Super?

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 12:24 am

I think I've become so jaded I don't have time for anything other than completely new and exciting life-changing gaming experiences anymore...

I'm running out of places to look for those. I know I'll never find one in a videogame ever again, and I'll never be excited about another game until Holodeck Mario and even then I'll be all "This is awesome!" for, like, 2 hours and never play it again.

Alas, I do believe the magic has finally petered out.

Madamluna · Post by **Madamluna** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:22 am

You know what, my friend got me New Super Mario Bros. for my birthday not too long ago. I've actually been playing it quite a bit and was really enamored with it at first, but now the charm is wearing off and a lot of the complaints people have been making are becoming really evident.

I'm really very bad at the old "classic" Mario games (for a long time, the only ones I ever played were Mario RPG and the Gameboy games), so I was thrilled when I could just pick up and play New SMB and do very well at it. But while I really enjoy the use of new staple moves like the wall jump and ground pound, the stage design just isn't enchanting enough for me. The level designs are all pretty generic, the bosses are nothing special and the fact that you have to be stupid, stupid Mini Mario in order to access the special stages really irks me.

I mean, my first play-through was a lot of fun, and some of the gimmicks in the levels really do work well, but it's really stuck in a position where playing the game with a critical eye feels a little uncomfortable. It's not simple enough to breeze through quickly like SMB, but it's not grand enough in scope to be able to have a really engaging effect like SMW. It was good for an introduction to the more classic style of Mario games, though, which is what I was pretty much using it as.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 7:28 pm

Green Gibbon! wrote:
I think I've become so jaded I don't have time for anything other than completely new and exciting life-changing gaming experiences anymore...
I'm running out of places to look for those. I know I'll never find one in a videogame ever again, and I'll never be excited about another game until Holodeck Mario and even then I'll be all "This is awesome!" for, like, 2 hours and never play it again.

Alas, I do believe the magic has finally petered out.

I think you are looking for something that doesn't really exist anymore. If it does you are too cynical or jaded to even like it. Do you ever just try to play video games for entertainment or are you just trying to find the expierience you had when you were 12? When I play games nowadays it isn't like when I was playing Sonic with my friends back in elementary school, but it is fun for different reasons. Games have changed and I like what they have become for different reasons.

Omni Hunter · Post by **Omni Hunter** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 7:51 pm

Plus it's a transition period too, so it's not like that there are that many good games being pumped out at the moment. The platforms out now have probably passed their peak and how long it takes for the games of the "next generation" consoles to develop to their full potential won't effect me much. I'm not exactly planning on getting another console for at least a year, maybe even the same for games.

But yeah, everything seems more exciting as a kid anyway, even tying shoe-laces.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:15 pm

Well it just seems like a lot of people here talk about how great games used to be. I don't really just think they hold the games of their childhood on a higher pedestal. I will agree Sonic games totally blow, but that is just one series.

Baba O'Reily · Post by **Baba O'Reily** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:31 pm

Light Speed wrote:Well it just seems like a lot of people here talk about how great games used to be. I don't really just think they hold the games of their childhood on a higher pedestal. I will agree Sonic games totally blow, but that is just one series.

But come ON! Buck Bumble was amazing.

Tsuyoshi-kun · Post by **Tsuyoshi-kun** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 3:34 pm

Buck Bumble was fun, but a little hard at times, and way too foggy too often. Still, though, it gave you plenty to do for a very long time.

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 1:34 pm

Aww. All of a sudden I miss Buck Bumble. That was a great game with an awesome character design and concept.

Post by **Popcorn** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:20 pm

Light Speed wrote:
I think you are looking for something that doesn't really exist anymore. If it does you are too cynical or jaded to even like it. Do you ever just try to play video games for entertainment or are you just trying to find the expierience you had when you were 12? When I play games nowadays it isn't like when I was playing Sonic with my friends back in elementary school, but it is fun for different reasons. Games have changed and I like what they have become for different reasons.

I think it's mostly a case of me growing up. I don't think I've ever been as picky with games as I am now. There are lots of good, solid, fun games coming out at the moment-- the DS is full of them-- but I'm unable to be excited by disposable entertainment anymore. I need something I can really get my teeth into; something I can sit down for several hours and have a complete beginning-to-end experience with. Until recently, I found games like Crazy Taxi to be awesome, but now I just can't care for it. I need Icos, Shenmues and Half-Lifes: things that rock my world, things I haven't ever seen before.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:55 pm

Even the Ico's and Shenmue's aren't as engaging as they used to be. I take it out especially hard on games because that's the media I've always been closest to, but I can't seem to get into much of anything the way I used to be able to. It's as if my body has suddenly started rejecting fantasy. I have a hard time sitting through even movies that I enjoy and don't think about asking me to finish a novel.

