Messages

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Mario Chat / Re: Super Mario Odyssey

« on: January 17, 2017, 10:19:17 PM »

Aw yes yes yes! Yes to everything shown and told about this game! I was hoping for a return to the free roaming, non-time limited, non-linear Mario adventure game. I wasn't sure if they were going to ever do it again; I thought they might just keep focusing on the fast paced romp through many short levels like Galaxy 2 and 3D world. Boy am I glad to be wrong! While almost all Mario games have great gameplay and graphics, to me the best ones are the ones that have heart and soul poured into them; the ones the feel like irreplaceable adventures. That's why Mario 64 has remained so prominent throughout all these years, and I think it's one of the reasons Sunshine has been having such a big resurgence. As much as I wanted to make myself think it, Galaxy 2 and the 3D series just did not have that, as entertaining as they were. I don't usually say a game looks awesome before it even comes out, but this game is gonna be awesome. I haven't been this hyped for a game in years.

I think it's funny that some people are comparing this to Sonic 06, I'm sure a lot of them are joking, but I think some people were put off by seeing the cartoonish Mario in a real looking setting, with realistically proportioned citizens. I can tell you just by looking at it that this is no Sonic 06. Heck, I can tell you by looking at a piece of poop on the ground that this is no Sonic 06.One, Sonic 06 had terrible performance problems, terrible gameplay, and was overall rushed and unpolished to the point of being borderline unplayable. Two, the story in Sonic 06 was extremely awkward, both in terms of overall plot, and in the way it was presented (bad cut scenes, voice acting). For goodness sake, they had a romance between an anthromorphic hedgehog and a human princess! Being in a realistic city was the least of Sonic's problem. Even so, I will bet anything that Mario will run totally fine on the switch, have very polished gameplay, the story will be fairly abstract, non-invasive, and probably a little silly, and Mario will not have a romantic interest in any of the New Donk City dames. Also, I think it's a quite as weird to see Mario in a city because one, he is an actual full blown human despite being drawn a lot more cartoonish than the side characters, and he did originate for New York according to the original games and old media (not that Nintendo cares about Mario's canon). Oh, and not to mention that the city is ONE level out of like five shown, and there will probably be even more in the actual game.

Well I accidentally turned that paragraph into a Sonic rant, but now that it's written, I'm keeping it up there.Here are some things I've heard/seen that I am excited about:

- Mario' vibrant expressions. We see him dancing to music and shivering in the cold in-game. Official sources say they have given Mario more expressions. Immersion in the game is cool!

- Triple jump is back baby! And the dive, along with all of Mario's standards. I also like the Kung Lao hat throw

- Carrying turnips like in Mario 2!

- The very subtle aesthetic changes. It's not as pronounced in-game as it is in the renders, but I like Mario's hair looking like real hair, and his overalls looking like real denim, while still looking cartoonish. I don't need him to look like he's made of plastic anymore.

- The variety of the stages. Each stage looks totally unique, and in fact some stages look like they have quite a variety within themselves. This makes me think that this game will have a few, highly memorable and highly unique stages as opposed to many small homogenized ones.

- Bowser's scheme is a broadway marriage with Peach. I think that's funny. I do still kind of miss Bowser as a menacing antagonist as I pictured him in Mario 64 and earlier. Then again, what's scarier than a lifelong commitment. And a forced, interspecies one, at that.

-I'm excited to see if there's anything special with the Crazy Caps store. There seems to be one in every level. Perhaps you can buy power-ups there, or swap out Mario's special abilities?

-New Donk City's plethora of Donkey Kong references. Could this be hinting at a potential to see DK himself somewhere in this game? That would be one epic throwback to where it all began! Oh, and also you CAN jump on the realistically styled NDC residents. Nintendo confirmed it.


