Sometimes,
I just don't get it. Why does it seem like the worse a game is, the
more retro throwbacks the game tends to have crammed into it? It's an
interesting point really, how the brilliant Donkey Kong Country revival
by Retro Studios has exactly two recurring characters, while a fairly
mediocre DS game has literally every Mario baddie from the NES and SNES
era shoved in somewhere.
So
that's what this article is looking at, five middle of the road,
completely dull Mario games which somehow have been packed to the brim
with neat references to the classic platformers.
It's
actually depressing to see how many fan favourite enemies made their
twenty year comeback in a game only released in Japan, or that nobody
rightly wanted to play.
1. Super Princess Peach
The
amount of Mario references in this game, at least enemy wise is
unbelievable. It's so much, that instead of an article, have an
enormous picture showing every single enemy and character they brought
back for this game.
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How
could you honestly mess up with that massive amount of nostalgic Mario
enemies? In either the finished game or the beta, they had pretty much
every classic enemy imaginable.
I can tell you
this, if this game was a traditional Mario platformer, starring Mario as
the main character and with conventional mechanics, this game would
have sold millions and been seen as a great of the genre.
2. Mario Party Advance
I
don't know why this game was even made, or who thought a single player
party game aimed at Waluigious readers would sell more than fifty
copies.
Needless to say, the game wasn't well
received. The mini games were boring, the single player was a dull mix
of board game and RPG, and unfortunately, few buyers cared about the
Mario references.
Yeah, those references were
the only remotely decent thing about this game, but dear God, there were
a lot of them. In some places, it seems like the developers were avid
Waluigious readers who somehow dodged the whole 'got to make Mario Party
potentially rebrandable as Sonic the Hedgehog/Crash Bandicoot/Wii
Party' draconian rules the Hudson overlords placed on them, and put in a
whole bunch of classic game shout outs nobody knew about. In Tv Tropes
terms, someone was Bored on Board here.
To
start off, your host was Tumble from Mario Party 3. Unusual, that's the
only time I can ever recall the Mario Party series referencing itself.
Others
were more subtle. Goombob was a character from the obvious species...
who looked just like the Goombas from Super Mario World.
The Big Bob-omb was now a Mafia don in the Bob-omb Mafia (is there before or other the Pianta Mafia? Do they like each other?)
Salvo
the Slime, Lantern Ghost, a Mufti Guy, a Spear Guy, Naval Piranha and
Huffin' Puffin all reappeared from Yoshi's Island, as did Poochie as a
Gaddget (spelling intentional).
Did I mention Hoot the Owl from Super Mario 64 appears (and has taken up gambling?)
There
was even Super Mario Bros 1 music (see the mini game in the below
video). I think it might even be the Super Mario 64 remix found in Hazy
Maze Cave...
The
game was pretty much a gold mine for nostalgia fanatics, but lacked any
real sort of fun whatsoever. As the next game also points out, that's
not too uncommon on this list...
3. Mario Pinball Land
If
there's a way to get everything right bar the gameplay, this game is
the poster child for it. It was brilliant in most aspects. Great music
(especially for the bosses), Mario references a plenty, and graphics
that could have been on the Nintendo 64 or perhaps Gamecube.
Pity
it sucked horribly to play, and as Artemendo mentions, controlled about
as well flying with Fluzzard when horrifically drunk.
Still,
it did have some really good ideas that could have appealed to use
hardcore Mario fans if the gameplay was up to scratch. Like the
suspiciously like a Culex theme remix used when fighting Tutankoopa...
oh wait, King Tut.
Or the Koopatrols found in Bowser's Castle. First and last appearance in 3D, and it was in this piece of ***.
Not
to mention the Freezies. Oh, or the Cobrats from Super Mario Bros 2.
Poor snake enemies, this really wasn't quite the big break they were
hoping for.
The underwater music even sounded like it was from a Sonic the Hedgehog game! Oh wait, bad thing to say on this blog.
4. Itadaki Street DS
This
game is probably the definition of wasted songs. For a game which was
both not released outside Japan and presumably the video game equivalent
of Monopoly, you had some of the best music and Mario references ever
devised in the series history.
Super Mario
World? It had a rocking remix of the final boss theme. This track
could almost be played at a concert, yet instead of using it for Super
Mario Galaxy 2 or New Super Mario Bros Wii, Nintendo just let it rot in a
game which no one bought.
In
a shocking twist no one expected, it even had Super Mario RPG music
given a remix. One you'll never hear again because of the complete ***
up on Nintendo and Square's part in regards to the ownership of the
game. Not a great track like the music for Culex or Forest Maze, but
still, ANY Mario RPG reference is basically non existant these days.
Heck,
it even used the New Super Mario Bros castle theme! You know, the one
half the internet adores as extremely catchy and memorable? This nobody
game has a remix of it:
The
game was basically a nostalgia lovers dream. It had levels based on
Bowser's Castle, Mushroom Kingdom, Isle Delfino, Yoshi's Island and the
odd Dragon Quest area, and had music from literally every game
imaginable.
Not content with referencing Yoshi's Island the game even remixed the Super Mario Bros 3 ending theme!
Others
to go wasted? The Super Mario Sunshine theme. The Yoshi's Island
theme. The Bonus theme from Super Mario World! Not to mention, even
Mario Kart music got used!
All in all, this game was probably the worst use of good Mario resources in history.
Finally, the award for wasted use of Nintendo DS features goes to...
Yakuman DS
A Mario Mahjongg game. Yawn.
With online multiplayer and voice chat. What the ***.
Oddly enough, this is the one of the only games in existance as far as I can tell that had Toadsworth as a playable character.
On the flipside, it somehow also had Petey Piranha playing card games. Don't ask that works.
So
yeah, five Mario games which had fantastic throwbacks to the classic
platformers, yet lacking gameplay and concepts. There are a few I
probably missed (Super Mario Advance 4's e-reader cards were another
example here, with stuff from all Mario games from Super Mario Bros 1 to
Yoshi's Island available), and Paon's Donkey Kong Jungle Climber/King
of Swing/Barrel Blast are good examples too, filled with awesome Donkey
Kong Country references, but lacking in gameplay.
Random
Note of randomness: For a good cameo that I need to mention but
couldn't include, note how WarioWare contains the Curious Factory theme
in Pyoro:
See 1 minute 9 onwards.
Why doesn't Nintendo throw in this many references in the Mario Galaxy games?