Things that suck about.... any Mario game.

64-Bit Nintendo Machine

64-Bit Nintendo Machine

64 Bits of Power!
You couldn't play battle mode in single player for like the first four Mario Kart games!
 
Battle Mode has no purpose other than entertainment in Mario Kart 1-7 (idk if this remains true for 8?), there's no trophies to earn and it doesn't keep score of wins
 
I mean don't you play a game for entertainment?

Isn't that like, the sole purpose of a game to begin with?
 
Super Paper Mario's entire gameplay was bland and boring and the levels were too easy and they should've kept the gameplay of the previous games.
 
I'd agree it would've been better with the traditional RPG gameplay, but for me since the gameplay in the RPGs is a means to advance through a good story, and it's never been so bad it brings down the story imo, I'm fine with SPM and would prefer it any day over the games that don't bother having good gameplay OR a good story.

Another thing, Sticker Star's gameplay is arguably better or worse than SPM's, but I'd tolerate it just as much if it made up for it with a good story to keep me engaged like SPM did. If the game isn't gonna bother with a story, I'd rather it just be a main series game so I can run freely jump around a platforming environment, slow-paced games focused on NPC interaction and turn-based battles that don't have a story are really not my cup of tea. SPM may have mediocre gameplay but at least over 10 years later I can fondly look back on the characters & narrative that just really clicked with me and I still find myself drawing fan art of to this day. I can't say that for anything Paper Mario has touched since.


But you did remind me that once upon a year or so ago I wanted to aspire to port SPM to TTYD's engine since the assets are compatible, so we could experience what SPM would be like with the traditional Paper Mario battle system. Unfortunately reality hit that one hard, having compatible assets alone is hardly enough to make such a thing. Though there was a recent Blender importer for TTYD I saw footage of on Twitter that might remove some of the hurdles but that sort of project is still far off. Might be possible in PM64's engine with Star Rod but then the SPM assets would have to be rebuilt in the N64 style.
 
Mario Party 2: That game is heralded as the best Mario Party, mainly due to the fact that it's the first one that hits the right notes. The problem is, that game has an unlock system that can be a hurdle. Yes it's true that Mario Party 2 is much more generous with coins in comparison to its predecessor, but that doesn't stop it from having an unlock system that requires a lot of play time.
- Every minigame can only be unlocked after you (1) played them on a board once, and (2) purchase it with coins
- Minigame Coaster is only unlocked if you do the above for every 4-player, 1v3 and 2v2 minigames.
- Minigame Land is only unlocked after a number of minigames are purchased, so unlike Mario Party 1, you can't delve into this right away.
- Certain minigames can only be unlocked if you finish the Minigame Coaster, including the Hard Mode. They are the Battle and Item minigames. The final minigame is very difficult since you are thrusted into a 4 player minigame where 3 CPUs gang up on you.

Thank you for reading.
 
  • The fact that Nintendo thinks it's a good idea to have the game freeze every time someone gets hit in multiplayer. Seriously, it's been in every platformer, and while it isn't a problem in single player, in multiplayer it just throws off the other players. For anyone who's played the Mario vs. Luigi mode in NSMB DS, you'll remember that it didn't have this at all (you'd just take damage but the game would keep going), so I don't understand why they don't get rid of it for future games as well.
  • The lack of VS. mode and Waluigi in Mario Kart 7. An option to play any course whenever and however you want rather than having to play through the Grand Prix cups, and a fan-favourite character such as Waluigi (and therefore you'd think would've had high priority when it came to making the cut), it still baffles me why they decided to not include these.
 
At least in SMM2 multiplayer the game only freezes for the player getting hit, aka they lose time in VS for an additional punishment since the other players get time to catch up/ move further ahead. Unfortunately, it also does that for power-ups so sometimes you can get punished for grabbing a mushroom even if it's right in your path.