Good-bye 2-D platforming, hello 3-D polygons and analogue sticks.
The Nintendo 64 emerged in 1996 as one of the most powerful consoles of its time, producing 3-D visuals that not even the Playstation or Sega Saturn could produce. At a time when franchises were attempting (and often failing) to make the jump to 3-D, along came Super Mario to save the day yet again.
My, that’s a polished turd!
Beautiful aesthetics, wonderful music, and just about perfect controls are all you could hope for in a platformer save one very important factor and this eluded me for a while. I couldn’t figure out with so many great things going on in Pid why I hated it so very deeply. Eventually I realized that its well-crafted elements were completely overwhelmed by the boring, mediocre, and at times maddening level design. It’s a shame that the designers primarily focused on the window dressing bits instead of considering all the things you would actually be doing when you play. Pid struggles with knowing what sort of levels it wants to present, switching from puzzles to difficult platforming to stealth to long periods of just waiting around or running in a straight line. Each of these disparate level types (and more) are middling at best on their own and when combined are a complete drag. Pid’s wonderful presentation can’t save it from the tedium packed into every single minute of its tortuous length.
Lighting effects in a Mario game are still kind of weird to see.
Being the fourth entry in the series, prepending “New” to the title seems disingenuous. Despite tossing in a new power-up in the form of a flying squirrel suit, New Super Mario Bros. U is more of the same tried-and-true gameplay the series is known for. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad thing, but it’s hard not to feel some fatigue with the now familiar art style, level layout, and presentation. Despite this fatigue, there’s little question that New Super Mario Bros. U is the strongest title in the subseries and a fond callback to both Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.
The road to hell is paved with beautiful 2D sprites.
As someone who cut his teeth on Super Mario Bros., Mega Man, and Sonic the Hedgehog, I have a fondness for the 8- and 16-bit sprite art classic style, but I also want to see games that evolve the 2D platformer and bring it into the 21st century. I often ask myself how things would be if the games industry never moved on to polygons but instead kept refining their sprites for 25 years. What would that game look like? Thanks to Arkedo and their new game Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit I have my answer, and that answer would be “pretty damn sweet.”
It's weird and unique, but is it fun?
Due to its rarity, Tomba has become highly sought after for fans and collectors alike. The title, created by the now defunct Whoopee Camp, was the brain child of Ghosts'n Goblins creator/Mega Man producer Tokuro Fujiwara. While the multi-plane sidescroller has Fujiwara's signature, it doesn't quite capture the magic of his prior works, especially 15 years after its release.
A talking cave? Really? That's awesome!
With the release of a “mystery” screenshot the other day, Sega essentially let the cat out of the bag and practically told the world that they would be publishing Ron Gilbert’s pet project being developed at Double Fine. Today Sega and Double Fine came straight out and confirmed that Ron Gilbert’s secret project, titled The Cave, will be published by Sega in early 2013.
Getting stuck in this darkness will break you down with glimpses of scary hospitals, factories and circuses (oh my).
Closure has been haunting gamers since its release, and it’s easy to see why. A two dimensional, monochromatic platformer almost entirely shrouded in darkness, this game has the ability to teach all of its players how to see the light.
Fly, you fools!
Similar to the classic arcade games popularized in the early 80s, Canabalt is a fun, arcade-style game that can be played with a single finger. It has a simple premise that anyone can immediately understand: run, run for your life! As giant robots lay waste to the city in the distant background and space ships rocket overhead, all you can do is run from the destruction, jumping over obstacles and hopping gaps between crumbling buildings. This is a game scored not in points or lives, but how far you can make it before the inevitable happens and you fall to your doom.
All this pushing and pulling reminds me of another Nintendo puzzle game or two…
Pushmo, the first 3DS digital download title from Intelligent Systems, could easily be mistaken for an Art Style game, which are found by the dozen on the Wii and DS shops. Like those games, it takes a simple premise (puzzle-platforming) and graphics and makes an extremely in-depth and meaty experience. The result is one of the best eShop titles available right now, deserving of a download from all 3DS owners.
It's not an official announcement by any means, but there's a possibility that a proper sequel to the NES classic is in the works.
Less than 3 months ago, Nintendo revealed that they were planning to produce a new 2D Mario game for the fledgling 3DS system. Today, it was discovered that Nintendo registered the domain supermario4.com, which is currently redirecting to Nintendo of America's home page. It's currently unknown if the two are linked in any way or if Super Mario 4 is an actual property Nintendo plans on developing.
