Jimquisition: Old Man Mario

[OldNewNewOld]

I find it funny how every time the topic is "stagnation of games", everyone points their finger at Nintendo and CoD, while ignoring the rest of the industry that isn't even a tiny bit better.
Those few exception are few and far between.

I somewhat agree with Jim, but handheld Mario games were never close to innovation. They never introduced something drastically different or new. It was always the 3D games on the home console that were doing new stuff, with the exception of Galaxy 2. But since it was several times better than Galaxy 1, I will completely ignore the lack of "innovation".

And even tho you can feel the stagnation, I have yet to play a Mario game that wasn't extremely funny. Yes, they may lack any innovation, but they are still funny to play.

 

[faefrost]

They really do need to do something to spice up the series. Something new and edgy to grab the attention...

I know lets make him an urban street character, with a gun... who's also a werewolf! That'll sell to them kiddies!

 

[infinity_turtles]

Normally agree with Jim, but I'm someone who tends to like a lot of the things older games did not because of nostalgia, but because I just generally prefer those sorts of things. Now, Mario games aren't something I feel like that with, platformers not really being a genre I see as anything but a diversion during a drought of titles I am interested in, but I'm sure there are those who do. In a weird way, by sticking to older mechanics and design when others are experimenting, they're increasing the variety of the genre by maintaining one of the styles that others are moving away from. Ultimately, I think this is good for gamers, because those who want "newer and better"(Which is condescending as hell to those who like the old stuff) have new games that tickle their fancy, while those who prefer older designs/mechanics have new games that suit their tastes too.

 

[New Frontiersman]

I like Mario and I like Nintendo, but I do really see where Jim is coming from. I've never really thought of it in those terms way before, but I can't deny that it is somewhat accurate.
On the other hand I still enjoy Mario games. They're still really fun to me. Even if the mechanics are dated, I still enjoy them. I don't know if I'll be getting the new one, I might though.

Also while this is only about the second Jimquisition video I've ever seen, from what I've seen so far, I really like this guy. He has some good things to say. I like though how he isn't just complete hate all the time, like some other people *cough*Yahtzee*cough*. It was nice to hear him talk about the good as well as the bad, and make suggestions on how to improve. It was what made this video watchable rather than just a pool of angry bile *cough*Yahtzee*cough*.

 

[him over there]

I agree however the thing is the target demographic for Mario is static and the people enjoying it now are always moving. The rationale as far as I can tell is that Mario is aimed at little kids and they will play maybe two or three mainstream Mario games before outgrowing the franchise. There isn't a need to innovate as drastically because the people playing Mario Sunshine won't be the people playing Mario Galaxy. Yes there is hardly anything different between New super Mario bros one and two, but because the target audience is so young there is a large amount of people who will not even know the first existed and the second will be their very first Mario game.

So it would be great if they innovated but it doesn't really matter since most people aren't going to be playing Mario games across multiple console generations.

 

[Dangit2019]

I knda find it funny how little bitches like moviebob whine how call of duty hasnt changed for SOOO long , but never says anything about mario .

Watch "Junk Drawer Rises". He basically says that because Mario innovated so much in the past, they deserve to make nostalgia games as a sort of "comeback tour". He compared this to Paul McCartney singing old Beatles songs instead of making new albums. I thought it was a bit B.S. since remaking old Mario platforming is not as near as inspired as the rest of the competition.

 

[Gatx]

Dynasty Warriors is repetitive sure, but there's also been very little innovation amongst the games as a series. I mean you have the big change in 6 but then what?

 

[Terminate421]

I'm not crazy about the "New" series. They're just an officially made fan game. A lot of fun to play, but not of substance. That being said, they make money. So Nintendo does have reason to make them.

And the big, massive mind-blowers typically come out once a generation after the NES. Super Mario World, Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy... plenty of interesting spin-offs, but those are more distractions to keep making money until the real meat comes along. Of course, then there are the surprises like the Mario RPGs.

Galaxy 2 was an exception, but it came around the time of the "New" titles, so it wasn't helping with the whole "showing his age" thing. As long as the "New" series doesn't interrupt the REAL new Mario games, I'm fine.

Still, I'm curious what the WiiU 3D Mario Platformer will be. Where can one go after Galaxy?

Here is an idea, mix how you navigate.

The WiiU controller's screen has a way of moving, sort of swapping the controls to "iPhone" mode for a section or some element of gameplay. To keep it from being a gimmick, the whole game is centered around this while still providing the fun and challenge of a typical mario game.

Also no more lives.

 

[Khazoth]

So, i'm gonna post this here so it can be ignored and have me be called a Nintendo fan boy by all the cynical folk.. But.. You know what?


It's your fault. All of you Nintendo fans? As an outsider to the whole Nintendo thing I can see rather clearly that its your fault. Zelda 2, Mario Sunshine, and etc.. They do try different things, and then everyone screams and panics because its different and hate it.


Then they go back to making the same game over and over. Why bother being new when your fans will hate you for it?

