Support NeoGAF

[Green Mamba]

Open world Mario versus Tight platforming, short level Mario is different Mario

I know, but like I said, there are some roughly comparable stages in the Galaxy titles that I don't think would have been enhanced by a forgiving but gratuitous timer.

Oh yeah I see what you mean now. I personally find the cat attack more useful than 64's punch or Galaxies spin (only used that for jumps) but I can see that being a bummer if you used them a lot. I agree the suits have enough abilities to stand on their own without the attack so taking it away seems unnecessary. Maybe they thought always being able to attack would make the game too easy?

That's possible. I will agree with you that the Cat Suit's attack is nuts, probably the best frontal attack in 3D Mario.

The more I play this game, the more I miss the triple jump, the more I'm annoying at the nerfed athletics, and the more I dislike the run button and tiered running speeds. This is still a great, very fun game, but the it can't compare to the Galaxy titles if only for the controls + moveset. I want so badly to #MARIOSWAG my way through these levels, but the character control is kind of boring to be honest. I find myself abusing the spinning jump and rolling long jump just to get that feeling back. And so many levels end with the "1-2-3" steps right before the flag pole like they're taunting me. THEY KNOW I AIN'T GOT NO TRIPLE JUMP, WHY DEY GOTTA DO THOSE STEPS LIKE THAT?

Finally, someone who shares my pain. Like those tiered steps leading to the flagpole on all of the boss stages are just asking for some double jump to triple jump action, but no dice. But yes, I absolutely agree that the moveset is too limited. The long jump and somersault are too gimped to be as useful as they used to be (and I especially don't like how you slide if you long jump into an incline, but maybe I'm doing something wrong) and while the spin jump and roll jump are appreciated, they have their own problems (the spin jump is absolutely momentum killing, and the roll jump is a little too unwieldy to be as helpful as it should). Here's to hoping they weren't lying when they said this wasn't necessarily the future of the series, because I want those acrobatics back.

The triple jump's disappearance is completely bizarre, when you consider that it's even in New Super Mario Bros. I can't think of any reason to not have it.

 

[Anth0ny]

So I got my game today, and I just finished the first four worlds. It's been awesome so far.

However, a couple of things have been bugging the FUCK out of me.

The time between finishing a level and starting the next is way longer than it needs to be.

So I finish a level.

1) "Course clear!" screen. Sure. Score gets calculated based on my time. Why do we have scores again in Mario games still? I'm playing single player.

2) Red screen with my score in tiny font in the middle, just in case I missed it... okay.

3) Back to the overworld. Look how many green stars you have! 28... 29... 30!

4) Golden line on the overworld slooooooooooowly gets drawn out to the next stage. Fuck.

5)Saving. Saving. Saving. Because I just MUST save after every stage, right? They couldn't mask this shit better? Why can't I just manually save when I feel like it? Does it have to auto save after I complete every. single. level?

6) "Save complete!" WOW THANKS I DIDN'T KNOW. Then they give me an option to select "ok". Like really? Is that really necessary? Can I say no?

7) I run to the next stage and enter it. World 5-1 screen! Now here's three seconds to choose your character EVERY time I enter a new stage. Every. Single. Time.

Am I the only one finding this a little fucking tedious? They couldn't speed this shit up at all? It feels like they only tested it on multiplayer mode and gave no fucks about possibly streamlining the experience for single player mode. Some of this stuff seems easily fixable.

Another thing that I'm having a really hard time getting used to is the run button. For some reason, I didn't have much of a problem with it while playing 3D Land. Maybe because it was on a handheld? I guess after hundreds of hours with the Galaxy games, having to hold the B button at all times while holding the Wii Remote + Nunchuk is a little jarring. I have yet to let go of B as long as I've been playing, so... why? Fuck a run button in 3D Mario. Galaxies, Sunshine and 64 were FINE without it!


These small things are really killing me here, because the game is SO GOOD, so they stand out! The art style is sublime, the subtle differences between the characters are great, the music is good, level design fantastic... but then you get those little things, like having to wait at least a minute between stages, and a god damn run button that's going to give me carpal tunnel by the time I'm finished with this game.

