@kriswright I don't think I would say that we're opposites, that kind of makes it sound like we oppose each other. Rather, I think that we're parallels. We've had the same experiences, just with different games! Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Now, about SMB1, I'm not so sure I would agree about challenge. The main difficulty for SMB1 is the lack of lives, but if we take that away and judge it based solely on level design, I don't think it's harder than the Mario games that followed. They've all got some pretty challenging stages, especially the extra worlds and such. The other part that makes it difficult is the stiffer control, so adding those two together, I don't feel SMB1 is a “legit” challenge, so to speak. Now, if we're talking SMB2j (AKA Lost Levels),
that is a challenging Mario game!
Of course, it is the Mario game I had the most trouble with, but that's because I was three years old and it was my first freakin' video game. So that doesn't count!
As for balance, which I'm guessing from your previous post means with powerups, I think it's difficult to have multiple different types of powerups and balance them all out to be equally effective and valuable. Probably impossible. SMB3 has some rare powerups like the Hammer Bros suit, so they're pretty valuable too. I prefer having the variety of all the different powerups, even if some of them make Mario pretty strong. So I guess I agree that SMB1 has the best balance, but it kind of wins that by default since it has just one powerup, so it isn't what I prefer.
I think one thing that makes Super Mario 64 still hold up is that its design is pretty different from the other 3D Mario games. It is focused a lot more on exploration, whereas Super Mario Galaxy is a lot more linear, and Super Mario 3D Land/World took that to the extreme and is just like the 2D games in 3D. Not that there's anything wrong with the styles of those games, these are all some of my fave games of all time. Super Mario Sunshine is the closest parallel, but it has things like FLUDD that still differentiate it quite a bit from SM64. I kind of like that the 3D Mario games have all taken different approaches, as it makes them all essential and still worth playing even after new Mario games are released.
As for Mario's voice, I watched the cartoon back in the day so I first heard Mario talk in the Super Show and also the SMB3 show. I think I saw some of the SMW show too. But, despite that, I still think Mario's SM64 and beyond voice is more fitting of the character. Mario isn't some surly, dingy plumber from Brooklyn, he's a pretty care-free, fun-loving, happy-go-lucky guy. I feel that his current voice matches that better. Luigi's voice is especially better than the cartoons, even if it's become a bit too screechy lately. Even so, I understand how any drastic shift can be unpleasantly jarring, even if the original wasn't official.
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on: 03/27/14, 19:33 |
