New Super Mario Bros.

[Zeta]

That's weird, considering they were seemingly designed after the same people they were named after. (Ludwig has Beethoven hair, Roy has sunglasses, etc.)

Vice versa, actually. They were named in the US based on what celebrities they resembled.

[Crazy Penguin]

According to TMK the Koopa Kids did have names in the original Japanese version of Super Mario World, but they differed slightly.

JP
Morton
Lemmy
Iggy
Ludwig
Larry
Wendy
Roy
Koopa

US
Morton Koopa Jr.
Lemmy Koopa
Iggy Koopa
Ludwig Von Koopa
Larry Koopa
Wendy O. Koopa
Roy Koopa
Bowser

[Kishi]

That matches up with M&LRPG, where they were only designated by their first names. It apparently stands that their names were originally cooked up by Nintendo of America, though.

[James McGeachie]

A good deal of artwork and some new screens have been uploaded to the Nintendo site, here's the artwork gallery.

http://www.nintendo.com/artworkgallery? ... 3ffa35a5b8

Bowser Jr. officially confirmed now, but still no sign of the other kids. I'm still suspicious he may have just been referring to him over those guys.

[firemario1001]

Bowser Jr. is the worst idea ever. Probably the only bad thing that Yoshi's Island contributed to the series.

[Neo Yi]

Well, the thing about "Bowser Jr." in Yoshi's Island is that the Bowser baby was Bowser HIMSELF as a baby, not Jr. So that doesn't count.

[Ngangbius]

Yeah, Bowser Jr. debut was in SMS.

[Light Speed]

And what a debut it was...

[Frieza2000]

Well, there was Baby Bowser as a separate character from Bowser in Mario Party 1. That's pretty much the same thing, so I'd say he debuted there.

[The T]

No Frieza, that's Koopa Kid.

[CM August]

The important thing is that he sucks tremendously.

[Dash]

I don't mind him too much, it's just too bad the Koopalings have been written out of Mario continuity(well, what little there is anyway). In retrospect, Sunshine could have been even cooler if the whole Koopa Family, Bowser and all the Koopa Kids, were in it. That game really needed more bosses.

[The T]

The problem is, all the bosses in Sunshine relied on a gimmick relating to the goo or to Mario having the waterpack. To come up with fresh ideas and tie them into all 7 Koopalings would just be too much work for people who don't care.

That's why they came back in M&L:SS.

[Omni Hunter]

I don't see any trouble, kid's create anarchy and mess, the perfect cleaning related boss battle.

[Zeta]

That game really needed more bosses.

There were hardly any bosses in Mario 64 aside from three Bowsers and a couple of gigantic generic enemies, but with CROWNS on their heads!

[Light Speed]

I remember a decent amount of bosses in SMS. I thought the final boss was the lamest thing ever though.

[James McGeachie]

Mario how dare you disturb my family vacation!

[Zeta]

Mario how dare you disturb my family vacation!

Now fight me in my giant hot tub! WINK WINK!

Geeze, Bowser was so damn big in that fight. His actually trying to do Princess Peach would just out and out kill her like trying to fit a broom into a barbie doll.

[Brazillian Cara]

...
Does anyone else feel a chill?

[Dash]

I enjoyed the final part of Sunshine well enough, but yeah, if he had fell out of the tub and afterwards got on his feet to fight Mario it would have been much cooler. Multiple Phases FTW

SMS had a good amount of bosses, more would have been welcome though. Maybe it's just the fact I played S3&K for a large portion of my childhood, but I've come to expect one every 5 minutes or so.


Where are all the mini-bosses these days? Mini bosses rocked, even if they weren't all that hard to beat. They were there. That's all that mattered.

[Esrever]

I really liked the final boss for Mario Sunshine. I wish the other bosses had been that creative.

[Light Speed]

I don't really remember that much about it, except it was a complete bitch to get through that last lava part where you had to steer the boat. Once you got through that part you had pretty much just beaten the game. I just remember doing a huge butt stomp onto the three pads and that was it, game over.

[James McGeachie]

New interview from the Nintendo Europe VIP lounge.

So what about his latest project, New Super Mario Bros. (coming to Europe this summer)? Why did he decide to bring back Mario in the classic side-scrolling style?

“We are always challenging ourselves to make something really new and this new Super Mario Bros. game is going to be very important. Nintendo DS has been hugely successful, especially in Japan, and we owe a big part of the success to a software line-up called ‘Touch Generations’. People who have never played videogames before are purchasing Nintendo DS as their very first game machine.

