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I’m not impressed. The game looks okay, but immediately it sinks in how humdrum and lame the music is, especially since this is a new console. I maintain strongly that THIS is the game they should have released on the 3DS as the way it looks and plays and the power ups are more closely in alignment with the Mario Land games (Squirrel Suit = Bunny Ears). This should not be a console game. And despite that, why isn’t this game being bundled with the Wii U? THAT would sell hardware, not that horriffic refugee from the 70s-looking Nintendo Land.
As a console game, I can’t get over how incredibly phoned in this is. The power ups are lame (can we fly with the Squirrel Suit? doesn’t look like it). “Yoshi” so far appears to be a retexturing of those propeller blocks from NSMB Wii. At least we can still ride him, but it just seems very lazy to me. Mario, Luigi, and two toads? Come on, surely they could find another character to use instead of TWO generic characters.
One thing that has always irked me about the Wii U, and something I’ve been very worried that would happen, is with the tablet controller. It shows how these controls are gonna be used to get at stuff “more easily” or it seems makes it possible to get or reach places you normally wouldn’t be able to. What if you are playing the game by yourself? Are you gonna have to juggle tapping the screen and controlling Mario? If you won’t or can’t use the tablet are you gonna be unable to get coins or access places? Another issue is that the game already looks piss-easy and using the tablet features looks like it’s gonna make it even easier.
The real issue, however, is with the new modes they are adding. What are these about? Is Challenge Mode just doing time trials or is it gonna be like a minigame where you jump through hoops to do stuff? What’s with “Boost Rush Mode”? How are you speeding up? Is it the game doing it, you, or the player with the tablet? My big fear from the outset of the Wii U is when Nintendo began spouting off their nonsense about “asymetrical gameplay” because one, it’s bullshit, but two, it comes across to me as another form of User-Generated Content. It’s another way for Nintendo to get the customers to do their job for them, instead of actually putting forth effort in doing their job to begin with. To me, the tablet features for NSMB U feel pointless and ultimately are a half-hearted attempt to say that the game is “innovative” when in fact it’s half-assed in almost every respect.
Comparing this game to Super Mario World seems foolhardy. At least in that game you could FLY. You are comparing the Wii U to the SNES, but I say that Nintendo absolutely CANNOT repeat the SNES path. The SNES path is not growth but decline. The Wii U has a relatively strong core gaming launch line up, but the Core Market is imploding along with Core Gaming; it’s red ocean. And the SNES path lead to the N64, and Game Cube. Nintendo needs to make another 2D Mario and actually put forth effort into it and treat it as an A-List game with A-List assets and A-List time and effort put into it. We do have a new Donkey Kong Country in the works, so there shouldn’t be a drought of 2D platformers, but what happens if Retro manages to improve on their success with Returns? So much so that they wind up outselling NSMB U? Will NCL wake up or will they keep living in fantasy land? Nintendo absolutely must regain the trajectory of the Wii/NES, and do everything they can to stray away from the path that the SNES will lead them to.
Even if the business side cracks down on the developers severely, I think the damage has been done. The wrong people are still calling the shots, and even if they are forced to make the games we want to play, the fact that they don’t want to make them means we will still end up with a third rate product. And it’s unlikely that they will ever be fired or replaced. And top of that I think that coupled with the weak economy, people are tired of being strung along by Nintendo’s selfishness. I’ve had the misfortune to see this scenario play out in real life recently at my last job, and their business is dying because of it. The 3DS has hurt Nintendo deeply, and if they aren’t careful, the Wii U will finish (or help finish) what the Virtual Boy started all those years ago.I think you’re being overtly harsh. Let’s not forget that last year this game was called NSMB Mii and really was going a different direction. I’m glad Nintendo has salvaged much of it. It could be better, of course, but I was also disappointed by the original Super Mario World when it was released in 1991. This won’t be like the Gamecube or 3DS launch.
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