Mama Robotnik
Member
When Nintendo announced New Super Mario Bros. Wii, I was pleased. New Super Mario Bros. was a fun adventure, and I've never been able to have too much Mario.
I found it interesting that Nintendo would choose to base the new four-player game heavily on the graphical and gameplay style of New Super Mario Bros. My initial thoughts were that the game would have made more of a visual impact during its E3 reveal had it been a brand-new graphical imagining of 2D Mario.
But then I considered the power of nostalgia, the excitement and praise of when GAF first saw Megaman 9. I wondered, how would we have reacted if Nintendo had elected to build New Super Mario Bros. Wii on one of the older Mario styles, rather than the DS approach. And what possibilities would such a choice have given us.
To promote discussion and to help us imagine a different path, I took a screenshot from NSMBWii, and remade it using the gameplay and graphical styles of the previous Mario games. :
Notes
So I turn the thread over to GAF. If Nintendo had chosen an alternate foundation for NSMBWii, what would you have liked that foundation to be?
And during the E3 conference, if Nintendo unveiled the game using one of these foundations, which one would have sent your internal hype meter into overdrive?
I found it interesting that Nintendo would choose to base the new four-player game heavily on the graphical and gameplay style of New Super Mario Bros. My initial thoughts were that the game would have made more of a visual impact during its E3 reveal had it been a brand-new graphical imagining of 2D Mario.
But then I considered the power of nostalgia, the excitement and praise of when GAF first saw Megaman 9. I wondered, how would we have reacted if Nintendo had elected to build New Super Mario Bros. Wii on one of the older Mario styles, rather than the DS approach. And what possibilities would such a choice have given us.
To promote discussion and to help us imagine a different path, I took a screenshot from NSMBWii, and remade it using the gameplay and graphical styles of the previous Mario games. :
Notes
- I've tried to make the landmass the closest possible approximation, so the level design is Nintendo-design.
- Peach replaces blue/yellow Toad in all shots, as I wanted to use only sprites from the games with as little modifications as possible. In the SMB1 screenshot, I used bubbles from the water-stages to make the Toad-bubble.
- Feel free to criticise the quality, they were made in MSPaint using a ton of copy/pasting, and I've never claimed to be an artist.
- My alternate title for this thread was Tales from GeoNAF.
- NSMBWii based on the SMB1 style would have been a hardcore, challenging game for the ages, in the vein of Megaman 9. Assuming the simple mechanics and powerups were maintained, it would be an amazing focus of four-players on pure relentless platforming.
- The SMB2 approach has the most interesting possibilites, I feel. The mechanics and style of this game have been revisted far less than the others, and I'd love to see Nintendo build on this underated gem in the way SMB1's style evolved into SMB3/SMW. Tackling one of SMB2's unique bosses with four players throwing turnips and bombs is a mayhem I could really get into.
- The SMB3 approach would be tremendously exciting. SMB3 was a game of unexpected possibilities, especially in terms of powerups. To see return the Hammer Suit, Tanooki Suit, and Kuribo's Shoe would be an amazing prospect.
- The SMW approach looks the prettiest, it is amazing how the game has not aged.
- Of the four possibilities present, I'd probably elect either Super Mario Bros 2 or 3 as a foundation for a alternate four-player Mario Wii game.
So I turn the thread over to GAF. If Nintendo had chosen an alternate foundation for NSMBWii, what would you have liked that foundation to be?
And during the E3 conference, if Nintendo unveiled the game using one of these foundations, which one would have sent your internal hype meter into overdrive?