Super Mario Bros
Underrated: New Super Mario Bros 2
Talk about your bad timing, 2 NSMB games in one year with the best of the four in NSMBU being among them. As such NSMB2 really does stand out as a slot filler title and yeah that's pretty much true. Add to that a coin gimmick that from the outside looks like a desperate attempt at being different and the whole "made by the new kids" angle, well you got yourself something that's doomed to being underrated from the start.
Funny thing is, it's actually really solid, I can't oversell it as being this amazing title, it's indeed more NSMB after all. But there's something noticeable about how it structures itself in level design, how it chooses to handle star coins (more platforming challenge, less invisible wall nonsense), you actually get the feeling that the new team of younger devs here were playing around a bit more within their series confines. The coin gimmick actually ends up being oddly euphoric in how fun and explosive it can be, the coin hat and gold flower are great twists on established items that fit this gimmick perfectly. It's often the dismissed Mario title but I'm quite comfortable saying that it beats the piddle ot of the original DS title.
Overrated: Super Mario World
I almost feel the need to put a disclaimer here saying "no, I don't think NSMB2 is better", ya know, just in case seeing the terms underrated and overrated used back to back like this has set anyone off in horror.
But while I do love me some SMW, its commonly held GAF status of best 2D Mario with only 3 getting love as close has me raise a quizzical eyebrow. SMW has a lot of missed potential and an incredibly uneven difficulty curve, you could say this is mario as a sandbox before 64 came to town, the levels are wide and open, there's a number of mechanics to play with (yoshi, cape, spin jump properties, even koopa shells have quirks here unseen in other entries) and of course the secret exits angle leads on occasion to more exploration and less focused platforming design.
And while that's not a bad thing it does lead to a number of stages that feel like one and done gimmicks, ghost houses, star road 3. Then you have some real slooooow stages like Valley of Bowser 2 and Donut plains 2 that have the gall to have hidden exits so you get to autoscroll/wait your way through them all over again.
Jumping back to the difficulty point, castles and forts bring the goods as do some special world stages but very little else does, if SMB3 feels like a game escalating in challenge then SMW is just bizarre as you hit world 6 Choco island and the overworld stages still are a complete cakewalk while suddenly the fort and castle put you through these funky gauntlets. Then there's just the odd moment where you play Star Road 2 and realise it's literally a water stage with no actual design outside plopping Rip Van Fish in various configurations in an otherwise featureless stage (that you go through twice, obvious alt exit right at the end yo!).
Visuals and music are pleasing yet too simple, Sonic was running circles around Mazza here. In general its status as the top 16 bit platformer feels more under attack by arguably stronger candidates in a generation that has stuff like Sonic 3 & Knuckles and DKC2. SMW is great but if Nintendo actually made a proper follow up to it or applied their NSMBU skills to a game without samey aesthetics and familiar structure I'd say they'd handily top SMW now.
Also fuck Tubular.
If this thread continues living I'll add more, I was going to right now but I rabbited on about SMW more than I expected.
Käebi;241510584 said:
Overrated: Demon's Souls. While a nostalgic memories as manys first Souls experience and incredible atmosphere, it's controling is a mess compared to Dark Souls+, also the healing system sucks. This game really needs a remake.
Underrated: Dark Souls 2. Nowadays fairly accepted, but while lacking the godlike level- and boss-design, it still looks beautiful and its pure mass in content makes it stand out in the series.
Ace Attorney
Gyakuten Kenji 2 is overrated af, like it has the worst pacing of the series and a ton of cringe Yamazakian moments and still thought as a great AA?
On the other hand, I think Apollo Justice is a bit underrated, since it has pretty much the same flaws as its successors but at least it tried something different which worked well enough.
F-Zero series.
underrated: F-Zero X
You all have my sword.