Which game(s) could receive help from Mario and pals?

winstein

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winstein
In case you are wondering, yes, it is related to Puzzle & Dragons. In case you aren't aware, there is a game where Puzzle & Dragons has a Super Mario theme. It is to be sold together with the Puzzle & Dragons Z (the original version) stateside, as the idea is that Mario will direct attention to Puzzle & Dragons to people who may otherwise not be interested to it.

This is not really a new idea, as in days past, popular franchises were used as a basis in promoting games that have characters and settings that aren't as popular. Taking an example related to Mario, we have Doki Doki Panic, as this game uses characters from a Japanese TV broadcasting company. It would be a stretch to call this gameplay as needing Mario's help since it wasn't considered earlier, but since the original Super Mario Bros. 2 (a.k.a. The Lost Levels) was considered inappropriate in its difficulty, this game was used instead, as a Mario-based game. It's also appropriate too, due to Nintendo being this game's development team. A bit of trivia: if Koji Kondo knew this game would be a Mario game, he would have compose the music differently (check the last question on this article's page).

Taking this idea into account, there might be some franchises that would benefit from the Mario touch, due to Mario's popularity.

One of my suggestions is Puyo Pop. For the savvy fan, you might think along the lines: "but Kirby's Avalanche and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine exists!", or if you want to cite even more obscure territory, you could cite Timon and Pumbaa's Bug Drop instead. Certainly, the franchises mentioned are all popular to a degree. In addition to this, the original source material might be deemed too surreal for the Western audience. For example, the game they based on have a character who is a fish with arms and legs (and likes to dance!), an elf-like creature with one giant foot and a skeleton who likes to drink tea.

Anyway, I feel that Mario's eccentricities could be a good fit to Puyo Pop's eccentricities, so it could be tackled in two ways: Mario could meet with Puyo Pop's cast and they have a face off, or Mario somehow uses Puyo Pop's mechanics squarely using Mario's cast (as in Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Edition). If such a thing would happen, I would look forward in looking at the conversations between two characters between fights, and bonus if they are voice-acted (though I doubt that, due to the intolerance by certain people in hearing Mario talk too long).

I could go on and on with this idea, but I think I'll stop here because it might overshadow this topic starter. If you are interested in hearing more about it, I would happily do so.

Thanks for reading.
 
Personally, I'd like any brand to get the Mario treatment

But on the other hand, I'd prefer if IPs stay unique and away from Mario as well.
 
Dragon Quest for western folk.
 
I was thinking how Paper Mario could work with Baten Kaitos's card deck battle mechanic.
 
yoshiking14x said:
Don't know, maybe Spore?...somehow

you can already sorta make mario content in spore

but blowing up planets and starting intergalactic wars as baby luigi is always awesome btw
 
I know Tetris Attack was a thing but I'd be down for a Mario version of Puzzle League.
 
When I first saw this thread, I was shy about mentioning Puyo Pop again, but I wholeheartedly agree with you! If this does happen, I'd also prefer both characters cross over with each other for two reasons:


1. The Puyo Pop characters wouldn't feel too different from the Mario ones. Their appearances fit right in with the colorful cast of the Mushroom Kingdom, and their personalities actually seem pretty similar to characters in the Mario RPGs, such as the Mario & Luigi games. The fish you mentioned [Suketoudara] looks A LOT like a Cheep-Cheep with arms & legs, and another character named Ecolo looks like he'd be a villain in a Mario game (or a Kirby game, considering the fact that he looks like a Dark Matter creature).


2. Fortune Street already did a good job with providing dialogue for Mario and his friends, so it'd be pretty cool to see how the Mario and Puyo Pop characters would react to each other in cutscenes. I'd also like for the characters to be fully voiced in them (and the people intolerant of Mario speaking must get annoyed too easily; Mario was hilarious in the Mario Sports Mix mock press conference ad!).


As for other franchises... I'm not too sure; other than the title character's appearance as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4, the Mega Man series has been in a bit of a decline. But I (as well as many other optimistic fans) have a feeling Nintendo may already have plans for the possible revival of the Blue Bomber. If that's true, maybe they could do something along the lines of Nintendo being the publishers and Keiji Inafune's [that's the guy who created Mega Man] company Comcept being the developers, much like how HAL Laboratory, Inc. develops the Kirby series for Nintendo. As to how Mario and Mega Man would crossover... It'd probably be a 2D platformer with playstyles being dependent on whether you play as Mario or Mega Man. The story obviously involving Bowser and Dr. Wily teaming up; this is of course provided they make the crossover with the Classic Mega Man characters. Or maybe something like a "Super Mario X" where Reploids are present in the future Mushroom Kingdom or something...
 
Some fascinating responses! Really like most of them.

I wonder if Halo and that Playstation responses are joke or sarcastic answers. I am sure they are, but it would be nice if some elaboration is involved either way.

Another game that I thought would be cool with Mario and pals is Diner Dash. While this franchise has many spin-offs (including Wedding Dash, Parking Dash, Cooking Dash and so on), a Mario coat of paint would be an interesting take. I get the gist that these games are not that popular now, but if Mario and pals could help out, it will be given a new breath of life.

Thanks for reading.
 
winstein said:
I wonder if Halo and that Playstation responses are joke or sarcastic answers.

I'm dead serious

PS All-Stars vs. Super Smash Bros. (with better characters like Crash and Spyro for Sony Reps) is one of my most wanted games (that totally won't happen, ever)
 
JBX9001 said:
2. Fortune Street already did a good job with providing dialogue for Mario and his friends, so it'd be pretty cool to see how the Mario and Puyo Pop characters would react to each other in cutscenes. I'd also like for the characters to be fully voiced in them (and the people intolerant of Mario speaking must get annoyed too easily; Mario was hilarious in the Mario Sports Mix mock press conference ad!).
"and the people intolerant of Mario speaking must get annoyed too easily;"

If that annoys them, then I don't know what does. Honestly, a silent Mario is a HUGE missed opportunity by Nintendo. Take a character with amazing potential to be funny and interesting, especially by a wonderful, talented voice actor, and strip him until he's just a shell of his former self. That's what it is.
 
omg Mario Warriors that would work for sure
 
Eri Ayase said:
winstein said:
I wonder if Halo and that Playstation responses are joke or sarcastic answers.

I'm dead serious

PS All-Stars vs. Super Smash Bros. (with better characters like Crash and Spyro for Sony Reps) is one of my most wanted games (that totally won't happen, ever)

exclusive to xbone
 
Tony Hawk series.

That could work out. It would be awesome for Mario, Peach, Toad, Luigi and many other Mario characters star in a skateboarding game.
 
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