Talking a bit of Mario and Nintendo for celebrate the anniversary

[mrkonasoni]

START

Recently it was both the anniversary of Super Mario Bros franchise and Nintendo, so I am not waiting till the next one and I want to write a bit about both.

I have always believed that talk about Nintendo is not interesting at all because we all know the success of the company and failures, its the story that everyone tells, I also dont want to mention that Nintendo is not perfect, its impossible think that a multi billionaire corporation dont screw up from time to time and sometimes they make good deeds.

My favorite part of Nintendo story for videogames is from 1980s to 2006s when the Wii was released, I dont know but for me those years were the more interesting and powerful golden age for Nintendo, the one that has the most inspiring stories, and much more.

About Mario itself I certainly like it, I truly like Mario Land 2 because it feels like Nintendo making something out their comfort zone, they went full balls making it interesting and expanding the Mario lore.

I also think people should stop trying to mention that Mario 64 is overrated because it is not, at the time it was a revolution, the end and beginning of an epoch for Nintendo and the people involded and even nowadays it still feels well designed and with a level of polish some games can just dream.

Did you know that Mario 64 was 100$ in japan at the time? Miyamoto knew it was an expensive price for overseas market, so Nintendo reduced the price to a most appealing 60$, ironic maybe is that 100$ is the price of a CBI copy on ebay.

For all that reasons and more I am happy for celebrate both the anniversary of Nintendo and the Mario franchise.

[pzeke]

Yeah, the Wii years were something rather unique. For me personally, I think that's the time I was most invested in video games, as I would play at least one every day, compared to nowadays where it's more of a sporadic thing. And it was pretty much Nintendo all the time, as it was the Wii and the NDS for the most part, with the occasional sit down to play a PS2 game. This time period is the one I finished the most games, too; I think I beat nearly all the Wii games I played.

As for people saying that Super Mario 64 is overrated, it's inevitable. Many keep saying Final Fantasy VII is the most overrated RPG ever and look where we are now. Sure, both of them look crude and outdated today, but they were indeed revolutionary. Great memories were made playing those two games.

[kamikazekeeg]

I'll take Super Mario 64 any day over nearly any Mario game that came afterwards, short of maybe Odyssey which is like a spiritual successor to it practically.  It might not hold up the best with a few aspects of its controls, but for the time it released, it nailed 3D platforming pretty much right out of the gate and it's charming as all heck still.

Nintendo for me is a mixed bag over the years.  There's almost always good games in any generation short of maybe the Wii for me, which is their worst time personally.  I was big into them from NES to N64, didn't get into Gamecube much, and then while I got a Wii at launch, I very quickly fell off it and sold it like 6 months later.  Wii mote controls are awful, currently not sure if I hate the joycons or wii-mote more.  Loved the Wii U as a system despite it failing, and while initially I was very hyped for the Switch and had a good first year, but the amount of Wii U ports for filling the game releases and not liking a lot of what came afterward soured me on the system, though I still think it's a neat piece of hardware.  There's so much to love and hate about Nintendo, especially nowadays, but they are still a company I can find to bring out enjoyable games.

For Mario in general, I loved Mario quite abit up till that DS/Wii era, my favorite 2D Mario being Super Mario World, and Super Mario 64 being my favorite Mario overall, but when Galaxy and the New Super Mario Bros games came out, they felt like a regression of the series to me.  They aren't bad games, Mario is never bad, but by the time Super Mario 3D Land and World came out, there was basically no real difference between them, both types of Mario were Super Mario 3 rehashes but the cameras were different.  It wasn't till Odyssey came out that I got super excited for Mario again and really loved my time with it.

[Cartagia]

I had typed up a big reply that I accidentally hit refresh the page on... So, the short version recreated:

Mario 64 is an influential game, but I feel like the formula was done better in later iterations, and since I didn't plat 64 until the 2010s I have no great nostalgia for it.

Mario 3 and Mario World are contenders for all time great games.

Mario 3D World is drastically underrated title.

[sworddude]

I get that motion controls could be a turn off, But wii was definitely not a dark era for nintendo, while not the biggest library there where some heavy hitters in there.

heck in terms of 3d mario, a sizable chunk prefers mario galaxy series over mario 64 or odyssey. galaxy series by many is considered to be peak mario and that's with motion controls wich is really impressive considering how much people hate them. They are barely used in that series though.

The creativity in lvl design and music was amazing, not to mention it's presentation in especially mario galaxy 1. But i get that the exploration in sunshine and 64 where great aswell. Mario galaxy was kinda a hybrid between the two. since 3d world was kinda the other side of the spectrum. Still mario 64 and sunshine had plenty of linear challenges aswell it wasn't just exploration.

For me personally mario galaxy 1 & 2 where peak in presentation, music, boss fights especially galaxy 2 had allot of them a hell lot more than any other mario game not to mention that they where the best in the series. it's tasks and lvl's where imo also the most fun in terms of 3d mario.

