Hello Master Malstrom,
You and my fellow readers have come up with some great concepts for Mario worlds, I especially like the thought of the map expanding after finishing World 8. I’ve had quite a few of my own ideas for Mario levels for a while now and, modesty be damned, they’re all quite good. But after reading your more recent posts I began wondering what yours and the e-mailers’ ideas would be like when merged with my ideas. I think you’ll like the results. The descriptions are rather long since I’m not just describing what I’d like from each world, but also what I would like to see from some specific levels in them.
Water World
Water Worlds in Mario games have had mixed reactions for a pretty long time now, some people like them while others just find them annoying. One thing I think everyone agrees on is that they’ve gotten boring. But no longer! The first major difference in this water world is that it is split into two parts, much like Sky Land from SMB3 (although the player does not know this until progressing far enough).
The original idea I had for the first half was for it to just start out as the stereotypical water world. A cheep-cheep bridge or two, swimming levels, everything you would expect. But I think it would be much better for Isle Delfino to be the first half of the Water World. Not every level would even have swimming, but water would definitely be a prominent theme since the place is a tropical paradise – the ocean should be visible in the background of almost every level. Anyway, you complete the levels and the resident koopaling appears. Bowser Jr. would be fitting since Sunshine was his debut game. But there are no castles on Isle Delfino (although a fortress being under construction on the island would be very cool. It would show the koopa troop is serious about occupying Delfino, and would be a neat way to merge the idea of a construction level with the more familiar fortress-style level), so instead of fighting in a building he shows up not in an airship, but in a submarine. I don’t remember submarines in any 2D Mario games, which is kind of odd since they’ve had airships, ships and tanks, so this would be something refreshing and new. The sub is far off the coast, and you have to complete a swimming level to get to it.
You start the submarine level on the surface of the sub (or in the water right next to the sub and then you jump onto it), then go down a warp pipe. As you go further into the level, you see through windows that the sub is diving deeper and deeper into the ocean and the water outside keeps getting darker . . . as you progress more and more drops of water begin to drip from the ceiling. Water begins to pour in and the sub is eventually flooded, turning into a swimming level part way through. After an underwater fight against the boss (there could be throwable blocks in the boss room or something), a door opens up in the side of the sub. Going through it ends the level.
The second half of water world takes place on the ocean floor. There are no cheep-cheeps or koopas down here, only completely new enemies. Deep sea life is mindboggling and there are tons of cool enemies that could be made to fit that aesthetic. This place is also on a separate map from Delfino, like how Skyland in SMB 3 had two maps. The swimming levels here are very dark. But there are more than just swimming levels here. On the map there is a city inside of a massive bubble-dome. There is no water inside of the city, which is big enough to be multiple levels long. These levels consist of jumping from rooftop to rooftop in the Atlantis-styled city. The city is all ruins and there is nobody in it other than bizarre enemies similar to the ones outside the giant bubble, only they crawl along the ground instead of swim. The crumbling buildings are Greek or Roman styled, but there are also giant spiraling towers and massive seashells like in the Noki Bay level of Mario Sunshine. In the background you can see the shadows of a giant creatures swimming outside the bubble shield (possibly foreshadowing a boss fight?)
I’m not sure how this area would end, there could just be a warp pipe that takes you to the next world after you beat the boss but that seems kind of dull. Maybe there’s a gem that glows and teleports the player to the next area or raises the city out of the water? I don’t know, but this part isn’t that important. Oh, I should also have mentioned that Bowser Jr. just escapes to the surface in a mini-sub escape pod after you beat him, just to avoid confusion as to how he got out of that area. It’s a small dumb detail but it helps continuity.
Sarasaland
This one is pretty self explanatory, just bring back the worlds from Super Mario Land. I know this wouldn’t be new content but I’d still like to see it happen, and it would actually make the Mario universe feel like a more cohesive world for it to appear again. As important as it is to add new content, old content should still be recognized in some way and not just forgotten about. If every new area only shows up once and isn’t acknowledged ever again in the series, the world will feel pretty flat and uninteresting. And if you don’t build upon the old stuff then people wont be as interested in the new content because they’ll feel like it wont matter by the next game.
As an aside, other Mario spinoffs should also try to incorporate more already existing Mario areas. Mario Kart is usually pretty good about this, they’ve used Luigi’s Mansion, an Airship, Delfino, Dry Dry Desert and Dry Dry Ruins (from Paper Mario) just to name a few, but I felt like Mario Kart 7 was kind of lacking in this regard. Mario Party has become a pretty bad series, but having boards based on actual Mario areas instead of using generic grassy areas and beaches would help at least a little bit.
