#Especially in Super Mario 64 DS
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Very curious about this implied friendship.
#this is no general greeting that toad is reaching over the side to give an extra-enthusiastic wave#Which Luigi returns with finger guns#do they play cards? book club?#anyways hoping and praying that the citizens are way nicer to Luigi in the movie verse than they were in the early 2000s#Especially in Super Mario 64 DS#seriously what was their damage in that game???#super mario brothers#super mario bros#Mario Movie#Luigi
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Your Mario and Luigi art is amazing!! Your style for them is so perfect and unique 🥺
I'm actually curious of if you have any specific inspirations for the way you draw them? Generally I see a big mix of M&L series art but was wondering if there were other inspirations too?
Tons. Tons of Inspiration. Most of them come from the games but others actually are from promotional art, Japanese ads, or I just made it the heck up.
Here's a list of all the places I've pulled form in previous drawings:
Mario & Luigi series (Where I pull the most from, it's the most obvious) Superstar Saga, Partners in Time, Bowser's Inside Story, and Dream Team.
Super Mario 64 DS (Unagi eel encounter and playing 'Picture Poker' mini game with Luigi)
New Super Mario Bros. series (Getting stuck in the bubble and propeller power up flying)
Mario Galaxy 1+2 (Boo Mario and Luigi are very cute. Luigi especially because not only is he more oval shaped compared to his round brother; but he constantly has a worried look from being a ghost)
Super Mario Sunshine
Luigi's Mansion series (The duck floaty is from LM3)
Mario Marker (They're wearing their MM construction outfits but they're eating sandwiches on top of a I-beam like at the end of LM3)
Mario Paint (Mario wears his normal cap sideways with his painter outfit in that game while in Odyssey it's a beret)
Mario Tennis Aces
Mario Kart: Double Dash
Super Mario Odyssey (Many cute outfits from this game, I used 4)
Super Mario 3D World
Mario Kart Tours (Luigi gets 2 outfits from here- 'Painter' and 'Vacation')
Dr. Mario World (Baby Mario gets his doctor costume from here)
Now drawings of the Baby Bros are a special case. Out of the original 18 doodles, 5 of them come from 'Partners in Time' because that's where they're the most prominent as playable characters. But a grand majority of them I just made up, but not without a lot of thought! For example, the doodle of the babies in pajamas makes reference to their animal power ups. Baby M has a racoon plushy and Baby L has a fox plushy; a nod to Tanooki Mario and Kitsune Luigi. But Baby L also has spotted pajamas connecting more to his spotted cat form.
As for commercials, two poses come specifically from a single Japanese only ad where Mario rescues Luigi from Bowser (High-five + Hug Jump). And the white suit movie premiere outfits drawing I did actually comes from a Japan-only Super Mario All-Stars commercial.
So yeah, probably a long-winded answer just to say that all the drawings at the very least have roots somewhere.
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I’ve lumped together a few, since they’re so hard to separate (especially Galaxy and Galaxy 2).
If you want a mathematical way of figuring this, list all the tracks you like from each, then subtract the number you dislike from each game’s count. Whichever ends up the highest should be your vote :)
Or if you’re voting because one song in particular just hits different (Steam Gardens, Dire Dire Docks, Gusty Garden Galaxy, you know the bangers), then by all means!
#super mario 64#mario#super mario#koji kondo#nintendo#super mario galaxy 2#super mario galaxy#super mario odyssey#super mario bros#luigi#music#8 bit music#chiptune#nintendo music
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I am curious, which Mario games have your favourite Mareach content/scenes and why, please? :D
Good question! ^-^ Let's see...
- World will always have a very special place in my heart because it was the first Mario game I've ever played when I was a kid. It was also the first one to feature a kiss, and the way Mario blushes is adorable. 🥰 Truly a classic!
- Galaxy, because omg of course. The game opening up with a letter from the Princess inviting Mario to meet her later that evening at the Star Festival and him dashing happily towards the castle in response was already cute and romantic enough, but the game also includes one of my favorite rescues in the whole franchise and has quite a magical feel to it. A real masterpiece. 💘💫
- 3D Land, which probably has my favorite ending credits of all. Any instance where Mario gets to carry Peach bridal style is a big weakness of mine, and seeing him safely bringing her all the way back to the castle in his Tanooki suit is simply delightful. 🤗
- 64's ending is also among my big faves for the way Mario politely takes off his cap before her (a detail that was kept later in some of the remastered DS games, with an added flourish and bow that made the scene even sweeter 🥺).
- In both the New Super Mario Wii and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, there is a brief moment where Mario offers Peach his arm for her to take, like the good gentleman he is, and it makes my heart melt everytime. 😭 He has such lovely manners there! 💖
- And last but certainly not least, pretty much all and every scenes the two of them share together in Luigi's Mansion 3. This game was great in showing us a bit more of the characters' chemistry with one another through more diverse interactions, and I especially adore the whole intro. ☺️
I've been told there were also apparently quite a few memorable moments in the Paper Mario games, to name only those, but here I've mostly enumerated the ones I'm more familiar with. :3 Enjoy! 😁
#asks#mario#princess peach#mareach#if you guys have other examples feel free to share those in the comments!^^#I'm always looking forward to expand my Mareach library ;D 🤭#I just love them ;_; 💗#OTP#thoughts and ramblings
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After getting into Mario with a more “fandom” kind of mindset, and more specifically getting a bigger interest in the RPG games, something that amuses me a lot are the people in youtube comments trying to argue that the Koopalings aren’t Bowser’s children.
Like, don’t get me wrong, I know Miyamoto retconned their link to Bowser. But the funny thing is, even to this day, Nintendo themselves are still writing those kids as if they were related to Bowser !
Seriously :
- In New Super Mario Bros Wii and Wii U, the Koopalings are attacking the castle along with Junior/Bowser, thus putting them on the same level of importance as Bowser and his son. The ending cutscenes do the same thing, especially the one in Wii U that just screams “they’re a family”. Plus, all the Koopalings serve as world bosses, which was kinda Junior’s role in DS, yet again putting them on the same level.
- In New Bros U, they all have their own ship. The only character to have a ship with their face on it before had always been Bowser.
- As I’ve seen someone point out in a comment section, the Koopalings are different skins of Junior in Smash Ultimate, again putting them on the same level as Bowser’s son. They might also be skins of Junior in Mario Maker 2 but I’m not sure on this one.
- In New Bros 2, they’re using a giant clown car, which is implied to belong to Bowser as Bowser and Junior are the only ones with a recurring clown car and Junior’s is too small. I doubt Bowser would let just about anybody use his car.
- On top of that, each has their own clown car in Smash.
- You know that icon/logo of his head thing that Bowser has (the one we see in games like 64 when we die) ? Bowser Junior had had one for a while now and more recently each Koopaling were given one (I think you can see them at Nintendo World in Bowser’s castle ?).
- Since they were originally created as Bowser’s children, they’re the same type of Koopa as him, and that fact hadn’t been changed in recent years. Hell, outside of Ludwig in Mario World and the fights in Superstar Saga, the Koopalings are never shown to breath fire, yet in the remake of Superstar Saga, they chose to keep the fire breath (except for Ludwig ironically enough). They could’ve easily removed the fire breath to make them more similar to Boom Boom, especially since Boom Boom has recently been shown with spikes on his shell, but they chose to keep this ability. Granted their shell plastron is different from Boom Boom, but that’s another design change Nintendo could make to set them apart from Bowser (giving them the same shell as Boom Boom to make it seem like they’re the same species, instead of keeping them as “Royal Koopas”).
In short, the Koopalings’ design wasn’t changed after the retcon, making them, Bowser and Junior the only members of that specific type of Koopa, thus implying they might be related. It’s also not helped by them having magic (which only Magikoopas and Bowser have) + being high-ranked members of the army. They might also be the only minors in the army, which raises a few eyebrows as to how they got the job (why would Bowser hire a bunch of children/teenagers to put in charge of his army ? Granted some like Ludwig, Roy and Wendy might be adults by now but I can’t bring myself to see Lemmy and Larry as anything other than teenagers).