Still speaking of wii

Twlight princess, the best most technical mario kart in the series and xenoblade aswell, it also had enough 3rd part support like okami, sin and punishement fragile dream shadows tale as some examples



Wii u era was the worst nintendo era though. it had almost nothing the worst library in the nintendo series if where ignoring consoles such as the virtual boy. and the switch basicly ported everything wich hasn't happened in just 1 console gen for pretty much it's entire lineup of consoles.

Wii u had no brand new zelda, it had the most generic looking new super mario bros 3d game in 3d world, a mario kart withouth a battle mode (just using normal race tracks) worst 3rd party support even worse than N64 let's be honest here. and a shitty gimmick in wich I still can't figure out what they actually wanted to do.



I was always more of a 3d mario kinda guy: Galaxy 2, 1 and sunshine are my favourites. 64 and odyssey are a tier below that but still amazing.

For 2d mario. it's mario world, also had some fun with new super mario bros ds and wii, but I kinda got bored with the new super mario bros craze because they all looked so samey. And mario maker actually killed it even more for me personally. Not a fan of mario maker.

Ds had some fun alternate battle modes though, not to mention luigi's poker that makes it S tier by default.

[emporerdragon]

I'm currently replaying Mario 64 via the all stars collection and one of the biggest things I've noticed is how much I take camera controls for modern games for granted. It's such a small thing, but as a quality of life upgrade it is huge and noticeable when you don't have it anymore.

[kamikazekeeg]

I'm currently replaying Mario 64 via the all stars collection and one of the biggest things I've noticed is how much I take camera controls for modern games for granted. It's such a small thing, but as a quality of life upgrade it is huge and noticeable when you don't have it anymore.

It's why I've wanted Nintendo to remake Super Mario 64 in the Odyssey engine.  Basically just give it the Crash Bandicoot treatment along with adding some extra content, expand on a few things, really show Super Mario 64 the love it deserves rather than a kinda half-measure emulated port.

[sworddude]

I guess I'm playing to many old games

Camera controls in older 3d games never bothered me they where pretty fine if you know how to control them at those angles in wich it otherwise messes up. And yea sure the latter ain't needed in modern releases, for me personally after experiencing both plenty not really a must have QOL, it barely effects me.

64 indeed has fixed angles with button inputs wich where fine, but plenty of people complain about sunshine's camera aswell and that one has almost full control.

Still, in terms of actual fun if where talking 3d platformers. It's kinda suprising that I personally have to go back to n64 ps1 era for good 3d platformers wich aren't 3d mario such as banjo , goemon

also crash bandicoot never needs camera upgrades considering how it's more linear and at forced angles even in the originals. for the camera angle fix you'll probably need the spyro treatment

I have way more fun with those than trash such as yookalele. Hat in time is finally a first in wich it's somewhat decent but I'd still rather play n64 platformers and

ocassionally you have the good non nintendo stuff in crash and spyro. rayman 2 great escape again ps1 n64 era.

Jak and daxter as a ps2 title was kinda a poor mans attempt at one didn't enjoy it  to much. all things considered how allot of the best platformers wich aren't mario are on the n64 and ps1. I definitely take old school controls and less QOL if the actual fun factor stays. gameplay is king, QOL is a bad trade off if the game isn't that great in the first place.

Speaking of good games with QOL as good as mario odyssey is and finally getting the concept of mario 64 right + different kinds of worlds. It has to many filler moons and even the bigger tasks except for a few feel really small. it's music in the already small challenge stages ain't the best either but that's a nitpick.

For the fact that mario odyssey is pretty much bitsized challenges for almost the entire game, throwing out the most basic thing that 3d mario usually balanced so amazingly with memorable bigger tasks yet also exploration. I'd even rather play mario 64 over odyssey it's that much of a problem for me.  Odyssey is basicly mario 64 withouth the bigger tasks and that's a big flaw. it ain't an exact copy as mario 64 in that deparment. The balance is more towards collecta ton. The balance in mario 64 and sunshine was way better.

Galaxy 2 > galaxy 1 > sunshine > 64 > odyssey

Ironicly botw has the exact same problem, all shrines can range from 30 seconds to a few minutes like legit. Even the divine beasts of wich there are only 4, each are 15 minutes tops, heck there was even one that took less than 5 minutes fully explored. The bird one I'm pretty sure. Only the final castle felt a bit big. and only the dlc saved it a bit for some bigger tasks. especially the challenge withouth items was great.

Seriously though Nintendo literally had the idea for small puzzles and challenges for both mario and zelda with botw and odyssey for people to pick up and play and drop the game after a few shrines or moons I do not like that direction. I really hope they balance that a bit better with the next entries. Both games are great and I really like all the improvements but thanks to that mindset I can't rank them near the top. the older stuff is better in terms of fun for my taste.

[oldgamerz]

post sum, I never got into any Mario video game, but I will someday, I'm sure of it.

Super Mario 64 is in my opinion a hard game to get because of it's price. I never liked platformers and I never played any Mario game growing up, so I have no nostalgia for the series, and in my own experience I've bought entire consoles for the price of one loose used Mario video game. But at the Same time I want to like it, but I'm just too old now to like it as much as other games