The Future of Mario

When Nintendo released the revolutionary Super Mario 64 back in 1996, the raised the already-astronomical standards by which we judge every Mario game in existence. Although many consider it's first follow-up, Sunshine, to be a disgrace to the Mario name, the Wii's Super Mario Galaxy is widely considered to be one of the greatest Mario Games of all time.

Mario Galaxy, with its perfect blend of 2D and 3D platforming elements and its interesting gravity based level design, is often hailed as the biggest leap in platformer design since its legendary Nintendo 64 predecessor. Just one thing leaves me thinking... Where can Mario go next? It is difficult to think that Nintendo could pull off the space theme again, but anything else might seem like a step backwards.

I believe that Nintendo should make a complete Mario 64-style game for their next console, complete with large levels, cannons, stars, castles, paintings, and the beloved Wing Cap. A potential flaw, however, would be a possible risk of lacking innovative flair.

What do you think Mario should do next? If you have any ideas, comments, opinions, or predictions about the future of 3D Mario, please post them here.

I didn't think they could ever change Mario. But they did with Galaxy. So I trust Nintendo will come up with something new and innovative.shockwave04

I wouldnt bank on that, I mean Galaxy is just like Mario 64, the Galaxies served as the paintings, but they expanded on 64 by having 2D platforming mixed in with the 3D. The whole alternating gravity thing, the running upside down and things like that. The worlds were larger in some cases, and stars didnt require you constantly retrace your steps like in 64. The Galaxy thing is a great concept, and it is pretty open-ended as well. Meaning they could run with the whole Galaxy thing again in the next game and nothave it seem stale.

chainsaws FTW!!!

jk what they need to do is go back to the wall painting but this time Peach did some major redecoration to the castle and it has 5 floors, and we can jump into wall paintings in Super Mario 64 and then the worlds are SPHERICAL like in galaxy andgive us all the power ups from all the games before(i want my FROGSUIT and TANOOKI), and then to addd some replayiblily use the comets from before the cosmic race,puple coins,1 health, time themes but these are only aviable after you beat the gameto every singleWORLD should have all those comet themes, i wouldnt made more monsters here and there

Just to put this out there, the next Mario NEEDS a good hub world. Something about the castle had an undeniable charm and was like a level in itself. Galaxy's hub world was seriously lacking. Emmenite7

Couldn't agree more. Im hoping for some kind of Micro Mario game, where mario goes small.

in my opinion sunshine was not at all a disgrace it was 10 times funner than galaxyjznj03yjzn

Sunshine was and still isthe worst Mario in 3D.

Just to put this out there, the next Mario NEEDS a good hub world. Something about the castle had an undeniable charm and was like a level in itself. Galaxy's hub world was seriously lacking. Emmenite7

Couldn't agree more. Im hoping for some kind of Micro Mario game, where mario goes small.

Kuhu

I was thinking the exact same thing. It would be pretty awesome

I think we'll start seeing more cIassic Mario elements in the next game. Galaxy brought back quite a bit of quasi-2D platforming, something that Mario 64 and Sunshine both completely lacked. And people like it. Running around in full 3D all the time was great for Mario 64 because it was completely new; it's nothing special any more. In many ways, 2D platforming is superior to 3D.

Nintendo even went back to a more cIassic approach with Zelda: Phantom Houglass for the DS. It's a 3D world, but it plays entirely with a top-down, old-school view. And in some ways, this is superior.

The blending of cIassic gameplay with more up-to-date graphics is a great trend. Part of Nintendo's concept with the Wii was to focus on improving gameplay, not graphics. It's hard to deny that many of the older 2D games are just as fun, if not more fun, than some of the more recent 3D games. Why not take the great 2D gameplay of those games and mix it with 3D graphics?

I'm not really hoping for an entirely side-scrolling 3D Mario game, but I think the next will incorporate even more familiar gameplay elements from the 2D era. Many of the programmers at Nintendo (and most developers) are now people who grew up with the NES. They know what was fun then, and I imagine that the influence of those games will only become more apparent.

The blending of cIassic gameplay with more up-to-date graphics is a great trend. Part of Nintendo's concept with the Wii was to focus on improving gameplay, not graphics. It's hard to deny that many of the older 2D games are just as fun, if not more fun, than some of the more recent 3D games. Why not take the great 2D gameplay of those games and mix it with 3D graphics?

JordanElek

i was thinking the same if done to a metroid game

I don't think I've ever trusted a company more than Nintendo when it comes to something like Mario or Zelda.

