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Super Mario Strikers (Official Thread?)
- Thread starter Mejilan
- Start date
Mejilan, how lucky you are to live near the NWS!
I'm looking forward to picking up Strikers tomorrow when my Gamestop gets it and I am going to look around the local best buys and targets tonight to see if I can get AC WW. Otherwise, I will pick that up tomorrow as well. I will await some more impressions on Power Tour before I decide to pick it up now or wait on it.
I'm looking forward to picking up Strikers tomorrow when my Gamestop gets it and I am going to look around the local best buys and targets tonight to see if I can get AC WW. Otherwise, I will pick that up tomorrow as well. I will await some more impressions on Power Tour before I decide to pick it up now or wait on it.
That soccer thing. Weird. Like a little itty bitty bean bag type thing. Odders.
I'll likely play Mario Tennis during the morning commute. I can't imagine it's bad, Mario Golf GBA was spectacular. Spectacularly easy, perhaps, but oh what fun!
*resumes hunting for ACWW friend code*
I'll likely play Mario Tennis during the morning commute. I can't imagine it's bad, Mario Golf GBA was spectacular. Spectacularly easy, perhaps, but oh what fun!
*resumes hunting for ACWW friend code*
Yeah, as expected, a slow beginning. The Lodge and Academy design is crappy. I thought Mario Golf GBA's was much better. In fact, in general, the graphics look worse.
Could be the one-time awesome and now totally-dated Golden Sun engine showing it's age, however. The same exact bleep-bloop speech is back. Music is nice, they even use the Inn rest theme from Golden Sun, if I'm not mistaken.
I haven't played a real game, just some of the junior training tutorials. But it looks, feels, and plays like Mario Tennis should.
Looks like it's going to be a pretty kick ass game.
Could be the one-time awesome and now totally-dated Golden Sun engine showing it's age, however. The same exact bleep-bloop speech is back. Music is nice, they even use the Inn rest theme from Golden Sun, if I'm not mistaken.
I haven't played a real game, just some of the junior training tutorials. But it looks, feels, and plays like Mario Tennis should.
Looks like it's going to be a pretty kick ass game.
dlobro1080
Member
I'll be getting it tomorrow. Impressions?
Patrick Klepek
furiously molesting tim burton
Super Mario Strikers kicks ass. I just wish I hadn't had two of my GCN controller stolen, or else I'd be picking this up in a heartbeat. 
John Harker
Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
Ahh Mej, gotta make these threads a day or two in advance so I can remember to go down there after work on mondays too 
Go back and play Mario Golf before you say that...Mejilan said:
The character models have jagged edges in that game, the face shots are ugly by comparison, and the blurry golf courses look terrible compared to the tennis courts due to their attempts at Mode 7-style 3D.
This'll have some minor spoilers and is crazily off-topic, but I love that game, so here's the answer to the power shots question, thoughts on why anyone might have low scores (in other words, a look at some of the main cons of the game), and general comments about what I liked...Memles said:
Power shots are used by enemies (and, optionally, by you) once you're past the junior class, but it's really not like the GC game where they can completely ruin gameplay, for three reasons:
A) Since it's a 2D perspective, there are no issues with disorienting camera angle switches and things of that nature.
B) The animations are a lot shorter.
C) The tennis academy players aren't on the level of Mario and company, so the power shots you're using and playing against are really tame until you're near the end. And, really, even though at least half the enemy players with a power shot brag about how you'll never be able to beat them, I never lost a match due to a broken power shot, but lost plenty of times to lobs or players who just plain had superior stats compared to me.
I think that, if anything, some of the negative impressions come from four things (not counting anti-Nintendo bias as a possibility =P):
1) Certain RPG elements play a smaller role than they did in Mario Golf. For example, you can't go out and buy improved rackets like you could with golf clubs, nor are there stat boost items to find other than a few 1-up mushrooms, and there's no world map. (Which isn't to say that the game is any smaller, because it's not.)
2) You have to play some minigames to get better power shots. Personally, I didn't mind because I think they're great, but I could see how someone who really only strictly wants to play tennis might get annoyed.
3) It actually seems like you're better off only levelling three of your four main stats (there are secondary stats as well), because the stat decay is such that if you try to improve all four, your well-roundedness is going to betray you against specialists.