It's like two tiny scratches on a new Ferrari.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

that saving after every.single.level is one of those small things that always gets me over the course of 100+ levels, along with all the score adding. Like anybody seriously gives a jolly green fuck about score in a Mario game.

 

[evilromero]

I'm curious how this sold over the weekend. I figured if they were significant Nintendo would have issued a press release.

 

[Dion Blaster]

I am all for axing the run button and timer. And bringing back the triple jump, as well as giving the long jump and side jump (what is the official name for this btw?) their 64 usefulness.

Hopefully the next Mario accommodates all these things.

that saving after every.single.level is one of those small things that always gets me over the course of 100+ levels, along with all the score adding. Like anybody seriously gives a jolly green fuck about score in a Mario game.

Funnily enough this was one of my favorite improvements for Mario Galaxy 2. I can't remember what the process was exactly but saving was so much faster in G2, as well as just getting to the next level. If the hub isn't amazing like Mario 64 I'd rather spend as little time there as possible.

 

[Yes Boss!]

It's an testament to what you can get done in 300 or 400 seconds. There are many levels where it's difficult to get all 3 Star Coins and stamps in one setting. This will force you to re-evaluate levels and do more exploration for the Stars/Stamp you missed.

And not just to add tension but to also add a lot more replay of each level. Making tealtome decisions about what to go for.

They also do this by putting goodies everywhere. That us why that one level with the infinite coin block near the flag pole was so awesome.

And: Holy crap this game is huge. Keeps going and going!

 

[Anth0ny]

that saving after every.single.level is one of those small things that always gets me over the course of 100+ levels, along with all the score adding. Like anybody seriously gives a jolly green fuck about score in a Mario game.

It blows my mind that EAD fucking Tokyo of all teams didn't play through the game once or twice and think "hmm, that's not really important, is it? Maybe we don't need to show the high score on TWO screens at the end of 100+ levels in this game."

Who's the asshole that still cares about high scores in Mario games at Nintendo? It must be Miyamoto or some shit. That shit didn't matter in the original Super Mario Bros, let alone the 500th entry in the series 25+ years later.

 

[HoJu]

I think some of that is to mask the loading times.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

Finally, someone who shares my pain. Like those tiered steps leading to the flagpole on all of the boss stages are just asking for some double jump to triple jump action, but no dice. But yes, I absolutely agree that the moveset is too limited. The long jump and somersault are too gimped to be as useful as they used to be (and I especially don't like how you slide if you long jump into an incline, but maybe I'm doing something wrong) and while the spin jump and roll jump are appreciated, they have their own problems (the spin jump is absolutely momentum killing, and the roll jump is a little to unwieldy to be as helpful as it should). Here's to hoping they weren't lying when they said this wasn't necessarily the future of the series, because I want those acrobatics back.

The triple jump's disappearance is completely bizarre, when you consider that it's even in New Super Mario Bros. I can't think of any reason to not have it.

The game's also missing that punchy Luma-spin from Galaxy (the Wii mote shake spin). That move is AMAZING on such a basic visceral level, never mind what it does for platforming, that it absolutely should've been made a default part of Mario's moveset. Knocking enemies around with it feels so good, as does extending long jumps, and using it after side flip wall jumps because MLG.

I just want Super Mario Parkour again. Why much they constantly shuffle and mess with all of these great moves. Just give me all of them and keep adding more.

 

[evilromero]

It blows my mind that EAD fucking Tokyo of all teams didn't play through the game once or twice and think "hmm, that's not really important, is it? Maybe we don't need to show the high score on TWO screens at the end of 100+ levels in this game."

Who's the asshole that still cares about high scores in Mario games at Nintendo? It must be Miyamoto or some shit. That shit didn't matter in the original Super Mario Bros, let alone the 500th entry in the series 25+ years later.

What's strange is how they've moved backwards in that regard. There was no point score in 64 or Galaxy. Who actually cares about that shit anymore?

 

[Dion Blaster]

It blows my mind that EAD fucking Tokyo of all teams didn't play through the game once or twice and think "hmm, that's not really important, is it? Maybe we don't need to show the high score on TWO screens at the end of 100+ levels in this game."

