After watching the latest episode of Game Makers Toolkit, a part of at the very end of the video about Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze really stood out to me. For a brief moment, the narrator harped on how some of the things in Mario have grown stale.

Here is the specific moment. (10:26 if you're on mobile and/or the link doesn't work)

Anyway, this got my brain all twisting about and I decided to go through and look at every 2D mario game's enemy/obstacle variety, and see if there is really a lack of innovation going on in the series.

To start with, as I said, this game only talks about 2D Mario games. This means:

• Super Mario Bros.
• Super Mario Bros. 2 (America)
• Super Mario Bros. 3
• Super Mario World
• Super Mario Land
• Super Mario Land 2
• New Super Mario Bros.
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii
• New Super Mario Bros. 2
• New Super Mario Bros. U

A couple things to note here. I deliberately left off the real SMB2/Lost Levels because the game uses the exact same assets as SMB1. I included the Gameboy titles but honestly, I shouldn't have. They use very little from previous games, and practically nothing carries over from them into future titles. However, I didn't want to exclude them just for being handheld titles because two of the "new" series also fit that description.

Next, in the list below you're probably going to notice a few things that aren't really enemies. Things like Fire Bars or Skewers. I did this because entire levels can be based on these things, and they do change up the gameplay when they are encounters.

Lastly, I used the enemies list provided from the Mariowiki.com but even in doing so, i noticed I was missing a few things, and added them in manually. Because of this, I'm sure my data isn't 100% accurate, and I probably have some gaps in my data. Despite this, I feel like the overall message from that data is still there.

So reading the chart below:

What I did is list every enemy from the game along the left. If the enemy was new to the entire series, it was marked in blue. Following a spectrum from Blue to Red, things move from one side to the other of the spectrum if they find themselves repeatedly used from game to game. If the enemy was absent for a game, then it got a reset and came back again fresh. I couldn't find a good way to get the data online, so I just screencap'd my excel sheet. So below are 5 unique images.

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So lets start with the obvious things:
Both Gameboy titles are inside their own bubble. They have almost nothing to do with the entire rest of the series, and have very little to do with each other. Despite this, I don't think people think of them poorly. Yes, Mario Land is treated as some black sheep for being so unlike it's source material, but it still seems to have a soft spot simply because people wanted Mario on the Handheld. Mario Land 2 followed this, and even though it felt more like a Mario game, it was still in a crazy world that didn't feel anything like the mushroom kingdom.

Next, you'll notice the shrinking trend of new enemies after the series peaked with Super Mario World. This makes the entire New series seem like a cash in. Just reusing assets over and over again. The last two in the series are especially bad about bringing something new to the table. With NSMB2 bringing less new enemies to the table than the very first SMB. You can also see how the "Tired" category spikes up for the very last game.

Perhaps this isn't necessarily a bad thing. NSMBU obviously has the largest enemy count of the entire series, but due to Nintendo's preferred method of having 1 gimmick a level and then throwing that gimmick away. It's easy to guess which of that large cast are just one offs, and which ones you'll likely find from front to back.

A small thing of note. I separated Goomba from Galoomba since Nintendo has decided they both can live side by side. However, I did not ever seperate color variations. I realize the mechanical differences of a Green Koopa and a Red Koopa early on, but those lines started to blur with SMW's Blue and Yellow Koopa.

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So really, after all of this, I just wanted to say that 2D mario is beginning to bore me a bit. The staple Grass->Dessert->Water->Sky->Mountain->Ice worlds or whatever progression has become predictable, as are the enemies we find within them. I know I can expect a desert world with a Pokey in it, and a water world with bloopers.

However, I feel like a sprite swap for a substitution is okay. Like, I enjoyed the Galoomba's in Super Mario World, even though they were very close to the original Goombas. This is actually a leading reason why I enjoyed Superstar Saga so much. Giving us parallels to Mushroom Kingdom enemies was refreshing, even if they played mechanically similar.

