One could argue that the modern 'weaksauce' checkpoint mentality of mini-restarts everywhere without an real threat of failing the game is just a degeneration of action game design, for a counterpoint.

I think lives worked out a lot better in DKCR due to how hard the game was, and its co-op burning through lives quickly if the team was sloppy. It's not about the lives themselves making a game difficult, it's about a resource that can be depleted adding tension and pushing the player to perform better.

Having said that, it might be amusing to see 1Ups used in a new way, such as a currency to spend on stuff, that gets depleted continually if you suck at the game. Every time you die, you lose a 1Up.
 

DDayton

(more a nerd than a geek)
Finished the basic game (i.e. "beat the boss") in about 2 hours 40 minutes... now to unlock extra worlds, find all the coins, etc..

I'm still a bit mixed on what I think of the game -- it's good, but I have this weird feeling that it's just lacking in ways. For that matter, I think the game would appear far more unique if they had just given it new music.

Stars note: Much like in the other NSMB games, you get stars on your save file for completing various objectives (starting with beating the game). The star(s) will shine/shimmer/sparkle if you've NEVER had a White Super Leaf block appear.

If a White Super Leaf block appears in a level (lose 5 lives trying to beat it), the stars will NOT sparkle. However, they changed something -- if you beat the level after the assist block appears, and then replay and finish the level without the block appearing again[/i], the save file sparkles will shine again.

Unless there is some other restriction, it appears that you can "always" regain the "shine stars" on your save file just by beating a level without losing 5 lives.
 

Tathanen

Get Inside Her!
I rarely die and I'm quite good at 2d platformers. I've cleared all the levels and have 90% of all the star coins. And I'm not even at 400 lives, which *is* a ton to begin with.

I just want someone to say that the 1000 lives thing is bullshit. I mean, come on!

Sounds like you didn't buy into the coin collecting, then. I've got 362 right now, and I'm maybe 2/3 through everything. I'll be stopped well short of 1000, but it doesn't seem particularly impossible. Certain levels you can easily come out of with 20 extra lives, and I'm sure there are exploitable shells or what have you, like in pretty much every previous game, that you can bounce on for 5 minutes to max your shit right then and there. I had something like 700 lives in Mario 3D Land, and got my remaining 300 like that.

Anyway, I wrote a thing. I'm sure it comes off as a bit apologist, but I have a bad habit of always trying to make the most of things.

http://www.n-sider.com/blog/2012/08...ros-new-super-mario-bros-2-is-the-lost-levels
 

daakusedo

Member
813 lives, beginning star world. I didn't know about the file star, not much to do then.
I'm not even into jumping too long on loop of bullet bill and respawning goombas and I entered two toad houses so that's probably by doing everything in the levels; invisible 1up blocks to running throught a level filled with invincibility stars and that kind of thing, rainbow levels also but I got only two.
 

RagnarokX

Member
Plenty of games still use lives or an equivalent, like shmups, score attack games, etc. A game is a system of rules and conditions - all games are built around arbitrary punishment in that regard. Why not let the batter in baseball take an infinite number of swings to try and hit the ball before he's struck out? One could argue that the modern 'weaksauce' checkpoint mentality of mini-restarts everywhere without an real threat of failing the game is just a degeneration of action game design, for a counterpoint.

I think lives worked out a lot better in DKCR due to how hard the game was, and its co-op burning through lives quickly if the team was sloppy. It's not about the lives themselves making a game difficult, it's about a resource that can be depleted adding tension and pushing the player to perform better.

Having said that, it might be amusing to see 1Ups used in a new way, such as a currency to spend on stuff, that gets depleted continually if you suck at the game. Every time you die, you lose a 1Up.

The baseball example really isn't analogous since you're comparing a multiplayer competition to a singleplayer challenge. Strikes aren't arbitrary, you only get 3 and some fouls. If you do strike out, you don't have to start some previous challenge over again, you just have to wait for your next up.

The goal of action/adventure games is generally to progress to the end. The fun and challenge comes from the level and enemy design. No matter how many tries you get, the only thing that will get you through a well-designed game is your own skill. Taking a focus off of lives as a crutch challenges designers to put more thought into levels. If your main motivation for doing better is to not have to restart that doesn't speak well for the game.
 

Anth0ny

Member
The concept of "lives" is outdated. Back in the NES days, they were used to prolong relatively short games. Could you imagine how easy SMB would be with hundreds of lives?

