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Brave New Super Mario World

Posted by Nadia Oxford

A couple of days ago I posted my own ideas for "freshening up" the Zelda franchise. They were minor suggestions, at least compared to some other ideas I've seen 'round the fandom (how do you feel about Zelda steampunk?), but even minor suggestions are necessary. A collect-a-thon while you're wearing a wolf pelt is still a collect-a-thon.

Miyamoto knows he needs to give Zelda a bit of a spit-shine, and he said the same about Super Mario Galaxy. It's true that Twilight Princess was a bit close to Ocarina of Time in ways, but Super Mario Galaxy was, for me, a pretty unique experience--or if there's some game out there that lets you relive anything close to the space-faring adventures of The Little Prince, by all means please let me know.

That said, how do we get more "original" than forcing Mario to stomp Koopas while he's hanging upside-down?

By special request, I am going to stand up and yell my opinion once again. I personally would like to see the elimination of the "level hub". In Mario 64, you had to reach levels by jumping through paintings situated around Princess Peach's castle. At the time, it gave us a real sense of exploration and freedom. In Super Mario Sunshine, the sunny Delphino Square served as a level hub and it was less thrilling--especially since Mario was somehow travelling to other parts of the island by jumping through appointed walls instead of visiting new worlds within a world.

Super Mario Galaxy's space station hub didn't feel nearly as sloppy. It makes sense that we'd visit other planets from a space station, right? Even a space station made of gingersnaps and candy?

Alas, it was still a hub, thus pulling me out of the world I had chosen to explore and forcing my groove to change direction. That, and it was also kind disappointed that Mario accessed planets through Princess Rosalina's kitchen and bedroom, but we never got to see her bathroom. I'm not a pervert, I just wanted to see if her toilet was made of marshmallows.

It'd be interesting if Mario returned to a progression of levels within world maps, not unlike Super Mario Bros 3. Then again, Super Mario World used the same idea, as did New Super Mario Bros. We'd rejoice the return, then get tired of it within a couple of games.

Maybe Nintendo should switch its methods of world navigation. Gamers wouldn't notice the pattern: we have short attention spans. Bunny bunny bunny...

Related Links:

Miyamoto Says Something Was "Missing" From Twilight Princess. We Know It.
Not Quite 4D But Close: The History of 3D Gaming
Games and Motion Sickness: The Struggle To Not Toss Your Cookies

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Posted Oct 31 2008, 06:20 PM

Filed under: wii, gamecube, super mario 64, n64, super mario galaxy, nadia oxford, legend of zelda twilight princess, super mario sunshine, innovation, new super mario bros

Comments

Roto13 said:

Give me my hub and let me pick from a list of levels I've already visited if I want to. That'd be perfect.

October 31, 2008 8:59 PM

philodygmn said:

Mario has stages, wherein you're always on the spot, whereas Zelda is one continuous immersive experience with frequent bouts of dead time during which you're free to linger, reflect, and regroup. Because you can't always be in a stage in Mario, I think the home base idea legitimately provides context to track progress across stages.

However, I'd prefer the series reorient itself so that's not necessary, preferrably by ceasing to be Mario at all and simply make an appealing, truly three-dimensional character whose own perceptions of themselves and their abilities provides the story progression, laying the groundwork for the telling of a meaningful, rather than cookie-cutter fairytale, story. I make no presumption that Miyamoto is capable of this, as even Miyazaki with his wonderfully warmhearted, attentive take on character and story's attempt at collaborating with Miyamoto on a game fell through.

I think the very fact Miyamoto is looking for fresh and new _in Zelda and Mario_ shows just how far gone he is, in this regard. I mean, IMO, Zelda and Mario are antitheses of fresh and new, at this point, no matter how they're presented. It's a disservice in the culture even for children to continue to tell such toxically reductivist stories -- no matter how complex their machinations, a la Zelda's uber-dimensional sophistry.

October 31, 2008 11:12 PM

Roto13 said:

Game stories.

Eww.

November 1, 2008 12:24 AM

Charlie said:

How about Mario just goes back to the Mushroom Kingdom? I think it'd be refreshing considering we've never really seen it aside from the side scrollers. Make it a large sprawling area covering mountains, forests, desert, and the sky; while having the Warp Pipes be used for fast transportation.

I want a Mario-esque Mario game.

November 1, 2008 2:58 AM

Demaar said:

Maybe we could just flat out have a linear level by level Mario Bros game like the first two. I'd be fine with that.

November 1, 2008 7:52 AM

Alex said:

I'm okay with having a hub for Mario Games. I like the easy access to levels I've already beaten. Galaxy gave you a lot of freedom to do whichever levels you wanted to do. It was fairly easy to get to the 60 stars in order to go to the final level. You didn't have to get the last 60 stars unless you wanted to.

I found those last 60 or so missions to be the most challenging and satisfying. But the setup allowed others to "beat" the game by doing the easier levels and defeating Bowser the final time. I see no need to go back to linear style unless you're trying to recreate the original game's feeling, like in New Super Mario Bros.

November 1, 2008 1:01 PM

John H. said:

I think hyper destructable environments, in 3D, could make for a familiar yet new Mario experience.

Remember the original side-scrolling Mario games were filled with breakable blocks, and although both Mario Sunshine (in the void areas) and Galaxy (in some bonus rooms) have them, they've definitely taken a back-seat to more static areas.

The biggest problem that'd have to be solved, besides the design stresses in ensuring levels didn't become unfinishable, is handling the camera and making sure the player could see both Mario and the arrangement of blocks, when there might be blocks all around. In both Sunshine and Galaxy, the brick-block areas were essentially 2D areas, even if presented in 3D space. If the developers could figure out how to communicate a more variable assortment of blocks to the player, instead of just a cross-section structure, it could be rather interesting. (Of course this is a hard problem, which is probably why they haven't done it yet.)

November 4, 2008 6:55 AM

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