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[The Mana Legend]

Actually, the more I look into the game the most I like the look of it. Visually and audio-wise it is absolutely despicable, but the reviews that have been saying "brings back the magic of finding secret exits" and more exploration in the levels makes me slightly looking forward to it.

I was originally going to skip out on it, but that has made me more interested.

 

[Ken Masters]

Actually, the more I look into the game the most I like the look of it. Visually and audio-wise it is absolutely despicable, but the reviews that have been saying "brings back the magic of finding secret exits" and more exploration in the levels makes me slightly looking forward to it.

I was originally going to skip out on it, but that has made me more interested.

I wonder what the budget was for this game, seems like everything is reused

 

[The Mana Legend]

I wonder what the budget was for this game, seems like everything is reused

I wouldn't be surprised if the only thing they spent money on was paying the employees, because the game itself looks like it could be a hack some random guy made for NSMB.

 

[bryehn]

Buying this digitally to help set a precedent, but early reviews aside, I'm expecting this to be a middling Mario game. The 1st one and the Wii one were, and I'd have to assume it's the same team. New Super Mario Bros. U will likely be similar.

Can't wait to see Galaxy 3 or a real re-imaging of Super Mario World.

 

[Nirolak]

Thanks, added the two listed in the thread and updated the Metacritic.

I'll wait to update the title though until about 40 reviews, which is generally when a score stops moving.

 

[Alex]

Game seems extremely recycled and unambitious in every way. I still think it'll be quite good, because you can't really screw up a Mario platformer as long as the basics are in place but that doesn't make it a particularly great game in 2012.

It seems really toward the bottom of the barrel for effort, even samey yearly efforts like Call of Duty, mock worthy as it may be, are quite a gulf ahead of stuff like this. Nintendo can really do better but they have a pretty good lineup for the fall and this reeks of stopgap so its hard to be really hateful on it.

Too bad though, it'd be fun to see a full effort 2D Mario game again. With original assets and levels and doodads.

 

[butter_stick]

I'm not sure why Nintendo are so lazy with one of their biggest titles. Can anybody come up with a reason other than "it'll sell anyway lol"?

 

[nhlducks35]

I'm not sure why Nintendo are so lazy with one of their biggest titles. Can anybody come up with a reason other than "it'll sell anyway lol"?

They need to increase 3DS sales?

 

[zroid]

I'm not sure why Nintendo are so lazy with one of their biggest titles. Can anybody come up with a reason other than "it'll sell anyway lol"?

They're broke because they put all their money into making NSMB U spectacular

Spoiler

BELIEVE

 

[butter_stick]

They need to increase 3DS sales?

So why not make NSMB2 a great game by investing more effort in to it?

 

[bryehn]

They're broke because they put all their money into making NSMB U spectacular

Spoiler

BELIEVE

The focus is on having 5 people play at once without breaking it. Call me a sceptic, but I'm not expecting much.

 

[HYDE]

NSMB DS being that high is criminal.

And Sunshine. Both were okay Mario games. But both should be below NSMBW.

 

[Currygan]

So why not make NSMB2 a great game by investing more effort in to it?

have you played it?

 

[Extra Sauce]

If it wasn't for 3D Land I would be so mad at NSMB2 for reheating leftovers. But when's the last time we got two consecutive mainline Mario games on the same console less than a year apart? Give me them leftovers, I'll take them.

 

[metalslimer]

If it wasn't for 3D Land I would be so mad at NSMB2 for reheating leftovers. But when's the last time we got two consecutive mainline Mario games on the same console less than a year apart? Give me them leftovers, I'll take them.

Galaxy 2 and NSMBW and both were absolutely amazing. Unfortunately Nintendo put the B EAD Tokyo team on 3D Land (it was still great though) and the noobies on NSMB2.

 

[butter_stick]

have you played it?

I don't need to play it to be ale to tell not a lot of effort has been put in to the game from a visuals standpoint, nd the reviews in this thread seem to be confirming it's rather uninspired in terms of gameplay.

 

[bryehn]

Galaxy 2 and NSMBW and both were absolutely amazing. Unfortunately Nintendo put the B EAD Tokyo team on 3D Land (it was still great though) and the noobies on NSMB2.

Galaxy 2 was great, but New Super Mario Bros. Wii amazing? Wow, ok man. To you it is I guess.

 

[BowieZ]

I'm not sure why Nintendo are so lazy with one of their biggest titles. Can anybody come up with a reason other than "it'll sell anyway lol"?

Lazy would be not making the game in the first place.

It's obviously not been designed purely for seasoned platformer-pro Gaffers, nor should it, realistically.