Who's the asshole that still cares about high scores in Mario games at Nintendo? It must be Miyamoto or some shit. That shit didn't matter in the original Super Mario Bros, let alone the 500th entry in the series 25+ years later.

I still get a kick out of imagining someone at Nintendo play-testing Skyward Sword and saying "man these item descriptions every time I start the game up again are really great! I almost forgot the monster claw looks painful to touch."It was a real shame because I really enjoyed collecting stuff in that game.

 

[Pachinko]

I can see some of the control complaints, the game had to be gimped a bit in that regard so that it was playable with a wii mote (although only just, using Z to duck on that thing is an ergonomic nightmare). I've noticed even with a standard gamepad the controls aren't really analog but instead 8 way to accommodate the Dpad if you so desire.

That said, I finished the main game tonight and overall it has some of my favorite levels in any 3D mario title , unlike 3D land on the 3DS I was never frustrated in this game, it was always 100% my fault whenever anything went wrong for me. One of the levels in particular , a mad dash across narrow platforms over lava took me nearly 25 lives because I was attempting to get all 3 stars. Every single death was carelessness or cockiness.

Even a much later level in the game punished me in a reasonable fashion. There are giant blocks you have to stay upright on and if you pay attention as the player, the game literally shows you through fantastic game design , how to stay upright through some enemies running with you. No sloppy tutorial or screen filling hint, just pay attention and play like it should be. Which made me laugh that much harder when the majority of the miiverse postings all bitched about how the level was too hard or that they didn't ever want to play it again, etc etc.

Honestly, my only minor and I mean MINOR gripe is the lack of new/exciting boss fights.

Spoiler

By my recollection you have bowser throwing explosive soccer balls, this is done twice. You fight Boom Boom and Pom Pom as castle bosses, which is kind of lame because they are normally just minibosses. The Giant snake gets beaten up twice as does the clown koopa thing. The games actual minibosses aren't too special either , fight a giant boulder (not as good as galaxies) twice, The armored dude that gets sucked into the pipes was alright... and again they make you fight him twice. The best boss in the game was actually Knick Knack , the boss of world 5. I get spoiled by the more classic mario 64 style 3D entry because there are usually a dozen + worlds and each one has it's own boss, some of them have 2 AND you get to fight bowser a few times. Galaxy had some fantastic boss fights so I guess we got spoiled there. The final bowser encounter was pretty damn good though, I'm still partial to the final boss fight with him in the first galaxy but I think the donkey kong style endurance run up the tower was pretty neat.

 

[Doorman]

One of my favorite things about Mario 64 is the varied move set and how it allows for all kinds of shenanigans. Just fucking around in the levels was so fun,

When it comes to the "just dicking around" quotient, Super Mario Sunshine is still my favorite game to go to. I don't even know how much time I've spent just toying around in Delfino Plaza doing rooftop runs or doing laps around the whole waterway using the turbo nozzle.

The 3D Land/World model, even the Galaxy model to a slightly lesser extent, probably does a better job of bringing Mario to his "roots"in terms of your goal being to navigate some sort of platforming challenge, but I do think there was still something to be had in the SM64/Sunshine design of being more open and exploration-based. I suppose if it's exploration you want you can technically look to Zelda or Metroid, but neither of them share Mario's sense of control or fluidity of 3-D movement. I think it's possible for all styles of Mario to rotate and co-exist, from 2-D to 3-D "directed" to 3-D "open," or maybe if they want the 3D World style of Mario to continue moving forward, they can introduce some other IP to handle the exploratory platformer segment. I'm feeling lately like it's been too long since Nintendo itself developed a game that had a truly grand scope like that, which isn't to say these more focused efforts aren't great.

 

[Daouzin]

Who's the asshole that still cares about high scores in Mario games at Nintendo? It must be Miyamoto or some shit. That shit didn't matter in the original Super Mario Bros, let alone the 500th entry in the series 25+ years later.

I care

Plus it's fun to try to steal the crown from people......

 

[Dion Blaster]

I still think a more platform-centric 3D Metroid would be fantastic. Platforming, exploring, fighting some enemies here and there. Although I personally wasn't as enamored with the Prime setup as most others.