The 3D games seem to avoid this because they haven't stuck with the "world theme" since Sunshine. Even though they have World 1 or 2 that has a backdrop of a mountain or cave, you'll find maybe 1 or 2 levels with that theme beside 6 or 7 levels with whatever the developers waned.

I hope the next 2D Mario game tries putting us somewhere new. Some parallel to the Mushroom Kingdom that forces the developers to hesitate to reuse some of the enemies we've been a little overexposed to. I mean, I don't mind seeing a Goomba or a Koopa. I consider these enemies staples, and it would feel a little weird without them existing at all, and people look forward to those enemies. But maybe we could find something new to replace Wiggler with, or all the skeleton enemies, or maybe give Piranha plants a breather.

Whatever it takes to force the developers to inject a little creativity into the series.

Well, it's clear throughout the series that it becomes more about fighting the level than stomping the enemies. The level itself becomes the danger, with enemies being secondary to that effect.

Really interesting analysis. Whilst I don't have any insightful words of wisdom to add, I just wanted to compliment you on your efforts.

This is the kind of thing that I imagine already felt true to many people, but it helps to really take an investigative look at the facts.

Thanks OP.

I think any new enemy needs to do something new mechanically/behaviorally - otherwise, it's just a coat of paint. Much better to use your learning from previous games to give you an easy shorthand for how enemies need to be handled.

Good analysis!

NSMB2 is the only one that really bugged me with how rote it was, which is why I skipped it.

I really should play Donkey kong Tropical freeze but the Wii U was so crappy that I stopped buying games for it after a while. Im betting on a Donkey Kong DX.

Anyway back to the topic, 2D Mario is still decent fun but yeah, it really does need some fresh air. They can start with crafting unique worlds and enemies again like SMB3 and World and opt out of the generic artstyle and music. Maybe they should just let Retro have a go.

Very nice analysis, and I definitely agree that the enemies in general have become stale. Even the newer ones don't feel terribly different mechanically.

It's going to be interesting to see where the 2D Mario series goes from here. I wonder if it might employ a similar capture/transform mechanic to that of Odyssey, maybe making the enemies serve a whole new purpose. EDIT: Although now that I think about it that's beginning to sound like Kirby.

I'm dying for the series to have another SMW moment, where it takes most of the existing concepts, flings them out the window, and flips whatever's left on its head. If they can keep pushing boundaries in 3D, there's absolutely no reason for 2D to be so stagnant.

Kor of Memory said:

I couldn't find a good way to get the data online, so I just screencap'd my excel sheet.

Click to expand...

Google Sheets, man.

Interesting (and thorough) analysis.

It sums up one of the many reasons I find the franchise tiresome, especially when compared to "fresher" Rayman games or new IPs like Puppeteer.

Still, the biggest gripe I have is the rather safe execution with the art direction and engine.

Got Mark Brown to retweet the threadz

If it's not too much trouble, could you make a bar graph based on 'totals', instead of percentage? I don't disagree SMW felt fresher than NSMBU, but the sum of the New and Fresh columns are almost the same in totals (63 and 61 respectively) but look incredibly different in size since they have a different total number of enemies. NSMBU also has more new enemies than SMB1, but its blue bar is only a sliver, since its number of enemies is around 7 times higher than SMB1.

It could help add another view to your analysis. Great work overall, though! There's definitely some enemies that should take a break and be 'replaced' by new ones with tweaked properties and I really want them to shake things up (maybe even make a bit of a clean slate) for the next 2D Game. DK's set pieces and whole new cast was better to me than really anything 2D Mario, and if the 2D series could revamp itself like that and match its presentation to its level design, I'd be ecstatic.

2D Mario can honestly be killed (especially NSMB) 3D Land and World are fantastic replacements imo.

Well they can keep 2D Mario for Mario Maker just add the 2D campaign/mainmode in that game on Switch. Guaranteed crazy sales and honestly should have happened earlier when Sony made Little Big Planet. It would fit perfectly Mario Maker + 2D Mario combined would be so good.