And a short list of things I'm not super excited about:

-Mario's hat having eyes. Doesn't seem to happen too much in game, so it's no big deal, I just don't think it looks good aesthetically. I'd just tell myself they're some kind of steampunk goggles if they do pop up in game. I'm guessing the hat is just your assistant character and he pops his eyes out when he talks to you.

-The rabbits. I'm not a big fan of anthropomorphic creatures hence my roast of Sonic, and I think these rabbits cross that line a bit. I think I'd like it better if they looked more like real rabbits (or the ones Mario chases in the game) in suits and hats. That would make it more surreal looking, which I am actually a big fan of. But I should count my blessings that they weren't the rabbids :p

Overall it's safe to say the Nintendo Switch is a guarenteed buy for me.

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Mario Chat / Re: The Silly Mario Fan Theories Thread

« on: October 16, 2016, 03:25:09 PM »

Hmmmm, I dunno. If you can go from this



To this



with just a bit of sun.... Then I need to know what brand of tanning oil he uses because I'm pale as a ghost no matter what.

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Mario Chat / Re: The Silly Mario Fan Theories Thread

« on: October 16, 2016, 02:32:10 PM »

isn't that one of the more well know theories about Mario though
I mean it isn't bad but it seems kinda pointless to just bump a topic so you can introduce a well-known theory.
But if this is back, I have a new theory:

Well, maybe. I only searched through the thirty-something pages of this thread for it and I didn't see anything similar. Maybe there are similar theories somewhere else online, but I preferred to keep outside influence out when writing it. If it's a popular theory, then I think it deserves to be on the theory thread.

I have seen some people theorize that he's actually Nabbit, but I think Cosmic Mario makes more sense (I guess it's possible he could be both though).

Paper Mario: Color Splash is a metaphor for the series itself[/b]
Just like how the color is being drained from Prism Island, the classic gameplay, deep, RPG-like story, and humor aside from "geddit they're paper xD" is being drained from Paper Mario, and just like how the game is about returning color to the island, Color Splash brings back some of the things that made older Paper Mario good.
I mean it isn't anywhere as good as the first three but at least it's actually a good game on its own now.

It's trying, I'll give it that. Although at this point, I think I'd be pretty happy if I never see another Mario game using a map screen.

Allow me to throw a monkey wrench into the theory before Tavros':

Shadow Mario is not called Shadow Mario in Japan. He is called Nise Mario (literally "fake Mario").

Cosmic Mario is not called Cosmic Mario in Japan. He is simply called Shadow (the English word).

Il Piantissimo is actually the Marathon Man from Ocarina of Time in disguise.

So Shadow Mario = Fake Mario

and Cosmic Mario = Shadow

If we draw a diagonal line between those, we can link up "Shadow Mario" with "Shadow", referring to the shadow of Mario's image they both use.

As for the Marathon Man, I have seen the screenshots of the removed mask, and he does have impeccably similar facial features to the fastest man in Hyrule. However, while Marathon Man is fairly light-skinned, Il Pianissimo  has that super dark super suave look. My guess is he is actually Marathon Man's afro-jamacian half cousin.

And that would leave the Marathon Man (or maybe his Majora's Mask Mail Man counterpart) to travel over to the Mushroom Kingdom and dawn the purple bunny mask and become Nabbit. In fact, if it's the Mail Man, it could make a lot of sense. Maybe he wanted to deliver mail for the locals in the Mushroom Kingdom, but fell on hard times and was forced to smuggle goods stolen from the poor innocent Toads. That would explain why he carries the bag.

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Mario Chat / Re: The Silly Mario Fan Theories Thread

« on: October 15, 2016, 01:37:18 PM »

Sorry to bring this back up, I know it hasn't been posted in for quite a while. I just had a theory I wanted to share that I've been thinking of for a while now, and this is the best place I can think of to share it :p Anyways...

So my theory involves a little bit of continuity between games; particularly Super Mario Sunshine and Galaxy. Maybe some of you have thought of this one before, but I didn't see it posted so I thought I'd post my version. I won't say what it is until the end of the theory to inspire you to read it and come to realize it yourself as we go along. So here we go!