It would be really fun if Samus had a Mario-esqe moveset. Not exactly the same of course, but something to make her feel as agile as Super Metroid.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

So, are Boom-Boom and Pom-Pom siblings, or lovers?

I thought it was the latter, till

Spoiler

the credits show the size difference between the two, and how she gives him a sisterly pat on the back...it was pretty cute

 

[Anth0ny]

What's strange is how they've moved backwards in that regard. There was no point score in 64 or Galaxy. Who actually cares about that shit anymore?

EXACTLY. It's like they had a meeting one day and were like "ok, we need to fuse 3D and 2D Mario together somehow cause 2D outsells 3D like 3 to 1. Lets bring back the linear level design, flagpoles... and high scores! gotta bring those high scores back."

I still get a kick out of imagining someone at Nintendo play-testing Skyward Sword and saying "man these item descriptions every time I start the game up again are really great! I almost forgot the monster claw looks painful to touch."It was a real shame because I really enjoyed collecting stuff in that game.

Don't even get me started on Zelda, lol. Luckily they seem to have FINALLY learned their lesson with Link Between Worlds.


The moveset (or useless-ness of the moveset) is another pet peeve I've been having. Galaxy kinda had this problem too, but it's even worse in 3D Land/World.

Compare Mario's moveset in 64:

-Punch, punch, kick (b+b+b)
-Jump kick (a, hold back, b). Helped with precise jumps, or starting a triple jump quickly.
-Crouching kick (z+b)
-Diving kick (run+z+b)
-Dive (run+b)
-super precise wall jump that makes you go super far and gives you a ton of control in the air. btw you can wall jump out of a long jump or triple jump, which feels amazing.
-awesome, high side jump
-awesome, high back flip
-awesome, LONG long jump that carries your momentum like a god
-triple jump.

to 3D World:

-the b button makes you fucking run
-weird rolling long jump that is awkward to input and barely gets you anywhere
-regular long jump that goes nowhere and sucks shit, carries no momentum
-wall jump that gives you ZERO air control, useless
-wonky ass back flip. totally useless.
-useless spin jump. very little air control compared to the great spin jump in Sunshine.
-mediocre side jump, much less control than in 64
-no triple jump

It's sad how many steps back they've taken since 64. Mario was a god damn ninja in that game.


Again, not hating on the game. The controls aren't bad by any means, but I've found little reason to use anything but running and jumping, and maybe the odd long jump just for shits and giggles. Versus SM64 where I was long jumping, triple jumping and diving all over the god damn place. So fun ^_^

I care

Plus it's fun to try to steal the crown from people......

Oh yeah, I can see it being kinda fun in multiplayer, I guess.

I will never play 3D World multiplayer :|

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

I imagine limiting Mario overall had to do with making all the characters feel balanced and unique.

If all of them had that level of acrobatics + their own unique skills, it'd be a bit overwhelming I think. Imagine Peach with all that plus her floating skills.

 

[The Bankslammer]

okay just finished up to unlocking the bonus character

oh man fucking godlike final boss battle, had me rolling right up to the end. well fucking done.

super hype to get to the really difficult stages. having trouble deciding between using the bonus character and continuing with toad. maybe i'll switch between them.

up until now i thought the game was amazing but still a rung lower than galaxies, but now... oh man, it's really close contention. i'm excited.

 

[japtor]

Oh yeah I see what you mean now. I personally find the cat attack more useful than 64's punch or Galaxies spin (only used that for jumps) but I can see that being a bummer if you used them a lot. I agree the suits have enough abilities to stand on their own without the attack so taking it away seems unnecessary. Maybe they thought always being able to attack would make the game too easy?

The frontal attack was always weird to me, probably since it only began with 64. And yeah I think it makes dealing with enemies too easy. When I played Galaxy 2 I noticed it immediately, it's basically like being powered up from the start (on top of being able to take 3 hits). And then playing with Rosalina was ridiculous...but made the 10 star Mystery House brawl easy, she is a goddamn killing machine for that.

Yes but imagine how much longer it could last if the screen could be turned completely off.

It can. Home button -> Controller Settings -> Display off

Funnily enough this was one of my favorite improvements for Mario Galaxy 2. I can't remember what the process was exactly but saving was so much faster in G2, as well as just getting to the next level. If the hub isn't amazing like Mario 64 I'd rather spend as little time there as possible.

