What's next for 2D Mario Platformers?

[Weegee]

SMW castle.

I'd never had noticed that if you hadn't pointed it out... It seems more like a different theme altogether with snippets of SMW subtly thrown in. By the way, I concur with Tv_Themes about the "Ba"'s, which serve as a painful reminder that this game is a mere sequel to NSMB.

[Chupperson Weird]

There was nothing horribly wrong with NSMB. NSMBW is about a thousand times better, but still. Why do you people hate a cool and fun instance of reverse dynamic music? Usually, events in gameplay dynamically affect the music. But in NSMB/W, the music affects the enemies! That's super cool, not unnecessary or painful.

[Trainman]

Well, I'd love to see the old map music and overworld songs be redone in a new light. I don't mind any of the songs in NSMB Wii... just I think that a couple of them could've been replaced (or just put in in conjunction with the others) with some more "homely" music like I've been talking about. I highly doubt that if a couple more old songs would've snuck their way in it would've totally turned NSMB Wii into SMB3 Wii / SMW Wii.

When old songs are redone, I don't feel like they're just cloning it from an old game to cash in on it... it tells me that Nintendo remembers the very memorable songs of times gone past. Hearing the old songs brings a rush of old memories back and really smacks you in the face telling you, "This is a friggin' Mario game, man." Also, they have a chance to really make the old music sound awesome with newer technology, etc. (Underground music on Yoshi is awesome, as an example.)

Realistically, if they did add the old songs in, of course they'd be the black sheep of the bunch since they were originally "Bah"-less songs, but I can think of a few places they could "Bah" the crap out of them without making them sound stupid... again, if they were to have made it in in the first place.

[El Gato]

SMW castle.

I must be tone deaf because I can't hear any SMW influence at all. When does it kick in?

[CrossEyed7]

I'm not good enough with music to tell how closely the whole thing is based on it, but it's there's one really clear section from :27 to :35 and again from :42 to :49, and :57 to 1:05 sounds kind of familiar too.

[Chupperson Weird]

Yes, they did pull the SMW motive ("me do, so le do", and its followup "so do so me re") and manipulate it a little bit. But that's only 9 notes long. They use the first 5 notes again later. There isn't anything else pulled from SMW.

[El Gato]

Ah, now that it's been pointed out I can definitively hear the resemblance. I wonder though, if it was actually intentional or if those particular notes just sound good together.

...And here I was thinking I was cool for picking up on the SMW Special World theme in Bowser's Inside Story.

[ShadowBrain]

"What's next for 2D Mario Platformers?" Well, probably nothing more than what NSMB and NSMBW are: Fun new games that are nevertheless basically interactive nostalgia trips. Why do you think they gave the first one the half-joke name "NEW Super Mario Bros."? I don't think it's impossible, but I think it would be hard for a new 2D Mario game to really innovate, for the same reason it's virtually impossible for a 40-year-old guy to sound sincere when he's talking to kids and says stuff like "that's tight"--3D is/was the natural progression past 2D, and a dimensional step back means that, if NSMB/W were marketed as to SMG what SMS was to SM64 (the next "real" Mario game), I think people would say "you're kidding, right?" The whole point of this two-game (as of now) series is a breath of old-school fresh air.

So is all that a problem? Heck, no--NSMB and NSMBW were both fun, it's just that I wouldn't consider either to stand on the same historical step as SMB3 or SMW, for the same reason a "Collector's Edition" rerelease of an old comic book isn't worth as much. But hey, maybe my mind will change over time.

[PaperLuigi]

I'm just waiting for Super Mario Universe.

[ShadowBrain]

YES YES YES. We need a whole thread about that. My vision: Mario travels into different dimensions of the Mushroom Kingdom, each a different place and with a dramatic difference, like Queen Peach keeps kidnapping Prince Bowser or Goombas rule the Kingdom or something like that. It could be also be a great opportunity for that kind of "the characters you know, but they're all based around some theme/weirdly stylized" thing they do on Family Guy/Nickelodeon cartoon TV movies/Kingdom Hearts (*braces for TV Tropes link*).

[PaperLuigi]

Mario travels into different dimensions of the Mushroom Kingdom, each a different place and with a dramatic difference, like Queen Peach keeps kidnapping Prince Bowser or Goombas rule the Kingdom or something like that.

Sounds fun, but it works better for the Mario and Luigi series.

[Tv_Themes]

*Sniff sniff* You smell that? *Sniff* It's Mushroom Kingdom Hearts!

I can just imagine the Wario Ware land, Mario walking through the factory's catwalks, perms and other high-suspended areas. Avoiding vats of sulphuric acid, and meeting the forgettable cast including Mona, 9-Volt & Jimmy T!

Genius I tell you!

[PaperLuigi]

Tv_Themes never misses an opportunity to slam Wario Ware even when we're not talking about it.

[jdaster64]

Renovated Ultra Mario Bros. (+ 2 unnamed Toads) Wii II, EXTREME edition.   Not that NSMBW was at all bad, but they could've at least distinguished the game from NSMB DS.

[Chupperson Weird]

They did.