Thinking about taking stuff from the Wizard of Oz, why not take the
stuff that isn’t so blatant? Or spin an element in such a way that it
isn’t a carbon copy, but it is similar enough to keep the best
elements just as prominent as its source material. I mean, that’s what
they did with Donkey Kong, and Nintendo actually had a lawsuit filed
against them for the similarity to King Kong (though Nintendo won). I
can imagine the yellow brick road being a pure gold road or something
like that. I don’t think the munchkins should be copied, since it’d be
weird in Mario. And the Tin Man may come across weird in the more
Alice in Wonderland type fantasy of Mario.
But the best idea from Oz that Nintendo should take a spin at would
probably be the Scarecrow. Imagine the possibilities with that one.
Really, a Scarecrow character should have been Waluigi in the same way
that the Koopalings should have been in the place where Bowser Jr.
stayed for many years (both are either pointless or serve a purpose
that could be done in a much better way). He should be called the
Straw Man or something similar. He’d have a lanky appearance, and he
would have a scary, creepy smile face made out of a straw-poked potato
sack. He would NOT have a jack-o-lantern head. I think making him
closely related to the Boos and ghosts of the Mushroom Kingdom would
be best. Perhaps he could be a recurring boss of the spooky Halloween
world.
I could see Nintendo possibly turning him into an anti-hero like Wario
or Donkey Kong, one that would be a retired boss turned into a
playable character. Only, he really should be kept as a boss. I hate
how Donkey Kong has been lost as a boss. Notice how whenever a boss
from a Mario game gets its own game as the hero, the boss is
practically absent in all 2D and 3D Marios. Bowser has never had a
game made where he’s the main good guy, and he’s stuck around as a
great villain since Super Mario Bros. started.
In the 3D Mario games, Nintendo makes new bosses that never get used
again (or lame bosses that are used over and over like Petey Piranha
and Bowser Jr.). The reason I think is because the bosses have little
reason to be there fighting in the first place, little motive, since
they don’t really fit in the world or they certainly don’t look like
they fit under Bowser’s minions. This is why the Mushroom Kingdom
needs a non-Koopa threat to come in with real motivations to invade
and with the same amount of intrigue, and I have several ideas for
this that I’m working on in another email. But as for now, Straw Man
probably works best as an equal to King Boo, or a right-hand man at
least (not a regular enemy).
This email seems all over the place. There are so many different things in it, and it is not pertaining to a clear cut ‘world’.
Anyway, I do like the idea of playing Super Mario Brothers from Bowser’s perspective. Although I don’t think it should a self-contained game but included in any Mario game. Most games have two sides, and you get more out of the game when you can play as both sides.
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