One other thing I’d like to say while on the subject of making the Mario world feel more real is that the levels shouldn’t just be numbers. Give areas real names and the world is so much more fleshed out with very little effort. There should also be a world map, not just an isolated map for each world. I don’t like how NSMBWii just has you choose which world to go in. One of the few things Mario World did better than SMB3 was that the different maps were very connected to each other. There should be a ‘World Select’ button you can press on the map to open a menu and fast travel, for those who think moving on the map would be too tedious, but the map should still be there.
Barren World Castle
Barren World is a really cool concept for a world and this idea is something I’d like to see in it. The castle or fortress in it should be all run down to match the dead feel the rest of the world has. Something like the level in this hack would fit well and be pretty cool.
Haunted World
I was surprised to see how many other people would like to see this world. My idea for it is a bit different though.
Me and everyone I know always get annoyed whenever we get to a ghost house. I guess some people must like them for being different but I think they usually just break the flow of the game. I would prefer to see ghost houses removed from every other area and only be in Haunted World. Maybe have a few ghost houses in other areas, but have them be extremely rare. Like, only two ghost levels outside of Haunted World in the game (one of them could be the haunted hotel from Mario Sunshine). This would stop Haunted World from feeling repetitive or boring.
What would make Haunted World really stand out though is that it would be optional. It would be like the Star Road from Super Mario World, only bigger. You can only get to it by finding secret exits in levels, and the levels inside Haunted World can only be completed by finding secret stuff. The further you get into the map the more warp zones you have access to, and you can reach new worlds earlier than you should (although you would start at the beginning of the world, not before the final level like that warp in Super Mario World). Not every level would be able to take you to a different world once you’ve found its secrets, some would just open new levels in Haunted World but those new levels may have warps in them. This way there are still levels for people who like puzzles and exploration in their Mario, and they are rewarded for their searching, but people who just like to play Mario for jumping around on bad guys aren’t forced to play the more puzzle-ish levels. The player gets to play the game the way the player wants.
There would still be plenty of secrets in other parts of the game of course, it would be terrible to corral all exploration into one place, but all Haunted World levels would be specifically designed around having alternate pathways and multiple secret flagpoles. One really nice reward for people who try to find the secrets of Haunted World would be a warp to a Secret World that can’t be reached any other way (Subcon?)
Earlier I said that all the worlds of a Mario game should be connected by one gigantic map that you move around. Haunted World (and I guess Subcon or whatever the secret world is) should not be on the normal map. It is much more mysterious that way. You can only access it by finding secret exits that are in some levels (although after discovering it for the first time you’d be able to get to it through the world select fast travel I mentioned earlier). The people who would enjoy Haunted World are the kind of people who would discover it, and those who don’t bother to explore the levels they play wouldn’t enjoy it much anyway. How you play determines what levels you bring yourself to.
Haunted World wouldn’t just be Boo Houses, but creepy forests and swamps as well. Super Paper Mario was a bad game, but it did introduce the underworld of the Mario universe. There’s a lot of stuff from that area that could be put into Haunted World. Specifically, there is an area in Super Paper Mario where you are swimming through this murky purple water, and ghostly white hands grab you and squeeze your health out. In Haunted Land, these hands would be in a swimming level and would reach up from the bottomless pits in the level to try grabbing you. If you don’t swim around them and they manage to latch onto you, they don’t damage you but drag you into the pit resulting in death (regardless of how many power ups you have). You can mash buttons and try to swim out of their grip once they grab you, but it never actually works. This would make a pretty good, actually kind of scary, level.
Maybe a better name for the level would be Spirit World?
Dark Land
The World 8 world. Not really an idea for a new area, but an idea for how to go through this world in a different way. While your favorite part of this world in Mario 3 was the desolate areas, I liked the tank and airship levels the most. They really give the feeling that you’re going against an entire army that is throwing everything it has at you, which makes for a very epic experience. The desolate areas are cool, but if they get their own world there isn’t a need to have them be prominent here. This world shouldn’t just be about fire, everything in it should be about raising the player’s anticipation for the final battle (or what they believe will be the final battle, if the map expands after beating Bowser).
The world starts off with your typical fire and brimstone levels, like the ones in NSMBWii. Then there are levels with a bunch of tanks driving at you like in SMB3, and most of the map switches between tank and fire levels, as well as a ship level or a barren area to break things up. As you get close to the end you reach a factory. The factory level is full of fire, conveyer belts and all the stuff you’d expect. In part of the level you have to survive running and jumping through an assembly line of machines that are building airship and tank parts. After you clear the level the factory is demolished on the map like the fortresses and castles of the old games were. The airships are a pretty big thing in Mario, so giving them a place of origin (and then destroying it) would be nice.
