There may come a day when Nintendo's monetization of nostalgia becomes so completely predictable that something as relatively simple as ressurecting power-ups from Super Mario Bros. 3 is no longer sufficient to settle anything that could be bothering me at any given moment, leaving me in a blissful near-stupor of psychological comfort.
Today is not that day:
Image is one of a handful of just-released snaps of
"New Super Mario Bros. 2;" a 2D sidescroller previously announced for the 3DS, now revealed and dated for August. Also announced right around the same time (but with fewer details) is a 20th Anniversary "Kirby Collection" compilation coming for Wii. No world yet on which games it would include (presumably the NES/SNES ones I imagine, hoping the GameBoy/GBA/DS and maybe even N64 ones too.)
Nintendo also supposedly registed a "Super Mario 4" domain name, which could mean nothing. However, a yet-unidentified WiiU Mario game (launch title!?) is supposed to be announced at E3. I'm obviously psyched for this stuff because... y'know, I just AM; but I'm also glad that the new-generation fans who got introduced to 2D Mario via "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" (which is
still killing, sales-wise) will have more to look forward to than my generation's leftovers.
I wonder... is it perhaps too much to hope that the Frog and Hammer suits will make a comeback here as well?
38 comments:
Hell no it's not too much to hope for the Bomb suit. It was kick-ass.
Er, I totally meant Hammer Suit.
And this is my most wanted game now. Mario is just plain better when you can legitimately fly, not that lame propeller helmet NSMBW tried to pass off as its version.
I feel so bad for Sony right now. 3d Land already kicked up 3DS sales and now this guy is coming out in four months.
And I mean this legitimately. I had a vague hope that the Vita could do at least as well as the PSP and really inject some competition into the market, make it an all out war of the game libraries.
Kirby collection? Oh god, please include the Super Game Boy-enhanced version of Dreamland 2. As much as I love that GB games are finally getting released on the Virtual Console, I can't help feeling that we've really gotten screwed with the lack of Super Game Boy features.
Kuribo's Shoe needs to return. Also, Pikmin 3 has been revealed to be at E3 by Miyamoto himself and there's a Namco x SEGA x CAPCOM crossover on the 3DS happening. All we need now is a Metroid game post-Fusion and we're all set.
I can't share your sentiment, Bob.
You can't possibly argue for games to grow or evolve if you settle for the same reheated left overs you had last year.
Quite simply, if you want "fun' go play your 20 million other Mario platformers. Nintendo should stop wasting their resources on this quick cash grab and focus on how they will top Super Mario Galaxy.
I don't think it's too much to hope for a frog and hammer suit at all bob.
Considering this is taking obvious cues from Super Mario Bros. 3, I wouldn't be surprised to see way more nods to that title with airship battles/tank battles and what not thrown in.
@smile:
Nice one putting fun in quotation marks their, acting like that's a bad thing.
I'd say this game is perfectly valid if it can stand up to the 2D Mario's of old. The NSMB games haven't done that yet, but there has been a steady rise in quality throughout the DS and Wii version's which gives me hope for NSMB2.
And even though I love Galaxy, none of the 3D Mario's ever stood up against the classic 2D titles such as Bros. 3 and World. The reason why the 2D titles are still selling is because for many more people, that's the same case. Bring on the 2D platformer love I say!
The one thing that leaves me a little sour on this is that this was supposed to be what we were supposed to get excited about for 3d lands. leaving aside that it didn't give you flight in that one, I think nintendo botched the look of the power up. I know this is going to seem petty, but I never liked the look of the full tanooki suit, even in mario 3. the tail and ear hat version always looked better to me. So in 3d lands, I felt like what should have happened is the brown leaf gives you the tail and hat ear look with the same basic powers and the full tanooki suit reserved for the metal leaf, featuring the statue ground pound. I think it would have looked better and been truer to the spirit of mario 3.
