Ishntknew wrote:Doctor Shemp wrote:
SM3DW is pretty much SMB3DL but with one or two different powerups and better levels.
I disagree with this assessment wholeheartedly. Super Mario 3D Land was atrociously boring, but I
loved 3D World. 3D Land is the worst 3D Mario platformer, bar none. 3D World is maybe my second favorite. It has the "spark" that the Mario games have been missing for so many years. And that soundtrack. Oh man, the soundtrack.
Significantly better levels is still just better levels. And for me, no, it didn't have that spark at all. The whole thing felt like "let's do 3D Land again but actually try and make good levels this time" with cats thrown in because they haven't done cats yet. And I hate that kawaii shit. The only 3D Marios that I felt were trying something significantly new that was good were 64 and Galaxy, and the only 3D Marios I think still hold up as great games today are Galaxy 1 & 2. Galaxy 2 didn't do anything significantly new but it had much better design than Galaxy 1.
If we're throwing around opinions on Zeldas too, I'd say every 3D Zelda has been worse than the previous one. So Wind Waker's not as good as Ocarina or Majora but it's better than Twilight or Skyward Sword (although honestly nearly everything is better than Skyward Sword). I think Twilight did improve in quite a few respects over Wind Waker, it just got worse in more respects. Then of course SS reversed Twilight's improvements and got worse across the board.
For Eila, who hasn't played Zelda, I'll summarise the console games thusly:
Legend of Zelda: top-down fantasy largely non-linear action adventure.
Adventure of Link: top-down fantasy action adventure / action platformer hybrid.
Link to the Past: top-down fantasy semi-linear action adventure.
Ocarina of Time: linear 3D fantasy action-adventure with puzzles in dungeons.
Majora's Mask: linear 3D fantasy action-adventure with puzzles everywhere.
Wind Waker: linear 3D anime action-adventure / waiting for very slow sailing hybrid with puzzles everywhere.
Twilight Princess: linear 3D fantasy action-adventure with puzzles everywhere that goes for too long.
Skyward Sword: hyper-linear 3D anime puzzle-adventure with puzzle-based combat. Half the game is backtracking.