Super Mario 3d World catch all

Gratuitous mention of The Wonderful 101 and ZombiU while we're at it, as third party games that are good. Sonic Lost World has a good demo as well, plus there's going to be Bayonetta 2, Mario Kart 8, and the new Smash Bros. in 2014 as well as other games I'm forgetting. I'd say wait until holidays next year when you know Xbox and Playstation are going to have better bundles for their systems.

You all make great points. I believe you have swayed me back towards the Wii U. Thanks for mentioning the steambox. I forgot to include steambox in my original post. I'm very interested in steambox.

Thank you all for your feedback. It's beginning to look like a Wii U Christmas after all.

ccesarano wrote:

Gratuitous mention of The Wonderful 101 and ZombiU while we're at it, as third party games that are good.

Again with the shoehorning! You're also wrong, because The Wonderful 101 is first-party.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

Gratuitous mention of The Wonderful 101 and ZombiU while we're at it, as third party games that are good.

Again with the shoehorning! You're also wrong, because The Wonderful 101 is first-party.

I thought that was a second-party, ie. paid for and published by Nintendo but developed out-of-house like the days of Rare with the SNES/N64

Ok - back on topic.

Here is something I really appreciate about Super Mario 3d World: It loads up super fast. I'm starting to get used to iPad games having a load screen, but on the WiiU, I can sit down, boot up the WiiU, start up the game, and be stomping Goombas in about 30 seconds.

shoptroll wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

Gratuitous mention of The Wonderful 101 and ZombiU while we're at it, as third party games that are good.

Again with the shoehorning! You're also wrong, because The Wonderful 101 is first-party.

I thought that was a second-party, ie. paid for and published by Nintendo but developed out-of-house like the days of Rare with the SNES/N64

Yes, second-party then. Pardon me for not being specific enough.

Rawkinmolie wrote:

I need your guys help. I want to know if you think I should buy a wii U just to play this game. I've been waffling as to weather or not I want to buy a Wii U.

Pros
- Super Mario 3D World
- I haven't owned a Nintendo since N64
- The hope and promise of the next Zelda
- Lego City Undercover
- I have two young kids

Well that was cathartic. I'm really leaning towards NOT buying a Wii U after doing that little exercise. I'm still interested in everyone's opinion though. What do you think?

I know we already enabled you but I will pipe in and say "Buy one!" I have two boys (5 and 7) and the Wii U (and Nintendo generally) has the best kid friendly games as well as the best MP kid games in my opinion.

Right now we are playing SM3DW together. We can all have a controller, the game is extremely forgiving about dying or getting to far behind/ahead of the other players, and it is extremly fun.

We also played Lego City Undercover. They had to just watch me most of the time but they had a great time. It was funny, beautiful, and easy for them to follow.

While I haven't heard many specifics about much else it is Nintendo so we will have a Zelda, a Kart racer, and
a Super Smash Bros. for the wii u. All of which will delight my kids.

Besides that we use it for Netflix, Amazon Prime videos, and we still play the occasional Wii game (I will finish The Last Story! I will, really....maybe)

So yes buy one it will be great to play with the kids.

ccesarano wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

Gratuitous mention of The Wonderful 101 and ZombiU while we're at it, as third party games that are good.

Again with the shoehorning! You're also wrong, because The Wonderful 101 is first-party.

I thought that was a second-party, ie. paid for and published by Nintendo but developed out-of-house like the days of Rare with the SNES/N64

Yes, second-party then. Pardon me for not being specific enough. :P

I responded over here. No need to derail this thread more.

I think my favorite part of this game right now is the UI. It feels very modern and clean.

Kind of painful musical.

My God, it's full of (green) stars.

I've put three hours into this so far. I've made it through the first half of World 3 with all the green stars and stamps collected up to this point. I am so impressed by the range of creative ideas on display here as well as the perfect execution of the basic fundamentals of platforming: control, camera, and flow.

As with Mario Galaxy 2, each level seems to focus on a single idea and find a variety of interesting ways to express that idea in gameplay. But where Galaxy 2 played with gravity and orientation, 3D World has really used the cat suit to give more verticality to each space and provide the player with secret paths and platforms to discover beyond the usual array of hidden pipes and breakable walls.

I'm impressed that each character controls so well while still having obvious, clearly-defined strengths and weaknesses. I typically don't much care for Peach as a character, but I've really taken to her in this game. She seems less nimble and a little slower than Mairo, but that floating jump power is really handy. I love that they put so much work into the costumes for each character, so that each one looks different when they acquire different power-ups.

It's fun to see them revisit old ideas in new ways, like the rolling tank level in World 2 that calls back to Super Mario Bros. 3, and the first ghost house in World 3 did not disappoint. I'm a huge fan of the Mario ghost houses and hope there are more in this game.

All-in-all, I think this game is wonderful and a complete joy to play.

I do not recommend playing this game for more than 2 hours at a rip. Especially the later worlds. I don't think I've had a platforming game wear out my brain like this in a long time

ClockworkHouse wrote:

As with Mario Galaxy 2, each level seems to focus on a single idea and find a variety of interesting ways to express that idea in gameplay.

I hope this doesn't come off as pedantic, but if you look back on the Mario games as a whole this is the general principle behind many of their level designs. It's one of the reasons why it's one of my favorite franchises.

Oh, absolutely. I think it's just a bit more blatant in the last few games from this development team than in some others. The Galaxy games, 3D Land, and 3D World seem a lot less concerned with mechanical or thematic cohesion between levels as some of the other Mario platformers.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Oh, absolutely. I think it's just a bit more blatant in the last few games from this development team than in some others. The Galaxy games, 3D Land, and 3D World seem a lot less concerned with mechanical or thematic cohesion between levels as some of the other Mario platformers.