- Saw a video of the bosses in Paper Mario Color Splash, and the minions (paratroopas) address Ludwig as “your evilness”, which is pretty reminiscent to how Bowser is called by his army, most notably by Kamek (“you grouchiness”, stuff like this)
- Baby Bowser and Bowser Jr are referred to as “young master” by Kamek. In the RPGs, the Koopalings are sometimes called “master [name]” (and “mistress Wendy”) when talked to individually. Note that both this point and the previous one are for the English version tho, not the Japanese one (no idea how they’re called in Japan).
- There’s that one Super Mario Adventures comic made in the 90s that was apparently re-released a few years ago (something like 2017-2018 ?), aka well after Nintendo retconned the kids’ relationship with Bowser (around 2012). Yet, in this comic, at least in the English version, the Koopalings are explicitly said to be Bowser’s children, with him saying he wants to marry Peach so they can have a mom + the kids calling him dad. And I don’t think they changed this dialogue in the re-release ?
- Bowser Jr’s Journey. Just, Bowser Jr’s Journey. After seeing all the cutscenes of this game, it is a crime that those kids aren’t related ! Hell there’s literally a moment where Junior pulls out the “I’ll tell dad !” card on Roy ! And let’s not forget stuff like the interactions between Junior and most notably Ludwig/Morton/Roy, Junior saying “us Koopalings” at some point thus including himself amongst that group, or stuff like him singing “I’m the one who wears the crown” making it sound like he’s saying “I’m the one chosen amongst the eight of us”. Then there’s the “family drama” vibe in the first half, the cute moments etc (Also unpopular opinion but after seeing that game, Ludwig should still be the heir of the throne. He has what it takes to be a fantastic king ! Granted Junior is still extremely young and could learn and mature.)
- Also about Jr’s Journey, the main conflict actually works a lot better if you imagine the kids to be siblings, with the Koopalings talking down to Junior because he’s the baby of the family + they resent him for taking the throne from them, while Junior is tired of his siblings babying him + he’s that kind of kid who orders the older siblings around because he thinks he has the power to do so. Them being siblings also justifies why Junior changes his mind so easily during the beach scene and then is quickly shown to be strongly attached to the others (getting happy when Iggy gets his memories back, ordering Ludwig to stay with him from now on, that whole adorable scene with Morton etc).
Meanwhile, if you see the Koopalings as nothing more than high-ranked underlings, it’s weird why they would have such an issue with Junior, the son of their king who is also their boss, and likewise it’s weird why Junior would take such issue with them only to have such a quick change of heart. Idk, I feel like if they weren’t siblings they probably wouldn’t spend that much time together, making both their whole conflict and strong bond a bit weird. And in general their interactions in this game read more as people who are widely different and wouldn’t usually be friends yet still love each other, which is the kind of dynamic many siblings tend to have (isn’t there a poll going around about whether you’d be friends with your siblings if they weren’t your siblings, and the option winning is “we wouldn’t be friends” ?)
- According to their page on the Mario wiki, during an interview revealing them in Mario Kart 8, Miyamoto used a word that means either “underlings” or “adopted children” when mentioning their relationship to Bowser (btw I know it’s the most popular headcanon anyways but them being adoptive children is just perfect. It would explain why 1. Some might be young adults while Bowser is younger than 40 depending on how old you see him, 2. Why they look so widely different from Bowser and each other, 3. Why Junior is the rightful heir).
- Also according to the wiki, the Italian and German versions of Mario and Luigi Paper Jam has mentions of them being Bowser’s kids, which I find hilarious. The translation teams didn’t give a fuck !
So yeah, when it comes to the Koopalings not being Bowser’s kids : who’s gonna tell Nintendo ?
(Side note about the whole idea of “Bowser clearly likes Junior more and neglects his older kids” : what if instead it was just that the Koopalings are teenagers/young adults now so Bowser is giving them their space + have them busy with royal duties, hence why he doesn’t spend that much time with them ? Plus, in all the examples that put the Koopalings on the same level as Junior, it’s pretty evident that they have the same privileges)
#Super Mario#Bowser Jr#Bowser Junior#Koopalings#sorry I'm too lazy to tag all 7 kids#their names are in the post anyways so if you use the search function the post will show up#Flor talks#long post#it's kinda funny how I've been into Mario since I was a kid#yet seeing more of the fandom is giving a different perspective of those characters; it's a weird thing#anyways yes this post was entirely made due to 'Bowser Jr's Journey' and how cute the cutscenes were#I legit didn't care much about the Koopalings before seeing those cutscenes; and they made me fall in love with those gremlins#(btw I don't remember when the 'us Koopalings' is but the 'I'm the one who wears the crown' is very early on#one of the last cutscenes before they leave the tutorial at Bowser's castle)#but yeah; Bowser has 8 babies (12 if you count the Koopa Kids) and I will die on this hill#(also kinda ironic I'm posting this on fathers' day)
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Something I never quite understood is what it is with people and Daisy from the Mario games. Why is there always so much talk about wanting her in the games and hype when she actually is? What exactly is so special about her that gets people like this? I don't think this is a bad thing or anything like that, It is just something that confuses me.
Are you a fan of Dragon Ball? If so, you've surely noticed that the power creep has rendered a majority of the cast irrelevant, with Goku and Vegeta being tantamount to the only ones that really matter in most scenarios, with characters like Yamcha literally not being allowed to participate in fate-deciding battles anymore
You may also have noticed that Dragon Ball Super has more recently been trying to remedy this. Super Hero hardly had Goku or Vegeta in it at all, focusing on how to bring Gohan and Piccolo up to speed, while there was a mini-arc in the manga tying into Super Hero establishing Goten and Trunks as more relevant characters
Fans love that. They love seeing characters who either exist entirely on or who have been pushed to the fringe being brought to the centerstage. There are all kinds of reasons for this, but in the case of Dragon Ball, I think it's a matter of variety vs. stagnation. "Looks like Goku got another power-up that'll serve to elevate him above the rest of the cast and render them useless again"
Daisy is in a pretty similar boat. She's appeared in dozens of Mario titles, but how many of them are the Kart, Party or Sports titles? How many times has Daisy appeared in an actual Mario game?
Once
Daisy first appeared in Super Mario Land for the GameBoy, a spinoff not even made by Shigeru Miyamoto, and even there she was the damsel in distress who didn't actually appear until the end of the game. A very common event for video game characters, especially at the time, but the point is that her involvement in the main Mario franchise is as minimal as it gets
Since then, though, her appearances in the non-platformers have given her a lot of opportunity to flesh out her personality, most notably with how energetic and tomboyish she is in Mario Strikers compared to the more bubbly and girlish Peach
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With their differences highlighted, it was natural that some fans would gravitate more to one side than the other, but Peach is still the main heroine of the franchise. She appears in most if not all mainline Mario games in some capacity, either as the damsel or a playable character, and now has two games to call her own
Aside from Mario and Peach, who else has gotten to be playable alongside Mario? Obviously Luigi as the original player 2, three colors of Toad across Mario 2, New Super Mario Bros Wii and U, Captain Toad in the 3D World minigames, Yoshi and Wario in 64 DS, Toadette and Nabbit in U Deluxe, Rosalina in 3D World, and most recently Bowser Jr. in Bowser's Fury
That's 13 playable characters (9 if you count all of the Toads together and don't count Captain Toad since he's in a minigame), with Daisy notably absent despite being a fan favorite. Toadette being playable was especially egregious because they gave her a power-up that effectively just turned her into Peach with a different outfit. Rosalina was also "just another Princess" same as Daisy, but introduced much more recently, so it felt like they were acknowledging they could bring in any character they wanted, but who would want boring old Daisy when there's a shiny new Princess right here? Not knocking on Rosalina, I love her too, but I've wanted to see more Daisy content since I was a child
Do you remember how excited people were about Pauline showing up in Odyssey? Sure she'd shown up in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games, but again, those were spinoffs that most people didn't play. This was direct acknowledgment of her character in the main story, and now she's showing up in the Sports titles! Further awareness of the character means more opportunities for something new!