Abd on enemies agreed they should add some from the gameboy ones or create new ones. Or add new mechanics to current ones.

Doesn't Mario Maker basically negate this? It rewards player creativity and everyone gets to enjoy the fruits of community labor.

Eh, I appreciate all the hard work that went into your analysis. That being said the levels are definitely a bigger focus in the NSMB series over the enemies. NSBMU is goddam amazing even if it reuses so many asset templates from NSMB. The level design is a marked improvement.

Subbed. Thanks for putting this together OP! Really interesting stuff.

Eh, I don't get your comment on enemy colors. Blue and yellow koopas only appeared in SMW and they're just faster variations on red and green. Also blue beach koopas will kick shells they find and yellow beach koopas will hop in any shell they find and chase Mario.

Also I agree that the chart is a bit misleading because, since Mario games are cumulative, using a percentage makes the later games look worse. NSMBU is less new/fresh by percentage, but it has more new/fresh enemies than previous games by total.

13ruce said:

2D Mario can honestly be killed (especially NSMB) 3D Land and World are fantastic replacements imo.

Well they can keep 2D Mario for Mario Maker just add the 2D campaign/mainmode in that game on Switch. Guaranteed crazy sales and honestly should have happened earlier when Sony made Little Big Planet. It would fit perfectly Mario Maker + 2D Mario combined would be so good.

Abd on enemies agreed they should add some from the gameboy ones or create new ones. Or add new mechanics to current ones.

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Hell no. NSMBU was the best 2D game they've made yet. Keep going. Mario Maker can't even do a small fraction of what NSMBU has.

RagnarokX said:

Eh, I don't get your comment on enemy colors. Blue and yellow koopas only appeared in SMW and they're just faster variations on red and green. Also blue beach koopas will kick shells they find and yellow beach koopas will hop in any shell they find and chase Mario.

Also I agree that the chart is a bit misleading because, since Mario games are cumulative, using a percentage makes the later games look worse. NSMBU is less new/fresh by percentage, but it has more new/fresh enemies than previous games by total.



Hell no. NSMBU was the best 2D game they've made yet. Keep going. Mario Maker can't even do a small fraction of what NSMBU has.

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You're right about the koopas. I should have put them in. At leas they would have cancelled each other out with red and green being older and yellow and blue being newer.

I think when I started the task I had already finished Mario 1 and 2 and was about to start 3, and 3 has regular goombas and red goombas, then I started thinking about the 4 colors of koopas in SMW and I was afraid this was going to be an escalating issue as the games progressed.

I admit, it is a poor effort on my part.

13ruce said:

Well they can keep 2D Mario for Mario Maker just add the 2D campaign/mainmode in that game on Switch. Guaranteed crazy sales and honestly should have happened earlier when Sony made Little Big Planet. It would fit perfectly Mario Maker + 2D Mario combined would be so good.

Abd on enemies agreed they should add some from the gameboy ones or create new ones. Or add new mechanics to current ones.

Click to expand...

Seriously, all they ave to do is continue on with a Super Mario Maker sequel, with more content, and continual games as service support with official level packs making new "games" within it, and new tools to use.

The idea of playing (much less paying full price for) a fixed collection of 2D Mario levels without the infinite potential of the community creators behind it seems so limited after SMM came out.

Slamtastic said:

Seriously, all they ave to do is continue on with a Super Mario Maker sequel, with more content, and continual games as service support with official level packs making new "games" within it, and new tools to use.

The idea of playing (much less paying full price for) a fixed collection of 2D Mario levels without the infinite potential of the community creators behind it seems so limited after SMM came out.

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I agree to an extent. I think you can still release a 2D Mario as a full game, but there needs to be a major revitalization involved. Easier said than done of course, because how much can you change 2D Mario until it ceases to be Mario? But they can't churn out NSMB like they have been doing - there needs to be some reinvention of 2D Mario if they're going to put out another standalone game.

Damn, that's a lot of work you did there! Good work!