Heh getting to the next level bugged me like hell in SMG2. The ship as a (poor) hub, jump to pad, pick galaxy, pick star. Then if you get some side quest star you get kicked out of the level and you have to do the level select again as well as repeat whatever else in the level you already did.

When it comes to the "just dicking around" quotient, Super Mario Sunshine is still my favorite game to go to. I don't even know how much time I've spent just toying around in Delfino Plaza doing rooftop runs or doing laps around the whole waterway using the turbo nozzle.

The 3D Land/World model, even the Galaxy model to a slightly lesser extent, probably does a better job of bringing Mario to his "roots"in terms of your goal being to navigate some sort of platforming challenge, but I do think there was still something to be had in the SM64/Sunshine design of being more open and exploration-based. I suppose if it's exploration you want you can technically look to Zelda or Metroid, but neither of them share Mario's sense of control or fluidity of 3-D movement. I think it's possible for all styles of Mario to rotate and co-exist, from 2-D to 3-D "directed" to 3-D "open," or maybe if they want the 3D World style of Mario to continue moving forward, they can introduce some other IP to handle the exploratory platformer segment. I'm feeling lately like it's been too long since Nintendo itself developed a game that had a truly grand scope like that, which isn't to say these more focused efforts aren't great.

Yeah Sunshine was my favorite for screwing around. I'm not sure what the ideal is cause it's all kind of opposing...maybe expand on what 3D World is doing with the world map and turn each map into a big ass thing like Delfino, and have some simple level select as an option. Kind of like Nintendo Land where you could go to stuff in the plaza or just jump into the menu.

 

[iavi]

How about the classic controller?

Classic Controller works fine, but is horrible for this game. The sticks were never the greatest, and the button placement is awkward. I'd almost prefer to use the straight wiimote turned on its ass over the CC... but that dpad ain't the business.

I never wanted the Pro controller as much as I want it now, till I got a little mario in my system.

 

[Megatron]

Classic Controller works fine, but is horrible for this game. The sticks were never the greatest, and the button placement is awkward. I'd almost prefer to use the straight wiimote turned on its ass over the CC... but that dpad ain't the business.

I never wanted the Pro controller as much as I want it now, till I got a little mario in my system.

Yeah, so glad I scooped it up when best buy had t for $25

 

[freethoughtbubble]

I'm assuming the triple jump was removed to ensure jump uniformity. Some of the later stages in particular require a surprising amount of precision for a 3d platformer -- there are bottomless pits everywhere. Maybe that led to inadvertent triples at inopportune times? Only thing I can think of.

Man, I must be the only one who really loves the run button. Reminds me of the 2d games. Having two gears really helps when navigating narrow platforms or traversing those rolling obstacles. Also the little sonic boom is just dope lol.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

I'm assuming the triple jump was removed to ensure jump uniformity. Some of the later stages in particular require a surprising amount of precision for a 3d platformer -- there are bottomless pits everywhere. Maybe that led to inadvertent triples at inopportune times? Only thing I can think of.

Man, I must be the only one who really loves the run button. Reminds me of the 2d games. Having two gears really helps when navigating narrow platforms or traversing those rolling obstacles. Also the little sonic boom is just dope lol.

I love the run button as well and hope it stays in all future 3D Mario games.

 

[Eusis]

Popped in again after clearing Zelda.

Oh man, I REALLY wish they'd go with this kind of music for NSMB rather than bah-bah-bah crap and constant straight recycling. It's a huge part of what makes the series feel so blandly homogeneous, nevermind it's some of the worst kind of music to keep recycling.

 

[Telephoto999]

Just made it to

Spoiler

second set of bonus worlds

And my god is it getting hard. Loveee this game. Game. Of. The. FOREVER.

 

[freethoughtbubble]

I love the run button as well and hope it stays in all future 3D Mario games.

Yeah, it's funny I thought I would hate it, but now I'm not sure I can live without it. (Although, I guess it wouldn't serve a real purpose in the open world games...)

 

[EdibleKnife]

Popped in again after clearing Zelda.