Even if Wonder just took place in Sarasaland and Daisy was a background character, that would have been shocking because it would have been her first time back in 34 years! But no! They skipped straight to her being playable!! This means that she has a much greater chance of coming back to be playable in future mainline games or even spinoffs like the new Peach game or the more story-driven RPGs
Even better, though? This sets a precedent. Who knows who could be playable next?? We could see Pauline be playable for the first time in a mainline game! We could see Wario come back as a Wario Land crossover! We could even see Waluigi actually be acknowledged by the canon for once!!!
Daisy is beloved because of her personality and was wanted as a playable character because of her absence. Her inclusion is a huge deal because it means that Nintendo has actually been listening to us and knows how to give us what we want. It shows growth on Nintendo's part, and serves as a sign that they will continue to give us more of it going forward
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Evie x Aiden gaming headcanons
As requested by @inlocusmads, here are some of my gaming related headcanons for Evie and Aiden. Many of these are actually some of my oldest headcanons, back from when I first got into Choices. Here's what I've got as of now:
Evie:
Evie is more of a casual gamer, but she does have a lot of games she enjoys. Minecraft, Super Mario 64 DS, Mario Kart DS, and Among Us are some of her biggest favorites. And also a couple of oddly satisfying mobile games. And whatever the Choices universe equivalent to Choices and HSS Prime is.
Evie was also a major frequenter of sites like CoolMath during 4th-6th grade and she still enjoys them. Some of her favorites includes Sushi Cat, Papa's Pizzaria/Taco Mia/Burgeria/etc., Bloons + Bloons Tower Defense, and Fireboy and Watergirl. Luckily she does get a chance to show them to Aiden before the end of Adobe Flash.
Aiden:
Aiden is utter crap at computer games. The only ones he's good at are stuff like Smule Magic Piano (which Evie would struggle with more) and Minecraft creative mode.
And 75% of Aiden's Minecraft-playing is composing or recreating songs with the note blocks.
He sometimes does Minecraft Survival mode but the only way he can really last is if Evie's in the world with him and they're working together.
He barely manages Mario Kart, but can't drift for shit.
He openly insults Fortnite.
Sometimes he'll go into a game like Mario Party thinking it'll be easy, only to be absolute dogshit at it.
Yes, Aiden is even crap at Tetris. His screen legit looked like this on his first attempt at the game.
He is not a fan of Among Us (despite that he willingly played "Mafia" on the boat in after-prom). To him, it's just people "running around and blaming each other". He especially hates being the imposter because, in his own words from the Mafia game, "I can't lie to save my life".
Actually I think Aiden would be pretty good at stuff like Interactive Story games like Evie does too.
Myra is always teasing him about how bad he is at most video games and often likes to mention his least favorites to annoy him.
Evie: "Aiden you're usually very dexterous when it comes to instruments, but you're bad at video games?" Aiden: "Playing the piano and playing on a gaming console are two completely different things."
Both of them:
Evie and Aiden regularly have double dates with Nishan and Sakura where they play 2-on-2 video games, usually battlegrounds-style games. Their rounds are of course very short-lived because Aiden is crap at the games, but they're still fun nonetheless.
I haven't played it myself yet but I can totally see the two of them getting into Fall Guys. Evie likes the cute fall guy avatars.
Evie (with some minimal help from Aiden) trying to design a sort of a big fancy "dream house" for them in Minecraft.
Something something they squee over Minecraft cats together a lot
Evie would try to teach Aiden a lot of the video games she's good at. He'd slowly improve at most of them.
The two of them totally obsess over video games with awesome soundtracks, even if they haven't played the games themselves. But it sometimes may lead them to getting into the games. Eg. Evie loves the soundtracks for the Super Mario Galaxy games, she'd show it to Aiden and they'd obsess over them, and at one point or another, they'd feel compelled to buy the games.
I think a habit both of them would also have in certain video games is: they start a game, but if the soundtrack is really good, they'll just make their character do nothing or run around aimlessly in it so that they can keep the music + sound effects going on because they don't want it to stop. They do this a LOT with Mecha Bowser battle in Super Mario Galaxy 1.
I think they'd sometimes use app versions of classic board games (chess, checkers, etc).
They'd definitely enjoy puzzle games like minesweeper. They're each pretty good at the puzzle games on their own, but it's extra fun to work on them together. Also Aiden sitting in Evie's lap while they play the games.
#choices stories you play#choices#choices game#choices stories we play fandom#choices stories we play#high school story#hss#choices hss#choices high school story#aiden zhou#aiden x mc#mc x aiden#hss aiden#high school story aiden#evie x aiden#aiden x evie#evie ayana (og hss mc)#og hss mc#hss mc#og hss f!mc#hss f!mc#cadybear's hss headcanons#cadybear's headcanons#hss headcanons
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Year In Review: Viddy Game Pt 4 (Happy Mario Day!!!)
Oops! All Mario! To prepare for the release of Super Mario Wonder, I wanted to play through as many of the Mario games I never played before as I could. There are a few wayward titles I missed, but I’m sure I’ll end up playing those sometime in the distant year of 2024. Damn that sounds like a fake year. I hinted in earlier reviews that this was something of a nightmare to accomplish, but that was just me being silly. They’re Mario games! All of these were pretty fun.
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga
I started out my Mariothon with the story-driven series I had never actually touched. I’ve played all the (good) Paper Mario games, but I’ve never touched the other side of the plumber’s rpgs. The combat was a refreshing change of pace after all those Final Fantasy games. It’s almost as much of a rhythm game as it is turn based, which makes it very engaging. I also like what it adds to the Mario World. Luigi has been characterized in several of the RPGs and his own spin off series, but having him along for the entire ride in this story driven game makes him somehow more endearing to me than he was before. I like to imagine this takes place right after Super Paper Mario, and Mario is making sure his best bro is safely right next to him after the shit he went through.
The Bean Bean Kingdom feels like a suitable alternative to the Mushroom one we’ve grown familiar with. A lot of the older games had introduced other Themed Kingdoms, like the Jewelry Kingdom in Yoshi’s Safari or Sarasaland in Mario Land, which is based on types of tea. And Mario Odyssey would assert the entire world being organized into these Kingdoms, so Bean Bean fits right in! It’s super fun to explore the fresh areas with a familiar aesthetic. I only wish these Bean characters would make more appearances outside of this game. I guess they show up in the other Mario and Luigis, but Reggie knows what I mean. Put Prince Peasley in Mario Kart, coward!
New Super Mario Bros
When this game released I had no idea that 2D Mario had been put on hold for ten whole years. From my perspective Super Mario World had only been released earlier that year in 2006, on Nintendo’s brand new console, the hand-me-down Game Boy Advance I got from my cousin. So when my friend showed me New Super Mario Bros. on his Fancy DS Lite in 2009, I wasn’t that impressed. This one didn’t even have the cape, or the Tanooki suit from Mario 3! I was not impressed. What it did have was a fun as hell competitive mode that I could play with my friend via DS download play (which is an awesome system they should bring back), so I never felt the need to seek out a copy.
Playing it now, the game is a lot more distinctive than I gave it credit for. While the world themes are based around the generic grass, ice, fire, etc. themes the Mario games always recycle in some way, the level designs give a good sense of cohesiveness, and the new power-ups: the tiny mushroom, Mega Mushroom, and Blue Shell significantly alter how you approach the level. When you’re tiny, you get a higher jump and can get into hidden paths, but touching Anything Will You, while Mega Mario can ignore everything and cause as much carnage as possible. The Blue Shell lets Mario continuously slide and kill anything in your path provided you keep whatever initial momentum you started with, making this game the singular moment the red plumber stole something from the blue hedgehog. The low-res 3D artstyle felt dated when I first saw this game, since I wasn’t enjoying the industry norm of changing every franchise to 3D. “Give me my pixels, damn you!” said 8-year-old Kitch. I now find it really charming, especially compared to the later entries in the “New” series. There are a lot of original enemies in this game that never show up again. I need everyone to look at the Snailicorn immediately.
