Tuesday 28 May 2013

Random Pondering! What Happened To Super Mario Bros.?

Today I'm going to talk about one of the saddest things I've seen in gaming, and it all has to do with everyone's favourite plumber, Mario. To start off, let me give you some of my background with the ol' guy. My first real video games were Ikari Warriors, Duck Hunt, and Super Mario Bros. You can guess which one got played the most. Duck Hunt, probably. But Super Mario Bros. was right there with it, since it was all on the same cartridge (yeah, bundle packs that far back!). I played it more than any other game at the time, and had a number of older relatives that pointed out a myriad of secrets. Today, I like to think there's almost no secrets I don't know about in the original SMB. I'm just gonna skip over SMB2, I didn't really play it, it's likely most people didn't, it wasn't really SMB anyway. SMB3 however I played a fair bit when I had the chance, although didn't own it until a handful of years ago - actually found an original NES cartridge, but also had it for the GBA. It was a worthy and quite impressive successor to the original game, and one I also still like to play to this day. Super Mario World was one I played, but never really got into. If I'd ever gotten it on GBA like I had SMB3, I probably would have played it to completion as well. I know a couple of times I got pretty far, and finished once because a friend of mine took us through the Star Worlds or whatever they're called. Also a wonderful game, just not one I've played as much. I'm also not going to really mention Super Mario World 2, because that was a lot different (more comparable to the Yoshi series of games, for obvious reasons) and I didn't play it like, at all. But basically, you could pick any of the 2D Marios from the NES/SNES eras and have a good time (although the All-Stars version of SMB1 I really didn't like, I might bring that up more later).



But Super Mario 64 is where Mario changed dimensions - as well as play style. In all the 2D games, the goal was to get from Point A on the left to Point B at the right, avoiding or defeating enemies along the way, and trying to grab every valuable coin in between so as to gain an even more valuable extra life (or 1UP as they're called in-game). Now, don't get me wrong, SM64 is not a bad game. It frustrates me some, and I have nitpicks, but it's not bad. It is, however, what I feel is the turning point from the good Mario games to the bad ones (REMEMBER - SM64 IS NOT BAD). I'll mention some of the main differences first. Gone is Point A to Point B, which makes sense considering we're now in 3D. Instead you have to collect Power Stars, of which there are 6 (plus the 100-coin star) in each level. This means that Stars are no longer invincible-granting pickups like from past games. Coins still grant 1UPs, but are given out at 50 instead of 100 coins, and 100 coins grants you a bonus Star and two additional lives on top of that. They are also given an additional purpose: each one heals Mario for a wedge of health. Because of this, gone also are the Mushrooms and growing/shrinking mechanic that was so prevalent in the 2D games. In fact, all previous pickups are missing, aside from the 1UP Shroom and Coins. Enemies will no longer drop said pickups (except coins), or any other pickups. They do have some new power-ups though, in the form of the Metal Cap, Vanish Cap and Wing Cap. Instead of dropping randomly however, they're scattered across the levels to be used for specific purposes. They also have a timer, meaning you can't take them around all over the level. They also have to be unlocked by collecting a certain number of stars, and then hitting the big version of the block that the power up resides in - similar to the ! blocks/switches of SMW. The levels are also full of replayability, as you are required to search in new locations for more stars. This also meant though that much of the level was a lot more "loose". You were free to just wander around, and there was a lot less platforming involved as there was in the 2D games.

Now, all these changes work for the 3D incarnation of Mario. My problem is that some of these design changes have jumped ship over to the 2D games. The loose level designs of SM64 work for the 3D world, as precise platforming is just flat-out difficult in a 3D space - especially in a 3rd-person perspective. However, with the New Super Mario Bros. series of games, this loose level design seems to be translating over into the 2D games. Being the last SMB game I played, most of my comparisons will be directed at Super Mario 3D Land, which I also believe to be the worst offender out of all the SMB games I've played. Super Mario 3D Land was probably the worst Mario game I have ever played. I only even finished it because of one of the issues I have with these new versions of Mario - it's too gorram easy. Coins and lives are almost literally tossed at you from every direction. I think I actually ended SM3D with 99 Lives (I didn't go through and do the second half of the game, I was too pained by the first half). If not actually 99, then pretty close. It's not that I never died, but, well, even in SMB3, I'm pretty sure you couldn't earn 99 lives even if you never died once. And that's a big problem. The next problem, is that in SMB 1 and 3, you needed as many lives as you could get for the later Worlds, because they were just freakin' hard. Jumps you had to time just right, lots of tricky enemies, sometimes both at once. I think there's a point in SMB1's World 8 where you have to time a jump so you bounce off a Paratroopa at the right height to actually make the jump at all. Instead, World 8 of SM3D was finally just reaching SMB1 World 4's level of difficulty. It wasn't until I was about halfway through World 7 of SM3D that I realized what was wrong with it. Coins are everywhere, 1UPs - or minigames that practically assure you of one or more (usually more) - are everywhere. Level design has become loose to the point that there's maybe a difficult jump once per level, instead of a level filled with difficult jumps. You have almost no fear of dying because A) you have 50 lives and B) you'll probably be able to make it with a half-hearted attempt. Because of these things, the games are just no longer fun. What was fun was duck-sliding under that last Thwomp of Bowser's Castle in SMW after a crazy-mad dash down the corridor, and making it out with but a pixel between you and death.