 

[Metroid Hunter]

Galaxy 2 was great, but New Super Mario Bros. Wii amazing? Wow, ok man. To you it is I guess.

NSMBWii is amazing.

 

[BowieZ]

Galaxy 2 was great, but New Super Mario Bros. Wii amazing? Wow, ok man. To you it is I guess.

You don't consider the most well designed, funnest, hardest, and most innovative 2D Mario game ever made "amazing"? Ookay.

Oh that's right, the worlds aren't interconnected. gaymesux

 

[Glorified G]

Lazy would be not making the game in the first place.

It's obviously not been designed purely for seasoned platformer-pro Gaffers, nor should it, realistically.

They could at least not recycle the same music from the wii version.

NSMBWii is amazing.

You should play more platformers.

You don't consider the most well designed, funnest, hardest, and most innovative 2D Mario game ever made "amazing"? Ookay.

I would, if Mario bros 3, Yoshi's Island & SMW didn't exist.

 

[Amir0x]

Maybe this will finally teach Nintendo a little bit about what happens when you whore Mario too much. That's my hope, anyway. They're really out of control at this point

I know they're not 'terrible' reviews or anything, but I am sure Nintendo expects a certain standard for the platforming series, and I'm hoping this is time for them to reflect a bit.

You should play more platformers.

NSMB Wii is as good as any platformer in the last two worlds, really brilliant stuff.

It's just that getting to that point feels boring as shit, everything is so easy and generally autopiloted in. Didn't feel engaging. I wish Nintendo would drop the kiddy gloves and fuck the super guide and just make a brutal Super Meat Ball-esque difficult Mario.

 

[Davey Cakes]

You should play more platformers.

I'm a platformer-lover and I found NSMBWii to be excellent. It's a bit bland on the presentation but it offers really fun level design and an excellent multiplayer component.

 

[metalslimer]

They could at least not recycle the same music from the wii version.



You should play more platformers.

I have played many platformers thank you very much and NSMBW's level design is great. I love SMW and SMB3, but in terms of complexity in level design NSMBW easily wins there. NSMBW's music and art style are still trash though but dat level design is awesome.

 

[butter_stick]

Lazy would be not making the game in the first place.

It's obviously not been designed purely for seasoned platformer-pro Gaffers, nor should it, realistically.

I don't want it to be difficult, I just want some effort put in to it's production.

 

[Drago]

I wish Nintendo would drop the kiddy gloves and fuck the super guide and just make a brutal Super Meat Ball-esque difficult Mario.

This will never happen

 

[metalslimer]

This will never happen

And I never want it to...at least not for the main game. Offering secret balls hard worlds like World 9 in NSMBW but I don't play Mario for that kind of difficulty. Also there is no good reason Nintendo hasn't released their tools for a level creator in the NSMB games. I guess they don't want people to see how easy it is to make those levels (not design because level design is much harder).

 

[Currygan]

I don't need to play it to be ale to tell not a lot of effort has been put in to the game from a visuals standpoint, nd the reviews in this thread seem to be confirming it's rather uninspired in terms of gameplay.

visuals seem functional to me, which is not to say they're spectacular nor awful. yes they played it safe, but "safe" in Nintendo's vucabulary means still better than average. They may have recycled assets and music, I agree with you here, but honestly, it's a 3D handheld Mario. IGN's review seems rather positive from a gameplay standpoint but then again, I'll be my judge when I play it

 

[Amir0x]

I don't know I've played lazy phoned-in Mario for generations now in terms of difficulty, I'd like for them to try to push gamer skills a bit at this point. I could barely stay awake in order to get to the juicy bits of NSMB Wii at the end. It's getting lame at this point.

Super Meat Boy had the best level design of any platformer I can think of (and in my view it's easily as good as the best Mario games), so being difficult doesn't change quality.

Nintendo really approaching a genuinely difficult game would be unprecedented and amazing.

 

[Drago]

And I never want it to...at least not for the main game. Offering secret balls hard worlds like World 9 in NSMBW but I don't play Mario for that kind of difficulty.

Yeah, something like this would be optimal. Maybe a super-hard mode could be fun if done correctly... a World 1 with World 8 difficulty would be something to see

 

[AdventureRacing]

NSMB Wii is as good as any platformer in the last two worlds, really brilliant stuff.

It's just that getting to that point feels boring as shit, everything is so easy and generally autopiloted in. Didn't feel engaging. I wish Nintendo would drop the kiddy gloves and fuck the super guide and just make a brutal Super Meat Ball-esque difficult Mario.

This is unrealistic to me (as cool as it would be) but i don't see why the first few worlds have to be so easy. People seemed to handle SMB3 and it was much harder all the way through than NSMBwii.