Oh man, I REALLY wish they'd go with this kind of music for NSMB rather than bah-bah-bah crap and constant straight recycling. It's a huge part of what makes the series feel so blandly homogeneous, nevermind it's some of the worst kind of music to keep recycling.

LOL you and Jeff think exactly the same: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hAg8Yo4yis

 

[Anth0ny]

Man, I must be the only one who really loves the run button. Reminds me of the 2d games. Having two gears really helps when navigating narrow platforms or traversing those rolling obstacles. Also the little sonic boom is just dope lol.

What would you say you spent the majority of the game doing, running or walking?

One of the big features they were trying to sell with the N64 controller and it's analog stick was the ability for Mario to tip toe, walk, jog and run depending on how you tilted the stick. You can still EASILY have two gears (or more) without having to glue your finger to the run button for 99% of the game. Analog sticks have been capable of this without the help of a button since 1996.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

Man, I must be the only one who really loves the run button. Reminds me of the 2d games. Having two gears really helps when navigating narrow platforms or traversing those rolling obstacles. Also the little sonic boom is just dope lol.

I love the speed burst, but I wish we could manually initiate it and not have to hold a button or run in a circle to get it started. Like if coming out of a roll while running gave you that burst.

 

[freethoughtbubble]

I love the speed burst, but I wish we could manually initiate it and not have to hold a button or run in a circle to get it started. Like if coming out of a roll while running gave you that burst.

Yeah, I can agree with that. Either that or have the speed ramp up gradually instead of activate all at once.

 

[Silent_Ocarina]

Since I've been preoccupied with A Link Between Worlds, I only just finished the very first Ghost House. Man, this is blast to play with others. I have a lot of small complaints, including Mario's gimped moveset, the saving in between every single level, and that stupid timer, but I'm having such a good time that I just ignore all of that.

My sister was instantly charmed by so many things in this game. I was actually a bit nervous because she didn't seem too into it the first two levels, but Plessie got her. Then we went into that shadow level, and she loved saving the Toad from that shadow. Then came the level in which the microphone use was introduced. She thought it was really cool and found it cute that the tiny Goombas were blown away as well. She was also in awe with the Double Cherry, much more so than I expected. It was really fun. We went to the brigade level, and she was so amazed when I got the Cannon Block (how do you remove those, anyway?). She got jealous when I got the Propeller Block in the snow level but instantly became happy when she got on Kuribo's Shoe. She was so sad when she lost it! She got the Tanooki Leaf after and was happy until she realized she couldn't fly (she hadn't played Super Mario 3D Land). And that Ghost House was just icing on the cake. She got on the couch and started shouting excitedly when it started floating away. We got played by that Fake 1-Up (surprisingly, we were starving for 1-Ups at this point, straddling between 1 and 9 lives and I don't want to resort to 1-Up tricks).

I'm sorry I'm rambling on and on with no reference to specific level numbers, but Super Mario 3D World just captures that same feeling I had playing games with my sisters as children. I'm actually going to hold off on playing much more until Christmas when all of my family come together. I'm so excited.

 

[AniHawk]

yeah.

yeah so i just beat that final boss. it wasn't very hard but it certainly was the most fun and inventive from a presentation standpoint since nsmbw's final boss.

gonna finish 100%ing the thing before writing up my final thoughts, but 3d land this is not.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

I think it's weird some people are upset that the game saves after every level. I love that feature. It means I can play the game for five or ten minutes if I want to. With the New Super Mario Bros. games, it only truly saves the game a few times per world. You can do the quick save but it deletes itself after a restart, so it's not the same thing. I'll take the save system in 3D World any day of the week.

The only thing I'm not a big fan of is having to hit "OK" after every save....but honestly it's not really a big deal and hardly worth getting upset over.

 

[freethoughtbubble]

What would you say you spent the majority of the game doing, running or walking?

Me, I'm constantly booking it, but then again I play toad When I'm not running, I'm jogging. I do this by letting go of the run button. Works perfectly in my experience.

One of the big features they were trying to sell with the N64 controller and it's analog stick was the ability for Mario to tip toe, walk, jog and run depending on how you tilted the stick. You can still EASILY have two gears (or more) without having to glue your finger to the run button for 99% of the game. Analog sticks have been capable of this without the help of a button since 1996.