Even if they limited the amount of lives to, say, a maximum of 10... what exactly would the penalty be? Game overs nowadays send you back to the beginning of the stage you died on. Once again, imagine the original SMB if they didn't send you to the beginning of the game every time you got a game over.

While I personally wouldn't be opposed to bringing back the punishing ways of the NES era, I'm sure a hell of a lot more people would be. At this point, they should just abolish the lives system entirely. It's basically nonexistent at this point anyways.
 

ffdgh

Member
The concept of "lives" is outdated. Back in the NES days, they were used to prolong relatively short games. Could you imagine how easy SMB would be with hundreds of lives?

Even if they limited the amount of lives to, say, a maximum of 10... what exactly would the penalty be? Game overs nowadays send you back to the beginning of the stage you died on. Once again, imagine the original SMB if they didn't send you to the beginning of the game every time you got a game over.

While I personally wouldn't be opposed to bringing back the punishing ways of the NES era, I'm sure a hell of a lot more people would be. At this point, they should just abolish the lives system entirely. It's basically nonexistent at this point anyways.

looking back sonic 06 made you NOT want to get a gameover XD
 
Anyone playing with the circle pad? I'm using the dpad right now (recently finish the first ds NSMB), but the 3DS XL dpad is still a cramp for me compared to the DSiXL.

I play with the circle pad. I'd rather play it with the D-Pad as they're generally best for 2D platformers (I also have problems ground pounding with the circle pad), but it's really not in the best position to use for long periods of time. For me anyway.
 

sakipon

Member
Unless there is some other restriction, it appears that you can "always" regain the "shine stars" on your save file just by beating a level without losing 5 lives.
In my opinion this is a change for the better. It may not be as hardcore but I don't think Mario games truly need that kind of unforgiving goals.
 

tuffy

Member
While I personally wouldn't be opposed to bringing back the punishing ways of the NES era, I'm sure a hell of a lot more people would be. At this point, they should just abolish the lives system entirely. It's basically nonexistent at this point anyways.
While I agree that having hundreds of lives and tons of save points makes the concept of a "Game Over" screen pointless, I think a better solution might be to simply give the player 5 lives per stage. When the lives run out, Nintendo's "Hint Box of Shame" kicks in and the player can continue. Or, when the player passes the stage, the lives reset to 5. That way an anachronism is replaced by something that adds some tension - since better players don't want to see that hint box.
 
I don't get why people are complaining about lives.

"Oh no, they give me too many and now I don't ever get a game over!"

or

"Oh they give so many lives it is pointless. That somehow ruins the whole game for me despite having no impact whatsoever."
 

branny

Member
Lives are not outdated; Mario's implementation of them is. Nintendo's stubbornness to overhaul everything is not helping, either.

Like Kaijima mentioned, there are plenty of other games that balance lives with scoring in exciting ways, and Mario (and many other franchises) could stand to learn a thing or two from them. I'm not saying we should make Mario super hard and turn it into something most people will have to credit feed, but there needs to be more depth for demanding or advanced players.

For example, people who don't take shmups seriously have no idea how amazing a strong scoring system can make a game. There are so many tightly-designed, interconnected layers in the best shmups that incorporate every last mechanic into a cohesive whole. At first, you play a shmup for survival. Over time, you'll understand how the scoring works. You'll eventually transcend that understanding and turn it into manipulation. This is when the game evolves. You'll eventually learn to maximize that manipulation by actualizing on missed potential and perfecting strategies, on repeatedly attempting to best yourself and others. This doesn't even take into account other modes with totally separate scoring rules or how unique characters/ships often require completely different approaches.

Design like this rewards players for going above and beyond. The gratification of seeing numbers or coins or multipliers popping up over every enemy, particularly when you are milking a delightful scoring system for all its worth, is immeasurable. That you'll also be gifted with different kinds of extends (lives, bombs) for reaching score milestones is akin to what 1-Ups from 100 coins used to be when Mario was harder. Speaking of that, many shmups actually get more challenging as the player does better, and that difficulty can, in turn, be used to reap even higher scores at the cost of higher risk.

Mario is missing this type of cohesive design. There are so many vestigial things hanging around that people complain about and want to excise (lives, score, music, art style, mechanics), but I think the better option is to make everything meaningful again. Coin Rush is a start, as flimsy and poorly implemented as it may be.
 