I really wasn't upset with Mario Sunshine at all. I thought it was a fantastic game and perfect for the GameCube.

in my opinion sunshine was not at all a disgrace it was 10 times funner than galaxyjznj03yjzn

More fun. Sorry just had to correct the grammer. Anyway The next mario will be a sunshine, and then the game after that will be a galaxy (it rotates good, badd, good, bad, good). So not the next mario but the mario after that will have virtual reality, so you can actually be mario.

in my opinion sunshine was not at all a disgrace it was 10 times funner than galaxyjznj03yjzn

I agree my favorite Mario game ever

I think we'll start seeing more cIassic Mario elements in the next game. Galaxy brought back quite a bit of quasi-2D platforming, something that Mario 64 and Sunshine both completely lacked. And people like it. Running around in full 3D all the time was great for Mario 64 because it was completely new; it's nothing special any more. In many ways, 2D platforming is superior to 3D.

Nintendo even went back to a more cIassic approach with Zelda: Phantom Houglass for the DS. It's a 3D world, but it plays entirely with a top-down, old-school view. And in some ways, this is superior.

The blending of cIassic gameplay with more up-to-date graphics is a great trend. Part of Nintendo's concept with the Wii was to focus on improving gameplay, not graphics. It's hard to deny that many of the older 2D games are just as fun, if not more fun, than some of the more recent 3D games. Why not take the great 2D gameplay of those games and mix it with 3D graphics?

I'm not really hoping for an entirely side-scrolling 3D Mario game, but I think the next will incorporate even more familiar gameplay elements from the 2D era. Many of the programmers at Nintendo (and most developers) are now people who grew up with the NES. They know what was fun then, and I imagine that the influence of those games will only become more apparent.

JordanElek

I agree. The idea of the New Super Mario Bros. DS was the way I think Nintendo will take the next console Mario game.

New Super Mario DS was a souped up, new NES Super Mario Bros.

and Mario Galaxy was a new Mario 64

All I can imagine is a new, 3D, flashy version of Super Mario World...

I think Mario needs to ride Yoshi in 3D/2D (2.5D?)

[QUOTE="jznj03yjzn"]in my opinion sunshine was not at all a disgrace it was 10 times funner than galaxyIRUN2

I agree my favorite Mario game ever

Sunshine was not my favorite Mario game ever, but I thought it was better than Galaxy by a lot.

Why does everyone hate Mario Sunshine so much? I really don't understand.

[QUOTE="Emmenite7"]Just to put this out there, the next Mario NEEDS a good hub world. Something about the castle had an undeniable charm and was like a level in itself. Galaxy's hub world was seriously lacking. Kuhu

Couldn't agree more. Im hoping for some kind of Micro Mario game, where mario goes small.

it could be called... SUPER MARIO MINISH CAP

If the next game werent so linear and had adjustable difficulty(Galaxy was a cake walk) then the next mario game might actually be deserving of the title, "Revolutionary".vashkey

Man, I couldn't agree with you more. That's why Super Mario 64 was so much better than SMG.

[QUOTE="IRUN2"]

[QUOTE="jznj03yjzn"]in my opinion sunshine was not at all a disgrace it was 10 times funner than galaxybowserjr123

I agree my favorite Mario game ever

Sunshine was not my favorite Mario game ever, but I thought it was better than Galaxy by a lot.

Why does everyone hate Mario Sunshine so much? I really don't understand.

Probably because it was for the Gamecube. For that matter, I don't understand why people are calling Galaxy a revolution. It's not as if it actually did anything new. It's an awsome game, but I don't think it quite deserves the praise it gets.

If videogame systems ever go holographic, I'm almost sure Nintendo will be the first company to utilize such technology. I wonder what Nintendo character should feature in the first 3D-space-oriented holographic platformer...

Oh yeah, and I noticed that all the planets in Super Mario Galaxy have the same amount of gravity. I doubt there will be a sequel, but if there is, maybe they can have some planets treat Mario light as a feather and some treat him as heavy as a boulder. Also, he should be able to grow to giant Mario or shrink to tiny Mario.

5 Words...........Super Mario UnderwaterBlack747

that would be the worst game ever. I hate Underwater levels in mario, not to mention a whole game!!!

[QUOTE="bowserjr123"][QUOTE="IRUN2"]

[QUOTE="jznj03yjzn"]in my opinion sunshine was not at all a disgrace it was 10 times funner than galaxyvashkey

I agree my favorite Mario game ever

Sunshine was not my favorite Mario game ever, but I thought it was better than Galaxy by a lot.