4) You can't play practice rounds to gain experience in the single-player mode, as far as I can tell. Not that I really needed it since the levelling curve is more than fair enough, but still, I shouldn't have to play exhibition or start a new game to play the same set of opponents again. They play up the fact that ranking matches take precedence over others by having the coach ask everyone to clear the courts, but that seems sort of hypocritical since you yourself can't play non-ranking matches anyway.
Anyway, here are the positive points for me:
-Tennis seems to be inherently more gaming-friendly than golf, due to giving the player more interaction than just waiting for a bar to move into its proper position. I had a lot more fun with this than Mario Golf, and that was a good game in its own right.
-The game feels more tightly woven-together. Rather than having a bunch of different golf clubs around with identical entryways and just kind of giving off the illusion that you're a travelling athlete, the junior and senior tennis courts are right next to each other and the varsity court is pretty close as well. I like it that way; there are fewer wasted moments.
-Like I said, the 12 minigames (counting the machines, but not counting the coaches' lessons) are extremely fun for the most part. Nintendo's pretty much become the king of Flash-style minigames, so this really isn't a surprise... I'm not going to ruin what any of them are, but basically the overall set reminds me of Track and Field, except done in modern-day style and with little anime/Mario/Donkey Kong touches everywhere, controls that actually work, and endless modes. Old-school arcade-style goodness, basically.
-There are three save files.
-Your doubles partner this time around is actually skilled and isn't designed to naturally mess up every so often or hit inaccurately; his/her AI is permanently on the highest level as far as I can tell, so the only thing that can stop him/her from being good is bad stat distribution on the part of the player.
-The characters are more memorable; the dialogue is funnier, their personalities are shown off more, and their voices are pretty easily-distinguishable from one another.
-The graphics, most notably the character models, are almost infinitely cleaner; experience working with the GBA really served Camelot well.
-There are two default difficulty levels in the single-player mode, and another unlockable one.
-Not only is the music much better than Mario Golf in my opinion, but it's less repetitive. In MG, you'd be hearing the same theme for 18 holes straight and it got somewhat boring, to me, but here there's a theme that plays whenever you're on a game point, a theme for a set point or match point, and then are the themes that play for most of a match--and lots of them, one for each two ranks of a class, meaning two themes for the junior level, two for the senior, and so on. It just makes for a nice variety. The minigames each have different music as well.
A) Since it's a 2D perspective, there are no issues with disorienting camera angle switches and things of that nature.
B) The animations are a lot shorter.
C) The tennis academy players aren't on the level of Mario and company, so the power shots you're using and playing against are really tame until you're near the end. And, really, even though at least half the enemy players with a power shot brag about how you'll never be able to beat them, I never lost a match due to a broken power shot, but lost plenty of times to lobs or players who just plain had superior stats compared to me.
I think that, if anything, some of the negative impressions come from four things (not counting anti-Nintendo bias as a possibility =P):
1) Certain RPG elements play a smaller role than they did in Mario Golf. For example, you can't go out and buy improved rackets like you could with golf clubs, nor are there stat boost items to find other than a few 1-up mushrooms, and there's no world map. (Which isn't to say that the game is any smaller, because it's not.)
2) You have to play some minigames to get better power shots. Personally, I didn't mind because I think they're great, but I could see how someone who really only strictly wants to play tennis might get annoyed.
3) It actually seems like you're better off only levelling three of your four main stats (there are secondary stats as well), because the stat decay is such that if you try to improve all four, your well-roundedness is going to betray you against specialists.
4) You can't play practice rounds to gain experience in the single-player mode, as far as I can tell. Not that I really needed it since the levelling curve is more than fair enough, but still, I shouldn't have to play exhibition or start a new game to play the same set of opponents again. They play up the fact that ranking matches take precedence over others by having the coach ask everyone to clear the courts, but that seems sort of hypocritical since you yourself can't play non-ranking matches anyway.
Anyway, here are the positive points for me:
-Tennis seems to be inherently more gaming-friendly than golf, due to giving the player more interaction than just waiting for a bar to move into its proper position. I had a lot more fun with this than Mario Golf, and that was a good game in its own right.
-The game feels more tightly woven-together. Rather than having a bunch of different golf clubs around with identical entryways and just kind of giving off the illusion that you're a travelling athlete, the junior and senior tennis courts are right next to each other and the varsity court is pretty close as well. I like it that way; there are fewer wasted moments.