So to start, in Super Mario Sunshine we are introduced to a brand new villain (or so we think) named SHADOW MARIO.



So he starts out as a bit of an enigma, but throughout the game we learn a little more about him:

     -He looks exactly the same as Mario, except he is completely shadowed in a blue tint.
     -He has a high-pitched voice; even higher than Mario's Yahoo's
     -He is evil, kidnaps the princess and vandalizes the island, framing Mario for the work.
     -He is usually seen carrying a device that looks like a giant brush.
     -SPOILER AERT: It ends up being Bowser Jr. in dusguise.
     -Apparently his "Magic brush" gave him the ability to shape-shift into a Mario clone, as well as several other abilities such as the ability to paint portals and have infinite goopy paints.

Skip ahead a bit to Super Mario Galaxy. Bowser Junior appears in that game, sans Magic Brush or any sort of Mario Disguies (in fact, he is never seen in disguise again in a main Mario game). However, there is another Mario lookalike, with some suspicious similarities to our old friend. Enter COSMIC MARIO



Like Shadow Mario, Cosmic Mario is a bit mysterious, and unfortunately, we don't learn too much about his origins or intentions. We can only assume based on our few encounters with him...

     -He looks exactly like Mario, except he is totally shadowed in a blue tint.
     -He has a high pitched voice, even higher than Mario's Yahoo's
     -He is a jerk, but not necessarily evil. He would happily nab a star from you, but he doesn't kidnap innocent princesses or seem to do bidding for any higher power.
     -He loves to race and seems obsessed with beating Mario on the track.
     -He seems cocky, in his laughs and gestures.
     -Nothing of him is ever shown below his hazy cosmic surface; it is unknown how he gets his powers, or if they're natural or augmented.
     -Bowser Junior has an alibi this time, as he appears elsewhere during the events of Galaxy. Also he does not have the magic brush to transform himself this time. For all intents and purposes, we can assume Bowser Junior is NOT Cosmic Mario.

But you may be saying "So what? Nintendo probably just needed a quick easy idea for someone for Mario to race in Galaxy so they used a clone. He's probably blue because that's the color of deep space in the game."

Well, that probably true. But there is one thing that could serve as a very solid link between Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy, and between Shadow and Cosmic Mario. And he comes in the form of an old friend//enemy/frienemy from Super Mario Sunshine: IL PIANTISSAMO



Wait, what? Who? You know, that guy who appeared in like three missions, to challenge you to a race. Although at first glance, he seems to be a little out of sync with these other two characters, if we look into it a little more we might see a few key traits that seem very interesting for this analysis.

     -He appears to be a human being of African Descent (finally, some racial diversity in Mario games).
     -He wears a very racially insensitive outfit consisting of a Pianta mask, and gloves and boots resembling pianta hands and feet.
     -He clearly has NO ISSUE DISGUISING HIMSELF. This is probably for his selfish benefit, as an average human would seem fast to the typically bulky, slow Pianta people.
     -He's a bit of a jerk, but not necessarily evil. He'd hog an all-important shine sprite from you, but he doesn't seem to serve a higher evil power, i.e. Bowser.
     -He loves to race and seems obsessed with defeating Mario foot-to-foot.
     -He seems cocky in his laughs and gestures.


So if you take the non-physical aspects of Il Piantissimo, we see they match up pretty much perfectly with those of Cosmic Mario; they're both cocky jerks who love racing, and obsess over proving they can outrun Mario. But you might be thinking "No way, Il Piantissimo looks nothing like Mario. Even with the best props Party City has to offer, he couldn't get the shape as on-point as Cosmic Mario does. Besides how would he ever get into space?"