Super Mario 64 DS
I was always told this was the inferior version of Mario 64 due to the limited control scheme. Instead of full 360 movement, you are now cut down to 8 directional movements cycled on the d-pad. However, I played this game on the 3DS, and the analogue stick made those 8 directions flow seamlessly. The other change is the addition of a Run Button, one that I was not aware of until futilely trying to race against Koopa the Quick. That’s right, for the entire fight against King Bob-omb, I had just assumed this game ran like shit, or that Yoshi was intentionally designed to be extremely slow until I happened to hold down the b-button as if this was some kind of. 2D MARIO GAME? In 3D??? It’s a sensible change, but one that is only communicated by experimenting with the controls, which someone who has already beaten the original game 3 times wouldn’t really think to try. And since there’s little need to ever Not Run, holding that button down for the ENTIRE GAME started to get annoying towards the end.
Otherwise, it was really nice returning to this classic. The calm atmosphere in exploring the Mushroom Castle and revealing its little secrets makes it genuinely unmatched as a hubworld, and the levels, while mostly generically themed, cram tons of personality into such small areas. Realizing how tiny levels like Cool, Cool Mountain and Big Boo’s Haunt are actually startled me, since I spent so much time as a kid exploring the nooks and crannies of those areas. There are also a lot of new stuff hidden across these levels that either unlock or are accessed by the new playable characters. Each of them have their own movement speeds and abilities, but none of them really play as well as the Mario Himself, so changing into them was mostly situational. I loved the new boss fights that unlocked them, though. Adding Goomboss from Paper Mario into the OG 3D Mario made me really happy. I’ve still never 100% this game, but if I go back, I might actually make sure it’s this version I complete.
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
The awaited sequel to the GBA game, I hear absolute jackshit about this game when people talk about the Mario and Luigi series. I assumed it was the runt that came between the beloved classics of Superstar and Bowser’s Inside Story, but that isn’t true at all. In fact, I think I like this game more than Superstar. Since it’s on the DS, there’s a naturally higher fidelity with the pixel art, the premise is more interesting, and it adds a new layer to both the combat and overworld movement in the form of the BA-BIES. Since there are two new X and Y buttons, you get Baby Mario and Baby Luigi as additions to your playable characters, meaning at any one time you are juggling Four Whole Mario Bros. all for the price of One! The game is noticeably more difficult than Superstars, nothing too crazy, but I did die a lot more. Or I am just Bad At Games.
Like the previous entry, this game is oozing charm out of every bodily orifice it has. Mario and Luigi are characterized extremely well as they step up as babysitters. It warmed my heart everytime Luigi purposefully goofed up to make the babies laugh or whenever Mario shouted “BA-BIES” in concern whenever they were in trouble. It may be the most overt personality he’s ever really shown. The time travel mechanic isn’t super in-depth, the present time basically acts as a hub world, but we get some more of that Sweet Mario Lore as they explore the Days of Mushroom Past. Autocorrect wants me to say Pasta. We get to see Baby Peach and Younger Toadsworth at some point after Yoshi’s Island, an E Gad pre-ghost fascination, and also these alien freaks who look suspiciously like Fucked Up Toads. What does this mean for them? Are Toads themselves descended from aliens, or vice versa? Will we ever get to see “Toads In Space?!” Some kind of… “MARIO GALAXY???” Only the future can tell.
Super Mario 3D Land
Nintendo was able to put a 3D Mario on a handheld in the last generation, so I guess the new hurdle was an ORIGINAL 3D Mario on the Three Dee Ess. This serves that purpose well. I could honestly end it there. The level design is well executed around the controls that are based on Galaxy, and it translates really well. They brought back the Highly Acclaimed Tanooki Suit that lends itself nicely to 3D platforming, and also seemed to be a selling point of the game? A lot of the Goombas and Koopas are now wearing the tanooki suit, and even Peach gets to show off the fit at the end of the game. You can’t play as her though, it’s just there to tease you. Luigi is an unlockable character with his own set of remixed levels, but that’s really it.
And that’s the thing, this game is fun, but it’s also kind of… Nothing? If you’ve played 3D Land, tell me: Where does it take place? The Mushroom Kingdom? That’s probably a good guess, but there’s nothing that really shows that, is there? There’s little to no cohesion between the levels. The level select is a linear screen with a multicolor background. You’ll be playing a water level immediately following some weird toy-themed level with absolutely zero context. Where are we? What’s happening? No one really looks for a story in a Super Mario game, but the lack of any real context makes this game super forgettable to me. It’s just a selection of random levels, and a Lot of the levels are repeated with slight differences. Why? TELL ME REGGIE. At the very least we get these cute letters from Peach showing her own adventure escaping Bowser. That would’ve been a fun to play, but this game won’t let you go Girl Mode. Oh well.
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
This is one of those “underrated Mario gems.” Maybe the only one. Super Mario Land is pretty mediocre, so I’m not surprised its sequel fell by the wayside. It’s super creative for a GB game, and because of the power of Cool Internet People, I got to play this in color! Lucky me :) The whole game takes place in a magical theme park that was maybe created at the end of one of the Mario Parties. Did anyone else make that connection? I know one guy did. They go ham on the level designs: an area that makes you tiny so Mario is battling ants, a bubble ride that takes you into space to fight Pig Creatures, a mechanical Mario; at one point you go inside a whale. It’s wacky! The enemy design reflects this too, there’s a bunch of Weirdos, like the Pig Creature:
The goal is to find those 6 Golden Coins in each world to unlock the Mario Castle, with the caveat that Mario will lose all his coins upon a game over and have to track them down again. You only have to repeat the boss fights however, so it’s not a complete wipe. My Boy Wario is introduced in this game, and he really does come across as this supernatural, corrupted parody of our portly performer that the commercials for this game made him out to be. But the official word is he’s just Mario’s childhood rival that was upset they didn’t name a castle after him. Don’t worry, Wario! I’m sure you’ll get yours soon.
Super Mario 3D World pt 1
This one is just stellar all around. It makes 3D Land look like a tech demo in comparison. Every level showcases a degree of creativity on par with Galaxy while keeping 3D Land’s linear design. Every part of this experience is just so damn satisfying, the new power ups, targeting the tops of the flagpoles, riding on Yobbo the Swimming Yoshi, and you can go GIRL MODE. My biggest complaint about 3D land is that they teased a playable Princess Peach without actually ever giving it to you, and now I refuse to play this game as any other character. Except when the game makes me play as Mario or Toad to get all the Green Stars. Also the GREEN STARS.
The secondary collectables have never felt as necessary as it does in 3D World. They add an incentive to explore the levels or find an extra challenge that are actually Worth searching for. I don’t remember if they really gave you anything, but I still liked finding them.
Also the MUSIC, the ost slaps so hard in this game. We’re moved to a new setting in 3D World, and the soundtrack and aesthetics match that vibe. It’s unique, it’s bOMBASTIC. There are two new power ups in the form of CAT and CHERRIES. The cat can run up walls, while the cherries can make a double of your character. The former is generally the best playstyle for most of the game a la the Tanooki suit, while the latter works as a fun challenge that gets really creative with its limits as you control two or three or six characters with one controller. There’s even a bonus mode at the end based on Galaxy where you can. Guess What? GO GIRL MODE EVEN HARDER. I haven’t done it yet but hey. I Am Going To.
Bowser’s Fury
This is one of the few I actually 100% completed. I was on a Dollywood trip with some friends and after the festivities ended at Guy Fieri’s Shitty Arcade and Ripley’s Wacky Wonderworks we stayed in the cabin and chilled out. I didn’t have a ton else to do while everyone was resting so I got really into Bowser’s Fury. Our first taste of what may be Open World Mario. It’s fun! Mario is stranded in the middle of a lake with wildly clashing aesthetics that somehow just works. Light blue dominates the eyes hampered by the slimy black of the magic ink polluting the water around you. There are small yellow islands dotting the lake and floating in the air. And when you get to these islands? Cats! They’re all cats! There are cats on the ground, cat ears on the goombas, Cat Koopas, Kitty Boombooms, everything is a cat!! Even the grass is cat fur! You have cat to be kitten me, right meow! It’s a place so suitably weird for the Mario universe, I could easily see Lake Lapcat being introduced in one of the earlier Paper Marios.