I think this is the part where I'm supposed to get married and raise a family, thus motivating me through the endless drudgery of my job which suddenly has a purpose so I don't mind slogging through 50 hour weeks for the next 40 years. Needless to say, however, I lack the social conditioning required for life with a spouse much less kids, so I can either kill myself or run away to Tibet. I'm afraid if I try to kill myself I'll fuck it up and just end up maimed or something and I can't afford a plane ticket to Tibet, so I'm just screwed.

I still like eating, anyway.

Post by **Popcorn** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 6:09 pm

How about jacking off?

FlashTHD · Post by **FlashTHD** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 6:38 pm

I still like eating, anyway.

Want somebody to bob your tongue so that we cover all the bases, then?

Try approaching it from this angle: Now that you've admitted that there will never again be a (thing) so magnetic that it draws you in, hypnotizes you into believing it's the most awesomest thing ever and compels you to play it/watch it/read it/whatever again and again, with it being just as killer the first time every time - stop looking so hard. Just stop. Cease considering that one aspect as an absolutely critical factor in an (awesome thing)'s longetivity and quality. With that burden lifted off of you, judge whatever it is by its' own merits and see if you still like it enough to (applicable verb goes here) it without straining to enjoy it any. If the answer is yes, congratulations: you have lowered your expectations for things enough to like them again.

Well, i'm no psychologist, and I don't expect to be able to un-cynic a cynic, but try that. If i'm right about anything, it's this: Thinking that your subconscious turning you off from works of fiction is a sign that you need to elope...that's pushing it a bit, don't you think?

Edit: BTW, while we're talking about things that are depressing to you, i'll ask about something covering a thing that's depressing to everybody: how's the Chaotix page coming along?

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 6:59 pm

How about jacking off?

That's kind of a mixed bag. I've discovered that I'll be really horny continuously for 4-5 days out of every month, and the rest of the time it's more like, "Well, I guess I'll masturbate because I don't have time to do anything else and don't feel like doing anything else anyway", and then it just ends up being really lame.

BTW, while we're talking about things that are depressing to you, i'll ask about something covering a thing that's depressing to everybody: how's the Chaotix page coming along?

Haven't even started that yet. I requested a few days off next week, so maybe if I get some of the mundane shit I've had piling up done and can then motivate myself to do anything other than surf aimlessly through the nether regions of Wikipedia...

Senbei · Post by **Senbei** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 7:13 pm

Gibbon, have you heard of American Splendor? I dunno if it applies, but you're sounding something like Harvey Pekar.
Then again, don't we all at some point?

Baba O'Reily · Post by **Baba O'Reily** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:05 pm

Every time I masturbate, it's an epic duel between my moral standards and my erotic tastes.

I can get off to that alone, not to mention the intense face off between my palm and my second-in-command.

James McGeachie · Post by **James McGeachie** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 10:09 pm

Finally had a chance to play the game today upon European release. I'm only currently at World 6 (though I did finish both 3 and 4 by backtracking) but I'm not enjoying this.

It's hard to nail one specific reason why I'm not really liking it it and I doubt I can do a better job than anyone else has in the thread if I attempt to, however I will say I think a big part of it is that pretty much everything about the style and feel of the game overall isn't up to the Mario sidescrolling standard. The music is mediocre and overly cheery, the sound effects are a bit overdone, the level art is completely lacking in any strengths and the 3d models are completely unnecessary and add nothing to the experience whatsoever.

Of course that's just concentrating on the audio and visual presentation but I think that's the main player in my personal problems with the game. As far as gameplay is concerned it's obviously too simplistic and lacking in variation...but at the same time there are some good ideas mixed in every so often and some areas seem well thought out at least, which is why I feel my problem must mainly come from the audio and visual presentation as otherwise I can't see why I'd much rather be playing SMB1 than this game. Nostalgia has nothing to do with it.

CE · Post by CE » Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:40 am

I feel the same way as everybody else here. NSMB isn't a bad game; it's just that it's not a *good* game either. Everybody's already talked about how the game is badly executed, so I'll try to guess why it's like that.