So yes, new 2 does look good, and it does look like it's getting the tanooki tail upgrade right this time, with full on flight and everything, (love that the p meter is back) but I feel a little jilted. this time last year Nintendo was convincing us that 3d lands was the game all us mario 3 fans have been waiting for, and now this year it's New 2 is the one we've all been waiting for, this time we really mean it. I mean, it's certainly not the first time this sort thing has happened in gaming, but it's still tiring.
But it is mario, and that is the tanooki tail. ofcourse i'm buying it.
I put fun in quotation marks because that's usually the go-to defence for rationalising stagnation as if you can't have fun playing something new.
As for the rest of your comments - I DISAGREE.
Oh, cool, a new Mario game. Have Nintendo decided to change up the formula a little, give the gameplay that needed twist to give it a completely unique style and look that keeps the series alive, possibly even reinvent the platformer or at least introduce us to a new, never before seen way to traverse platforms...
... oh, no, wait, it's just reusing ideas from the eighties and basically being the exact game as other Mario platformers but with different levels, essentially making it exactly like a ten dollar map pack for any modern FPS.
No, seriously you people... is this it? I've always championed that you should be allowed to enjoy whatever brings you joy, but... IS THIS IT?! Is this all you want? Rehashed ideas and games, bringing out a powerup at a time from a game made more than twenty years ago? Is this honestly worth your excitement? Do you not still have your NES? Why ask for Nintendo to perpetually remake SMB3 when you still have SMB3! There is no reason not to ask for something more substantial. I ask again; is this it?! Is this your bar of entertainment?! No wonder publishers seem to think we're idiots who'll be satisfied by getting the same game over and over again; they're right! All the times we complain about the games industry's bad habits of countless sequels, a terror of creating new IP, the refusal to innovate, everytime we open our big traps they should be allowed to slap us in the face because we only keep proving them right, again and again and again.
And yet nearly all of you, without fail or delay, will suddenly leap onto your ivory thrones and scoff at the newest game that doesn't fall under the Nintendo license because it's just like the last one. "Oh, CoD fans are so stupid; do they not realise they're playing the same game everytime it's released? Ahurrrrr hurrrrrr hurrrrrr." I thought you wanted EA to pack this shit in with the Madden franchise. Why do you constantly settle for less, and look down on others for doing exactly same but on different franchises? Are they any worse than you?
... besides, if there's no P-Wing, I'm not impressed. Come back to me with infinite flight, Miyamoto, then we'll talk.
You better be able to ride Goomba Shoes again!
@Kholdstare
Actually, a Bomb Suit would be a SWEET new addition
Nice to have another game to look forward to. Pity Mario seems to be the only game series allowed to have non-download-only sidescrollers.
Er, wasn't Super Mario World technically "Mario Bros 4"?
yes, it was in Japan, so it is odd that there was a website registered for SMB4.
"There may come a day when Nintendo's monetization of nostalgia becomes so completely predictable that something as relatively simple as ressurecting power-ups from Super Mario Bros. 3 is no longer sufficient to settle anything that could be bothering me at any given moment, leaving me in a blissful near-stupor of psychological comfort."
You sure that isn't already happening, Bob?
Seems Nintendo is stuck in the MZM Loop - Mario, Zelda, Metroid - for some time now. What say you to that, out of curiosity?
@Kris Russell: "Seems Nintendo is stuck in the MZM Loop - Mario, Zelda, Metroid - for some time now. What say you to that, out of curiosity?"
this would be a relevant commentary on Nintendo's state of development... if it weren't for Kid Icarus Uprising and Kirby's Return to Dreamland and Kirby Mass Attack and Xenoblade and the Last Story and Pokémon Rumble Blast and Pokémon Black/White and Pokémon Nobunga's Ambition and Star Fox 3D and the Professor Layton series and Steel Diver
and the upcoming Pikmin 3 and Pokémon Black/White 2 and Pandora's Tower and Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem: Kakusei and
What I want to know is when will we see the Kuribo's Shoe again?
