Unpopular opinions about the Mario series

Games can be fun and still trash.

Take Sonic R, for instance. Shit graphics, shit controls, shit soundtrack, fun as all hell to play.
 
I still remember how bad the motion controls are in Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal. You have to use the Nunchuk for certain motion controls, and yet the game often doesn't respond; this often leads to deaths when trying to jump over large abysses. I've played some games that have had bad reviews, but Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal was definitely one of my least enjoyable games, despite the fact that I did complete it.

And for those who need a reminder as to why that game was bad, just look at the following video, which showcases a long level with a good amount of frustrating moments.


Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 are at least fortunate that their motion controls don't involve Nunchuk usage.
 
Rew said:
I genuinely adore the Koopalings and love that they've been included in so many Mario games since 2009. May they be featured in many more!
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I wouldn't call that unpopular, since I've seen it torn between those who agree with you and those who don't.
 
Deinosuchus said:
Rew said:
I genuinely adore the Koopalings and love that they've been included in so many Mario games since 2009. May they be featured in many more!
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I wouldn't call that unpopular, since I've seen it torn between those who agree with you and those who don't.
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Since Paper Mario: Color Splash, I think that saying "love that they've been included in so many Mario games since 2009. May they be featured in many more!" is one of the most unpopular things you can say about the Koopalings in the Mario games, to the point of almost sounding sarcastic.
Just look at the comment sections of YouTube videos of the new 3D Mario game or of the aforementioned game on GameXplain's channel...
 
On TV Tropes, they are also listed on the "Base Breaking Character" page for the Mario franchise.

[quote author=TV Tropes]
The Koopalings have shifted from Ensemble Darkhorses to this largely thanks to spending three 2D platformers in a row as the end-world bosses, with Paper Mario: Color Splash adding an RPG offender to this trend as well. While they're still loved for being a Quirky Miniboss Squad with distinct appearances and quirks, and for Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam giving them more dialogue and not making them take up the roster of every major boss fight, a portion of the fanbase believes that they are becoming overexposed and are a large sign of the lack of creativity in the New Super Mario Bros.-based games.

Wishes for the franchise to have more original bosses like the first New installment have also been on the rise just about every time they are confirmed to make an appearance. Most of their boss fights in the New-era platformers having an exploit where you can simply jump on them right after they emerge from their shell does not help, with some saying that they make boss fights too easy.
[/quote]
 
Yeah, these days I feel like I'm the only one who still likes the Koopalings. ;)

I think it's because I'm an older person and still remember playing SMB3 as a child (when it was new!) and how groundbreaking and cool at the time the notion of seven Koopa kids was--even if their boss battles in that game had very little variation. After SMW, I waited years and years for them to make a comeback (I never could make myself feign much interest in Bowser Jr., blagh) and was finally rewarded with their reappearance in NSMBW after nearly two decades!

I do agree that nowadays they could be implemented with greater ingenuity--in fact, game producers now could take a page out of Yoshi's Safari's book, a very early game that nevertheless does something unique and different with the Koopalings (giving them their own distinct mechs to fight in). Something like that could be useful in an upcoming 3D Mario game... if it weren't for the loud outcry that would result from having the Koopalings in a 3D Mario game, that is. :P
 
Don't worry Rew, there's at least one person who agrees with you and is actually named for one. There is a reason people call me Roy...
 
Rew said:
Yeah, these days I feel like I'm the only one who still likes the Koopalings. ;)
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Well, it's easy to find here NES/SNES era guys who still aren't destroyed by some recent reappearances, especially the NSMB and the SSB4 ones. Still, I'm glad I am not alone :) .

I think that Color Splash was a slap in the face regarding Morton's personality (SMB3 manual, where are you?), but I don't find the rest that bad (mind you, Larry doesn't belch in the Japanese and Italian version), still if they wanted to choose one of the worst moments in which to put the Koopalings as bosses in the Paper Mario series, they really nailed it, as it was yet another series that, like the NSMB series, is being heavily criticized for the lack of creativity, in this case right in the characters' department.
The fact that a positive thing is said about Paper Jam makes me happy, though, I think this is one of their best modern appearances, and not only because of those "dad/father" that slip in two European translations... if anyhting that's the only game where we see dialogue between them.

Rew said:
I do agree that nowadays they could be implemented with greater ingenuity--in fact, game producers now could take a page out of Yoshi's Safari's book, a very early game that nevertheless does something unique and different with the Koopalings (giving them their own distinct mechs to fight in). Something like that could be useful in an upcoming 3D Mario game... if it weren't for the loud outcry that would result from having the Koopalings in a 3D Mario game, that is. :P
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Gosh, you even mentioned that game! Great catch!

