Unpopular opinions about the Mario series

Mario should never focus on story as it has no real storytelling potential that hasn't already been done before and no doubt done better by other games.
 
Speaking for the community as a whole I believe that story isn't essential on the most part and N can make perfectly great games without one but if they do it well it can give a HUGE boost
 
Varian said:
I wouldn't call story in a Mario game a bad thing, it can certainly help the experience. But I don't think Mario particularly needs one either, it's the gameplay that truly matters.
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It could also bore you with how uninteresting it would most likely be. Mario has no real story potential and with how dime a dozen plots in video games are these days, I see no reason for them to bother other than to satisfy a very small group of people who are clearly asking for the wrong things of this franchise.
 
Mcmadness said:
It could also bore you with how uninteresting it would most likely be. Mario has no real story potential and with how dime a dozen plots in video games are these days, I see no reason for them to bother other than to satisfy a very small group of people who are clearly asking for the wrong things of this franchise.
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I mean that's true. I myself wasn't a fan of SPM's story and setting, and I don't think that's the direction a potential Mario story should take.
 
I still say that the majority who are opposed to Mario having a story haven't found that one game that really resonated with them (in that area) yet. Me, I've found several, and the ones without the story have become less interesting in comparison since I did. You're free to not care for the stories the Mario universe can provide, but at least let the RPGs have them. And even if not directly having a story, it would be nice if the other games at least made nods to the story-driven ones like they do with other spinoffs like Mario Kart. The worst part of having detailed stories in the RPGs is knowing the rest of the series will give fuck-all about it and act like it never happened.
 
I bet you they have, I know I have. And it's not a Mario game.
 
I was referring to within the Mario series. Just because other series do it more often, or Mario usually doesn't bother with it, doesn't mean the series is fundamentally incapable of it, and even if you don't find the ones they've done special, that doesn't invalidate people who do. And believe me I've seen stories in other mediums that are great, but they don't really dull the shine of the Mario stories to me because they're like apples and oranges.
 
It does however when talking about whether or not a series largely known for not having them should even bother, and if what can do is not all that great then the answer to that is a very clear no.

And it can barely even be called just an opinion because I guarantee I can point to any Mario plot and point at something else that was practically just like it, even down to the goofy cartoonish characters.
 
Mario's strengths are in its episodic little character interactions chapter-by-chapter than something overarching imo. I remember Vivian's kerfuffle or Shy Guys robbing Toad Town much more than...Sir Grodus and the ancient map. Even Paper Mario 64 didn't have a gigantic grand story, it was literally a time Bowser beat Mario with the star rod and lifted Peach to the sky, that was really it if I recall correctly.

Super Paper Mario was something I felt was taken far too far in the dramatic fanfiction direction complete with all the RPG cliches and it didn't even feel like an official Mario product at points. At least with something like Partners in Time, that's something I can imagine happening in, say, a Mario cartoon. Certainly not Super Paper Mario.

Count Bleck With Claws said:
I still say that the majority who are opposed to Mario having a story haven't found that one game that really resonated with them (in that area) yet. Me, I've found several, and the ones without the story have become less interesting in comparison since I did. You're free to not care for the stories the Mario universe can provide, but at least let the RPGs have them. And even if not directly having a story, it would be nice if the other games at least made nods to the story-driven ones like they do with other spinoffs like Mario Kart. The worst part of having detailed stories in the RPGs is knowing the rest of the series will give fuck-all about it and act like it never happened.
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Speaking for myself, I've not been impressed by story in Mario games because I've read and experienced products (books, movies, video games) with far better storytelling potential than Mario that better resonated with me because of their handling of themes and character personalities deeper than Mario could. Like, for example, Tales of Symphonia had xenophobia and a world imbalance and prophecies that ended up hurting the protagonists, without giving too much away about its plot.

Some games simply don't need a story. Mario Kart has done fine without it (although it could use better single player content and that potentially include a potential throw-away story). Same with most Mario Sports titles. Would it have been cool with a throwaway story? Maybe. Is it essential? No.