Why does everyone hate Mario Sunshine so much? I really don't understand.

Probably because it was for the Gamecube. For that matter, I don't understand why people are calling Galaxy a revolution. It's not as if it actually did anything new. It's an awsome game, but I don't think it quite deserves the praise it gets.

You can't say it's bad just because it's on the Cube. The Cube had a limited library,but it hada few gems here and there.

But I do agree that Mario Galaxy does not deserve thepraiseit gets. I thought it wasn't revolutionary as well, the only new things were waggling a remote to spin and jumping from planet to planet.

I thought SMG was great, but it doesn't hold a candle to Super Mario 64.

[QUOTE="vashkey"][QUOTE="bowserjr123"][QUOTE="IRUN2"]

[QUOTE="jznj03yjzn"]in my opinion sunshine was not at all a disgrace it was 10 times funner than galaxybowserjr123

I agree my favorite Mario game ever

Sunshine was not my favorite Mario game ever, but I thought it was better than Galaxy by a lot.

Why does everyone hate Mario Sunshine so much? I really don't understand.

Probably because it was for the Gamecube. For that matter, I don't understand why people are calling Galaxy a revolution. It's not as if it actually did anything new. It's an awsome game, but I don't think it quite deserves the praise it gets.

You can't say it's bad just because it's on the Cube. The Cube had a limited library,but it hada few gems here and there.

But I do agree that Mario Galaxy does not deserve thepraiseit gets. I thought it wasn't revolutionary as well, the only new things were waggling a remote to spin and jumping from planet to planet.

I thought SMG was great, but it doesn't hold a candle to Super Mario 64.

Im not saying it's bad because it was on the cube, Im saying thats why people didn't like it. Alot of people had a natural bias toward the cube. So thats why many people didn't like the game. That and it didn't rely as heavily on nostalgia as most of the more recent mario games do.

I don't think I've ever trusted a company more than Nintendo when it comes to something like Mario or Zelda.

I really wasn't upset with Mario Sunshine at all. I thought it was a fantastic game and perfect for the GameCube.

pencil025

Same here, i really really enjoyed Mario Sunshine...I wonder why people hate it so much...

Playing galaxy got me thinking "what can they do next, what can they do next"....I'm really curious to see what N does...

[QUOTE="pencil025"]

I don't think I've ever trusted a company more than Nintendo when it comes to something like Mario or Zelda.

I really wasn't upset with Mario Sunshine at all. I thought it was a fantastic game and perfect for the GameCube.

fitzokoli

Same here, i really really enjoyed Mario Sunshine...I wonder why people hate it so much...

Playing galaxy got me thinking "what can they do next, what can they do next"....I'm really curious to see what N does...

Like I said, make it less linear. I was suta put down by Galaxy. I thought you were going to be in a free roaming universe doing what ever task you may find. Instead it's really just like SM64, but a bit more linear and a few gravity tricks and mini games here and there. No offence, but I was dissapointed. Like I said, it was good, but not as good as it could have been.

[QUOTE="bowserjr123"][QUOTE="vashkey"][QUOTE="bowserjr123"][QUOTE="IRUN2"]

[QUOTE="jznj03yjzn"]in my opinion sunshine was not at all a disgrace it was 10 times funner than galaxyvashkey

I agree my favorite Mario game ever

Sunshine was not my favorite Mario game ever, but I thought it was better than Galaxy by a lot.

Why does everyone hate Mario Sunshine so much? I really don't understand.

Probably because it was for the Gamecube. For that matter, I don't understand why people are calling Galaxy a revolution. It's not as if it actually did anything new. It's an awsome game, but I don't think it quite deserves the praise it gets.

You can't say it's bad just because it's on the Cube. The Cube had a limited library, but it had a few gems here and there.

But I do agree that Mario Galaxy does not deserve the praise it gets. I thought it wasn't revolutionary as well, the only new things were waggling a remote to spin and jumping from planet to planet.

I thought SMG was great, but it doesn't hold a candle to Super Mario 64.

Im not saying it's bad because it was on the cube, Im saying thats why people didn't like it. Alot of people had a natural bias toward the cube. So thats why many people didn't like the game. That and it didn't rely as heavily on nostalgia as most of the more recent mario games do.

Yeah, I understood what you weresaying. I didn't directly say this, but I was saying that it's stupid that people are biased and don't like it just because it was on the cube. It really doesn't make any sense. And I do agree about the nostalgia part too.