Only Nintendo can take something from 20 years ago, and use it as a "feature"
This seems nothing more than a cash-grab to me. Sad thing is, its going to sell very well and Nintendo will keep selling you, your childhood for cash.
It seems like a lot of people fancy themselves to be these "great philosophers of gaming" by parroting Yahtzee. Sure the game takes quite a bit from older games, but the New Super Mario bros. games have a wider range of moves as well as a different feel.
I'm not yet too sure about how I feel for it. I really hope it brings something new, and I really know it'll never overcome how I feel for Super Mario World as a child.
One way or another, I'm going to end up buying this, because I'm a sucker for these things. :/
PS: I liked NSMB much more than NSMB Wii.
I always kinda figured Mario Power Ups were like Transformers figures. There's so many with such Nostalgic value that Nintendo, like Hasbro, can pull any of them out at any time and fans will go nuts.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again:
If I see the Hammer Suit and Yoshi in the same game, I will die a happier gamer.
As much as I am a long time fan of Nintendo and especially Mario... this is kind'a BS.
I've come to expect huge leaps between Mario games... Super Mario to Mario 2... Mario 2 to 3... 3 to World... World to 64... 64 to Sunshine... Sunshine to Galaxy...
Each time there were major advancements or changes to the core formula. New Super Mario was a fun throw back, and NSMB Wii at least added true multi-player, a first for the Mario series. Even 3d Land changed things up a bit.
But, what does this game do? It adds absolutely nothing. It reworks absolutely nothing.
It almost seems as if New Super Mario has become the exact same sort of shallow, semi-annual cash-in that I'd expect from EA or Activision. It's sad to see Nintendo, with Mario even, go down that road.
So to those saying this game ads absolutely nothing new, can I borrow your time machine?
@TheAlmightyNarf: Calm down, man. We've only seen three or four screenshots so far. There may still be new stuff.
And how can the New Super Mario games be an annual cash-in if the last game was three years ago? There are probably going to be two NSMB games coming out this year, but I doubt we'll see them again so soon after that.
I see your point, but I think it's a bit too early to react like that.
@Anonymous:
Touche, but most of these IP's are still banking on the nostalgia factor as a selling point to drive game sales. I mean, outside the likes of The Last Story and Professor Layton, it's hard to argue that these games have remained stagnant staple, from mostly an aesthetic standpoint, when you compare them to the offerings of many publishers and developers to today. Not to say these games are terrible, mind you, but it seems that Nintendo is content in offering the same bloody game with a fresh coat of paint.
@Kris Russell
That's the great hypocrisy of it all though. It could be argued Halo, Call of Duty, and the like, add more per game than what Mario, Metroid and Megaman have done in 10 years.
I have no problem with NSMB and the like, but it is something worth remembering next time nostalgic retro gamers complain about the lack of creativity and originality in modern gaming.
@ Naner
You could take pretty much any random screen shot from SMB3 and immediately tell it was doing all sorts of things that early Mario hadn't... aesthetically, mechanically, and thematically. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find any screen shot that looked all that similar at all to the earlier games. That same goes for World, World 2, 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy... just about every Mario platformer down the line except Galaxy 2 which was also just a shallow cash in.
If it weren't for the Toonoki tail (a feature that isn't "new", but simply hasn't appeared in any recent games), the screen shots we've seen are completely indistinguishable from the other 2 NSMB games.
@Sabre:
So I'm guessing where in agreement here? You'll have to forgive me, internet speak is hard to decipher at times. :D
And it's not that I mind games that are a throwback to much older style of gameplay if it works, but I sometimes feel that these games are placed on such a high goddamn pedestal over modern titles because it's Mario and Zelda, and a plague upon you house if you aren't jizzing in your pants when the next game inevitably gets announced.
I honestly can't bring myself to be THAT excited over New Super Mario Bros. 2, which is a bad title since there are already 2 games in the new Super Mario Bros. series and this is the third one. Even if the Koopalings come back in this one, it just seems to be that Nintendo's being...