What you're saying is true, I guess, but achieving the same thing with an analog stick requires a little more finesse on the player's part. I think mapping it to a binary button press is a more elegant solution in a game where one wrong move = insta-death. (The galaxies were much more forgiving games in that respect; 64/sunshine too.)

 

[Aeana]

yeah.

yeah so i just beat that final boss. it wasn't very hard but it certainly was the most fun and inventive from a presentation standpoint since nsmbw's final boss.

gonna finish 100%ing the thing before writing up my final thoughts, but 3d land this is not.

Well, that makes me interested in playing more!

 

[Silent_Ocarina]

I think it's weird some people are upset that the game saves after every level. I love that feature. It means I can play the game for five or ten minutes if I want to. With the New Super Mario Bros. games, it only truly saves the game a few times per world. You can do the quick save but it deletes itself after a restart, so it's not the same thing. I'll take the save system in 3D World any day of the week.

The only thing I'm not a big fan of is having to hit "OK" after every save....but honestly it's not really a big deal and hardly worth getting upset over.

That's exactly why people don't like it. Many games have an auto-save feature shown by some symbol in the corner (with a warning at the beginning of the game not to turn it off while that symbol is shown). In Super Mario 3D World, you can't move and must watch the game save, then press OK. It's definitely nitpicking, but it's a minor annoyance nonetheless.

 

[Teknoman]

Big Bounce Byway is PURE HAPPINESS.

You cant play that stage with that music and NOT be happy. I need this soundtrack.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

That's exactly why people don't like it. Many games have an auto-save feature shown by some symbol in the corner (with a warning at the beginning of the game not to turn it off while that symbol is shown). In Super Mario 3D World, you can't move and must watch the game save, then press OK. It's definitely nitpicking, but it's a minor annoyance nonetheless.

I guess I can see why it might be annoying....but it's like three seconds at most. I dunno, maybe I just have a hard time complaining about something like this when the game as a whole is so magical. On the other hand, if this is the type of stuff people are complaining about, the game must be truly something special.

 

[Lumyst]

Big Bounce Byway is PURE HAPPINESS.

You cant play that stage with that music and NOT be happy. I need this soundtrack.

I can only imagine the childish joy that would come from having 4 players "Wahooing" and "Yahooing" and bouncing around like kids

 

[Anteo]

What would you say you spent the majority of the game doing, running or walking?

One of the big features they were trying to sell with the N64 controller and it's analog stick was the ability for Mario to tip toe, walk, jog and run depending on how you tilted the stick. You can still EASILY have two gears (or more) without having to glue your finger to the run button for 99% of the game. Analog sticks have been capable of this without the help of a button since 1996.

For some reason, I walk a lot in 3dland/world. Only after I am familiar with the stage I run. So in my particular case I love the walk/run, and while you can use the analog for that, I dont think I can do i precisely, for example in smash I missed the tilt moves a 25% of the time and I played the game a lot, so I trust a run button more

 

[Pappasman]

The run button is probably my only complaint about this otherwise phenomenal game. It's completely out of place in a 3D game.

The moveset (or useless-ness of the moveset) is another pet peeve I've been having. Galaxy kinda had this problem too, but it's even worse in 3D Land/World.

Compare Mario's moveset in 64:

-Punch, punch, kick (b+b+b)
-Jump kick (a, hold back, b). Helped with precise jumps, or starting a triple jump quickly.
-Crouching kick (z+b)
-Diving kick (run+z+b)
-Dive (run+b)
-super precise wall jump that makes you go super far and gives you a ton of control in the air. btw you can wall jump out of a long jump or triple jump, which feels amazing.
-awesome, high side jump
-awesome, high back flip
-awesome, LONG long jump that carries your momentum like a god
-triple jump.

to 3D World:

-the b button makes you fucking run
-weird rolling long jump that is awkward to input and barely gets you anywhere
-regular long jump that goes nowhere and sucks shit, carries no momentum
-wall jump that gives you ZERO air control, useless
-wonky ass back flip. totally useless.
-useless spin jump. very little air control compared to the great spin jump in Sunshine.
-mediocre side jump, much less control than in 64
-no triple jump

It's sad how many steps back they've taken since 64. Mario was a god damn ninja in that game.


