Messages

76

Mario Chat / Re: SMB3 VS. SMW

« on: February 15, 2010, 05:35:34 PM »

For the Yoshi thing, I'm referring to how you can get hit then jump back onto Yoshi and go on as if you took no damage.  Infinite hits.  And if you have a blue Yoshi, you can just take a shell and fly past many obstacles.  But I'm not saying that Yoshi is a completely bad thing.  He adds an interesting dynamic to platforming--help your buddy out and he can help you do things you could never do on your own.  I'm just saying that Yoshi's powers can be abused.

And this sounds like nothing, but try to tell me there wasn't a huge jump between the NES and SNES.

Why would I?  Of course there was a jump between the two.

77

Mario Chat / Re: SMB3 VS. SMW

« on: February 14, 2010, 06:22:43 PM »

I wouldn't say that SMW's Yoshi is always a good thing.  I've heard some arguments that Yoshi was too much of a good thing that could drain some of the platforming challenge in the game.  Which is also why I like the way Yoshi was implemented in NSMBW.

By the way, I'm not sure I still agree with my first post.  I said along the lines that SMB3 is my favorite for artsy reasons and not for gameplay reasons, but after playing some more SMB3 on its 20th birthday, I was pleasantly surprised by some level designs.  Nintendo really deserves an award for World 6-5!  And that fortress made of pure ice with sliding Thwomps?  Genius!  I still adore SMW (especially for its map design) but there's something about SMB3's level design.

I'm saddened by the lack of taste in the forums... how can the inferior SMW have more votes than the far superior Super Mario Bros. 3?

Nah, don't go there!  I may agree with you, but that doesn't mean that others aren't entitled to their opinions.

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Mario Chat / Re: Vocal Hypocrisy

« on: February 06, 2010, 06:13:27 PM »

I find it hard to believe that will happen. I don't think I could stand the growling tone in his voice.

I think it can be done.  I just don't like it when people say that there shouldn't be voice acting because onscreen text is better than a bad vocal performance.  How about having a GOOD vocal performance?

Just imagine the transfer from silent films to sound films.  If viewers kept on insisting that they preferred captions, filmmakers may not have that artistic dimension to work with (not that silent films are a bad thing, just that artists may not have as many creative options).  Let's take a critically acclaimed and popular film, like The Incredibles, for example.  If it was a silent movie with captions, would you still care about the story and characters?  Of course you would!  But would you be as immersed into the experience?  I doubt it.  So if a non-playable character is already provided some characterization with dialogue, why not go all the way with the immersion?

Note: I'm not saying that video games must be more like movies!  Just considering the immersion film provides in comparison to more cinema-like moments in certain games.

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Mario Chat / Re: Vocal Hypocrisy

« on: February 03, 2010, 09:20:28 PM »

Why?  What if Bowser had a good voice actor?

80

Game Help / Mysterious Mailtoad

« on: January 30, 2010, 03:00:35 PM »

Does anybody know how Mailtoad's free 1-Ups work in Super Mario Galaxy?

Here's my situation: my file was setup so that every time I started, Mailtoad would be there to offer me the free 1-Ups.  I eventually decided to play around and max out my Star Bits and get new high scores.  I never talked to Mailtoad, but he eventually lost the free 1-Ups.  Now I'm done playing and would like to setup my file like before so that Mailtoad offers me free lives whenever I select me file.  But he never has the 1-Ups whenever I start.  I figured that the Mailtoad having 1-Ups is simply a rare event that happens by chance.  So I kept playing until I saw that mail symbol over his head.  I saved and quit at that moment, but when I select my file again he STILL doesn't have the letter!  Any ideas how I can replicate what I had before?

Edit:  Nevermind, I somehow got it back.  Don't know why, though!

81

Mario Chat / Re: Vocal Hypocrisy

« on: January 24, 2010, 01:17:47 AM »

Maybe it's just because I grew up watching the Mario cartoons that I don't find a talking Mario such a strange concept.  When I first played Super Mario RPG, I remember being confused as to why all the characters around Mario talked, but Mario himself never had a text bubble.  Though the game is one of my favorites, if not my all time favorite, that initial confusion just took me out for a moment.  I think the best-fit line between a silent protagonist and a chatterbox protagonist can be seen in the way Alphadream handles the heroes in the Mario & Luigi RPG series.  We actually see the Mario brothers talk and interact with other characters, showing some personality, but their gibberish hides their words, making us use our imaginations to think up what exactly they say.  I wish Nintendo would at least use that method more often.

82

Mario Chat / Vocal Hypocrisy

« on: January 23, 2010, 05:27:48 PM »

Time after time creative minds at Nintendo have explained that Mario is a silent protagonist so as to allow the player to take up the role of the character and use his or her imagination to create the personality, thus immersing the player into the imaginative world.  I've never quite agreed with this notion; wouldn't the existence of a main character destroy the immersion?  Not everyone can relate to a short, fat, hairy man, so why not just play an adventure game as your Mii?  I feel that two relatively recent Mario releases, Super Paper Mario and Bowser's Inside Story, have especially highlighted the hypocrisy of the silent protagonist.