Well, I won't say, but I will say Shigeru Miyamoto's words, "Video games aren't art, they're product" really shows with a game like this. Because it really does seem like they're making a product that the fans and vast majority of people will buy.
Honestly, I would have been more excited if they made a Super Mario Bros. 2-style game again, or brought back enemies/bosses FROM those games other than Birdo, Shy Guy, Bob-omb, and Pokey. THAT would be a nice change.
I WOULD believe accusations of laziness...if this were anyone but NINTENDO who blow everyone else out of the water in terms of platforming. Seriously, their level design is immaculate and I can't wait to see what sort of mind-boggling worlds they'll conjure up this time.
My top 5 greatest video game dreams are:
1: Mother Collection on WiiU
2: Shonen Jump vs. Capcom
3: Rogue Squadron on WiiU
4: Final Fantasy VI HD remake with GOOD voice acting.
5: F-Zero 3DS
Honerable Mention goes to Pikmin 3, which at this point is inevitable.
@Kris Russell
Yes, we are in agreement.
idea?
SCUMBAG MOVIE BOB
>Complains about shooters all being the same
>Falls for nostalgic pandering by multinational corporation
Anyhow, SMB3 stuff is whatever. Maybe since the GBA remake of Super Mario World was my first Mario, or because World is actually better, I've never found SMB3 callbacks appealing. Give me Yoshi over limited flight abilities.
I hate FPS games because they're all the exact same game over and over again with no variation and nothing genuinely new.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to gushing over Nintendo's latest cynical plan to re-sell me the exact fucking same Mario game that I've been re-buying and re-playing every year for the past 20 years, thank you very much.
Honestly, at this point I can't decide. Nintendo's plan and execution to re-sell dedicated drones Super Mario Brothers 3 a single powerup at a time in the form of full-price games either makes me awed, or violently sick.
I just can't decide which.
While I would want more original powerups, I could accept that provided that added some/all of the following:
Single-Player Arcade Mode: Remember Mario Bros. and how it was packaged with the Advance ports. Now arcade modes are deligated to multiplayer experiences and while I have no problem with that mode existing, a single player option would be nice. Mario Bros. in 2012 with solid controls, better graphics as well as far more variety in stage gimmicks and enemies would not only expand the experience with little effort, but since it is an arcade mode they can push the difficulty up very high very fast.
Antithesis to the Super Guide: It is nice to offer something to more casual players of Mario, but it would be nice if Nintendo sat down and came up with something that would make the whole experience more difficult for players that want to be challenged more. I don't want to feel like I'm going through the motions of a platformer, I want to re-experience a time when platforming was something new and fun, but also challenging when I lacked an understanding of physics and basic platforming gimmicks while at the same time respecting that I am an older player who needs something complex for that to happen.
Less Platforming Variety: Looking at 3D Land for example it seemed like the gimmicks they had could have really be used to create some complex challenges, but instead there is a constant wave of gimmicks after gimmicks. Rather than sqweeze out as much as possible from a limited pool of gimmicks (Lost Levels) we instead have to work with a new gimmick every level only taken to a so-so difficulty level (NSMBWii). It works for the 3D games more which are built on exploration, but for a 2D game I would say too much variety can be a problem.
Level Editor: Self-explanatory...if they didn't put it in All-Stars 2.0, they are obviously waiting to unleash it for a bigger title, so I'll just keep waiting for it as it will eventually come to pass.
64 in 2D: Whether they go with this or not probably wouldn't bother me, but it would be nice to see them experiment with what Super Mario 63 did i.e. a 2D Mario platformer which was open and non-linear.
Short Version: More difficult on every front please. The brutal failures and climb to competence I faced while playing Super Mario World/All-Stars is just as much a part of my childhood as the tanooki suit or Yoshi or whatever you want to bring back Nintendo.
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