Also, I heard many people complain about the punishing difficulty and the camera. I really didn't notice any bad camera at all and the game was just as difficult as SM64 to me. I would rather want a game to be more challenging than way too easy(like SMG).

[QUOTE="vashkey"][QUOTE="bowserjr123"][QUOTE="vashkey"][QUOTE="bowserjr123"][QUOTE="IRUN2"]

[QUOTE="jznj03yjzn"]in my opinion sunshine was not at all a disgrace it was 10 times funner than galaxybowserjr123

I agree my favorite Mario game ever

Sunshine was not my favorite Mario game ever, but I thought it was better than Galaxy by a lot.

Why does everyone hate Mario Sunshine so much? I really don't understand.

Probably because it was for the Gamecube. For that matter, I don't understand why people are calling Galaxy a revolution. It's not as if it actually did anything new. It's an awsome game, but I don't think it quite deserves the praise it gets.

You can't say it's bad just because it's on the Cube. The Cube had a limited library, but it had a few gems here and there.

But I do agree that Mario Galaxy does not deserve the praise it gets. I thought it wasn't revolutionary as well, the only new things were waggling a remote to spin and jumping from planet to planet.

I thought SMG was great, but it doesn't hold a candle to Super Mario 64.

Im not saying it's bad because it was on the cube, Im saying thats why people didn't like it. Alot of people had a natural bias toward the cube. So thats why many people didn't like the game. That and it didn't rely as heavily on nostalgia as most of the more recent mario games do.

Yeah, I understood what you weresaying. I didn't directly say this, but I was saying that it's stupid that people are biased and don't like it just because it was on the cube. It really doesn't make any sense. And I do agree about the nostalgia part too.

Also, I heard many people complain about the punishing difficulty and the camera. I really didn't notice any bad camera at all and the game was just as difficult as SM64 to me. I would rather want a game to be more challenging than way too easy(like SMG).

I thought Sunshine was a bit more difficult that SM64, but still easy. But it only proves my point. Mario games need adjustable difficulty in order to please everyone. Think the game is too hard? take the difficulty down to easy. Think it's to easy? Take it up to hard.

As for the camera problems, I don't see why Sunshine should get anymore flak for it. SMG didn't have a perfect camera either, nor did SM64.

2 words boys....motion controlflowingluc

And they were weak. The star pointer was pretty throw away. you didn't need it and it made an already easy game easier. And hopefully you don't think the handful of mini games made Galaxy. And the spin attack could have just as easily been done with a button press.

Again, Galaxy had opprotunity and it passed it up.

[QUOTE="bowserjr123"][QUOTE="vashkey"][QUOTE="bowserjr123"][QUOTE="vashkey"][QUOTE="bowserjr123"][QUOTE="IRUN2"]

[QUOTE="jznj03yjzn"]in my opinion sunshine was not at all a disgrace it was 10 times funner than galaxyvashkey

I agree my favorite Mario game ever

Sunshine was not my favorite Mario game ever, but I thought it was better than Galaxy by a lot.

Why does everyone hate Mario Sunshine so much? I really don't understand.

Probably because it was for the Gamecube. For that matter, I don't understand why people are calling Galaxy a revolution. It's not as if it actually did anything new. It's an awsome game, but I don't think it quite deserves the praise it gets.

You can't say it's bad just because it's on the Cube. The Cube had a limited library, but it had a few gems here and there.

But I do agree that Mario Galaxy does not deserve the praise it gets. I thought it wasn't revolutionary as well, the only new things were waggling a remote to spin and jumping from planet to planet.

I thought SMG was great, but it doesn't hold a candle to Super Mario 64.

Im not saying it's bad because it was on the cube, Im saying thats why people didn't like it. Alot of people had a natural bias toward the cube. So thats why many people didn't like the game. That and it didn't rely as heavily on nostalgia as most of the more recent mario games do.

Yeah, I understood what you weresaying. I didn't directly say this, but I was saying that it's stupid that people are biased and don't like it just because it was on the cube. It really doesn't make any sense. And I do agree about the nostalgia part too.

Also, I heard many people complain about the punishing difficulty and the camera. I really didn't notice any bad camera at all and the game was just as difficult as SM64 to me. I would rather want a game to be more challenging than way too easy(like SMG).

I thought Sunshine was a bit more difficult that SM64, but still easy. But it only proves my point. Mario games need adjustable difficulty in order to please everyone. Think the game is too hard? take the difficulty down to easy. Think it's to easy? Take it up to hard.