-Like I said, the 12 minigames (counting the machines, but not counting the coaches' lessons) are extremely fun for the most part. Nintendo's pretty much become the king of Flash-style minigames, so this really isn't a surprise... I'm not going to ruin what any of them are, but basically the overall set reminds me of Track and Field, except done in modern-day style and with little anime/Mario/Donkey Kong touches everywhere, controls that actually work, and endless modes. Old-school arcade-style goodness, basically.
-There are three save files.
-Your doubles partner this time around is actually skilled and isn't designed to naturally mess up every so often or hit inaccurately; his/her AI is permanently on the highest level as far as I can tell, so the only thing that can stop him/her from being good is bad stat distribution on the part of the player.
-The characters are more memorable; the dialogue is funnier, their personalities are shown off more, and their voices are pretty easily-distinguishable from one another.
-The graphics, most notably the character models, are almost infinitely cleaner; experience working with the GBA really served Camelot well.
-There are two default difficulty levels in the single-player mode, and another unlockable one.
-Not only is the music much better than Mario Golf in my opinion, but it's less repetitive. In MG, you'd be hearing the same theme for 18 holes straight and it got somewhat boring, to me, but here there's a theme that plays whenever you're on a game point, a theme for a set point or match point, and then are the themes that play for most of a match--and lots of them, one for each two ranks of a class, meaning two themes for the junior level, two for the senior, and so on. It just makes for a nice variety. The minigames each have different music as well.
Mario Tennis music was ALWAYS better than Mario Golf music, imho.
I suppose I can't really compare the graphics, since I'm playing this on a GBm, and I last played Mario Golf on a GBA SP v1.
Still, I will say that, aesthetically, I definitely prefer Mario Golf GBA. Like in the Golden Sun games, environments there looked curvier and lusher, just overall more detailed. Here they look cheaper, more... tiled and classic looking.
Played a bit more. Definitely liking it, though. A lot.
I suppose I can't really compare the graphics, since I'm playing this on a GBm, and I last played Mario Golf on a GBA SP v1.
Still, I will say that, aesthetically, I definitely prefer Mario Golf GBA. Like in the Golden Sun games, environments there looked curvier and lusher, just overall more detailed. Here they look cheaper, more... tiled and classic looking.
Played a bit more. Definitely liking it, though. A lot.
John Harker said:Ahh Mej, gotta make these threads a day or two in advance so I can remember to go down there after work on mondays too
Sorry. GAF is now blocked from my work internet access, so I won't be able to do my usual lunch-time reporting like I used to. :/
Still, if a new game is coming out that week, the NWS will have it on Monday.
7 days until FFIVA!!!
See, I'm a huge fan of the GBC Games of both Mario Golf and Mario Tennis. I very much enjoy both games, and really liked the RPG elements.
I enjoyed MG:AT...but it felt like more of the same. There was a similar structure, no MAJOR changes, and overall I just didn't get anything new out of it. Plus, after awhile, I was just murdering the courses.
I fear the same thing with MTPT (Sorry to hijack the SMS thread, heh). I've played the hell of out of Mario Power Tennis, I played a great deal of Mario Tennis (GBC) and I honestly can't get myself excited for the game. If it had been released 2 years ago, or even last year, I would be purchasing it without a question. But now, with DS games to purchase, I am honestly not seeing why I should pay $40 CDN for a graphical upgrade, some new gameplay features and a series of minigames. Even if this had been a DS Game, I simply think it's ground they already covered. Camelot is great at developing these games, but they need to step outside of the same formula and do something new with it. I LOVE the RPG functionality, I just wish there was something new at the same time. Something big.
Thanks for the impressions!
I enjoyed MG:AT...but it felt like more of the same. There was a similar structure, no MAJOR changes, and overall I just didn't get anything new out of it. Plus, after awhile, I was just murdering the courses.
I fear the same thing with MTPT (Sorry to hijack the SMS thread, heh). I've played the hell of out of Mario Power Tennis, I played a great deal of Mario Tennis (GBC) and I honestly can't get myself excited for the game. If it had been released 2 years ago, or even last year, I would be purchasing it without a question. But now, with DS games to purchase, I am honestly not seeing why I should pay $40 CDN for a graphical upgrade, some new gameplay features and a series of minigames. Even if this had been a DS Game, I simply think it's ground they already covered. Camelot is great at developing these games, but they need to step outside of the same formula and do something new with it. I LOVE the RPG functionality, I just wish there was something new at the same time. Something big.
Thanks for the impressions!