Well, you'd be right. Piantissimo simply couldn't replicate Mario's form (he couldn't even make a convincing Pianta). And to go from a tropical Island to outer space? Forget it. What kind of marvelous technological masterpiece would Pianissimo need tot make himself look just like Mario despite their hugely different shapes, AND make him able to travel long distances in the blink of an eve?

Wait, hold on a second....

In the final battle of Mario Sunshine, after you flip Bowser and son's giant floating hot tub, Bowser Jr. Seems to have lost his Magic Brush....

Where could it be? It must have fallen to some random location on the island below. But there's no way anyone would come across--

OH MY GOD!



That's right! The Ending screen confirms it, the brush just happens to fall right onto Gelato Beach, where our old friend Piantissimo just happens to stumble upon it. Now, it's like the stars aligning! Sometime between Sunshine and Galaxy, this must have happened:

     -Piantissimo finds the brush and learns to harness its powers.
     -He uses its shape-shifting ability to paint himself the shape of Mario. Probably to mock or intimidate him.
     -He uses the brush's power to create portals to track Mario down into deep space.
     -Piantissimo is a sore loser; he follows Mario to challenge him to rematches.
     -He now has the same cocky, jerkish personality, but the distinct look of out favorite Italian plumber (with a dark blue tint).

Piantissimo IS Cosmic Mario! They are one in the same.

There are a few discrepancies to this idea, but I would say they are mostly either negligable, or could be explained fairly easily.

1. Shadow Mario looks like he's made of water, but Cosmic Mario looks like he's made of deep space matter. If it they both used the magic brush shouldn't they look the same?

     -Not necessarily; the magic brush was shown to be able to produce paints with many different colors and properties. Shadow Mario probably chose the water look because he was on an island surrounded by water. Cosmic Mario probably went with Space theme because he was surrounded by outer space. It's the theme of the game.


2. But Shadow Mario is always shown with his Magic Brush, but I haven't seen Cosmic Mario with it at all. How can Cosmic Mario stay Cosmic Mario without holding it?

     -Shadow Mario does USUALLY have his brush, but he can be seen without it, i.e. when he intercepts and steals F.L.U.D.D when Mario travels through the void:
     
     If Shadow Mario can do this without the brush I assume Cosmic Mario can as well.

3. I thought Bowser Jr's bandana he wears around his neck makes him shape shift into Mario, not the Magic Brush.

     -That bandana appeared in many games. It originally had a mustache drawn on it, but it was later changed to a scary mouth. However, out of the many games Bowser Junior appeared in, he only ever transformed into Shadow Mario in the one where he had the brush.

     -He did mention that a strange old man in a white coat "Gave" him the brush (Referring to E. Gadd), and it would make a little more sense for him to do that if he thought Jr. Was Mario. But I would assume Junior either stole it from him, or he used the fake mustache bandana to fool E. Gadd (he's old, he probably gets confused easily), and perfected his Mario disguise once he got the brush.


Aaaand, that's about it! I'd say it's a pretty sound theory. Oh, and if you're wondering who cosmic Luigi would be then, I'll just assume Piantissimo shared his powers with his old friend from track class, this guy:

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Mario Chat / Re: Mario & Luigi: Dream Team

« on: February 16, 2013, 12:42:27 PM »

Wow, looks like this game has a really fresh 3D visual style. I how it takes inspiration from the 2D Mario and Luigi games instead of using the tired streamlined models. It really does seem to add a lot to the visuals. I'm hoping to see more changes like this in other games, especially the Wii U.

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Mario Chat / Re: Mario Warfare

« on: December 11, 2012, 07:32:39 PM »

That. Is. AWESOME! I don't really like how they made Mario and Luigi sort of the normal plumbers that they always are in a world that seems to be defined by guns and technology. But it looks like they'll be getting some upgrades in the next episode, which I can't wait for.

I love the production value. I almost wish someone would do something like this only with a faithful representation of the Mario universe.