After the Super Mario Galaxy games, I'm not convinced about just fighting mechs, I think that Bowser Jr.'s fights in those games were less interesting than the chases in Super Mario Sunshine, where Bowser Jr. showed to have the same moveset and agility as Mario. Then we can discuss about how well implemented they were, but I think the idea was at least nice.
Maybe Ludwig in Color Splash would be the right direction to implement something similar - in the concept of fighting them in big vehicles and in the end on foot, not in the implementation that was actually one of the most only-one-way-to-win I have seen...
At the moment, with some exceptions in the RPGs and of course Yoshi's Safari (which I haven't played), I think the Koopalings aren't particularly good bosses, I like them as characters, not as bosses. This is why I'd like to see them as talking NPCs or as playable characters. That being, said, I too fear that their appearance in the next 3D Mario game, unless it's incredibly well done and not at the expense of creativity, would just make the situation worse. :P

My "top priority" for now is the removal of the retcon, possibly not at the expenses of poor Bowser Jr. that I actually like and that has already enough troubles with the Junior Clown Car... just saying that they are disinherited biological children would be enough for me, it wouldn't even strictly contradict the 2012 statement...
 
Magikrazy said:
Games can be fun and still trash.

Take Sonic R, for instance. *bleep* graphics, *bleep* controls, *bleep* soundtrack, fun as all hell to play.
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The thing about games is that the entire purpose of games most of the time is to have fun. If they're accomplishing that objective, I'd argue that they're doing well.
 
I think Donkey Kong 64 and by extension, Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie are all better platformers than Super Mario 64 on the N64, due to:

Better world design, with greater variety in themes (jungle, desert, industrial, theme park, lava & ice etc). SM64 still does a great job with what it has.

Really good soundtracks, though SM64 still has some great classic tunes.

I really like the difficulty spike between worlds in those games which goes up even further if you play them blind (for instance, Frantic Factory and Gloomy Galleon in DK64, Mad Monster Mansion and Rusty Bucket Bay in Banjo Kazooie as well as Terrydactyland and Grunty Industries in Banjo Tooie). SM64 didn't give this to me as much, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the game. I think it also remains the same when it comes to the final boss in each of those games.

I could go further, but I think it would go on for too long. I'm also not a Rare purist, as I simply find these three games more enjoyable than SM64 by a large margin, though I still get nostalgic feeling from the game, as I played it much earlier than I played the three other ones.
 
You really can't repeat much in Donkey Kong 64 though. You could face K. Rool many times as you like, along with repeat the minecart areas, but that's pretty much it. For all the other bosses, there is the Mystery menu.

It's even worse for Banjo-Kazooie, where once you've gotten all the Jiggies and defeated Gruntilda, you really can't repeat anything in that game. Banjo-Tooie does have the replay feature for bosses, but you're always stuck with five honeycombs, and you can only fight the easy Chilli Billi (6 HP) and hard Chilly Willy (12 HP).

At least in Super Mario 64, you have the option to replay almost any star in the game. This means that you can always fight against Big Bob-omb, race Koopa the Quick, or unsink a sunken ship as many times as you like.
 
In the aftergame, I usually roam around the world freely and have a fun time doing it. And for the record, you can beat all bosses in replay mode in Banjo Tooie (although it's very hard).

DK64 also has a boatload of glitches to use, so the aftergame still has some use.

You did bring up some really valid points though.
 
I think a lot of 3D platformers on the N64 are better than Super Mario 64 if I want to be completely honest.

Although I do like collect-a-thons a lot more so I guess that could factor in.
 
Donkey Kong 64 could have been great, but they really dropped the ball by color coding all the bananas. You're walking around as Donkey Kong, kicking ass at this game. But what are those? Red bananas? Whoop Dee Doo, fucker! Go back and get Diddy to get these three bananas? Alright, back to the game. Wait, a blue banana? Congratulations, dumbass. Go back and do it all over again.

This game would benefit greatly from a remake, especially if they let you switch Kongs without having to go back to the barrel.
 
Yeah, I wish that you could swap characters without having to travel halfway through a level just to find a Tag Barrel.

I also do not dislike any of the worlds in DK64.
 
I will say that Beaver Bother is the most annoying bonus game in Donkey Kong 64. You have to complete it three times to get all the Golden Bananas, but the way the bonus game works can often work against you.
 
For years when I was going to complete DK64 for the first time, it wasn't any of the Beaver Bother games that prevented my 101% run. It was the mechanical fish in Gloomy Galleon.

Though today, I can almost always beat the fish in one try, and Beaver Bother takes either 1 try if I'm lucky, or 8 if I'm not lucky.
 
I don't play Paper Maryio: Stupid Stairs and Paypal Mario: Duller Trash so I wouldn't really know how obnoxious they are.

Explains why I still like them I guess.
 
They were annoying enough in Paryo Marty: Store Race but they still somehow manage to crack me up. They seem like hobos to me more than anything, lol.
 
They aren't even obnoxious. They have as much personality as any other NPC character.

They just are the only things.
 
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