I suspect part of it was the change in focus from "here's a playground, now go find 6 stars we've hidden among it" back to "here's a linear path from A to B. Have fun!". Streamlining the levels has really allowed them to concentrate more on crafting tighter and specialized environments while opening up the options for the power ups and other mechanics since they didn't have to worry as much creating a large open worlds like in 64 and I guess Sunshine (which I still need to play).

I think this is part of the reason why Galaxy and the 3D sub-series have a bigger focus on powerups than in 64. With an open-world style level where you have one single level which is generically designed to support multiple paths there's going to be more restriction on the players abilities because you can't easily fence them into certain paths as easily. While 64 expanded Mario's moveset significantly, it took away a lot of the freedom you had in previous games. You couldn't bring powerups into a level you were struggling on because the Wing Cap would break some of the paths.

(I hope the above makes sense, it's late and I'm tired)

Someone really needs to sit down and write a long-form feature about the evolution of Mario level design.

Generally, I prefer that obstacle course design to the scavenger hunt on a playground one. What 64 tried to do with mixed results is blend a variety of courses into a single level, leaving the player to discover them for herself. It's a neat idea, and it definitely has both its place and its fans, but it restricts the kinds of levels they can present to the player because they need to blend together and because, like you said, power-ups from one could cause problems in another. I other the more segregated, largely theme-less design of the Galaxy and 3D games because it allows for an explosion of creative design where anything goes as long as it's fun.

Where is 3-B? It's the only level in World 3 I haven't cleared completely.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Where is 3-B? It's the only level in World 3 I haven't cleared completely.

It's to the left of 3-Train. Go through the clear pipe and you'll land on an ice patch with 3-B. The next clear pipe leads you to World 4.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

What 64 tried to do with mixed results is blend a variety of courses into a single level, leaving the player to discover them for herself. It's a neat idea, and it definitely has both its place and its fans, but it restricts the kinds of levels they can present to the player because they need to blend together

Thank you for eloquently stating the point I was trying to make in a muddled state 64 is something I somewhat bounced off the first time I played it as it was a huge departure from the series at the time. It has its moments and it created an entire style of platforming games on its own, but I also vastly prefer the post-2005 3D Mario style along with the classic 2D games.

EDIT: Digital Foundry did a write-up on the technical performance of the game.

I love those WarioWare-like puzzle box rushes where you've got ten seconds to nab a green star.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I love those WarioWare-like puzzle box rushes where you've got ten seconds to nab a green star.

My favorite one was the series of sprints which was hilarious with Toad (me) and Peach (Demyx), since Demyx couldn't keep up with me just zooming for the goal in each room

Beat the main game tonight. Final world is incredible. Awesome final boss battle too.

Watched the credits roll and was thrilled when I unlocked:

Spoiler:

Rosalina as a playable character

This is so cool!

If you haven't owned a Nintendo system since the N64 the Wii U is even a better value to you.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/KITa1aR.jpg)

Man, that was a fun level. Also, it's nice to be able to pull screenshots off of Miiverse.

Although MysticViolet had the best screenshot this weekend. I'd share it, but I'm not sure of the etiquette of sharing someone else's screenshots. So if you're her friend, check out the spoilered Mario 3D World post from a couple days back.

A couple neat things we discovered tonight:

1) Tanooki Suit makes the slot machine house a guaranteed 2UP. I'll leave the exact method as an exercise to the reader

2) Iif you are carrying a teammate when you reach the mid-level checkpoint flag, you both gain the instant-Super Mushroom effect!

ClockworkHouse wrote:

So if you're her friend, check out the spoilered Mario 3D World post from a couple days back.

I tried to find it but it wasn't appearing in my Activity Feed. Also, I'm absolutely terrible about checking Miiverse

Mystic Violet wrote:

Wait til you guys fight the final boss too. Such awesome. Much joy.

And it gets better after that!

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Man, that was a fun level. Also, it's nice to be able to pull screenshots off of Miiverse.

Although MysticViolet had the best screenshot this weekend. I'd share it, but I'm not sure of the etiquette of sharing someone else's screenshots. So if you're her friend, check out the spoilered Mario 3D World post from a couple days back.

This game just makes me love trains. So, how get screenshots off system? Because I'll do that right now and post a link to it. I want that as my wallpaper!

Wait til you guys get there. The presentation and soundtrack is phenomenal. Wait til you guys fight the final boss too. Such awesome. Much joy.

Oh, I added people who were active in this thread and listed their Wii U names in the GWJ profile field. I'd like to add more of you but I'm assuming many ppl posted their names somewhere in the thread... :/

Mystic Violet wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Man, that was a fun level. Also, it's nice to be able to pull screenshots off of Miiverse.

Although MysticViolet had the best screenshot this weekend. I'd share it, but I'm not sure of the etiquette of sharing someone else's screenshots. So if you're her friend, check out the spoilered Mario 3D World post from a couple days back.

This game just makes me love trains. So, how get screenshots off system? Because I'll do that right now and post a link to it. I want that as my wallpaper!

Wait til you guys get there. The presentation and soundtrack is phenomenal. Wait til you guys fight the final boss too. Such awesome. Much joy.

Oh, I added people who were active in this thread and listed their Wii U names in the GWJ profile field. I'd like to add more of you but I'm assuming many ppl posted their names somewhere in the thread... :/

Thanks for the reminder to update my profile.

I pulled screenshots from the web interface. http://miiverse.nintendo.net

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I pulled screenshots from the web interface. http://miiverse.nintendo.net

That's awesome. Here's the link to the image

SPOILERS: https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/...

It's the last world before the credits roll. Amazing!