http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/40460/new-super-mario-bros-2-review/
I agree with you. I think they rushed it when Mario 3D Land failed. This game has “rushed” written all over it. I’ll still buy it (I bought a 3DS for the prospect of 2D Mario and Castlevania. Konami just screwed up royally by making a stupid Lords of Shadow sequel I have ZERO interest in, but god dammit, I am going to get my 2D Mario fix), but I’m a bit disappointed. Nintendo is now treating 2D Mario like Mario Kart – 1 title per system. Except, Nintendo actually tries with Mario Kart. Now Nintendo just half-asses 2D Mario because they think we’re stupid.
Anyway, this review pointed out something interesting. Why does the 3D mode suck in this game (apparently)? Why would Nintendo actually try to dissuade people from using 3D when they’re so obsessed with it? Did they simply pull a Skyward Sword again and try impose an unnecessary “art style” that no one asked for or wanted? Also, I laughed at how the review mentioned sales numbers right off the bat. It’s like you said, now people talk about sales instead graphics processing.
Buying NSMB 2 is a no brainer if you already own a 3DS.
But what if you don’t own a 3DS? Is NSMB 2 worth paying $225 for (the price of a 3DS plus NSMB 2). “But you collect coins now!” But you’ve always collected coins. “You can have a fire flower whose fireballs turn monsters into coins.” That was done with the E-Reader as well. It’s all be done before. And Yoshi’s Island did the ‘collect-a-thon’ better. “How do you know this? Have you played NSMB 2 yet?” My Japanese friends have as have my import happy American friends.
Remember, NSMB 1 was only $30 so a direct value comparison of NSMB 1 and 2 cannot be made. NSMB 2 being ‘better’ doesn’t matter as much since it has a higher price tag than NSMB 1.
The NSMB line has become a guinea pig game where Nintendo dumps in a feature it is unsure about because, heaven forbid, 3d Mario or the other ‘proper’ Nintendo games being used as guinea pigs. The original NSMB was a grandfathered Super Mario Land 4 game for the GBA whose sales blew Nintendo away. Nintendo looks at the series not as great games to make but to use their customers as tools to figure out other interests for the company.
NSMB Wii -> Fail-too-much-get-I-win-button-through-level.
NSMB 2 -> DLC and digital distribution
NSMB U -> Miiverse
None of this has anything to do with the actual gameplay. Contrast this to…
Super Mario Brothers 2 -> Different classes of ‘Mario’ can play the game.
Super Mario Brothers 3 -> Mario can fly. Overhead maps.
Super Mario World -> Mario can ride Yoshi.
They’re not just new ‘power-ups’. They totally changed the context of the game. And we don’t have that going on in NSMB line. ‘Collecting coins’ does not equal Yoshi or Tanooki Mario. It doesn’t even equal Rabbit Mario. Super Mario Land 2 still looks like more fun. At least there is no ‘wah wah’ music.
I think the Nintendo Board is forcing the developers to make 2d Mario and the developers don’t want to. This is why the game keeps getting tossed to the younger developers and has little to no production values. But when it comes to 3d Mario, you’ll see TONS of production effort, orchestra soundtracks, even Giant World, but all of that will be denied to the game that actually sells Nintendo hardware: 2d Mario.
Prior to the Wii’s release, people inside Nintendo who grew up with Nintendo expressed interest in making games like 2d Mario but were shut down by Miyamoto who was quoted as saying: “I’ve made those games before. I don’t want to make them again.”
The funniest thing is Miyamoto gets to think he chooses which game he wants to make. Does a chef get to choose what to make when a diner orders? No. There has to be something going on with Miyamoto suddenly “retiring” and making the games he wants with a few staff members and a shoestring budget.
It’s obvious there is no passion from Nintendo concerning NSMB except for commercial interests. The DLC is nothing more than a money grab. The levels should either be included with the game from the start or be a free download. If Nintendo is going to sell anything, sell the goddamn level editor they are using. I’d much rather rom hack than pay Nintendo for more levels after shelling out $40 (a serious increase from the $30 of NSMB and prior Super Mario portable games).
Iwata’s voice predictably says from the ether: “No one is allowed to complain about DLC because the Super Mario Advance series had the E-Card Reader. Hahahaha.”
Super Mario Brothers 3 released in 1990.
Super Mario Advance 4 released in 2003.
They were new levels to a game thirteen years old. This NSMB 2 DLC is just a scam to use against 2d Mario fans, who Nintendo thinks are idiots anyway, to gain more money to use with more production/feature elements of the games Nintendo developers wish to do: such as 3d Mario. Goddamn it, Nintendo. Why are you fucking up the greatest game series on Earth?
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