This is part one in what will undoubtedly become a trilogy of posts on idiotic ideas from the world’s leading imbeciles indicating innovations they envision forever altering the world of gaming. (Much like hardcore game developers I plan trilogies in advance.) This evening’s spotlight is Sean Malstrom’s suggestions regarding the creation of a true 3D Mario experience. It is well known that Sean was never satisfied with Super Mario 64 and the changes it brought to his beloved franchise. But it’s not that he’s opposed to the sight of the pudgy plumber in polygons rather than pixels, he simply prefers the pattern of play present in perusing a plane. That is to say, 2D Mario gameplay (Okay, no more alliteration). Below is his proposed plan (sorry).
We have yet to see 2d Mario’s gameplay be created in 3d. A true 3d Mario would have every stage be different, would have the player keep moving one direction, and would have no scavenger hunt for stars.
In order for 3d Mario to become seen as a proper Mario game, many radical changes are going to have to be made. First off, the ’star finder’ element needs to be completely scrapped. Mario is an action game, not a scavenger hunt game. The goal should be getting to the flagpole, not getting some star. The goal is to keep moving in one direction and having many paths and choices to get past the obstacles. 3d Mario does not allow this.
The hub world needs to be scrapped for a proper map screen (I see this has been done in Galaxy 2). There can be no repeat of worlds. No one wants to play the same exact world again but with slightly minor differences. They want a new world each time like in a real Mario game.
Power-ups need to have offensive capabilities. The power-ups in 3d Mario tend to suck because there is no offensive abilities in them. The Bee Mario, for example, had no offensive capability. From fire flower to raccoon Mario to Hammer Brothers Suit to Yoshi, Mario’s power-ups were offensive (except for frog suit but it was supposed to suck outside of water).
Interesting suggestions, Sean! I’ve compiled these suggestions, thrown them in a blender, and dumped the result in the YouTube box below.
Well there you go. Malstrom’s improved 3D Mario is Crash Bandicoot. It has no scavenger hunt, moving in one direction, different paths to get past obstacles, a map screen, no repeat levels, and power-ups with offensive capabilities. It even came out the same year as Mario 64! Following Malstrom’s logic, this game was what the customers wanted, Mario was forgotten, and Sean bought a playstation, right? Right?
Too bad Super Mario 64 utterly decimated Crash Bandicoot in sales. You see there’s a reason you don’t work at Nintendo, Sean!
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Never mind the fact that Mario Galaxy already works that way for a major part.
Who cares for a flag pole if a star works just as well as a means to signify the end of a stage? In many of the Galaxy stages (such as Good Egg or Gusty Garden) you follow a very linear path filled with obstacles, in some parts you’re even free to chose your own playstyle. Follow-up stars in the same galaxy might put you in the same world you’ve seen before, but you still get to see a completely different corner of it.
The only thing that’s missing from 3D Mario are offensive powerups (unless you want to call FLUDD such a thing) and that true Mario-esque action where you can bounce off from enemy to enemy.
Maybe the problem with 3D Mario are the stages which aren’t linear at all and contain too many puzzle elements. Biggest offender: Underwater stages.
Hell, even putting a rabbit-chase at the very beginning of the game was a pretty bad idea if you ask me. “Ok, this will definitely confuse newcomers” went through my mind at that time.
By: Splashman on March 11, 2010
at 6:06 pm
Offensive power ups are in there, see Super Mario Galaxy with the Fire Flower and the second game with the Drill and Rock Mushroom. Personally though, I’d think Malstrom would have loved the second game in the series, the one he’s merely calling an ‘expansion pack’, because it’s near enough exactly the kind of game he’d expect 3D Mario to be. It has Yoshi, it has linear levels, it has midway points and it has as minimal a storyline as possible apparently.
By: cheat-master30 on April 10, 2010
at 4:04 pm
Oh, and one more thing. With the latest magazine scans, the game even has some New Super Mario Bros Wii styled 2D platforming levels. Would have thought Malstrom would loved this for example:
By: cheat-master30 on April 17, 2010
at 11:00 pm