Something that will probably be very controversial but I can't think of a better place to put it.
I really don't like any of the 3D Mario games.
And by that I mean 64, Galaxy, Sunshine and pretty much every other modern mario title with 3d movement. Hell, even the New Super Mario Bros. franchise is pretty bad.
I was a huge fan of Super Mario World and SMB3 when I was a kid. I played both daily as a child and still pick them up every now and again today, but since those days every Mario game has felt so hollow and flavourless.
But even beyond things like just subjective taste, I feel like they're kind of poorly designed games. Much like the Pokemon series it rests on its laurels and sells well due to familiarity and not changing too much. I want this to be a critical discussion of the Mario games and not just be me hating on them so hopefully you guys can try and see I'm not trashing the games and trying to start an argument but foster critical discussion about the design of these games.
SM64 has a lot of problems, but I can forgive those in the sense that it was pretty much the first foray into the 3D platformer genre. I also get the nostalgia associated with it, and some of the music tracks are legendary. I personally don't like the game, I feel like the Star mechanic in and of itself is flawed and counter-productive for being a game's main progression system. The whole "play this level several times but slightly different" to get each star is so lazy It's artificial lengthening of the level, particularly with forcing you to exit and re-enter the stage each time.
I get what they were doing with Galaxy and Sunshine. They added a new mechanic (relative gravity and increased platforming options respectively) but ultimately they are very similar games to SM64 with similar problems. Each progression point in the game is a chore. "Go collect this arbitrary number of Star/Shines and you can progress to doing more of them!" The player has no reason for doing so other than to be able to continue doing so. I get that you don't need a strong reason to go platforming but other games do it so effortlessly that I just don't understand why Mario's lack of a motivation is so easily forgiven.
As for the modern 2D games they're even worse. They lack even the new mechanic element that the 3D games capitalizes on and it's just straight up platforming for platforming's sake. The levels don't feel unique or memorable, they're just an obstacle course of progressively more difficult tasks. It's more like a platforming exam than a game. It's like the Mario games are designed as "baby's first platformer" so the player can learn how to play the genre so they can tackle more interesting and dynamic games.
I assume that the argument is "The intrinsic fun of the levels is its own reward" and I guess that's subjective enough to be inarguable and I accept that. But I can't help compare to other platformers both 2D and 3D that do it so much better.
Psychonauts is my favourite game of all time, and while I will be the first to admit that it's not a perfect game it is literally the complete opposite of the Mario games that I have trouble accepting they're in the same genre. Here's two of the main things that make Psychonauts one of the best 3D platformers out there:
1. Player Motivation - The game has a narrative, first and foremost. But beyond that, the narrative coincides with the player's desires. Various mental abilities are shown in the game, and naturally the player and the main character want to play with and experiment with those abilities. Immediately the player has a reason to be invested in the character and their motivation to go through the games levels to earn the abilities. It's never arbitrary, you are always given a clear focus for why you are going through the levels.
2. Differences in Kind - Each level of the game feels different at its core. The platforming aspects of each level aren't just more difficult than the last but they are also a different kind of challenge and not just "harder timing, faster reflexes, more enemies". Some are more puzzle oriented, some require exploration some are focused on combat while others focus on speed and many of the later levels deliver on multiple aspects of all of these to create even further differences in kind. Each level feels like it's own unique type of challenge without ever feeling detached from the whole experience.
But Psychonauts is a very different type of platformer and not the "collectathon" style that the Mario games are so lets look at another game, Banjo Kazooie.
On the surface, Banjo Kazooie and the 3D Mario games seem very similar but there are a few key mechanical and narrative differences that make BK so much more engaging (again, all statements like this should be prefaced with "in my opinion")
But first, looking at some the similarities:
- Collect several thingies in each world in order to progress to further worlds
- Save [Character] from [Bad Guy] is the narrative motivation
- Execution-based difficulty
- Isolated worlds within a hub
They seem very similar types of games, so why does Banjo Kazooie feel so much different to 3D Mario? The answer, in my opinion, is flow.
3D Mario games have some of the worst senses of flow and interconnectedness of any high-end game I've ever played. The Hub world is so disconnected from that of the individual levels that it is so apparently an excuse. An overt and obvious vehicle to get from one isolated segment of game to another.
Each world in Banjo Kazooie is part of this magical castle owned by a witch. "It's Magic", in the case of a game whose antagonist is literally a witch is plenty of an excuse for the "arbitrary" levels in her castle, and on top of that the hub world doesn't feel isolated from each of its individual worlds. The simple fact that there are physical entrances to these places already integrates them into this castle, and having the castle itself be infested with enemies and platforming dangers increases this feeling of flow.
3D mario games have two completely distinct areas. There's the safe hub area which is a glorified menu for level select, and then there's "Gameplay segments" where you're inside a level and given an arbitrary goal to complete to earn a thing. Then you have to re-enter the level to be told of the new thing to go for. It's so stop-start-stop-start and it feels like you are checking things off a checklist rather than accomplishing anything. And that's because you literally are checking them off a checklist (except you can only see one thing at a time)
Banjo Kazooie gives you a world to explore, it allows you to learn about the level and discover its areas and secrets. You aren't told what to do, but the game intuitively leads you to each of its accomplishable goals and the player can tackle them in any order they choose. They don't have to do every single one, and so whichever goals they happen upon and complete first they can do. The player feels like they're discovering and earning each of these trophies of progress, and at any time they can progress in the hub world and know exactly how many more they need to get to the next area. They can go to previous worlds and find things they missed, they can swap between worlds if they're feeling bogged down by a specific challenge, or even within a world they can try something else if any one of the 10 in-world challenges proves too difficult. The player is given all of the control and they get to feel empowered through their own exploration of the game and its worlds and secrets. It never stops, the player is never taken out of the game experience to choose "what should I do next?" they just get to go do it.
So I guess in conclusion on 3D Mario games that's my problem. I feel like they have no flow, I feel like they give you arbitrary goals and no motivation to go through them. The game makes me aware of itself as a game and I never feel absorbed by the experience. I never feel like I get to control my actions. The game never challenges me as a player, it simply challenges my learning of the skills I should know. As I said, it feels like a school exam for "Platforming".
Discuss.