Again, not hating on the game. The controls aren't bad by any means, but I've found little reason to use anything but running and jumping, and maybe the odd long jump just for shits and giggles. Versus SM64 where I was long jumping, triple jumping and diving all over the god damn place. So fun ^_^
:|

This has been my main problem with Mario since Sunshine. Mario is so agile in 64 and his abilities were fun to use but also useful in doing advanced tech as well. 64 was such a fast paced game if you knew how to move mario.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

But yes, I absolutely agree that the moveset is too limited.

I don't think it's limited enough. I strongly prefer games that force you to master a small number of skills over those that give you tons of options but never really force you to become competent at using many of them.

This is why Lost Levels will probably always be my favorite Mario, even though I like most of them for what they are.

 

[Aaron Strife]

gonna finish 100%ing the thing before writing up my final thoughts, but 3d land this is not.

is this a good or bad thing coming from you

 

[WordAssassin]

I think the reason there's still a score in the recent Mario games is due to multiplayer. Yeah a lot of us are playing 3D World as a single player game but it can be played with 2-4 people competitively, just like NSMBW/NSMBU, hence the score? That's just my take on it. The big red screen is dumb as hell playing alone but I'm pretty sure that's where it tallies everyone's scores in multiplayer, right?

 

[AniHawk]

is this a good or bad thing coming from you

bad if you don't like it when 3d land gets dumped on i guess.

i think 3d land is down there with nsmb ds as one of the worst mario games. 3d world is pretty much everything 3d land should have been. actually, i don't really feel like i've seen any negatives so far- just stuff that's more or less not to my liking.

right now i think this is the best game i've played all year. i had good flashbacks to when i was 12 and reminded myself to wake up early on a saturday so i could play my brand new copy of super mario 64 (although the game itself was a bit old by then). had a good time with it this weekend before and after visiting family.

and what's crazy is that next up is the new zelda and tearaway. these are the three games i've been looking forward to all year and i can't imagine the possibility that they'll top each other one after the other.

edit: man i forgot about new super luigi u. that one still may be tops. too many good platformers this year.

 

[Hero]

I don't like holding down the run button in this game.

 

[dark10x]

I don't like holding down the run button in this game.

I love the run button...I just wish Mario could actually run. The game speed is still too slow. :\

 

[zroid]

I think the reason there's still a score in the recent Mario games is due to multiplayer. Yeah a lot of us are playing 3D World as a single player game but it can be played with 2-4 people competitively, just like NSMBW/NSMBU, hence the score? That's just my take on it. The big red screen is dumb as hell playing alone but I'm pretty sure that's where it tallies everyone's scores in multiplayer, right?

nah, that's a separate screen. the one you're referring to is mainly for Miiverse integration.

I agree though, battling for high-scores is made really fun in this game's multiplayer. I was playing with my friend earlier today and we had so many close calls. Sometimes split by as little as a couple hundred points. It's exciting!

 

[freethoughtbubble]

So I'm loving every moment with this game and even though I have a long way to go before I'm done with it, I just can't help feeling sad that it has to end and wondering when we'll get more...

Which led me to start thinking about other possibilities. Crazy possibilities:

1. Nintendo should release a NSLU-style expansion, only this time starring Yoshi. Call it Yoshi's 3d Island. Include a suite of hard as nails levels styled after the SNES classic. Yoshi returns with his signature flutter jump, tongue attack, and egg throwing abilities, the latter now controlled with either the wm+, analogue, or tilt. I'll buy a copy of this game every year for the rest of my natural life just out of principle.

2. Capcom collaborates with EAD Tokyo to develop the 3D Mega Man we've always dreamed of. This engine would be fucking perfect for this. Again, wm+ for shooting; crouch is slide. Each boss gets his own "world" filled with stages. Four players (rock, proto, bass, and a newly souped up roll). All at a rock solid 60 frames per second while looking even better than SM3DW. Fuck me, I'm destroyed that this will never, ever happen ;__;

Edit: and now you will be too...