“When we launch New Super Mario Bros. for DS this could be the very first videogame these people play. Of course we already have Super Mario 64 DS but it is a more advanced version of Mario. With New Super Mario Bros. we are going back to the basics. It’s going to be simple enough to control but yet have sophisticated enough content. We have been working hard to make the best Super Mario game we can.â€￾

We’re intrigued. Can he reveal what the game’s story will be, for instance?

“That’s rather interesting because a number of our staff members came up with a number of different stories,â€￾ says Miyamoto, smiling. “I told them that we really don’t need any story behind this new Super Mario Bros. at all. I have narrowed down the whole story to about half of what my team originally came up with. Peach is kidnapped, Mario has to go and rescue her from Bowser and the Koopa Kids. That’s about all you need to know for the story!â€￾ he laughs. “But what you really need to know is that in the quest you are going to encounter some unprecedented play ideas.â€￾

'Can you give us some examples of these ideas?' we ask.

“Well, we have drawn everything from 3D graphics,â€￾ explains Miyamoto “so that from time to time you are going to encounter something really astonishing visually but as far as the gameplay and control is concerned, that is going to be very simple.

“When it comes to Mario, sometimes you may be able to do an ultra super jump and you are going to see a very unique and unprecedented jumping style. In terms of Super Mario, everybody already expects him to become bigger but this time, with the help of a Super Giant Mushroom, Super Mario can become gigantic, taking up almost all the screen, and he can destroy everything.â€￾

‘And Mario can also become very small, by using another type of mushroom, right?’ we add.

“Right,â€￾ says Miyamoto “and that’s not all. For example, two players can play as Mario and Luigi at the same time, in the multiplayer mode. Sometimes you have to compete with each other to reach the goal, and sometimes they can fight against each other. You remember the game Mario Bros.? In that, Mario and Luigi could sometimes cooperate, sometimes compete. I think it’s more fun to have two players play simultaneously in this New Super Mario Bros.

“And you remember in Super Mario 64 DS we incorporated a number of minigames? Each of these minigames is going to be available in New Super Mario Bros. In each minigame both Mario and Luigi can compete against each other. Some you can play in two-player or four-player mode with one cartridge.â€￾

Sounds great! But hang on, didn’t Miyamoto mention Koopa Kids a second ago? We haven’t heard from them in a while. We inquire if the new game has the same kind of ‘Level, World, Fortress, Boss’ structure as in Super Mario Bros. 3.

“Unfortunately I am not in a position to tell you anything further, sorry, but basically yes you are right!â€￾ says Miyamoto, chuckling.

OK, consider our appetites whetted! So New Mario Bros. is a classic style game, therefore, we want to know, are there going to be classic style cheats, like warp pipes and the old ‘walking along the top of the screen’ trick?

“Well, there will be many people who play New Super Mario Bros. that have never played a Mario Bros. game before," he tells us. "But at the same time we want to evoke a kind of nostalgic feeling in those people who used to play with the past series, so we are now trying to incorporate as many old tricks and tweaks as possible into this new DS version.â€￾

Same interview also finally gives ultimate confirmation Zelda: Twilight Princess definitely has support for the Revolution controller.

OK, time to switch to Miyamoto’s other famous creation: Zelda. What’s the latest on Twilight Princess?

“I would say that we are progressing well with completing it,â€￾ says Miyamoto. “And one of the most important features is that, because Revolution can run GameCube software, when you play Twilight Princess on Revolution you can take advantage of the Revolution controller.â€￾

[firemario1001]

If that's the reason why TP was delayed I going to be slightly more than ticked...

[Squirrelknight]

Does anyone else get the feeling that Nintendo is using Twilight Princess to not only cap off the Gamecube's lifespan, but to also fill a gap in the Revolution's launch? I get the feeling that the Rev. will ship with some half-assed launch titles and Nintendo will rely on the guaranteed awesomeness of the GCN Zelda to carry the launch.

...err, but then again, it is a fucking Zelda game, and that may be enough to sell the Revolution, at least to the hardcore. Despite all the delays and the hype surrounding the launch of the next-gen systems, it's pretty ironic that the biggest game of the year may end up being on the most neglected system of the last-gen.

Also: I hate the last boss fight in Sunshine, but I thought the lava part before it was a lot of fun. Well, except for that stupid boat part. But it's pretty rare to see a platformer these days that presents an actual challenge, and the later levels in Sunshine had that "so hard it's good" vibe that SMB: The Lost Levels (SMB2 for all you purists) had going for it.