Gameplay wise this is just a big Mario Oddysey world with more… direction? The lack of a real swimming mechanic in Bowser’s Fury makes the ocean a fun place for movement and little else, though there are occasional challenges for Yobbo the Swimming Yoshi to run through. It makes Lapcat feel like a massive hubworld of sorts, with no divide between it and the level, It’s as if in Mario Galaxy you could walk straight from Rosalina’s Observatory directly onto a new planet without going through the Domes, if that makes sense. It’s short, but super fun for what it is. You get all the power ups from 3D World to play around in less linearly designed levels, and it lets you stock up on them through an inventory system. Bowser Jr. follows you around and acts cute! Mario and Bowser turn into Kaijus and you have a Godzilla vs King Kong style boss fight. I guess Mario would be King Kong in that analogy… Nintendo may need the help of John Kirby once more…
Super Mario Sunshine
I had never heard about this game’s existence until I was like 15. My friend told me it was one of her favorite Gamecube games growing up, and I did not believe her. Every description she gave about Super Mario Sunshine sounded like she was messing with me. “Oh yea it’s the game where Mario goes on vacation and he like, gets framed for vandalism? And you have a water gun and you clean paint.” Fuck off with that, you’re not getting me! I thought it was a running joke she had until I looked closely at Mario's trophy in Brawl that referenced the same name. Huh!
Anyways this is my first time actually playing it on the 3D All-Stars collection. I started it when it was released, but I reached a point where I had no idea what I was supposed to do until my cousin who grew up with it told me I needed almost every shinesprite to beat the game. ALSO WEIRD. The other 3D Marios let you go at your own pace and pick and choose which levels you want, but here all but the last levels are required. I guess this is because Sunshine is more “narratively driven” and they want you to watch how each world changes through your actions. I can appreciate that! Mario 64 experimented with that a bit, like the tower appearing at the top of Whomp fortress in Star 2 or King Bo-bomb’s corpse appearing at the bottom of his battlefield after you coup de tated that fucker. Sunshine, however, has levels like Noki Bay where each level has Mario tackle the source of the pollution, or Gelato beach where you make sure a hotel is suitable for reopening and even get to celebrate at the end.
The controls on the other hand. My cousin described them as “lovably janky.” Mario no longer has the long jump, which startled me every time I tried to long jump, which was a lot cause I have the memory of a housefly. Wall jumping is harder to pull off as Mario does not automatically turn towards the wall like other Mario games, so you have to time it perfectly, and Mario’s overall movement is very awkward. I never felt like he jumps the exact distance I expect him to go. This is probably to make the player more reliant on Fludd, the aforementioned water gun that can let you hover as well as two other fun, but useless abilities. Fludd is very fun to use, but they take it away from you during the platform challenges and it reveals just how janky Mario is in this game. I guess it also makes them more satisfying to complete. Still, since these levels are required, I probably would have given up ever beating the game if I played it as a kid.
New Super Mario Bros 2
This is a similar case to 3D Land. It seems the goal of this entry was “put a 2D Mario on the 3DS,” which was a less impressive goal given the OG New Super Mario was already playable on the 3DS. It’s much prettier, I guess. The big name of this game is “Coins.” Coins are everywhere in this game. There’s a new power-up, the Golden Flower, that lets you turn blocks and enemies into coins. Another power-up that gives Mario a coin every step he makes. There are Golden Koopas that produce coins when thrown. There’s a counter on the home screen that shows how many total coins you’ve got, and the game notifies you every time you reach a “Coin milestone.”
Yea I’ve never cared about collecting coins in Mario games. It’s not like they unlock anything that matters in this one, they just congratulate you every three minutes and if you get One Million coins you get a new title screen. That’s kind of cool, but not something I would actually care to try and get. What I’m left with is the most standard 2D Mario game to exist. The Tanooki suit is here, but like 3D Land, you still can’t go Girl Mode. Unless you count Luigi. Genderfluïd King. Despite this, I do find myself coming back to this one quite a bit to carve out some of the bonus worlds. It’s slightly harder than the other games in the “New” series. Maybe if they leaned into that, like the OG Mario 2, it would be more memorable. Wait, this is the 3rd New Super Mario game. Why is it called 2? The hell?
New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe
As the final entry in the “New” series, it makes sense that this is the most polished version of that game style. The world designs are still based on the tried and exhausted Grass, Desert, Snow, etc. aesthetics, but here there are a lot more unique level designs or some that are SO COOL aesthetically, like the level based around a Van Gogh painting. I wish there were more levels like that, but in THE LEAST, this is the first New Super Mario game to introduce CONTEXTUALIZATION. This is something I’ve been complaining about with these new mario games. Super Mario World (the best one) has a beautiful map level-select. When you’re in Donut Plains on the map, the level reflects that design, taking place on a field, and when you go in a cave, THE LEVEL TAKES PLACE IN A CAVE. Imagine that. It’s such a simple thing that adds so much to the experience. You are actually traveling through a world, not just choosing random shit off a menu. U Deluxe’s map isn’t as cool as World’s, but it was still immensely fun to discover all its little secrets, and made me realize how much I missed World’s map design. Maybe I should play that game instead.
There is one unforgivable sin in Mario U specific to Deluxe. There’s an original playable female character in the form of Toadette! Girl Mode! Finally! And it SUCKS! It’s not actually that bad, but playing as Toadette gives you access to Peachette, whose existence replaces all power-ups in the game while playing as her. So Girl Mode is actively worse to play than any other mode, except funny rabbit mode. But that’s only if you want to be a funny rabbit. She’s meant to be “easy mode,” which is a bit demeaning given she’s the only female character, but I get the desire for an easier way for kids to play the game, I just wish it didn’t lock you out of all of the power-ups. Speaking of which, there are a Lot of power-ups in this game, but a lot of them are hidden for some reason, like the Propellor Hat and Penguin suit, which I found 1 and None of, respectively. Why are they in the game if I can’t use them? These aren’t collectors items, they’re funny little costumes that are supposed to be FUN. WE’RE ALL HAVING FUN HERE.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
FINALLY they’re letting Mario be WEIRD AGAIN. The artstyle of the New Super Mario Bros. games got heavily criticized after this one was announced for being “soulless” and “boring,” but I wouldn’t say that. Because I don’t think it’s true! They’re vibrant and colorful games with an obvious ton of talent and heart put into them. I would, however, describe them more as “corporate.” Homogenized and Marketable. Mario and Gang have been kept to their models in every game since the DS and everyone has clearly been exhausted by it. Wonder is breaking the trend, and Mario looks fucking Weird.
He’s so much rounder, his clothes have a different texture, and his eyes are bigger and brighter. His eyebrows are clipping through his hat! He looks like a plastic toy brought to life, which is not an insult. All of the characters are brilliantly animated to pull off this new look, and I refuse to try out embedding videos in Tumblr so you just have to trust me. It’s not that I want Mario to stay like this, but I DEFINITELY want them to Keep Being Weird Like This.
The weirdness doesn’t end at the artstyle. There are three new power-ups, the Elephant Apple, Bubble Flower, and the Drill Shroom, the last of which is carried over from Mario Galaxy 2’s Spin Drill in terms of gameplay. The Bubble Flower lets you capture things in Bubbles and lets you jump on them for extra air time, and the Elephant Flower turns you into a Fucking Ele Phant. Twice as big, can swipe things with your trunk, can carry WATER in your trunk. Truly the Mario experience we’ve been missing. There are also the most playable characters than there have ever been in a mainline Mario game. Peach, Toadette, AND Daisy in her first playable appearance. THREE FORMS OF GIRL MODE. Nintendo knew what my main Mario complaint was before I ever thought of it.
The main draw of this game, however, are the additions of the Wonder Flowers. There are no levels that stand out against the other, more standard levels like the New Super games, because literally every level in this game is FANTASTIC. The Wonder Flowers are an extra challenge midway through any level that changes it into something WEIRD AS HELL. Maybe the level speeds up and slows down rapidly, maybe you have to dodge walking Piranha Plants as they sing an acapella stage performance, maybe you turn into a Goomba yourself and have to avoid being eaten by a predator. It can be literally ANYTHING. Every level is exciting to go through because you want to see what NONSENSE those crazy bastards have come up with.