As for the camera problems, I don't see why Sunshine should get anymore flak for it. SMG didn't have a perfect camera either, nor did SM64.

Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more about the camera. SMG's camera was pretty annoying...it costed a couple lives here and there.

I also noticed the the downfall of difficulty of Mario games from Super Mario Bros.to Galaxy...I played Super Mario Bros.on my Wii today(still haven't beaten 8-4 yet) and I thought it was way more challenging than SMG. With NSMB in hand as well,that game was a joke. SMB was waymore challenging than that.

One thing I liked more about Super Mario 64 than Super Mario Galaxy, was the fact that all the levels and worlds seemed more spread out in 64. I really liked the idea of going to the stages, and finding them all. Sunshine stuck with that trend. But in Galaxy, it had a little, but not much of that trend.You had to go to the observatories and then there's three or five stages right there. For a next Mario Game I would love for a much better hub than Galaxy's, and have every world and stage spread out more so I have more fun in the main hub's trying to explore and discover new spots. Galaxy's hub had none of that.

For a next Big Mario title, I'd like for what I just said above, and basically what everyone else says for having 2D and 3D elements in one game, and improved graphics, and so on.

5 Words...........Super Mario UnderwaterBlack747

Super Mario Rapture. Use the Bioshock environment. All the goomas will also be splicers.

What I think they should do is (and don't call me a fan service moron) make a Sonic Mario crossover. Sonic has had some baaaaaaad times of late, and they should revive him like only the plumber can. They could also make a mario game where he travels through time, and while that may be a tired idea ever since Crash Bandicoot 3, it could be cool to see goombas dressed up in knight armor, or koopas dressed up as Matrix agents.

By the way, how in hell is "Super Mario Underwater" 5 words?

[QUOTE="Black747"]5 Words...........Super Mario UnderwaterArkthemaniac

Super Mario Rapture. Use the Bioshock environment. All the goomas will also be splicers.

What I think they should do is (and don't call me a fan service moron) make a Sonic Mario crossover. Sonic has had some baaaaaaad times of late, and they should revive him like only the plumber can. They could also make a mario game where he travels through time, and while that may be a tired idea ever since Crash Bandicoot 3, it could be cool to see goombas dressed up in knight armor, or koopas dressed up as Matrix agents.

By the way, how in hell is "Super Mario Underwater" 5 words?

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time?

[QUOTE="Arkthemaniac"]

[QUOTE="Black747"]5 Words...........Super Mario UnderwaterNerd_Man

Super Mario Rapture. Use the Bioshock environment. All the goomas will also be splicers.

What I think they should do is (and don't call me a fan service moron) make a Sonic Mario crossover. Sonic has had some baaaaaaad times of late, and they should revive him like only the plumber can. They could also make a mario game where he travels through time, and while that may be a tired idea ever since Crash Bandicoot 3, it could be cool to see goombas dressed up in knight armor, or koopas dressed up as Matrix agents.

By the way, how in hell is "Super Mario Underwater" 5 words?

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time?

Wow. Looks like Nintendo beat me to it.

Well, Super Mario Rapture's still onthe table.

[QUOTE="Black747"]5 Words...........Super Mario UnderwaterArkthemaniac

Super Mario Rapture. Use the Bioshock environment. All the goomas will also be splicers.

What I think they should do is (and don't call me a fan service moron) make a Sonic Mario crossover. Sonic has had some baaaaaaad times of late, and they should revive him like only the plumber can. They could also make a mario game where he travels through time, and while that may be a tired idea ever since Crash Bandicoot 3, it could be cool to see goombas dressed up in knight armor, or koopas dressed up as Matrix agents.

By the way, how in hell is "Super Mario Underwater" 5 words?

Maybe Mario will go underground or under the sea with mermaids and everything 8)s-baller23

[QUOTE="Arkthemaniac"]

[QUOTE="Black747"]5 Words...........Super Mario UnderwaterBlack747

Super Mario Rapture. Use the Bioshock environment. All the goomas will also be splicers.

What I think they should do is (and don't call me a fan service moron) make a Sonic Mario crossover. Sonic has had some baaaaaaad times of late, and they should revive him like only the plumber can. They could also make a mario game where he travels through time, and while that may be a tired idea ever since Crash Bandicoot 3, it could be cool to see goombas dressed up in knight armor, or koopas dressed up as Matrix agents.

By the way, how in hell is "Super Mario Underwater" 5 words?

Well they are technically 5 words

I didn't think they could ever change Mario. But they did with Galaxy. So I trust Nintendo will come up with something new and innovative.shockwave04