 

[Joey Bolzenius]

Decent video, I agree but its not a huge issue for me. Moviebob is going to pounce on this video like a tiger. Fingers crossed for Jim Sterling/Bob Chipman debate.

 

[Wolfram23]

Last Mario game I played was Mario 64... hrm.

 

[lastjustice]

I don't fully agree with Jim here. I like to see the occasional 2 platformer, as I loved Super Mario Bros Wii. 2d platformer is a perfected art(I've never been a fan of the 3D mario games. There's just something off about them.), and I think it's good from time to time for someone to put out their best work. Mario 3 has always been one of my favorite titles so I think it's cool take and make a game out of the same vein and add co-op to it. That was a great way to spice it up, and if you have not played Mario wii with multiple players you just missed the point of the game. (as someone who has always had tons of family and friends to co-op play with , I wish we'd get a heck of alot more local co-op. I don't want to play with random people online remotely as much as my real life people I know.)

I was happy to see some retrogame gems get revisited with megaman 9 and 10. (which Capcom has now declared war on Megaman so I doubt we're going see a new X series game.) I enjoy some old school stuff sprinkled in with the batch of newer games and series. All that said there, I definitely have a point where a company is just churning out 90% of the same game and needs to put a bit more effort into it before I see another one. If nothing else wait a couple years and let me miss the game. Even if you don't change it much, give me some time to fully absorb the previous game before I get another one tossed at me so I can appreciate the differences. Hammering me with the same experience over and over in a short time period is a recipe for me to lose interest as a fan. There's plenty of worse offenders than Mario in terms of beating dead horses with little change.

I think nintendo is pushing their retro angle a bit too hard, especially with a new mario game in both barrels on 3DS and wii U. Stagger them out a bit will ya? I ultimately skip the bulk of Nintendo's systems since N64(last Zelda I gave a crap about was OoT and Link to the past. Mario cart got stale after double dash.), so I suppose i wasn't their target audience anyways. Last new system of theirs I bought was a DS. I can play Wii at my friends and that's good enough for me.

I understand why he does those shorts, he is trying to make things different from the other shows. He is also a movie critic and most critics want to make films themselves, the show allows him to use his audience as a board for his creative side but also allows him to let out his creative side.

If Moviebob wants show his creative side...here's major step to showing creativity......DONT NAME EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER ON THE SHOW *INSERT NAME* THINKER.(Anti, Retro, Cryo,pyro thinker.)I could understood one as the whole evil opposite deal(I get the whole Antithinker as the Bro-core strawman.), but it's all of them.(which I won't be surprised if there's plenty more.) It makes you look not only that you are just flat out stuck on yourself(I'll name this character on my show Firstjustice, Injustice, Second Justice, Harshjustice...yeah that's lame if I did that.), but you have the creativity of Rob Liefeld. It doesn't help the side characters are Commissioner Bunnyface and Ivan. (Navi spelled backwards.)There's other stuff but that is the cherry in the turd on top of what could been an edible sunday.

 

[McMarbles]

How did this become a topic about Bob Chipman?

Oh, right... Mario was mentioned, and as the only person on the Internet who still likes Mario (as everyone knows those games don't sell at all) who's not allowed to express his opinion, he MUST be referred to.

 

[Starik20X6]

All well and good, but don't you think after over 25 years of constant innovation, Mario can have a break and just coast for a little bit? Besides, we weren't all alive for the beginning of Mario, so games like the New Super Mario Bros. series are great for people like myself who started around the N64 era.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

I just can't get into Super Mario or any Nintendo title anymore. I got Super Mario 3D Land and was sorely disappointed. Like Jim points out, the quality is there, but the spark isn't. It's GOOD it's just not GREAT.

I used to be really 'wowed' by Nintendo games. They always make about four or five excellent games that make their consoles worth buying (I buy the handhelds for 3rd party titles), but they're counting waaaay too heavily on that these days. I was severely underwhelmed by Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Skyward Sword. I think that those of us that have been there since the beginning and don't have a hard on for retro gaming are getting tired. There's better stuff out there.

Will I get a WiiU? The answer is 'probably', just because I always like having all the consoles... but I don't know. I'm not looking forward to buying a next gen console with last generation graphics again. Nintendo is always stuck in the past, in more ways than one, and while I respect the hell out of them for always trying new things with their hardware, they need to remember to bump their software up as well.

I feel like this week's podcast can pretty much apply to any Nintendo game, not just Mario.

 

[Atmos Duality]

I arrived at that state well before today.
Honestly: Apart from nifty perspective hacks, I didn't even find Super Mario Galaxy to be anything other than a retread of previous 3D Mario titles (tastefully Frankensteined).

Keep in mind, these aren't BAD games. They are mechanically of high quality, visually coherent, and very polished.
But I can not care about them at all.

The best I can say about Mario games today, is that at least the new generation of gamers can play and enjoy them.

 

[Evil Smurf]

LoZ is the only Nintendo franchise I even care about at this point. Can't really be bothered to talk about Mario games when I'm completely apathetic towards them.

Super Paper Mario is the only recent Mario game I find fun.