GameXplain have recently uploaded a YouTube video outlining what they think 2D Mario can learn from Super Mario Run. Although the internet reacted to the release of Super Mario Run in a very mixed way with many people quickly calling Nintendo out on the high price tag, the game that’s currently only available on iOS has been downloaded over 90 million times and did maintain a healthy position in the App Store charts for a handful of weeks.
Check out GameXplain’s video below:
The 5 things they pointed out that would be welcomed in the next entry in the 2D Mario franchise were:
- A nimbler Mario (auto-vaulting/edge grabbing etc)
- More unique characters (playable characters that play differently)
- Ditch the life counter (lives only punish players who are already bad, and they’re meaningless. The bubble system is a lot better)
- Give coins a greater purpose (coins are meaningless normally, but the ability to buy buildings and perhaps unlock progression with them would make them meaningful again)
- Feature a world that evolves (how the mushroom kingdom changes and grows with your progression – adds replay value and a sense of progression).
Do you think they would be relevant additions in the next 2D Mario game or would you rather Nintendo leave it as is? Sound off in the comments below.
I actually agree with that list 100%. Especially the parts about unique playable characters and losing the life counters.
Also, using the coins as a currency makes cents… Err I mean sense.
I have to agree as well – there’s undoubtably some mechanics in SMR that make the game quicker to access and result in deeper gameplay.
I would have paid 10 dollars for the game if it wasn’t a frigging recycled Mario game already used 4 times.
– New Super Mario Bros (DS)
– New Super Mario Bros (Wii)
– New Super Mario Bros 2 (3DS)
– New Super Mario’s Bros (U)
It’s not a recycled. It’s a new game. It plays completely differently. It just uses the same art assets. That’s not the same as recycling a game.
It’s the same game, just with a one button touch and Mario on rails doing the movement for you. The game, characters, art, levels, coins, P, enemies, etc are the same.
You don’t know how programming works, do you?
So you count New Mario Bros Wii and New Mario Bros Wii U different? This game uses everything from this games and just has Mario move on its own and you tap to make him jump. It’s still the same shit. That’s like saying, this game here is new because someone is controlling the game for me, and all I can do is jump. Or saying, someone controls my movement and my job is just to jump on my end. Yep, this game is definitely brand new
i mean, it’s still a mario game and of course they are going to use already made assets for a mobile game.
I understand that, I just expected something new and this isn’t new. It’s just repeated and recycled. There’s nothing really new to the game but just you using one hand. They could have at least offered a controller and no rails as part of the 10 dollars. But Nintendo likes to do things there way and fail.
>Ditch the life counter (lives only punish players who are already bad, and they’re meaningless. The bubble system is a lot better)
THIS WOULD DESTROY MARIO. How could a seasoned gamer suggest this? Punish bad gamers? Are you saying we should take away the experience of improving our skills in games? That is one of the fundamental aspects of games that make them good, it’s the funnest part once you open up to self improvement, which is a crucial part of life! You are absolutely insane.
Not sure about the bubble system but they are right about life counters. They are pointless. Running out of lives in recent Mario games did almost nothing.
I’m all for most of these ideas except for auto-vaulting. It almost takes away the feeling of Goombas as a basic threat. Works great in SMR, but may be a little whack in the console games.
Perhaps not auto vaulting, but what about button based vaulting. Mario already sticks to walls, so why not have him pull himself up if he’s already on the top edge?
Does anyone else feel violated that the new bloggers face filled up their living room when you opened the post?
No offense, just me being antisocial and I feel like he invited himself into my house for dinner… D;
Gay.
WTF? That’s not even a sentence. Why bother replying if you’re not going to make sense? And one word and you chose “gay?”
Oh, this is the internet…I had my expectations too high. Not sure why I expected an actual response.
Gayy
No offense taken – WordPress zooms in quite a lot it would seem XD
||I’ll have a copy of your head as a poster ambassador…||
That’s very kind, I have some printed already – I’ll send 1 shortly!
No. Some of those ruin the mechanics we know 2D Mario games for, and others are just for people who are too lazy to take up a challenge.
1. No. Edge-grabbing should not be a thing in 2D Mario games. Remember in the early Mario games, where at some points you had these huge gaps you had to make precise jumps over to proceed? I remember. And I also remember being nervous each time when I got there, hoping I would make it on my first try, without needing to start the level over. Yea. Edge-grabbing would ruin that and any other kind of experience or feeling related to that. But then again, since Nintendo has been trying very hard to cater to babies, we haven’t really had many of those, if I’m not mistaken. So I personally believe, instead of giving in and making Mario games even easier than they already have degenerated into being in the recent years, we should go back to the roots, because that’s when 2D Mario games were truly good. In the video, they justify this suggestion working well is by Mario running. Well, too bad regular Mario games don’t have you running 24/7. They give the example of climbing the stairs at the end of SMB. 1 levels for this, and ask how “awesome” it would be if you didn’t have to climb them brick by brick – well, thing is, you can jump over multiple bricks at once, and don’t have to go one by one.
And vaulting? Guess even defeating Goombas, one of the most simple mechanics of the entire game, is too difficult for people by now.
2. Super Mario Bros. 2. Again, see above, back to the roots, please. Super Mario 3D World is a more recent example, which was also mentioned in the video even.
And the whole “have Peach save the others”? You mean like it was the case in Super Princess Peach? Or Toad getting his own game with Treasure Tracker? Or Yoshi getting his own game, with all the Yoshi games we’ve had? Are they ignoring those on purpose, or did they just not consider these things?
3. Ditch the life counter and cater even more to babies who can’t be bothered to try a bit harder to learn and get better, because achieving something by actually working for it is too difficult, and fuck actually having a challenge? Why not just remove the dying mechanic alltogether?
Seriously, just no.
But then again, it’s been literally ages since the last time a 2D Mario game has been challenging, so what am I even saying, right?
People need to look at the bigger picture. Why is there always an abundance of lives in Mario games lately? Because the games are too damn easy, and Nintendo loves it too damn much to hold the player by the hand and not hurt their feelings by making them die in the game.
The solution to the life counter not mattering isn’t removing it, but making it matter again, by adding a challenge to the game. We played the difficult Mario games as kids, and we managed just fine. The learning curve was part of the fun.
4. Coins have a purpose. Points and collecting lifes. But if they want to ditch the life counter, I guess it’s no surprise they would want to change that as well.
5. 2D Mario games are linear, once you clear a world, or defeat a boss, you proceed to the next one – the one you’ve cleared changing in appearance wouldn’t really matter. But as it would just be a cosmetic addition that doesn’t really add any features that messes with the game’s core mechanics, it’s acceptable, it just wouldn’t contribute anything essential to the game.
To sum it up:
Just no.
Agree with this entire list.
Yours that is.
I have to third Namie’s comment. I’d be fine with a difficulty setting for casual gamers, though, as long as we can still play the game the good old fashioned way.