In the next level you run up an erupting volcano, the level ends once you escape up to the very top. Then the airship levels begin. On the map there are a pair of airships leading up to a gigantic floating castle. Bowser has had a flying castle in Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and the idea is cool enough to bring into SMB.
The classic airship music plays. But not some crappy version. These levels are going to be intense, if the music is going to fit, it must be orchestrated. Something like this version of the song:
The first airship level is what you expect. Canons, flamethrowers and bob-ombs are all over it. The sky is pitch black. Lightning cracks every once in a while, and when it does, it shows the silhouettes of dozens of airships flying in the background. As you progress, you repeatedly jump from one ship to another. You eventually reach the end and must defeat the boss.
On the map you move up to the next airship. You’re very high up now. You can see the airships in the background all the time in this level, and not just as silhouettes. The enemy has gotten desperate now and will stop your progress by any means necessary. The airships in the background fire at you and the airship you are on. Their cannonballs are explosive and explode as they hit the deck. As the level scrolls more of the ship looks destroyed and on fire. Again, you jump from ship to ship at different times in the level, but now when you reach the end of each ship it begins to fall out of the sky. The jump to the next ship gets more difficult every time. Each ship you are on gets torn apart as the enemy destroys its own fleet in an attempt to stop you.
Eventually you reach the castle, and the level ends. The final level would be your usual ‘Final Bowser Castle Level’ but in some sections you are on the outside of the castle. You are moving upward the whole level and fight Bowser on the rooftop (he’s NOT in a clown car).
Water World-
I still really like World 3 of Super Mario Brothers 3. It has things like bridges and a good mix of underwater and ‘water bridge’ levels. And the frog suit!!! Throwing in Delfino Isle wouldn’t be a bad idea, but Delfino doesn’t seem like it belongs in the original Mushroom Worlds. Although I wouldn’t mind a Wind Waker flood to hit Delfino and for it all to sink to the ocean floor.
Sarasaland-
I wouldn’t mind seeing a return to SML 1’s stomping grounds.
Super Mario World only had a few named areas. Most of it was numbers. “Butter Bridge 1. Butter Bridge 2.” “Vanilla Dome 1.” Vanilla Dome 2.” “Vanilla Dome 3.” Unique names might not be a bad idea.
Barren World Castle-
I like that. Gray. Dead. The artists will hate it but hey, it’s OUR pleasure that matters and not theirs.
Haunted World-
I agree with the Ghost Houses sticking out like a sore thumb in the themed worlds. Readers, should Ghost Houses be removed with an entire world made called ‘Haunted World’? I’d go for it.
Dark World-
You liking the army and navy and all of Bowser’s isn’t you liking the WORLD. I LOVE Bowser’s military forces… I just don’t see them as depictions of the world itself. Super Mario Brothers 3 had a really good cohesive feel with World 8 having ground armies, a navy, and an air force. Remember that air force level? How fast it would move! It was exhilarating. And no, it wasn’t too hard, because you could use a P-Wing or a Cloud to get past it. It is quite a challenge when you are just small Mario.
I would LOVE for Bowser to have a military force at the end of the game. However, Nintendo, is so wimpy that it thinks this might be ‘too scary’. In fact, they won’t even show Bowser “die”. This is why he was ‘dragged out’ at the end of NSMB Wii. No one had any problem with Bowser dying in the Classic Mario games or Donkey Kong falling to his death in… Donkey Kong. Miyamoto needs to realize children are not frail little flowers. In fantasy, it is not that no one dies. It is that the bad guys die and find a way to ‘revive themselves’ for the sequel.
I like your Mars song. Nintendo has bizarre ‘ideological’ ‘conclusions’ about Super Mario Brothers they pulled out of their asses. One of these is that intensity should not be part of the game. BULLCR@P! The way how players consumed Super Mario Brothers is nowhere near how Nintendo thinks. While they might have seen Super Mario Brothers as comedic, it certainly wasn’t thought that way. The game was fantastical… and as the closer you got to Bowser, the more dangerous and intense the game got. The game offered no ‘comedic’ periods, no cameos by a Tingle. There was wit and humor but no amateur comedic hours.
BOWSER WAS EVIL. Make Bowser EVIL Nintendo. He’s not a good guy.
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