The first few Mario games were completely revolutionary. New graphics, new gameplay features, new characters, crazy new worlds. Remember all of the cool things you could do in 3 and World?

The Mario series jumped the shark after 64. Not saying that 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy were bad—quite the opposite. Nintendo just didn't want to reinvent the wheel after their successes, and we were stuck with the NSMB abominations.

True Fire said:

The first few Mario games were completely revolutionary. New graphics, new gameplay features, new characters, crazy new worlds. Remember all of the cool things you could do in 3 and World?

The Mario series jumped the shark after 64. Not saying that 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy were bad—quite the opposite. Nintendo just didn't want to reinvent the wheel after their successes, and we were stuck with the NSMB abominations.

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If you feel the problem doesn't occur until NSMB, and dosn't hit 3d Mario till 3d Land from the looks of your post how is SM64 the jump the shark moment for you? wouldn't it be wither NSMB for the DS or 3d Land?

nsmb was supposed to be 'back to the basics' instead of continuing where World left off. though that distinction got blurred by the time nsmb U rolled around it was always supposed to be a callback of the first four games

assuming the New series is retired i expect the next round of 2D games to shake up the formula more, not just with enemies but everything in general

On the contrary, I'm actually quite impressed with how many new enemies each entry added, especially seeing every game other than NSMB2 add more new enemies than SMB1.

Compare this to some other series that reuse enemies like Kirby, Yoshi, or even Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest and I'm guessing you'd be surprised how many game series have "tired" enemies in them.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure "tired" is the best term, since many of the most "tired" enemies are probably also some of the fan favorites. Sure, there have been Mario games without Goombas, but for the most part I think people want to see those familiar faces that identify this as the Mario universe alongside the new enemies.


Of all the examples of what people think makes the NSMB series feel stale, I don't think enemy variety is really a problem.

I do appreciate the work you put into this chart though. For me it just shows how much the series has actually continued to evolve (albeit a bit slowly) despite the naysayers who claim it's the exact same game every time.

Impressive analysis Kor of Memory!

I agree with your overall thoughts that the 2D Mario series has become a bit stale in terms of enemies and level themes.

In the era of SMB1-World every new Mario (console) game felt like an event because it would show you new locations in, and new interpretations and sides of the Mushroom Kingdom and its surrounding areas. As such, every game felt unique and fresh.

While the 3D Mario's have kept that up to a better degree, the 2D ones have really stagnated after Yoshi's Island when they resorted to ports of the (SNES re-release of the) classics on GBA instead of a new sprite-based game (which I'm still sad about...) and then when they made the New series that not only did not offer a new look for Mario or new general art style with each game, like in the past but which also stuck to Mario 3's familiar level themes for the most part again and then kept repeating them.

With all the things Nintendo is doing right for fans currently, getting a new 2D Mario game at some point that feels as fresh and creative as the first four (and GB ones arguably), a true Super Mario Bros 5 in other words, would be a dream come true. If Sega can do that with Sonic Mania (using outside help), Nintendo surely could do that (themselves) if they really wanted to. Maybe that last bit is the problem though.

Abstrusity said:

Well, it's clear throughout the series that it becomes more about fighting the level than stomping the enemies. The level itself becomes the danger, with enemies being secondary to that effect.

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Exactly. The enemies are obstacles, not necessarily there to be fought, just there to be avoided. In that sense, it doesn't really matter. 2d platformer that miss that point and have actually combat in them always feel worse in comparison.

The Mario series likes to evolve its rule set rather than replace it. We all know how Goombas work so when they want an enemy that just moves left until it bounces off an obstacle and takes one jump to take down they use the Goomba. Super Mario Maker illustrated this perfectly, with each element having a certain job.

The DKC series (so long before Tropical Freeze) has approached enemies on a per game basis. But while the enemies might look new, often they are just a reskin of a previous enemy so mechanically they don't add anything new to the mix.



And as many have said, Mario is much much more than just the enemy variety.