The M&L in-game art has been feeling a bit off to me lately. I guess everything just feels unnecessarily big and spread-out in BIS. Sprites are high-res, but with no added detail; they're just big. The sprites and the map layouts in SS felt much tighter and less clumsy.
I also don't like how the series has become less stylistic. In SS, everything was drawn in an original style, but in PiT and BIS, all the sprites feel like they're just traced from the 3D renders.
(http://themushroomkingdom.net/mariopedia/sprites/mlss/bowser.png) (http://www.mariowiki.com/images/2/29/Bowser_MLRPG2_Sprite.png) (http://www.mariowiki.com/images/4/40/BowserAnimation.gif)
(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/c/cd/Hammerbrosprite65.png) (http://www.mariowiki.com/images/5/5b/L33t_Hamm3r_Broz_Sprite.png)
(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/6/69/Goomba_SSS.png) (http://www.mariowiki.com/images/9/9c/Goomba_Pit.png)
It's also noticeable in the color scheme -- M&L had a rather distinct palette, giving it a coherent, unified theme, while PiT and BIS just use the big bright official colors for everything, and it's just kinda all over the place.
(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/c/c6/Luigidance.gif) (http://www.mariowiki.com/images/d/df/Luigistandrpg3.gif) For some reason, though, PiT and BIS turn Luigi blue. But the dancing is still good.
Hopefully a sprite-based console version would get them thinking more stylistically again.
You know, I'd really like to see a game (maybe an RPG) based on the cartoons and comic books. Except good.
They should make Mario wear his old blue shirt and red 'vralls again. For an entire game, except when using color-changin' power-ups. With no given explanation.That's more awesome than 27 hot ladies.
(http://smaaaash.net/drawn/allstarsmario.png)
For the curious, this image (from Brawl) is the result of a very VERY minor vertex mod I made to change the shape of Mario's mouth and the angles of his eyebrows (which I went on to make multiple recolors of), an animation mod I made that makes him open his mouth much more often. For the uncurious, GO AWAYYYYYYYYYYYY
Also:Actually, those aren't Tanoombas, just Goombas with tails. Another example of Nintendo blatantly going out of their way to not acknowledge the Mario RPGs.
(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/1/14/MLSSDryBones.PNG) (http://www.mariowiki.com/images/0/0a/Garon.gif)
Dry Bones in Superstar Saga
(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/a/a6/Ml2_drybones.png)
Dry Bones in Partners in Time
(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/6/60/Tanoomba.png) (http://www.mariowiki.com/images/a/ac/PiT_Tanoomba.png)
Tanoombas in Superstar Saga and Partners in Time
(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/a/a7/3DS_SuperMario_7_scrn07_E3.png)
Tanoombas in 3D Land
Actually, the old Buzzy artwork doesn't look too far off from the NSMB look. As best as I can tell, the cute rounded mouthless head sticking out in PM (and the claws/toenails) was pretty much unprecedented.
(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/8/8b/SMB_BuzzyBeetle.jpg) (http://www.mariowiki.com/images/3/36/SMB2_Buzzy_Beetle.png) (http://www.mariowiki.com/images/thumb/8/8f/BuzzyBeetleNew.jpg/200px-BuzzyBeetleNew.jpg)
(http://www.mariowiki.com/images/b/bf/Buzzy_Beetle2.PNG)
How about 28 hot ladies, and a dinosaur with machine guns for arms?Heh. I expected such a reply. I also think BP saw what I did there.
> Creeping graphical sameynessHey, don't talk about Minecraft that way!
> Solution is to join the gaggle of indie clowns who think that the key to making any video game better is to pretend it's 1980
groannnnnnn
Minecraft is so non-80's it's not even funny.Fine, 90's
> Creeping graphical sameyness
> Solution is to join the gaggle of indie clowns who think that the key to making any video game better is to pretend it's 1980
groannnnnnn
I would like to see a "new" SMB with objects, enemies, etc in the NES SMB retro style like Capcom did with Mega Man 9.
> Creeping graphical sameyness
> Solution is to join the gaggle of indie clowns who think that the key to making any video game better is to pretend it's 1980
groannnnnnn
(http://themushroomkingdom.net/images/ss/papermario-3ds/017.jpg)I have no idea why Nintendo thinks that POW Blocks need to look like their orginal version. In NSMBW it was funny. Now it's lazy.
Paper Mario 3D[/center]
l
(The POW Block is also different)
Why do you want a cartoon character to have distinguishable hairs on his face anyway? That would be creepy as hell.I don't. I like my Mario cartoony. I'm saying they shouldn't have photorealistic fabric textures if they're not willing to follow through.
Mario Kart 8 is full-stop gorgeous if you ask me. I want that art team on every Nintendo project. Their take on Hyrule is fantastic, their take on Mute City is spectacular, every other track in the game is breathtaking, I love it.
A trend towards graphical sameyness is also noticable when comparing Super Mario 64 N64 to Super Mario 64 DS. I'm posting a comparison of Bowser's appearance and the Boos and Boss Basses were changed to their usual looks in the DS version.
I figured maybe the reason previous games all looked wildly different is because Nintendo didn't really have any style guidelines, and only recently did they decide to come up with some.The implications of this would account for quite a bit - in addition to just aesthetics - in more recent Nintendo games.
(https://i.imgur.com/rDNB1M1.png)Yeah, Miyamoto wanted to limited the cast to a minimum, thinking people would be attracted to more familiar face. And simplifying characters and plots.