Retro|Spective 075R: Super Mario

[Neon Ignition]

Game 62 - Super Mario Ball
If you had been following the Mario franchise all this time and always been frustrated that handling Mario's balls had always remained out of your hands, here was your chance. More smartly called Mario Pinball Land elsewhere, players collected stars over five playable pinball tables but suffered in reviews due to being overly difficult.







Did you have a Ball?

[Neon Ignition]

Game 63 - Mario Power Tennis
New courts and modes as Mario Tennis took control of the franchise ball all over again. The game was broadly well received but as was becoming increasingly common, a lack of real change from prior efforts held it up a little.




Power to this entry?

[Neon Ignition]

Game 64 - Mario Party 6
The sixth entry added a day and night system to the game whilst the biggest change was the inclusion of a new microphone peripheral. The result didn't stop yet another hit on review scores though with the alterations and additions seen as somewhat lazy efforts to justify another entry.






Was the Party over for you by now?

[Neon Ignition]

Game 65 - Super Mario 64 DS
Launching with Nintendo's dual screened handheld, the game overhauled the visuals and added mini-games to the N64 classic. It also added several alternative characters to play as in the game such as Yoshi and Wario. The game also added a multiplayer mode though this element was less well received than the other changes.








Good enough to Dual the original?

[dataDave]

Looks and performs like it would on a PSX.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Decent gameplay and QoL improvements in SM64 DS but massively undermined by DS controls not fit for purpose at all. Even playing the game via BC on the 3DS doesn't quite work when true 8-way direction was never properly implemented.

All that said, it might've been nice if Nintendo could've included a "SM64 DS Mode" in the port on SM3DAS (like how they included Lost Levels/SMB2JPN in SMB Deluxe) - that would've involved a bit of effort though!

[Neon Ignition]

I'd have liked the same, the content additions made to the N64 version which I prefer the visual look of too

[Neon Ignition]

Game 66 - Yoshi's Universal Gravitation
The next Yoshi led entry used a built in motion sensor to pick up directional shifts of the handheld, allowing that to play into the gameplay itself. The charm of the usual Yoshi titles play style couldn't carry it though with criticism coming in for the games short length and clumsy controls.






Universal Swing and Miss?

[dataDave]

Game 62 - Super Mario Ball
If you had been following the Mario franchise all this time and always been frustrated that handling Mario's balls had always remained out of your hands, here was your chance. More smartly called Mario Pinball Land elsewhere, players collected stars over five playable pinball tables but suffered in reviews due to being overly difficult.







Did you have a Ball?

Tried this while on the bog yesterday. Total ****ing dreck.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 67 - Mario Party Advance
Really clogging up the thread at this point, the Party franchise continued to assault shelves with this handheld incarnation coming to the GBA. Cutting down the experience to be primarily focused on single player and only having four characters to choose from, the alteration in focus and downscaling was reflected in reviews that weren't keen on the experience being dependent on random elements and mini-games for fun.







Was the Party over?

[Neon Ignition]

More an intermission post today

This thread and particularly this point in the run of franchise games has really made it quite glaring to me as to how well Nintendo has managed to maintain the legacy and reputation of Mario. This is despite... I don't know what the right term would be... I don't want to say shovelware as that implies poor quality and that's not the case but there's certainly a very heavy shift to a vast volume of... Mario-iddleware. Games that aren't bad but if you removed the Mario branding from them you'd have a large volume of schedule filling games that under the hood aren't actually very remarkable.

Taken as they come or (as is the nature of this thread) individually there isn't that much to say about them. They're not bad games, solid overall but lacking in lasting impression. As a collective whole though they do feel, looking at them in bulk, a bit like a depressing reminder that Nintendo reputation for waiting out high quality sequels isn't quite as divergent from other companies as the mainline games make it look.

[Nu-Eclipse]

More an intermission post today

This thread and particularly this point in the run of franchise games has really made it quite glaring to me as to how well Nintendo has managed to maintain the legacy and reputation of Mario. This is despite... I don't know what the right term would be... I don't want to say shovelware as that implies poor quality and that's not the case but there's certainly a very heavy shift to a vast volume of... Mario-iddleware. Games that aren't bad but if you removed the Mario branding from them you'd have a large volume of schedule filling games that under the hood aren't actually very remarkable.

Taken as they come or (as is the nature of this thread) individually there isn't that much to say about them. They're not bad games, solid overall but lacking in lasting impression. As a collective whole though they do feel, looking at them in bulk, a bit like a depressing reminder that Nintendo reputation for waiting out high quality sequels isn't quite as divergent from other companies as the mainline games make it look.

You do realise that not every single game you've covered in this thread counts as a "Super Mario" game per se, right? That in part is your answer to this right there.

That said, you raise fair points. Nintendo have rinsed their mascot considerably, to say the least.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, we're definitely taking in the scenic route to Mario titles. It's just interesting that there's a very strong reputation to the brand's quality whilst it contains so much, or is even heavily weighted in favour of titles that are not reflective of that. I assume it's helped by how they might not be great games but there's such a level of consistency to them that it's hard to really call them out either.

[wakka]

I think it also helps that with every new generation of kids, each game becomes that particular generation's version of Mario Tennis, or Mario Party. There's not much to pick between these games in part because they're kind of all remakes rather than direct sequels (something which could also be said for most of the mainline Mario and Zelda franchises, with a couple of obvious exceptions like Galaxy 2 and BOTW 2).

[Asura]

Decent gameplay and QoL improvements in SM64 DS but massively undermined by DS controls not fit for purpose at all.

Want to second this for Mario 64 DS.

There are very few aspects of gaming where I tend to speak in absolute terms, but one of the strongest beliefs I have about video game design is that you can't make a good game with crap controls. A "good game with crap controls" is a crap game. I struggle to think of a game I've ever played with poor controls that I've actually liked.

Kid Icarus: Uprising is, to me, a crap game.

And I have the same problem with Mario 64 DS.