Super Meat Boy had the best level design of any platformer I can think of (and in my view it's easily as good as the best Mario games), so being difficult doesn't change quality.

I still prefer N+, but i'm a sucker for co-op.

 

[metalslimer]

I don't know I've played lazy phoned-in Mario for generations now in terms of difficulty, I'd like for them to try to push gamer skills a bit at this point. I could barely stay awake in order to get to the juicy bits of NSMB Wii at the end. It's getting lame at this point.

Super Meat Boy had the best level design of any platformer I can think of (and in my view it's easily as good as the best Mario games), so being difficult doesn't change quality.

Nintendo really approaching a genuinely difficult game would be unprecedented and amazing.

Yeah, maybe Nintendo should innovate a way to do difficulty levels in platformers because while I love SMB I just wouldn't want a Mario game that difficult. Mario is fun to relax with and play with kids. Making a Mario game SMB level would basically turn it off to a lot of people. I realize you don't care about them, but Mario is something I like playing with my kid cousin. And when there was no multiplayer we would pass the controller.

I do agree the first 4 or so worlds of NSMBW could have been much harder than they actually were.

 

[butter_stick]

visuals seem functional to me, which is not to say they're spectacular nor awful. yes they played it safe, but "safe" in Nintendo's vucabulary means still better than average. They may have recycled assets and music, I agree with you here, but honestly, it's a 3D handheld Mario. IGN's review seems rather positive from a gameplay standpoint but then again, I'll be my judge when I play it

I'm sure the game is fine. I'm still gonna buy it. I just don't understand why they're so fucking lazy. Nintendo are capable of making great games, not just "yeah it's ok" games.

 

[bryehn]

I have played many platformers thank you very much and NSMBW's level design is great. I love SMW and SMB3, but in terms of complexity in level design NSMBW easily wins there. NSMBW's music and art style are still trash though but dat level design is awesome.

I can agree with that, but overall presentation is a big deal to me. I'm 35 with a kid, I don't need to waste 8 hours in a game just to get to the good stuff and if I'm playing something for that long I want to be blown away at least once. I'm actually with Amirox on this, make a new, hard-as-nails Mario game, even with the old 8-bit graphics and physics and I'd be all over it.

 

[lowrider007]

I just want to weigh in the NSMBWii love, it's one my favourite Mario plat-formers actually and I've played them all, my favourite being SMB2.

I'm still waiting on the EU release of NSMB2, I'm not sure how I feel atm, I'm usually quite obsessive about collecting coins so I'm hoping this game will offer some good reply value, I'll always be excited for a new 2d Mario platformer but that being said I do feel they need to move on now and change it up a little.

 

[butter_stick]

No Mario game is hard. I don't need them to be hard, they just need to be visually interesting and the level design needs to be varied.

 

[Amir0x]

I guess I just expect more then. If I don't feel challenged, then the games don't feel rewarding. Don't people crave that feeling of genuine accomplishment from games? I thought that was sort of a big part of the appeal of the Dark Souls/Demon Souls games. I also felt that was why a lot of people have such a nostalgia for NES gen games, because a lot of them were really quite hard and when people beat them they felt special for it.

It's obviously just the way I approached games, but I was under the impression a lot of people want that feeling. F-Zero GX is for me the greatest racing game ever because it had the greatest difficultly slope ever, and by the end you knew genuinely that your gaming skill had improved to such a degree that you were better for it. The accomplishment for beating everything was akin to a high.

 

[hatchx]

I honestly don't think this game has had a long development cycle. Maybe 8-9 months.

 

[metalslimer]

No Mario game is hard. I don't need them to be hard, they just need to be visually interesting and the level design needs to be varied.

What they could do is change the bullshit fire,desert,grass, beach motifs and do some actual new design.

More stuff like this please

This is why I'm pumped for NSMBU

 

[bryehn]

No Mario game is hard. I don't need them to be hard, they just need to be visually interesting and the level design needs to be varied.

That concept (as far as 2D) died with Wario Land: Shake I think. Even that game had some rather simple design, but it was great at changing up the look and mechanics every so often.

 

[Amir0x]

it'd be really cool if they made a Mario game where every world is inspired by a different painters art style

 

[Anth0ny]

You don't consider the most well designed, funnest, hardest, and most innovative 2D Mario game ever made "amazing"? Ookay.

Stages are boring and straight forward, wouldn't call the game well designed. Didn't find it particularly more fun than any other Mario game, multiplayer did nothing for me. Definitely not the hardest, all the NES Marios are harder and SMB2J wipes the floor with it. And most innovative? you must be trolling.

