Why Super Mario Bros. doesn't need innovation.

[itsmeyouidiot]

Honestly, from the way people talk about Mario around here, you'd think it to be the most tired and stale game series ever, that it's completely devoid of innovation.

There it is, that word. "Innovation." The way people throw the word around, they act like it's something that every game requires, that a game can't possibly be enjoyable without somehow doing something new. They say that Mario games are all "rehashes" of the same formula and therefore bad.

Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is. I've bought every single New. Super Mario Bros. game, and I can honestly say that I've enjoyed every one of them a great deal, because the fact remains that they are fun.

Hell, sometimes I actually admire Mario for staying the same. Over the past decade or so, the game industry has been transformed into a bloated mess, with much of it virtually unrecognizable from what it once was. But while other series become become more complex and often overly complicated, Mario games remain the simple fun that they always were.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Sorry, there's only so much New New New New New Super Mario Bros. with the same levels, the same enemies, the same remixed music, I can play before I just don't bother anymore.

 

[DoPo]

There it is, that word. "Innovation." The way people throw the word around, they act like it's something that every game requires, that a game can't possibly be enjoyable without somehow doing something new. They say that Mario games are all "rehashes" of the same formula and therefore bad.

Never really got that out of anybody. Care to point me to specific quotes? What I have noticed is other people referring to some nebulous masses and their apparent need for "innovation" in everything - masses I've never met or seen and always remain as a rumour - only whispered about like the boogieman.

As a side note, I've only played the old NES game. I still do from time to time (and die on like the second or third level but I suck - whatever). If indeed the new ones don't bring anything to the table, what reason would I have to play them? I've got the old one, right?

 

[shrekfan246]

You know what was a great innovation for the Mario franchise? Moving to 3D. You know when that happened? Seventeen years ago.

Since then Mario donned a water-jetpack, learned how to breathe in space, and went back to Super Mario Bros. 3 but with less power-ups and a new coat of paint. Then, he... went to space again, and started slowly and sequentially adding those past power-ups back into Super Mario Bros. 3 with a new coat of paint each time.

I'm sure Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World are great games, and they'd damn well better be since Nintendo has released them four times on new systems. It's not so much "innovation" that the decriers are calling for so much as variety. What, aside from the silly coin-gathering gimmick and -- oh man! -- 4-player co-op, have New Super Mario Bros., New Super Mario Bros. Wii, New Super Mario Bros. U, and New Super Mario Bros. 2 done that wasn't done in Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World?

 

[Sir Christopher McFarlane]

Sorry, there's only so much New New New New New Super Mario Bros. with the same levels, the same enemies, the same remixed music, I can play before I just don't bother anymore.

Once every console is too much?

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Sorry, there's only so much New New New New New Super Mario Bros. with the same levels, the same enemies, the same remixed music, I can play before I just don't bother anymore.

Once every console is too much?

When there's been 4 of the damn things in the last 7 years?

Yeah.

 

[Sir Christopher McFarlane]

I disagree with that acessment. Not everybody owns a 3DS and a Wii U, which is the only way to have access to all four titles. I only have access to two. So I'm pretty happy I got to play two side-scrolling Mario games in a seven year span.

 

[go-10]

thing is they're not new anymore, also I'm tired of playing re-done old stages how about some new NEW stages. I get they want to pay tribute to the old games, but honestly its gotten old just stick to the NEW part in the title

 

[Hades]

The new super mario bros series might have seen less stale if they used some different worlds between the games. Al 4 games have the same worlds as super mario 3. Plain dessert, sea, forrestm snow, clouds and fire. Okay, i don't recall a rock world in 3 but thats it. Nintendo could have kept things fresh by letting those rest for a while. Why not a factory world, or one devoted entirely to ghosts? or a carnaval themed one.

Super mario bros 3 was an amezing game and i suppose all the new super mario bros games are so as well, but if its the same your not giving people much reason to look forward to it.

 

[sethisjimmy]

"they are fun" isn't a fact. It's an opinion. People say Super Mario Bros needs innovation because they do not think the games are fun anymore. I'm inclined to agree with them as of late.

 

[itsmeyouidiot]

Sorry, there's only so much New New New New New Super Mario Bros. with the same levels, the same enemies, the same remixed music, I can play before I just don't bother anymore.

Honestly, I don't see the problem in more of the same thing. If I like a game, then I'm going to want more of it.