Tathanen

Get Inside Her!
Finished the basic game (i.e. "beat the boss") in about 2 hours 40 minutes... now to unlock extra worlds, find all the coins, etc..

I'm still a bit mixed on what I think of the game -- it's good, but I have this weird feeling that it's just lacking in ways. For that matter, I think the game would appear far more unique if they had just given it new music.

Stars note: Much like in the other NSMB games, you get stars on your save file for completing various objectives (starting with beating the game). The star(s) will shine/shimmer/sparkle if you've NEVER had a White Super Leaf block appear.

If a White Super Leaf block appears in a level (lose 5 lives trying to beat it), the stars will NOT sparkle. However, they changed something -- if you beat the level after the assist block appears, and then replay and finish the level without the block appearing again[/i], the save file sparkles will shine again.

Unless there is some other restriction, it appears that you can "always" regain the "shine stars" on your save file just by beating a level without losing 5 lives.


If this can be independently verified, I will kiss you on the mouth. Oh what a relief it would be to "be allowed to die."
 

Socreges

Banned
I don't get why people are complaining about lives.

"Oh no, they give me too many and now I don't ever get a game over!"

or

"Oh they give so many lives it is pointless. That somehow ruins the whole game for me despite having no impact whatsoever."
Yikes. Don't take it so personally. Some people just like the added consequence with it being even more important to stay alive. DKCR, for example, had a very good balance.
 

Socreges

Banned
Oh and the music sucks. Some decent tunes, some way too familiar tunes, and some 'bah bah' remixes that literally make me want to shut the game off.
 
It just feels wrong to use analog for a 2d Mario.

Also, my biggest complaint regarding level variety? It's not like the series is lacking on unique settings. I would love to see a Sunshine inspired level, or a Galaxy stage with gravity play. Why has Nintendo not tried to do anything with that for the 2D games?

havent you seen their finances?
 
Yikes. Don't take it so personally. Some people just like the added consequence with it being even more important to stay alive. DKCR, for example, had a very good balance.

If you want a challenge then why are you playing modern mario games?

Outside of some of the special levels (green starts in Galaxy) there's almost no challenge.
 

Insaniac

Member
Ugh when I use the circle pad I always end up unintentionally crouching because the theres so little leeway as to what is "diagonal down" and "left/right" I suppose it might just take some getting used to.

Also I really like the gold block powerup. so satisfying and entertaining to try and speed around getting tons of coins
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Oh and the music sucks. Some decent tunes, some way too familiar tunes, and some 'bah bah' remixes that literally make me want to shut the game off.

Lol, the music is terrible. Apart from abusive use of synthesized voices, there is probably not a single new track in the entire game.

I mean, we don't have any question in our minds that this is a cash grab, right? It's a really well made game, but holy shit have I played it before.
 
This is game is like Prometheus (the movie) where it seems like the critics hate it and even I agree with most of their complaints I still love it.

Even though I would call myself a big Nintendo fan I never owned a Wii because I tossed out my CRT early and hated how the Wii looked on the HDTVs in the stores. The only game I owned in the NSMB series was the mediocre DS iteration so I only have these two for comparison and boy is this one better in every way! I found NSMB DS to be the second most disappointing Mario game ever but I'm having a real blast with NSMB 2.

Speaking of which, I even like the music this time. It's still funny seeing your enemies dancing to the beat, I wish other games would do that. Just imagine Gears Of War or Resident Evil with dancing enemies! \m/
 
I have 2 questions

How do you access the 2 worlds that are down on the screen?

The mushroom that makes you huge....how common is it? So far Ive only had it once and right now Im on the world 6....
 

JoeInky

Member
Lol, the music is terrible. Apart from abusive use of synthesized voices, there is probably not a single new track in the entire game.

Well there's atleast 3 but whatever.


The music isn't even that bad in the first place, either. If it was just plain noise like the sound that played when you used to make a dial-up connection then I might agree with you. But this music is at worst "not that bad".
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
I have 2 questions

How do you access the 2 worlds that are down on the screen?

The mushroom that makes you huge....how common is it? So far Ive only had it once and right now Im on the world 6....

Certain levels have hidden exits which lead to cannons on the map. The cannons unlock the two hidden worlds.
 

RagnarokX

Member
It's kinda interesting that this is the first 2D Mario to not really have warp zones. No matter what route you take you HAVE to go through 6 worlds.

Also,
unless he's in W-Star,
no Bowser Jr.
 
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