Not to mention the world design. The Flower Kingdom is BEAUTIFUL and similar to the Beanbean Kingdom in terms of cohesion. There’s another country right next to the Mushroom Kingdom with a new botanical aesthetic we’ve never heard of before? That makes sense! It feels perfectly natural for it to be part of this universe. This is another of the three I went to the effort of 100% completing, and some of those last levels are HARD. I gave myself a migraine on the final badge challenge. Also BADGES. They’re cool. Some provide an extra movement option and others make movement actively worse as a way to challenge yourself. Some are just fun! It adds a neat level of replayability to the game as you experiment with them all.
You also get a fantastic reward for completing all the levels. It is. SO Stupid. Extremely dumb. And I have never been more satisfied with a completion reward in a Mario game.
Super Mario Galaxy
To end out my Mariothon, I celebrated with another playthrough of my favorite game featuring a space-faring plumber, Super Mario Galaxy. This was the game that made me fall in love with the series, and in my eyes, still has not been beaten by other Mario titles in terms of atmosphere (PUN). It is just so fun to exist in the levels in these games in a way I can’t say about other Mario titles, except maybe Odyssey and 64. I could follow the objective, climb on the honey walls as Bee Mario, or hop across apples and pears so large they’ve become planetoids and have a great time, fantastic even. But I could also walk around Honeyhive and Deep Dark and look around the scenery and play around with the controls, which are restrained, but refined compared to the previous 3D Marios. Most of the purple coin levels are designed to do exactly that. Galaxy is by no means a sandbox game, but it retains those elements from Sunshine and 64.
Maybe that feeling just comes out of nostalgia. This was at one point the only game I would play on my wii for months on end. It’s like comfort food to me. One time I heard a local cafe play the Galaxy main theme on the speaker as I was walking by and I just. Paused for a bit, leaned against the brick exterior and soaked in the vibes. Listening to that pristine orchestral track whilst watching people come home from a full day of work, or following the actions of a cat decided whether or not to eat a bug running for its life. There’s probably a copyright issue they were violating, but who cares, Fuck Nintendo.
There is one thing that I know isn’t just nostalgia. The older I get the more I appreciate the storybook section of Galaxy. Every few worlds you complete, you’ll get a notification that Rosalina has a story to tell you, and you’ll hear a chapter out of her children’s book detailing her past. It has a melancholy vibe and it’s a genuinely beautiful and heartfelt story with a gorgeous handpainted artstyle:
Supposedly, Koizumi (co-director on the game) snuck this feature in without Miyomoto’s knowledge, and he hated it. When he discovered it after the game was released, he was upset enough that to this day Nintendo has not let Koizumi direct a big release. Apparently, he thought it ruined the game’s tone. I don’t know if I believe that, and I don’t feel like fact checking that shit, but if so, I’m glad Koizumi got it past the guy. It elevates the game’s overall story to an absurd degree in my eyes, providing Galaxy with one of the best endings in any video game I have played.
My ONE criticism. MY singular gripe. Is the title itself. “Galaxy” has always bothered me. “Battlerock GALAXY?” “Loop de Loop GALAXY???” Miyomoto sir, those are SOLAR SYSTEMS. And tiny ass solar systems at best. Sometimes just singular planetoids. But obviously Super Mario System or Super Mario Tiny Ass Planet isn’t as Marketable as- What the fuck was that? Wait, hold on. Sorry guys. Computer, ENHANCE.
What the fuck is this? I’ve always noticed it there in the background, but… I’ve never considered… is this Earth??? The surface of the Mario Planet? Are you telling me all of these “galaxies” are simply a collection of stylized MOONS??? Do we ever actually leave the outer atmosphere? Well, maybe. Looking at the skyboxes of a few more worlds, it seems we do actually bounce around a few other planets, but they’re nearly always there, holding our bee-themed satellites in rotation of itself. That makes more cosmological sense, I suppose, but I’ll stand by that Super Mario Satellite wouldn’t have been too horrible of a name if Nintendo wanted some fucKING ACCURACY WITH THEIR TITLES.
HAPPY MARIO DAY EVERYONE. The big MAR10. I totally planned for this to release exactly today, and it’s not just because I put this whole project on the backburner while I focused on my Real Life Job. Thank you to everyone who has been reading these (I see you). I’ve repeated before that these reviews are mostly for me, but the few people that have been leaving likes did motivate me to keep going. I’ll be posting more things on this blog in the future, but I’m not sure I’ll do the Year in Review thing in this manner again. Look forward to more of my ramblings! Or don’t! Skim them in mild interest! Don’t read them at all! Either way, wahoo! Yippee! Yahaha! And Have A Blessed Mario Day.
#mario#mario day#mar10#okay here we go#super mario 64#mario & luigi#mario and luigi#superstar saga#partners in time#new super mario bros#ds#wii#new super mario bros 2#super mario wonder#super mario 3d land#super mario land 2#super mario 3d world#bowsers fury#super mario sunshine#my post#video game#reviews#year in review
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💐
i've loved video games all my life, especially RPGs. some of my best memories are of watching my big bro play skyrim (when i'd get too annoying he'd hand me a paper and pencil then ask me to draw the map), and giving my professional 10 year old opinion on the cases in la noire. i still have my original pink dsi!! it sits on my desk in front of my psychology textbooks and dostoevsky tower. my favorite games as a little lock were pokemon pearl, pokemon mystery dungeon explorer of skies (it emotionally gutted me and for what), nintendogs, dragon quest IX, the ds remake of super mario 64, and animal crossing wild world. i'd start crying whenever i booted the game up and resetti popped out to shame me though.
#i didn't know how to save my mario game so it always reset whenever i loaded it HJTEKM#lock lore#answered#Anonymous
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What's your favourite / least favourite mario game?
this is one of the hardest questions i’ve ever been asked in my life :-( i love so many of them soooo so much and i don’t think i could pick a least favourite.. it’s also important to note that i haven’t beaten a lot of the mario games i own 💀 i still need to beat superstar saga and i’m only at the beginning/early middle of BiS. i also haven’t beaten smrpg and i’m not very far in paper mario 64 or mario + rabbids kingdom battle. i’m still working on 100%ing galaxy super mario 64 ds and super mario 3d world so i haven’t beaten those either. my brother owns it but i’ve never played luigi’s mansion dark moon myself 😭
i think my favourite story in any mario game is spm (because like. yknow. if you couldn’t tell.) but i really really love like. most of them LOL. galaxy is probably my favourite of the like. 64-sunshine-galaxy-odyssey 3d platformers, i love 3d land, and all of the M&L rpgs but especially PiT and dream team are so special to me
idk if i really have a least favourite?? i obviously prefer the story heavy games but i love the platformers and spinoffs too (<- mariokart wii + marioparty 8 + mario power tennis lover especially) . i guess i don’t really get too excited about the new super mario bros series but i wouldn’t consider any of them to be BAD games. i also obviously am not gonna say anything like mario teaches typing mario is missing mario’s time machine hotel mario etc because i don’t own and have never played any of those LOL
i think the games i’m least likely to revisit are like. new super mario bros wii and new super mario bros 2 :-( . nothing against them but like you’ve played em once you’ve played em enough LOL. i still pop open 3d land sometimes i still got excited to dick around in lm/3 and odyssey i play mariokart and marioparty all the time and i still replay the rpgs LOL. the nsmb games just aren’t like as good to me. those 2 especially because you can’t play as luigi as p1 and that’s all i wanted to do as a kid LOL
#talk tag#ask tag#sorry for rambling LMAO#i love like. every mario game unfortunately. i have things to say about literally every single one LOL#one might go as far as to say that i am a fan of the series LMFAO
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Wiikend Thoughts
I played a bunch of Wii games with my partner over the weekend. I wanted to record my thoughts on them.
Dead space extraction
This one was pretty fun!
We did just the first chapter
I predicted there would be a level 1 plot twist but it was still pretty cool
I was really impressed by the production quality on this spin-off light gun game
Made me happy as a dead space fan
Might play more, might have to play more alone but this is a fantastic coop title
Really enjoyed the coop hacking mini game
Boom blox
Lives up to the hype!