The game can't hold a candle to SMB3, World or Yoshi's Island. It's still has it's moments, though. Last two worlds are great!

 

[metalslimer]

I guess I just expect more then. If I don't feel challenged, then the games don't feel rewarding. Don't people crave that feeling of genuine accomplishment from games? I thought that was sort of a big part of the appeal of the Dark Souls/Demon Souls games. I also felt that was why a lot of people have such a nostalgia for NES gen games, because a lot of them were really quite hard and when people beat them they felt special for it.

It's obviously just the way I approached games, but I was under the impression a lot of people want that feeling. F-Zero GX is for me the greatest racing game ever because it had the greatest difficultly slope ever, and by the end you knew genuinely that your gaming skill had improved to such a degree that you were better for it. The accomplishment for beating everything was akin to a high.

I do feel like this for some games, but I don't want every game to be Super Meat Boy or Demon's Souls level difficult to enjoy a game. A lot of the time I just like to go through the game with a moderate difficulty level. Die a few times sure, but still be able to overcome it.

Stages are boring and straight forward

I really wish someone do an analysis of NSMBW vs SMB3 and SMW because after recently replaying both of those I didn't see anything complex in their level design at all.

 

[Spieler Eins]

No Mario game is hard. I don't need them to be hard, they just need to be visually interesting and the level design needs to be varied.

Yeah, NSMBWii had the right balance of difficulty but in the end other things are equally important in the whole picture, while it also depends what the game is trying to accomplish.
I love the shit out of my Contra games, etc., but I also enjoyed Kirbys Epic Yarn. Probably even more than Rayman, Donkey Kong Country Returns and so on recently.

 

[Amir0x]

I do feel like this for some games, but I don't want every game to be Super Meat Boy or Demon's Souls level difficult to enjoy a game. A lot of the time I just like to go through the game with a moderate difficulty level. Die a few times sure, but still be able to overcome it.

I agree, that variety should be there. But since almost every Mario game has only dared to reach a certain level of challenge, wouldn't it be really bold and daring if they went there and did something genuinely tough? They already are making eighteen NSMB games, and it doesn't seem like it's turning out too amazing in this route, so do you feel they have room to make another Mario game focused on something truly different (in the type of way Mario Galaxy was)?

 

[butter_stick]

They should make a Waluigi game that's just a rock hard 2D platformer.

 

[metalslimer]

Well I feel like the getting the coins in world 9 of NSMBW certainly went there in terms of difficulty. I wouldn't mind an ultra hard throw back 2d Mario as long as they made a separate one. I feel like this is a bigger problem with the overall industry right now. Developers are trying to squeeze more and more sales out of games and that means appealing to the lowest denominator.

 

[lowrider007]

I guess I just expect more then. If I don't feel challenged, then the games don't feel rewarding. Don't people crave that feeling of genuine accomplishment from games? I thought that was sort of a big part of the appeal of the Dark Souls/Demon Souls games. I also felt that was why a lot of people have such a nostalgia for NES gen games, because a lot of them were really quite hard and when people beat them they felt special for it.

It's obviously just the way I approached games, but I was under the impression a lot of people want that feeling. F-Zero GX is for me the greatest racing game ever because it had the greatest difficultly slope ever, and by the end you knew genuinely that your gaming skill had improved to such a degree that you were better for it. The accomplishment for beating everything was akin to a high.

I think part of their appeal is that they are generally pretty easy going, I was never really a fan of the the older brutal nes games, Mario games were a shining beacon amongst them in terms of difficulty for me.

 

[Amir0x]

Well I feel like the getting the coins in world 9 of NSMBW certainly went there in terms of difficulty. I wouldn't mind an ultra hard throw back 2d Mario as long as they made a separate one.

Well I agree, world 9 was where it was at. World 8 and 9 were really the only parts of the game that engaged me because of the relatively more difficult challenge and really groundbreaking challenges they offered.

I just would want that sort of thing expanded over the length of a full product, is all

 

[metalslimer]

Well I agree, world 9 was where it was at. World 8 and 9 were really the only parts of the game that engaged me because of the relatively more difficult challenge and really groundbreaking challenges they offered.

I just would want that sort of thing expanded over the length of a full product, is all

Well how did you feel about Galaxy 2 because honestly that game was pretty easy most of the time. Is it really the difficulty that's the issue or is the horrible music, horrible art, and lack of innovation that makes the game boring? Do you think you would enjoy a 2d Mario that had the same level of difficulty but looked like the 2d stages in galaxy, had wonderful music, and loads of cool presentation? Because I loved Galaxy 2 despite the lack of early difficulty.