New Super Mario Bros. (latest pics)

Post by **Snakey** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 11:37 am 0

Darkflame wrote:Indeed, hence the word "new" in the lin about the quote.

GBA games were just ports.

Yeah, fair enough, but really, why the distinction? It's not like you can walk into a shop and walk out again with a copy of super mario trainspotting 7 on the GBA without paying for it, because its not "new" and you've already bought it twice.

The point that was originally made is that Nintendo flood the market with this stuff. They do. You can understand why some people just go "meh" at this stuff. It wouldn't be such a problem if everybody didn't keep going on about how 'innovative' they are, when most of the time, they're not.

FWIW I agree something doesn't have to be "new" to be "good". But I can see both sides.

disciple · Post by **disciple** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 11:54 am 0

Snakey wrote:
Darkflame wrote:Indeed, hence the word "new" in the lin about the quote.

GBA games were just ports.
Yeah, fair enough, but really, why the distinction? It's not like you can walk into a shop and walk out again with a copy of super mario trainspotting 7 on the GBA without paying for it, because its not "new" and you've already bought it twice.

The point that was originally made is that Nintendo flood the market with this stuff. They do. You can understand why some people just go "meh" at this stuff. It wouldn't be such a problem if everybody didn't keep going on about how 'innovative' they are, when most of the time, they're not.

FWIW I agree something doesn't have to be "new" to be "good". But I can see both sides.

I think people need to be realistic about these things. The Mario frachise sells and Nintendo are a company however Nintendo are known for innovation, in hardware but also in software. Every single title can't be somethiing brand new and never seen before, especially when remakes of existing franchises is what people want.

Nintendo do try to bring something new to the table each time, it's not just now with more realistic hair ~ala FIFA, I liked it when Samus said "SMB, SMB3, SMW, M64 and SMS", you can see how Nintendo have tried to innnovate each time.

zbandito · Post by **zbandito** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:06 pm 0

Barring ports and rehashes, why would or wouldn't the Wario line count as 'SMB7' or something.. particularly given how Yoshi's Island (SMW2) is accepted as a descendant of the SMB line. What about the Peach title?

Anyone else a little bummed at the use of polygonal rendering in this? I'm hoping it plays well enough and uses the graphical style to it's advantage, but the classic hand drawn sprites are hard to beat..

disciple · Post by **disciple** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:14 pm 0

disciple wrote:

Heh just reading some previews on the game since I have it pre-ordered.

As for the two player aspect it seems you compete against your opponent in a race to finish the level. Obviously you'll appear on each others screens only when you're in close proximity to each other, you can pick up items that affect the other player :

New Super Mario Bros. also puts the DS' wi-fi capability to use by having stiff two player competitions! Obviously in this mode, one player will take control of Mario, and the other Luigi. They will then be pitted in a race going through three separate 2D side scrolling levels. Then to take a little bit from the Mario Kart franchise, there will actually be readily available items for you to use on your opponent to increase your chances of victory!

Incidentally this is being done by a fella called Takashi Tezuka.

Some previous game credits :

Advisor - Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Advisor - Sakura Momoko no Ukiuki Carnival
Assistant Director - Super Mario 64
Assistant Director - Super Mario Bros.
Assistant Director - Super Mario 64: Shindou Version
Associate Producer - Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Director - Super Mario World
Director - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Director - Yoshi's Island: Super Mario World 2
Director - The Legend of Zelda
Director - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Graphic Design - Super Mario Bros.
Graphic Design - The Legend of Zelda
Producer - Yoshi's Story
Producer - Animal Crossing
Producer - Luigi's Mansion
Producer - Super Mario Sunshine
Producer - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Producer - Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island
Producer - Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
Producer - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past DX
Producer - Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Producer - The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition
Producer - Pikmin 2
Producer - Yoshi Touch & Go
Progress Management - Pikmin
Progress Management - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past DX
Progress Management - Dream Factory: Nervous Panic
Project Management - Star Fox: Assault
Special Thanks - Hamtaro: Ham Hams Unite!
Special Thanks - The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
Special Thanks - The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
Special Thanks - Super Mario Kart
Special Thanks - Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Special Thanks - Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
Special Thanks - Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak
Special Thanks - Famicom Mukashi-Banashi: Shin Oni Ga Shima
Special Thanks - Mario Pinball Land
Supervisor - Paper Mario
Supervisor - Star Fox 64
Supervisor - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Supervisor - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Supervisor - Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
Supervisor - Tetris Attack
Supervisor - Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Supervisor - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past DX
Supervisor - Game & Watch Gallery
Supervisor - Tetris Attack
Supervisor - Mario Party 5
Supervisor - Nintendo Puzzle Collection
Supervisor - The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
Supervisor - The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Apparently he's Shigeru Miyamoto's right hand man.

Here's what he has to say about New Super Mario DS

When developing this game, I really had the original Super Mario Bros. in mind. After that game, Mario evolved, of course, but it eventually became more difficult and suited more toward hard-core gamers. That wasn't the intention, but that's how the series naturally evolved. I didn't want to continue in that direction. That's not to say this game isn't for hard-core players, but I want to recapture the spirit of the original Super Mario Bros.

On powerups:

In addition to the standard Super Mushroom, Fire Flower and those kinds of things, there are quite a few new items. There's a mushroom that turns Mario tiny. Another kind of mushroom turns Mario into a giant if you collect three of them. There's also a Koopa Mario; he wears a shell and can slide back and forth like a Koopa to hit enemies. We can't reveal all of the new powerups at this time, however.