In Super Paper Mario, you start off as Mario who mostly remains silent in the game as usual.  So when you later unlock Peach and Bowser and play as them, the consistent thing to do to keep the player immersed within the game's universe would be to have them become silent protagonists as well.  On the contrary, the game developers allow Peach and Bowser to maintain their voices.  Does your immersion in the game honestly shatter when Peach or Bowser open their mouths and speak a few lines of dialogue?  Same thing in Bowser's Inside Story.  When you switch to Bowser, the Koopa king continues to boast, give threats, etc.  You cannot convince me that the game's world would have been more immersive without that characterization!

Do you find that giving playable non-Mario characters a voice destroys immersion?  If not, doesn't this throw a monkey wrench, or at least complicate, the philosophy behind the silent protagonist?

On a slightly related note, consider the Mii.  The Mii, what is quite literally the empty vessel for the player, is given a voice in Mario Kart Wii.  I hate my Mii's voice!  When I play as my Mii, I cannot help but think, "Oh yeah, that's not really me playing.  That's just my Mii."  Doesn't this vocal hypocrisy just drive you mad?!

83

Video Game Chat / Re: Post Your City Folk Pics Here!

« on: January 16, 2010, 03:11:11 PM »

Let's not forget about the Mario-themed patterns that can be found in the game.



You can get the '? Block' pattern by giving Wendell a red turnip and the 'brick' pattern by giving him a white turnip.

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Video Game Chat / Re: Post Your City Folk Pics Here!

« on: January 13, 2010, 11:52:24 AM »

A few more fun ones...




He's talking about the 'walking leaf' bug.

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Video Game Chat / Re: Post Your City Folk Pics Here!

« on: January 10, 2010, 07:37:31 PM »

I love goofing off with the camera in City Folk!  Here are a few favorites my brother and I took...

86

Video Game Chat / Re: ?Fawful?

« on: January 09, 2010, 03:25:44 PM »

YoshiFansean1, you shouldn't really throw around images of final bosses like that.  As a victim of spoilers, I can attest how frustrating it is to see something you didn't want to see yet.  At least post a link and warn that the link will lead to spoilers.

As for Fawful, needless to say I love that bean dude.  From his first speech, I fell in love with his unpredictable speech patterns and delicious eccentricity.  Which is ironic, because when I first read about him in the instruction manual I went, "Psh.  Just another useless bad guy sidekick."  But it turned out that unlike useless sidekicks who's incompetence leads the villain to ruin, if it wasn't for Fawful, Cackletta would have fallen much earlier in the game.

I will say, though, that I didn't find him quite as funny in Bowser's Inside Story.  Maybe he didn't have enough fury.  Or perhaps I was starting to get used to his bizarre speech.  But he still shined through and added more great quotes to his repertoire, further cementing him down as the most quotable character in video game history.  And I truly did feel sad at the end of the game when he exploded and apparently died.

87

Mario Chat / Re: Yoshi's Cookie Inquiry

« on: December 19, 2009, 06:04:08 PM »

I found this article that discusses the differences between the versions, if anybody else was curious: http://www.trsrockin.com/yoshiscookie.html

So it looks like the SNES version has a puzzle mode and a VS. COMP mode, while the NES version doesn't.  Makes me want the SNES version more, though I don't know if I can wait for the SNES version (if it does get released).  Also, to me the gameplay sounds a lot like that barrel game from Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga.  Can anybody confirm this?  If so, I must have this!

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Mario Chat / Re: New Super Mario Brothers Wii

« on: December 14, 2009, 08:15:34 PM »

You know what's kind of funny?  When the game was first unveiled and we saw the Yoshis, the Mario nerd in me couldn't help but think, "Gee, what are Yoshis doing in the Mushroom Kingdom?  They live in Dinosaur Land/Isle Delfino/other places.  What if Nintendo came up with an explanation as to why the Yoshis are hanging around...yeah right."  But in the opening sequence, you can see a present labeled with a Yoshi egg on it, implying that Toad distributed them out along with the power-ups.  Huzzah for that little detail!

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Mario Chat / Re: Yoshi's Cookie Inquiry

« on: December 11, 2009, 06:17:02 PM »

Your call, but I think the SNES version is superior.

I see.  But that's of course assuming that the SNES version will be released.

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Mario Chat / Re: Favorite Handheld Mario Game?

« on: December 11, 2009, 06:13:19 PM »

The "mustard of your doom" line alone makes me pick Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga.  Not to mention the innovative two-character gameplay, the expressive graphics, the soundtrack, the challenge, and the delicious humor.  But I've gushed enough about the game on these forums.

Ah, such gushing!