 

[Fappy]

I wish they'd go back to the old formula of releasing a new Mario platformer every 5 years or whatever. I feel like there's a lot of fresh, new ideas that can be explored in future Mario platformers, but this is not the way to realize that potential.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Sorry, there's only so much New New New New New Super Mario Bros. with the same levels, the same enemies, the same remixed music, I can play before I just don't bother anymore.

Honestly, I don't see the problem in more of the same thing. If I like a game, then I'm going to want more of it.

Thats totally okay for you. But the rest of us get bored after awhile. And there's pf course no reason to buy a new mario game if you can just reply 3 again.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Sorry, there's only so much New New New New New Super Mario Bros. with the same levels, the same enemies, the same remixed music, I can play before I just don't bother anymore.

Honestly, I don't see the problem in more of the same thing. If I like a game, then I'm going to want more of it.

That's fine, but some of us actually want a new Mario game.

Not rehashes of 3 over and over again.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Odd because I don't remember a Super Mario Bros thread since I've been on this forum.

And the only people I do know that go for every new Mario game are die hard Nintendo fans that will buy them just because, now it's true that all the games are well made but in a market with 50 billion platformers there really isn't much beyond the Nintendo name that makes them sell.
Also with the near triple A price tag for what are essentially 20 year old games I'm surprised they sell anything at all.

 

[klaynexas3]

This is the exact definition of stagnation. With 4 "New" Super Mario Bros in the past few years, and no actual new ones, we hit a point where we see nothing but repetition. That's why it needs innovation. You can keep playing the same Mario games if you want, but people won't be as happy as you that they get the same thing over and over again. Not everyone enjoys repeating the same thing and having to pay more for it. That's why CoD gets so much shit as of late.

 

[Windcaler]

The issue I have with the newer 2d mario games is I can load up my emulator and play the original or Super mario 3 and get the same expeience. So far as Im aware (and if Im wrong let me know) there has been no story added in these games so I dont see why they exist except to release a platformer with the same old characters.

Other games in the same franchise at least did something new and interesting from either a story or gameplay perspective. The Paper mario games were at least story driven and intersting (till sticker star) and back in the SNES days the best mario game Ive ever played was released (super mario RPG).

With the Zelda and Metroid series theres at least some story potential. In the case of Zelda Nintendo's lying to you all about there being a coherent timeline after Links awakening but I can at least give them credit in trying to cover it up with future games. Im just not willing to let them rewrite history after lying to us for over 2 decades. With Metroid we got some interesting storylines In prime, Echo, and Other M

Today Im pretty ignorant when it comes to Mario since I dont follow the games anymore nor do I buy them (hell I dont even have a WiiU and wont till it has several good games on it). That said, If Im wrong in these assumptions please correct me but from where I stand and what little Ive seen it seems like the exact same game with no story beyond the lazy princess kidnapped storyline we got in 1985. I guess after 28 years I need some variation in the story or gameplay to stay interested

Dont get me wrong though, if you want to play the same game over and over and over again with no variation then by all means have fun with it. People do it with CoD so why not Mario? Im not standing here and demanding it change from that audiences expectations Im only expressing the fact that this is why Im not personally buying it

 

[Mr. Omega]

I don't like the New series. They're good, but Nintendo is capable of so much better. But I view it the same way I view Pixar and Cars. It makes them a LOT of money. Money that goes towards making games like Galaxy and Sunshine and the Mario + Luigi series and stuff. So I don't really care for it that much, but it's a bit of a necessary evil.

I said my piece on why I think in terms of mechanics, Mario is doing just fine in terms of innovation elsewhere, and narrative "innovation" wouldn't really benefit the series in any real way besides the way the RPGs have been doing so.

You know what I'd like? If they reduced the price of the New games. I admit, I got the WiiU game, but at that point it was because of the lack of anything else. Otherwise I wouldn't be willing to spend $60 on a highly-polished nostalgia trip. So, here's hoping they're smart with the pricing of the Luigi DLC.

 

[Atmos Duality]

It most certainly does if it wants to catch my interest.
They're played out for me, but your mileage will vary if you haven't been exposed to 25+ years of Mario.

 

[aguspal]

Because why fix something that aitn broken?

Look, those mario games sell a lot. That means people are happy with them and will still play them (Enough people that they are profitable, at least).

If you dont like them... well, dont buy it. Why the fuck is this so hard to understand?

Its the same thing with COD series. Yeah it may be (mostly) more of the same. The great same game again. Plus, its not like they dont change ANYTHING, its just exaggeration, I know for a fact than COD games do offer some changes, nothing mayor true, but enough to be appealing if you want more.

I imagine the same applies to the mario games.