On replay value:

The gameplay itself has a lot of replay value, I think. In addition, you won't be able to save your progress from level to level; you'll only be able to save when you reach the next world. So in that way, the game system is designed to challenge the player and encourage replay. Also, remember how in Super Mario 64 you needed to collect a certain number of stars to reach the next course? We're doing something similar to that. There are also similarities to Super Mario World in that different branches exist to different levels. By completing some task, you'll open a different branch.

On Mario striking a chord with gamers:

One of the impressions I get is that all of the secrets we hid in the game caused people to talk about it a lot. "Did you get this hidden item? Did you find the secret way to get to this stage?" â€” things like that. I think that's something that helped the game catch on.

It all sounds quite promising.

Yak · Post by **Yak** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:16 pm 0

I for one welcome our new* Italian overlords.

*for certain values of "new"

disciple · Post by **disciple** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:21 pm 0

zbandito wrote:Barring ports and rehashes, why would or wouldn't the Wario line count as 'SMB7' or something.. particularly given how Yoshi's Island (SMW2) is accepted as a descendant of the SMB line. What about the Peach title?

Anyone else a little bummed at the use of polygonal rendering in this? I'm hoping it plays well enough and uses the graphical style to it's advantage, but the classic hand drawn sprites are hard to beat..

From what I've read the game zooms in and out around the gameplay quite a bit. You've also got Mario and Goombas growing to almost the height of the whole screen which in effect is the game moving in the Z axis. There may be other stuff going on in the Z plane I dunno, there's not really much detail in any of the previews.

limb_clock · Post by **limb_clock** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:21 pm 0

*Happy tear* oh man.....*sob* that takes me back.....

piku · Post by **piku** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:42 pm 0

The gameplay itself has a lot of replay value, I think. In addition, you won't be able to save your progress from level to level; you'll only be able to save when you reach the next world.

Aww... that's exactly what I don't like about console games. I don't want to spend my life battling through the same four levels just because I can't quite kill the boss on the fifth. It's tedious. I hate it when I hit a brick wall in a game and can't get any further.

I liked the way you could "cheat" in Super Mario World on the SNES by going back to an easy ghost house, completing it and then choosing "save progress". True, you had to walk about half a mile to get to one, but it was much better than jumping those sodding chainsaws on wire, or the truly evil level with the sinking platforms.

I go "meh", but if I ever find it for cheap, I might go "meh, why not".

*boing* *boing* *bDing!* *bbbbbbbbbbbbDing!*

Now, when's Tetris DS coming out?

disciple · Post by **disciple** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:43 pm 0

Some Famitsu scans :

zbandito · Post by **zbandito** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:46 pm 0

Well, scaling is easily done in 2d... the growing thing could be handled a couple of different ways, ranging from simple sprite scaling to more complex effects like transparent sparkles or whatever.

My guess is that the 3d nature of the graphics are a result of cost. Time will tell if it was necessary for gameplay, I suppose..

disciple · Post by **disciple** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:58 pm 0

zbandito wrote:Well, scaling is easily done in 2d... the growing thing could be handled a couple of different ways, ranging from simple sprite scaling to more complex effects like transparent sparkles or whatever.

My guess is that the 3d nature of the graphics are a result of cost. Time will tell if it was necessary for gameplay, I suppose..

If you're gonna scale the whole world (with possibly dynamic lighting)..

..then 3D seems the natural choice.

I dunno on the other hand you have eurogamer slagging it off for looking too much like the original.

It would have been interesting to see what a truly new 2D Mario Bros could look like, rather than one which clings for dear life to the past.

To be honest I think folks are going to be overly critical of this game due to it's heritage. (I've seen previews where they complain his hands are too big!) If the game plays well then in all honesty I don't think it really matters.

zbandito · Post by **zbandito** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:10 pm 0

Yeah, don't get me wrong... this is the main reason I'm considering reaquiring a DS, along with Peach and Yoshi etc. It's just interesting to discuss

disciple · Post by **disciple** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:10 pm 0

piku wrote:Now, when's Tetris DS coming out?

20th March in the US.

http://www.videogamesplus.ca/product_in ... s_id=10752

I've got mine pre-ordered, am a bit worried it's going to be shit though.

Sir_LANs-a-lot · Post by **Sir_LANs-a-lot** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:12 pm 0

Bit of a mini-thread-jack (apologies for that) but with the new DS screen being so much brighter than the old one, is there any word on how much that will affect battery life?

disciple · Post by **disciple** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:19 pm 0

Sir_LANs-a-lot wrote:Bit of a mini-thread-jack (apologies for that) but with the new DS screen being so much brighter than the old one, is there any word on how much that will affect battery life?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6144058.html wrote: The DS Lite will come with four adjustable levels of screen
brightness, with the maximum setting being five times as
luminous as the original DS's. Battery life has also been
improved. The original DS ran 6 to 10 hours on a full recharge,
and the DS Lite runs for about the same number of hours on its
maximum brightness. The new model can run 15 to 19 hours on
its lowest brightness, 10 to 15 hours on its second level of
brightness, 7 to 11 hours on its third level, and 5 to 8 hours on the
maximum level. What's more, the DS Lite's battery recharges in
three hours, which is an hour less than the original DS.