It is indeed a cute, fun little party game
I was expecting much less gameplay variety
Will definitely have to play more together
Sonic colors
I had beaten before on PC but not tried on original hardware
Frame rate is a little low but you get used to it
Biggest beef here is that shaking the Wii remote for wisps is really awkward
I kept firing the laser wisp prematurely because of that
I found the classic controller to be the most comfortable style for me
The short levels make this game great for taking turns on
Maybe later we will do the game land levels
Elebits
This game has a hilariously long tutorial that basically just explains how to even use a Wii remote at all
Partner found it a bit cumbersome
This was my first wii game so I had a super fun time playing my level
VERY katamari damacy
Satisfying to throw objects around
Does feel like a cross between a game and a toy kind of
Didn’t try multiplayer, not likely to
I find the idea of a DS RPG sequel hilarious
Warioware smooth moves
Kind of disappointing that you have to beat single player to unlock multiplayer, especially here where that would give one player a huge advantage
However, this game is classic, amazing Warioware and even taking turns was a ton of fun
These micro games were all new to me and generally impressed
Just a couple micro games had me utterly confused about what kind of motion they wanted
Wii party
I had played Wii Party U, so this wasn’t a huge surprise
The host is oddly similar to Sebastian Tute from wii music
It was fun to play the ship balance game after seeing it on Nintendo Week (which I recently binged)
We completely failed the friendship compatibility test, literally failed all five questions.
It can be pretty funny to see all your miis constantly featured in the backgrounds of mini games
Wii sports resort
I am just god awful at this game
Wakeboarding, dogfighting, basketball, frisbee, biking, all complete failures for me
I’m okay at archery
Based on how bad I am at skyward sword, I think I am just bad at Wii motion plus
Wii music
I was kind of jamming along, but my partner was not having it
Admittedly, this doesn’t even feel like a retail game release
We also watched the awkward E3 showcase of this game
Wii play
This was the main game my partner requested
I narrowly lost the overall competition
Definitely some fun to be had here but not a strong candidate for replay
I really struggled with the pointer controls on air hockey
Klonoa
Yep, it’s Klonoa!
Pretty neat that this exists at all
Ironically, I think I’d prefer a 3D remake of the GBA games because of their tighter level design
The 2.5D wrapping around feels very modern
Sonic riders zero gravity
Precisely one match was enough for us
Opening cutscene is hilariously long
I may have to come back and play alone since I grew up with this game
Did not understand controls
Goldeneye 007
I had fun, partner did not
This game sure isn’t Goldeneye 64 though, for better or worse
Kind of a baffling Frankenstein game really
Mario Party DS
Played on a DS and 3DS
Cannot believe the multiplayer match survived a car ride with no hitches inbetween rounds
Fun minigames, fun board
Surprisingly legitimate Mario party experience
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I feel like the DS family really missed out on the potential for home console ports. The 3DS got Virtual Console which is great, but especially the DS missed out on the possibilities of the four face buttons and the touch screen.
The first thing that comes to mind is Duck Hunt, which has only ever been released on the NES with the Zapper, and an arcade game. A DS port that enhanced the whole game and used the touch pad to shoot would have been great, or even a 3D Classics version for the 3DS with the same idea! I've only played Duck Hunt once at the National Videogame Museum because they had it set up as a kiosk, but I would love a way to play it myself without having to get a NES, Zapper, Duck Hunt cartridge, and a CRT monitor.
The 3DS gets crap for not having SNES Virtual Console, and making it exclusive to the "New" 3DS. Nintendo really tried to market the Gameboy Advance as a portable Super Nintendo... but then they only gave it 2 FACE BUTTONS? Lots of SNES ports didn't translate very well going from 4 to 2 buttons, and they also felt the need to add the voices from N64 games... which was annoying. For as hard as Nintendo pushed the "GBA = SNES" idea, they all but abandoned that thought when the DS came out and actually had 4 face buttons. We got a sequel to Yoshi's Island, a Chrono Trigger remake, Dragon Quest V and VI remakes, Final Fantasy III remake, Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem remake, Kirby Super Star Ultra... and that's that. Yeah, lot's of major series got DS remakes, but what about the poor GBA ports? Where's our 1:1 Super Mario World? Link to the Past? What about popular titles that didn't get rerelease, like Super Punch-Out, or Earthbound, or F-Zero, or even Super Mario All-Stars???
I think there's a lot of missed potential for not only rerelease sales, but enhanced games with the new resolution and duel screens. Earthbound could've shown your map on the bottom screen. Punch-Out could've shown you your combos like a Street Fighter manual. Link to the Past could've had an easy-access inventory for quick item switching.
The DS had a few so-so N64 remakes/rereleases, but the 3DS only had Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora's Mask 3D. Yes, the handheld that could fully render 3D and had controls similar to the N64 had only two N64 remakes and they were both Zelda. Hey, I love Zelda has much as the next gamer, but I would've loved to see the original Mario Party come over, or an actually good GoldenEye port, or a Paper Mario 64 portable remake!
All in all, I love these consoles, but there was so much missed potential. SNES emulation on DS is abysmal, so having dedicated ports would be a dream come true. The 3DS has homebrew SNES injects that work perfectly, and the "New" 3DS got the official SNES Virtual Console. I just wish Nintendo had taken advantage of these platforms for all they're worth.
#video games#gaming#nintendo#assorted gaming thoughts#retro#retro gaming#nintendo ds#ds#3ds#new 3ds#super nintendo#snes#n64#gameboy advance
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Something vaguely resembling a masterpost
I know, I can't believe it either, but it's finally in the Team Flashdark budget! How was our budget so low that we couldn't put up a proper masterpost? Sorry, but I swore not to talk about the potato incident.
Anyway, I am Gray Blacklight (he/him), certified non-supervillain and leader of the amazing, totally-not-a-criminal-organization Team Flashdark! Allow me to tell you a bit about myself and what to expect from my blog;
While I don't watch a lot of TV shows or movies, I do enjoy a lot of them. Even with a lot of the ones I don't like, I try to and often can understand why others do, which is something that I'm quite glad I can do - I love hearing people gush over things they love even if I don't care for the same thing. While I myself don't really like most DreamWorks movies, that doesn't mean I can't appreciate how great MegaMind is.
Of course, when I do enjoy a show or movies, I often adore them (Epithet Erased is one of the greatest things ever created and you should watch it). I am patently waiting for Gwain Saga 009 and find myself rewatching Spaceballs several times a year.
That said, what I really love are good video games, heck I kinda collect them.
I am a huge fan of pokémon, especially James, though the switch entries have really made me lose faith in new games. I can't really choose a favorite Pokemon, but I'm a sucker for cute things and am one of the few people who don't consider the babies a waste of data- hell, it was Pichu in Melee giving me a cuteness overload that got me to pick up pokemon X and give it a shot.
I really enjoy a lot of Nintendo games in general, with a particular fascination with retro games and how they do so much with so little. Many of my favorite games are for the DS, but I don't think newer or older games are necessarily better, with Splatoon and Deltarune being all-time favorites of mine, and having put way to much time into 30XX for a game that doesn't exist yet.
Still, with games like Mario kart DS, pokémon gens 4+5, Kirby super star ultra, earthbound, paper Mario the thousand year door, Mario and Luigi superstar saga, sonic 3 and knuckles, shantae, megaman zero 3, super Mario 64 DS, plants vs zombies 1, and so many more, I pity anyone who looked at specs of the latest consoles and assumed that there's no reason to look back.
I also love fan games and rom hacks of many kinds, (I wish I was better at getting them to work) and genuinely believe that the lack of support and respect creators and artists get is terrible. If I mention something that you haven't heard of, I hope you take a look, and always remember that artists are people with needs and wants- they need breaks and money and fun and health and sleep and food, and I hate that so many people choose to ignore that.
Anyway, aside from the reblogging, ranting, and shitposting I do on my main, I have some sideblogs that I make for fun:
The Epithet Erased GunSafety!!!!AU ( @epitheterasedgunsafetyau )(the extra exclamation points are to emphasize how important gun safety is) where I put my headcanons about my favorite show of all time and occasionally describe what things would be like if Molly was a gun safety enthusiast (and by extension the most powerful character in the show).
