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A short look at some of Nintendo's titles as we consider Nintendo and 'rehashing'.

Chris Dunson, Blogger

November 11, 2013

9 Min Read

 

I want to talk about Nintendo.

More specifically,
I want to talk about how people are saying Nintendo is failing as a company.
There's two arguments I want to counter. The argument I'll be countering today is:

'Nintendo is failing because they keep making the same Mario game over and over again.'

I'm arguing against this. I'm gonna list off all the platforming Mario games Nintendo has made in the
past few years. I'll be excluding the Party, Puzzle, Racing, RPG, and Sport games. Those games are ideas that differentiate from the platformers so they don't hold relevance here. But if you really think Mario and Sonic at the Olympics coming out every year is causing Nintendo to fail I simply ask you to turn your eye over to Madden or FIFA.

Anyways In 2006 Nintendo releases New Super Mario Bros(DS) and Super Princess Peach. May I mention that Super Princess Peach is an amazing game and brought a lot of interesting elements to platforming Mario games. I'd love to see more things from Peach games, but I highly doubt that'll happen.

In 2007 there's Super Paper Mario and Super Mario Galaxy. Neither of these games are similar to the titles from the previous year. Super Paper Mario being a strange blend of 2D and 3D platforming mixed with RPG elements and then you have Super Mario Galaxy which most closely resembles Sunshine which came out on the GameCube in 2002.
That's right the next real 3D Super Mario game came out five years after its predecessor.

In 2009 we get New Super Mario Bros Wii. A sequel to the DS game from 2006. This is the first platforming Mario game to allow simultaneous four player co-op play.

In 2010 we get Super Mario Galaxy 2. It's been 3 years since the last 3D Mario game. And my goodness is this game such an improvement over the last. The difficulty is really ramped up, a bunch of new mechanics are thrown in, and the level design is much improved. Out of every platformer game I've ever played nothing even compares to Galaxy 2, not even its predecessor. It's a game you just have to play if you consider yourself a platforming fan.

In 2011 Super Mario 3D Land appears. While being a 3D Mario game Super Mario 3D Land plays nothing like Galaxy 2, though there are definitely some borrowed elements. Rather than flying around in space and traversing unique worlds with interesting minigames we instead have a game that is much more like a traditional 2D Mario game, but in 3D. For the most part the levels are pretty linear well in comparison to Galaxy 2. This game featured a lot of short challenging levels with a much bigger emphasis on platforming than exploration.

In 2012 we get both New Super Mario Bros WiiU and New Super Mario Bros 2(3DS). Three years since the last 'New Super Marios' game we get one for each of Nintendo's new systems. New Super Mario Bros WiiU boasts the new 'Boost Mode' via the WiiU gamepad allowing up to five players at the same time. Though the game has new abilities and baby yoshis for the mushroom crew to use I personally found much more interest in the game's coin rush and challenge modes. With the addition of the Super Luigi U DLC the game became even more interesting by making levels designed around Luigi's properties.

In 2013 we'll be getting Super Mario 3D World. This game looks and sounds amazing. Did you hear the jazz in the new trailer? And best of all that trailer put away any worries that the game was just a 3D land rehash. The game is on a much larger scale with deeper level design which is something that makes me very happy. Though taking a leaf from Super Luigi U each of the game's characters will have their own unique properties with some segments in the game requiring you to take advantage of that to complete all of the objectives. Not to mention this is the first 3D platforming Mario game that will be featuring four player multiplayer.

If you really think all of these games are the same rehashed ideas with 'running and jumping' and that I'm just nit picking to find differences why don't we look at another franchise? I'm thinking Call of Duty.

Call of Duty 2(360)-2005
Call of Duty 3(360/PS3)-2006
Call of Duty MW(360/PS3)-2007
Call of Duty: Roads to Victory(PSP)-2007
Call of Duty World at War(360/PS3)-2008
Call of Duty MW2(360/PS3)-2009
Call of Duty Black Ops(360/PS3)-2010
Call of Duty MW3(360/PS3)-2011
Call of Duty Black Ops2(360/PS3)-2012
Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified(PSVita)-2012
Call of Duty Ghosts(360/PS3/Xbone/PS4)-2013

You can currently find part two on my blog here. In this section I discuss some recent numbers concerning Nintendo and its consoles.

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