I get that Mario - and Nintendo in general - is supposed to be "family friendly", but seriously, this is ridiculous. It's something that a lot of people complain about today - games are just too easy. They've got tutorials everywhere, hints, the entire knowledge database of the internet. The thing is, with games like SMB, even knowing where the secrets are, knowing what you're supposed to do to get through the level, it didn't really help. Maybe gave a cushion, but to beat the level, you had to have the skill to do it. Now, I don't agree with a lot of the complaints about these games, for example I have a hard time enjoying the original Legend of Zelda (and it's sequel) because I just don't have the time to sit down and just explore the place hoping to find the correct area. I just want to know where to go, beat it, and move on, maybe exploring what looks like side-paths to bonuses along the way (this sounds a lot lamer than I mean it to, but it's my basic point). When LoZ was first released, most people - that is, kids - had a lot of time on their hands and were able to do just that. When I look up a walkthrough for LoZ so I can finish it, I don't feel like I'm ruining the fun of the game - trying to get to the better swords, or dungeon entrances, or through the dungeons themselves are fun and challenging even knowing where they are. This same principle applies to Super Mario Bros. Even if you die halfway through World 1-1, you now have the knowledge of what will happen, and can respond to it. You can learn the mechanics and feel of the game just by playing it. You can use this to get further and further, and the fact that even knowing all this, it's still a challenge. That's what makes the game so fun, and so timeless. But playing SM3D just feels... empty. It looks like the Mario that I've seen evolve from pixels to 3D, that I still love controlling, but it doesn't feel like him. I want tighter controls, tighter level designs, and STOP THROWING COINS AND EXTRA LIVES AT ME, I DON'T WANT THEM. I want to maybe stop and think about that pit in front of me, wondering if I could make it, and be truly punished if I can't. Not punishing players for messing up, or learning from past experiences makes a game feel flat. You don't need to learn anything, because the game is so simple, there's nothing to teach. The very opposite of this is Mega Man X, a game that does an insane job of teaching the player along the way, and then just letting them run free to explore and learn more - all on their own - along the way. Super Mario Bros. does it as well, although maybe not as elegantly.The lessons, however, transfer over into SMB3, and then SMW after that. Power-ups come and go, but that's what made the new games so good - they took what you knew, put that in, then took a piece or three out, and replaced it with a new one. You always had something new to learn with a new game. And you almost always learned the hard way. In NSMB (and all Mario platformers that followed) you tend to learn the easy way, maybe the hard way here and there (maybe), but more often than not, you just didn't learn anything because there was nothing to learn.

I feel this problem only continues to get worse, what with the release of New Super Mario Bros. 2, and one of the multiplayer characters in New Super Luigi U. NSMB2's entire point was "TONS OF COINS". Seriously, they're all over the promo art, and even has a new power-up that causes Mario to spit out coins he can collect. This could have been a really interesting idea... except 100 coins still granted you an extra life. From the looks of things in the game, you could earn at least 100 coins per level (note, I haven't actually played this or New Super Mario Bros./Luigi U, I am making total assumptions). And this compounds the issue of the games being too easy. What's the point of collecting coins and gaining 1UPs if the level design is too easy to utilize it? What if 100 coins granted something else instead, so grabbing all these coins was actually worth it? NSMLU has a multiplayer character called Nabbit that cannot use power-ups. This at first interested me, making me wonder if he had some built-in powers that worked in a certain way so that he didn't need them. But sadly, and to my chagrin, the trade-off was not that interesting, and again, compounds what's wrong with Mario these days: he's immune to all enemy attacks. Immune. Now coins and lives really mean nothing. I mean seriously. There is literally no point to this character. Don't tell me "well pits could still kill him" because like I said, the level design is a joke. Honestly, the toughest part of NS3D for me was a jump I couldn't make because of the camera angle, not because it was a tough jump.

Now, why am I bashing this all so hard, despite what seems to be a deep love for the original games (even the ones I didn't play so much)? Well, it's exactly because of that. I had high hopes for the New Super Mario line of games (the 3D ones are still doing quite well, what with Sunshine and Galaxy 2), but was immensely let down. I feel no desire to go back and replay NSMB or SM3D, because playing them once wasn't all that interesting. I did actually go back to play NSMB again after finishing it - partially due to having two hidden worlds, which was also a bad idea. But you couldn't go back and play the whole thing fresh from start to finish, without the 50 lives I'd accumulated, or the ability to just skip that one level because I don't really like it. Heck, even playing the final World wasn't fun, because it was too easy. I haven't touched the game in probably 6 years. And yet, I still like picking up and playing SMB1 or 3. Nintendo, I'm practically begging you, make Super Mario Bros. harder. Include some kind of easy mode for the kids who no longer have the patience with today's world to get through it, I don't care. But please, PLEASE, as someone who REALLY wants to enjoy Mario, make it harder! Tighten up that level design! Please?

If  you have any response or argument to this, I encourage comments! Please post them below, or message me on Twitter!

1 comment:

  1. Good article! I agree with quite a bit of this, though I quite enjoy any 2D/3D Mario game that comes out.

    Now if in the next 2D Mario game, they would release a level maker, THAT would be awesome!

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