Hacker's Jpeg reviews ( @hackerjpegreviews ), on the other hand, is a Collab I do with Hacker Deltarune where you can submit your strongest Jpegs and we'll comment on them and give a rating using the same scoring system as Calvinball. I'm also going to make a poll tournament to determine the true strongest jpeg, whenever I get enough entries- I'm always taking submissions!
There's also SMB Super Showdown (@smb-super-showdown ), where I post intentionally stupid playground 'who would win' polls to quench the insatiable thirst for violence that I don't have because I am not evil, and to help the winners achieve GLOOORY!
And then there's The Rollinka Agenda (@therollinkaagenda ), which is just a normal ship-dedicated blog and definitely not an evil scheme to make Roll x Kalinka canon.
I also may record myself playing a game on YouTube, just for fun. I don't do it often and wish I did it more, but I rarely have the time these days, and my computer is fighting me every step of the way whenever I try to do something new with it- heck, sometimes it won't let me do things that I've done before.
Still, I hope some of y'all get a chuckle or two out of my stuff, It would make all this typing that I suck at worth it <3
(P.S. Before interacting, please know that if you are: anti LGBTQ+, racist, sexist, Zionist, anti abortion, against gun control, a map/proshitter/whatever the fuck pedophiles are calling themselves these days, or support the American government, I hope you lose a card game and get sent directly to super hell.)
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Super Mario 64 DS is a bizarre game.
It’s not talked about, Nintendo never mentions it, it has very strange elements, and the worst part? The controls; unfortunately, one of the few reasons people even remember it. A 3D platformer controlled with arrows?! Many shortcomings and forgotten, especially when compared to its original counterpart…
…but darn it, how I love it.
Despite it being bizarre, SM64DS is a very innovative game with elements never before seen in a Mario title and with others that even come from spin-offs, something Nintendo doesn’t usually do (the three Goomboss fans, please clap). With more characters, stars, missions, and mini-games, it truly is the definitive way to enjoy Mario 64.
Well, it would be if it weren’t for the controls; however, the purpose of this writing is not to complain about it over and over again, but to inform you how you can enjoy this incredible game properly: with an analog stick! Yes, this is a PC mod that allows you to control Mario and company much more naturally. This may not be news for many, but it was for me when I discovered it about two weeks ago, so SHHH. Here I am with a tutorial on how to play SM64DS in the best way.
I leave you this video guide on what to do to play with a stick, but I also leave you the step-by-step in writing below.
youtube
Here’s what you need:
1) Download this emulator, DeSmuME X432R here.
2) Download this program, ToxInput_v0.6 here (where it says “Assets”).
3) Download - um, I mean, acquire the EUROPEAN ROM of the game in a totally legal way.
4) Have a controller on hand. Xbox or a third-party one works. Switch Pro controllers do not work with this method (believe me, I tried 😞).
Now follow these steps:
1) Unzip everything and organize it (this is optional, I just encourage you to be tidy with your life. Make your bed too).
2) Connect your controller.
3) Open the emulator and configure the buttons normally.
4) Drink water.
5) Load the ROM. I recommend starting and getting control of Yoshi before the next step.
6) Open ToxInput.
7) Inside ToxInput: if the first control icon is highlighted in white, your controller is recognized*. Click on it. If it turns yellow, it works.
8) Inside ToxInput: click on the “DeSmuME X432R_x64.exe” option. It should turn yellow, if it does, then click on “Apply”. Do not close the program.
9) Now all that’s left is to go back to the emulator and test your new controls. If the character moves very slowly, then it didn’t work as it should. You’ll know if you’ve succeeded if the character moves like in the original Mario 64, meaning the movement speed changes according to the pressure you apply to the stick. The right stick controls the camera.
10) Done!
*If it is NOT highlighted in white, you can do the following: delete the “XInput9_1_0.dll” file from the ToxInput folder. Then open the program again, and it should recognize your control. If that doesn’t help, I’m sorry 😢.
This is not the only method to access this mod; in fact, there’s even one to play like this on 3DS, and as we all know, it’s surprisingly easy to hack a 3DS. But this one method seemed quite simple and easy to follow, 100% recommended!
Now go and play the best version of Super Mario 64 as it should be.
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🔥🔥🔥!!
Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion.
/* I'll give you three.
I believe at this point, it's really hard to enjoy Super Mario 64 by its own merits anymore. Impressive for its time, but as the first of its kind, it really has not aged well, especially with the visual shortcuts, the camera, and the abundance of glitches. At this point, people only talk about it because of the speedrunning, little details, and modding community. Also, I'm one of those freaks who enjoys the DS version more, mainly for the extra characters and the closest we'll ever get to a proper 3D Yoshi game (outside of the pitch that eventually became Croc).
When it comes to roleplaying, I prefer practicality over pizazz. I don't like it when people use atypical characters, fonts, and formatting for the sake of fancy.
I actually wouldn't mind more Fire Emblem reps in next Smash. While I'm predicting Alear to make it in Smash 6, I feel like the issue with Fire Emblem in Smash isn't the amount of characters, but how many of them are clones. Lucina and Chrom being Echo Fighters make sense because they're part of the same family (Marth's descendants), but Roy has little excuse outside of Binding Blade having similar plot beats to Shadow Dragon and Melee's crunch development. And if I had to pick a better GBA Fire Emblem rep, it would be a tie between Hector and Ephraim.
And there we go! */
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Did you play Ocarina of Time on release and do you still feel it deserves all the praise it got then even now?
I did not play Ocarina of Time at release, but I suppose it was probably close enough. A quick rundown of all the game consoles I had (since I just typed this out somewhere else recently):
Started with an Atari 5200 handed down from an Aunt in the mid-80's
Mom got us an NES in 1988 with SMB1 using her tax return
Older brother got a Genesis in 1991, took it with him when he moved out that same year
Begged for a Genesis of my own, got a SNES for Christmas in 92
Finally got my own Genesis in 1994
Mom dragged me to Bingo Nite in 1996, I won enough to buy a Sega Saturn
Became entranced by Final Fantasy VII and Parappa, got a Playstation for Christmas 1997
Brother sent me $200 for Christmas in 1999, bought a Dreamcast
My Mom got me a hot pink N64 for Christmas in 2002
Brother sent me $200 for Christmas in 2004, bought a Gamecube
Won a Gametrailers competition in 2006, bought a PS2, DS, and Xbox 360
Won a Microsoft giveaway in 2010, sold part of the prize and bought a Wii
Went halfsies with TSSZ to buy a Wii U to review games for the site in 2013
My "Definitive Way to Play Sonic Adventure" video blew up enough that I bought a PS4 in 2017
My "Definitive Way to Play Sonic 3" video paid for my Switch in 2019
When I got the N64, my Mom got a BOATLOAD of used games with it. In terms of "opening a new game console on christmas morning" it was maybe the best one of those I ever had. As I recall, she got me Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong 64, Pokemon Stadium (with GB adapter), Diddy Kong Racing, and Ocarina of Time. Seven games, when most of the time, I only had one or two games with a new console.
Ocarina of Time came out in, what, 1998? 1999? And I think I ended up playing it in 2002 or 2003. So not exactly in the moment, but close enough.
In the moment, maybe I was swept up by the zeitgeist, because I loved it. It was everything I hoped for and more. Fun and cool and creative, though it should be noted it was a game I slowly worked my way through over the course of a year. I specifically remember tracking it down to where I finished it within a week of starting it almost exactly one year later. It was maybe one of the first games I can remember owning where it was something I slowly chipped away at.
A few months before Breath of the Wild came out in 2016 I was gripped by Zelda fever and I think I happened to find Ocarina of Time 3D on sale for like $15. Knowing how rarely Nintendo games go on sale, especially for that cheap, I jumped on it.
Replaying it on the 3DS I found the game to be very, very, very slow. If you know me, I complain loudly about how sluggish Twilight Princess was. Revisiting Ocarina of Time on the 3DS showed me it isn't much better. Though it lacks a lot of the slow diversionary stuff that bogs down TP's pacing, it's still an incredibly slow, plodding game, with long stretches of tediously watching Link push rocks or whatever. I had to force myself to finish it, which just reminded me how long it took to finish the N64 version originally.
I still don't want to say it's a bad game, but I would not say it still retains the "greatest game ever made" moniker people used to give it.
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