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Mario Chat / Re: New Super Mario Bros. U

« on: December 07, 2012, 11:52:23 PM »

Is there some sort of numbering for the worlds? I can't seem to find any since every level is "Food world-#" and not "#-#".

The levels are numbered, but not the worlds. They just go by names, i.e Acorn Plains, Layer Cake Desert, Sparkling Waters, etc. Sometimes you choose which path to take, which means that two worlds become available at once.

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Video Game Chat / Re: Slender: scary or not

« on: August 18, 2012, 10:19:55 PM »

The scariest game I've played was SCP-087B. It's a free first person game where you're basically walking down a dark hallway with a tiny render distance. Sometimes the screen will go all blurry and some sort of monster dude will appear right in front of you come at you. The scariest part is wondering when they will come. After playing SCP-087B I'm not quite as scared of Slender.

I don't have a link to SCP-087B, but you can probably find it on google.

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Mario Chat / Re: New Super Mario Bros. U

« on: August 04, 2012, 08:35:01 PM »

Totally. Too bad the Wii can't do HD because those emulators run REALLY slow on my computer even though it's relatively new. I still like the art style of New Super Mario Bros U better. I just really want them to give Mario and co a makeover.

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Mario Chat / Re: New Super Mario Bros. U

« on: June 30, 2012, 09:03:46 PM »

New universal rule-of-thumb proposal

Do not ***** about games you're gonna play regardless of everything you ***** about (and you know you will), especially if your *****ing covers every aspect of the game

I wouldn't call it that. It's more like criticism. And it's valid criticism if you ask me. I'm pretty much sold on this game by now, but I still think there are some things that it should have done differently and some content that I think should have been new rather than recycled from NSMBW.

But it looks fun, the backgrounds are cool even though they don't merge very well with the foreground, and it's pretty awesome looking in wonderful smooth 1080p HD.

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Mario Chat / Re: New Super Mario Bros. U

« on: June 23, 2012, 11:47:56 PM »

Oh, I'd forgot about that.  If anyone else has skip to 42 seconds in this video:

I was just thinking about that. It definitely the best example. They could literally take that, change the physics a little bit, and give it the classic Super Mario Bros control scheme.

I still love the backgrounds for New Super Mario Bros U, but I think there should be a seemless transition from the foreground into the background. That would probably take away most of the the bland, depth-lacking feel you get when you see this game. Although I do still think what they've showed us is an improvement from the other NSMB games.

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Mario Chat / Re: New Super Mario Bros. U

« on: June 05, 2012, 06:58:51 PM »

Just saw the new trailer, and I'm sold on the backgrounds. They do look different enough from the last two NSMB games. I love how some of them are animated and they're all pretty unique from one another. I love the "Starry Starry Night" styled one. A lot of the foreground looks nice and distinguished from the old games too; even the ground you walk on looks nice and new.

However, Mario, Luigi, the two Toads (which I'm sad to see), the goombas, koopas, the coins, the water, and those little dancing flowers all look just the same as they always have (not surprisingly). I hope they're just placeholders or something because It'll be disappointing to have recycled character models in these all new, smooth surroundings.

But there were some cool new stuff. I was NOT expecting the baby yoshis, and they were a pleasent surprise. I like how they're able to do things besides eat stuff and grow into big yoshis. I'm REALLY happy, however, to see the acorn power-up, not necessarily because of the flying squirrel power, but because they've finally introduced a power-up that's NOT in the form of a mushroom or flower, The only other ones I can recall were the leaves in Super Mario 3D land (borrowed from SMB3) and the ones that are literally suits.

Overall, I'm impressed. I wish I could say the same for New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS.

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Mario Chat / Re: New Super Mario Bros. U

« on: June 04, 2012, 07:56:31 PM »

These screenshots are actually from the last level.

What makes you say that?

Anyway, this looks pretty fantastic. That particular stage seems to alleviate some of the "creeping graphical sameyness" that someone was discussing. Hopefully it's actually the whole game that does stuff like this with the backgrounds and not just this one stage. Although I do wish they would tweak the appearance of Mario and the enemies (and some other foreground stuff) a little; it doesn't need to be major stuff, just enough to make them stand out.