With more and more people working in the game industry, the average level of passion and skill per person has gone down. I know I have personally experienced this. I'd say a good half of the people working at Glu don't give a fuck about the games being made; it's just a job to them. Of course, a game created by people who don't care is not going to be nearly as good as a game created by passionate people.

Shadow Hog · Post by **Shadow Hog** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:30 pm

BTW, regardless if this makes the game good again or instills any replay value or whatever to you all or not, beating the game and then entering "L R L R X X Y Y" on the map when the game is paused enables a secret "Challenge Mode". (In other words, no more scrolling left for you.)

Anyway, I must be the only person here to actually have enjoyed the title quite a bit. Sure, it's wearing a bit thin now that I've beaten it, but that tends to happen to just about every game for me, so I'm not really holding it against anyone. I just like new material on a regular basis. (Or occasionally revisiting old material I haven't seen in a while...)

Post by **G.Silver** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:06 pm

I also enjoyed it greatly, but I agree with pretty much everything that's been said about it. That is, these are all good observations but my conclusion is that I had fun anyway.

Post by **Popcorn** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 5:46 pm

I finally picked it up. On I'm World 5-- you know, the ice world. It's pretty much as I expected: solid, well-constructed, entertaining, uninspired. The few new features (mainly the new power-ups) are novel but ultimately thin. I guess the argument for the absence of many of the features that had become standard post-Mario 3 is that it promotes a sweeter sense of nostaliga, but New Super Mario Bros is devoid of any of the depth, ingenuity and charm that I grew up with.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 8:48 pm

I haven't played it yet, but do you think that charm would be there if you grew up with this one? I'm only asking cause I know little kids that love Sonic Heroes.

Post by **Popcorn** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 9:53 pm

Light Speed wrote:I haven't played it yet, but do you think that charm would be there if you grew up with this one? I'm only asking cause I know little kids that love Sonic Heroes.

I dunno, there are things you like as a kid and then there are things you can look back at on as an adult and go, "Well, actually, in the cold light of maturity this plainly sucks." I thought the Transformers movie was high art when I was ten, but now I... don't.

I don't think my experience with Mario World as a kid signficiantly clouds my current view of it, anyway. I can demonstrate in all sorts of ways why it's such a singularly perfect piece of traditional game design-- ways I can't do with New Super Mario Bros.

istavan_toth · Post by **istavan_toth** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 10:26 pm

Try to beat each level as Shell Mario. Nowadays is the only thing I find entertaining on that game.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 11:03 pm

New Mario doesn't nearly have the appeal or lasting value of Mario World, completely independent of any rosy-tinted nostalgia vision. The whole thing feels really contrived to me, like they were trying too hard to color within the lines. It's solid, but stilted and lifeless, which I fear is becoming a growing trend with Nintendo series as the company seems to be increasingly cautious about creating new properties. Yet the old talent behind their classic series have moved up or on and the younger generation of designers is either less creative or under heavy pressure to recreate rather than just plain create. Like they're applying their college-earned knowledge of textbook game design and stopping at that.

It's solid and entertaining, but I mean, so is paddle ball. There's not much excuse at this point for failing to create something more engaging.

Isambard · Post by **Isambard** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 11:44 pm

Green Gibbon! wrote:
I think I've become so jaded I don't have time for anything other than completely new and exciting life-changing gaming experiences anymore...
I'm running out of places to look for those. I know I'll never find one in a videogame ever again, and I'll never be excited about another game until Holodeck Mario and even then I'll be all "This is awesome!" for, like, 2 hours and never play it again.

Alas, I do believe the magic has finally petered out.

You could always, y'know, become gay. That would be pretty life changing. Probably for you and whoever you manage to turn over to your side.

HAH!

Now I get to say something about Mario for the DS...at least uh...at least we got a Mario for the DS? I was kind of worried that we weren't going to have anything at all. And I do like it when they manage to make a 3D look into a solid 2D platformer title. So you can't fault the game's mechanics right there.

It looks like mario, plays like mario, and I enjoy it like Mario. I wasn't expecting them to wow me because the DS is on precarious ground and they don't want to lose supporters in light of the PSP.

I was expecting a Mario game, yes, but I was never expecting them to fiddle with something that people know and love from their childhood to the point where people are furious. Look at Mario 64. I know people who swore of Nintendo for that very reason.

I just think they're getting used to a new style and the next installment will have alot more to offer the more "hardcore" gamers. But yea...that mini-mushroom blows.