Super Mario Series

[Eddy]

Sorry, Miyamoto, but you're wrong. The Koopa Kids are totally Bowser's children.

[Spark Of Spirit]

NSMB2 DLC announced

Three packs each with 3 levels for Coin Rush for $2 a piece. There looks to be a bundle pack, but no pricing was given on it.

So basically for about $5-$6 (depending on bundle) it's about $5 for a brand new world. Not bad.

[Spark Of Spirit]

You guys want some NSMBU info?

Challenge Mode: Challenge Mode tasks players with completing specific objectives, such as clearing a course without obtaining a single coin or touching the ground. There are four single-player Challenge categories: Time Attack, Coin Collection, 1-Up Rally and Special (miscellaneous challenges). Boost Mode Challenges require two players. Once players complete a Challenge, the game saves a replay of the action so players can show off their accomplishments.

Coin Battle: Up to four players run through a course and compete to see who can collect the most coins. Another player can also use the Wii U GamePad in Boost Mode to place Boost Blocks to help grab hard-to-reach coins. Players can also use the GamePad to edit and customise the coin layout in dedicated courses. The coin layout can then be saved and played by the players using Wii Remote controllers.

World Map: New Super Mario Bros. U is the first side-scrolling Mario game since 1992?s Super Mario World that features a seamless world map with named worlds and courses. The map contains many secret exits, which might change the map and cause shortcuts to appear. The worlds are interconnected, so people can play through the game in a nonlinear fashion

Nabbit: From time to time, a creature named Nabbit will appear on the world map. Players must enter the course and catch the speedy Nabbit to recover items stolen from Toad. If Nabbit is nabbed, players receive a powerful P-Acorn, which will allow them to fly continuously through an entire stage. The only way to obtain a P-Acorn is to catch Nabbit

That sounds excellent. I can't wait to play this one.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Mario RPG retrospective

These are some great games. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

Okay, so I've been playing Paper Mario Sticker Star (my last pre-Christmas purchase other than my paid Wii-U) and I figured I'd report on it.

First of all, it's very much an RPG. There's no leveling (or grinding), but you're going to want to battle all the time anyway to get coins to buy stickers for your arsenal to help you explore and find secrets. The game has far more exploration that any other Paper Mario. The world map is actually great for pacing (there's no real filler this way) and you can pretty much just do any level you want right off the bat. The game is still wicked funny, too.

While I don't know if this will top TTYD, so far this is easily topping the other two games for me. It's also not all that easy since you can't power level, you have to use better strategy.

All in all, this totally makes up for the boringness of Super Paper Mario. Sometimes I miss partners, but then I remember they would throw off the balance, so it doesn't get me too much. Plus, Kersti is pretty funny, too.

[Commode]

I was going to download that game off the eShop just so I could get the free copy of Donkey Kong: Original Edition that they're offering.

[talonmalon333]

boringness of Super Paper Mario

[Spark Of Spirit]

I would have bought it digital, but I always prefer physical when given the option.

boringness of Super Paper Mario

I liked the game, but it really was a total breeze and kind of dull for it. The story was funny, though.

[Commode]

Super Paper Mario is boring.

[Nel_Annette]

SPM had a good story for sure, but it would have lasted longer as a straight-up RPG instead of what they did. Anyway, everything I'm hearing about Sticker Star is making me kind of disappointed. TTYD is one of my favorite games of all time and I want them to get back to that system, damn it! Oh well, I'll still buy the thing. I've been waiting five years for a new Paper Mario, and I've been looking forward to this one anyway.

[talonmalon333]

You guys are all terrible people. Every last one of you. 

Nah but in all seriousness, I really liked the story, humor, and characters in Super Paper Mario. It's definitely too easy in how every boss fight is just HOPHOPHOPHOPHOPWIN, and they didn't quite mesh the RPG and platforming elements as well as, say, Symphony of the Night did. But still, I liked it almost as much as its predecessors. Maybe there was too much text, but I didn't mind it, and at least the text was well written.

[Spark Of Spirit]

It's different, but in a good way. I'm not going to say everyone will like it (though the reviews that call it more of the same leave me extremely puzzled), but purely speaking on general Mario RPG terms, it is really good.

But yeah, I do agree it would be nice to have a traditional Paper Mario game next time. Hopefully for the Wii-U, at least.

[Nel_Annette]

Nah but in all seriousness, I really liked the story, humor, and characters in Super Paper Mario.

And I agree. The writing was fantastic; I liked that quality about as much as TTYD. I actually even liked the gameplay with the whole switching between 3D and 2D. But the whole 8-chapter set-up lasts no where near as long without the turn-based battles. That and, well, I think SPM's chapters 4-7 were all pretty weak. Space, Cragtown, Sammer Kingdom, Afterlife... I honestly didn't really like those as much as anything that had come before in the series. The dialogue was still fun, just... didn't like the places or characters as much. I dunno. SPM still has Dimentio, though, and he's my favorite villain in the whole Mario-verse.

How's Sticker Star set-up, anyway? 8 chapters, same writing team, etc?

[talonmalon333]

Nah but in all seriousness, I really liked the story, humor, and characters in Super Paper Mario.

And I agree. The writing was fantastic; I liked that quality about as much as TTYD. I actually even liked the gameplay with the whole switching between 3D and 2D. But the whole 8-chapter set-up lasts no where near as long without the turn-based battles. That and, well, I think SPM's chapters 4-7 were all pretty weak. Space, Cragtown, Sammer Kingdom, Afterlife... I honestly didn't really like those as much as anything that had come before in the series. The dialogue was still fun, just... didn't like the places or characters as much. I dunno. SPM still has Dimentio, though, and he's my favorite villain in the whole Mario-verse.

How's Sticker Star set-up, anyway? 8 chapters, same writing team, etc?

I hear Sticker Star is great, but not as good as Thousand-Year Door. But I personally wasn't expecting it to be.

As for Super Paper Mario, my favorite chapters were actually everything after that prehistoric place, which was just kinda meh. The supporting characters could've been better. However, I think Super Paper Mario has the best main cast (Mario's crew, as well as Count Bleck's) of the 3 games by far. Loved Count Bleck's story arc.

[Spark Of Spirit]

How's Sticker Star set-up, anyway? 8 chapters, same writing team, etc?

It has a world map like the 2D platformers set up like 1-1, 1-2, and etc.. However, after you leave Decalburg (starting town) you can choose to go through 1-1, 2-1, or 3-1, and complete any of them in any order you want. It's sort of open-worldy in that you can explore each segment and find hidden segments to unlock areas in other segments including hidden paths to other levels. It's a very unique structure.

As for the writing, it's typical Paper Mario in that it's still very funny. It starts a bit dry, but it quickly gets better. So far Wiggler was the funniest character to me.

I'm over 3 hours in and the only area I completed fully was the first one.