As for the final title of this game, I hope they don't call it "New Super  Mario Bros Mii" because well... I just think it sounds lame. New Super Mario Bros. U and especially New Super Mario World both sound a thousand times better.

I'm hoping that this game will successfully get rid of some of the problems with New Super Mario Bros. Wii. First, and most importantly, Yoshi. I want Yoshi to actually be a big part of this game; finding him in about ten levels and not being able to take him with you in NSMBW is NOT what I consider a big part of the game and definitely noy enough to warrant a spot on the cover. I want to be able to use Yoshi in every level (except maybe ghost houses and castles) and find him relatively easily. Maybe they could put a hub level like the secret area in Super Mario world where you can pick up Yoshi and some power-ups.

I also want to see some cooler, more likable characters. Of course NSMBW had Mario and Luigi, but what about the two random Toads? They had no individuality and no real value. None of my friends ever wanted to play as them. I'd like to see only one toad (with the blue vest and red polka dot mushroom) and someone different as players 3 and 4. If they have to be two toads, at least do something besides palatte swapping that will distinguish them. Oh, and maybe give them some NAMES!

The last issue, probably the smallest (and least likely to be fixed) has to do with story. So basically, the Princess gets kidnapped. We get it, it's been told a hundred times. I'd like to see a decent attempt to make it good (like Super Mario Galaxy) or just start the game without setting up thr premise at all (like Super Mario Bros. 1985). I say this because when they go the whole game revolves around "It's Peach's Birthday so the Koopalings trap her in a cake" it kind of ruins the whole epic journey across the land feeling. I know Mario has always been a light-hearted game that tries not to get too big on story, but when the story is so dumbed down, it kind of ruins the sense of danger.

Don't mean to rant, I'm just hoping some of these issues get fixed.

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Mario Chat / Re: New Super Mario Bros. 2

« on: May 21, 2012, 09:35:52 PM »

Looks like fun, but I think it's about time for Nintendo to do some moderate revamps to the graphics and such for the Mario games. Each game doesn't need to look totally different, but since Super Mario Galaxy, each game looks so similar that they're almost indistinguishable.

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Mario Chat / Re: Mario core/canon games?

« on: May 21, 2012, 09:17:37 PM »

In chronological order, I think these are the Mario games that can fit into a single canon. The others would be alternate universes (part of another canon) or what-if scenarios. I'll list them in the order of which I think they occured.

-*Yoshi's Island

-Donkey Kong

-*DK Junior

-Mario Bros.

-Super Mario Bros/ *Lost levels (both part of the same conflict).

-Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA version)

-Super Mario Bros. 3

-Super Mario World.

-Super Mario 64.

-Luigi's Mansion

-Super Mario Sunshine.

-Super Mario Galaxy.

-*Super Mario Galaxy 2

* I feel that some of these may be contradictory to the other games. Yoshi's Island, for example, seems to suggest that Mario and Luigi are from Mushroom Land, while Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. seem to suggest that they're from the "Real World". Maybe they could have somehow wound up in the real world and then ended up coming back as adults, but I think that kinda overcomplicates things.

Donkey Kong Junior potrays Mario as the antagonist, which basically contradicts Mario's heroic and friendly personality. Maybe Mario had a good reason to do it, but again, I don't think it needs to be that complicated.

The Lost Levels (Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2) was so similar to Super Mario Bros. that I think they're actually the same story; one just has different levels and some slight graphical changes.

I think Super Mario Galaxy 2 is just a more light-hearted reimagination of the first Super Mario Galaxy. At the end of Super Mario Galaxy, Rosalina did that speech about the cycle of stars being reborn. Super Mario Galaxy 2, to me, is just that cycle. Maybe it will even lead to a canon split.