^ This. 
It was really only in retrospect that I noticed the linearity distinction between the two.
I think what he was saying, and I agree, is that even though you can choose from a variety of “systems” to play in, once you touch down you pretty much go linearly through each level. Yeah you can run around each level, but you can only get the one star whereas, if I recall, in SMB64 you could grab any star you could reach in each run through a level.
Since the boards are restructured for each star, this provides more variety, not less. I don’t see the huge advantage of being able to grab whichever star at whatever time. If you want to get a different star, just return to observatory and select it.
I’m just saying that’s where the linearity comes from. Whether you see it as a bad thing or not doesn’t change the fact that its there.
I did like the level design in smg quite a bit. Those must have been tough to think up.
It really sounds like just grasping at straws for a criticism. I didn’t even notice it on my own, and now that it’s been pointed out to me I’m convinced it’s a good thing. It essentially quadruples or quintuples the number of levels in the game. Can you describe how it detracted from your experience at all?
For me, a lot of the fun of Mario 64 was that it took the idea from Mario World, of having secret exits and whatnot, and really ran with it; you kept exploring the same level, over and over, with just a cryptic hint of guidance, looking for new things to do, stumbling on hidden surprises. It made each level that much deeper. In the words of Warren Spector, “Mario has, like, ten things he can do and yet there’s never a moment where you feel constrained in any way. No game has done a better job of showing goals before they can be attained, allowing players to make a plan and execute on it. And the way the game allows players to explore the same spaces several times while revealing something new each time is a revelation.”
With Mario Galaxy, I rarely got that feeling; I may have nominally been re-exploring the same spaces, but I just felt like I was falling into a new “Run from A to B” course most of the time. I suppose the flip side of that is more diversity, in some sense, but I felt the depth of the exploration aspect was lessened. There was never any “Hm… what do I do now?”, and the joy of running around trying to figure it out, which had been my favorite part of Mario 64.
shrugs. I don’t mean to dismiss your own enjoyment. We just had different responses, that’s all.
Ok, at least I understand it a bit better now. I still prefer the way Galaxy is structured but now I at least see how someone could prefer the structure of 64. Still, I don’t think it’s a big deal.
Inspired by this thread, I started replaying Galaxy. It’s just such a lovely, wonderful game in every respect.
What it really did, though, is just get me upset that it’s basically the only worthwhile Wii game out there. It’s really unforgivable that there isn’t a Zelda game for the system that’s this beautiful and loving and magical, a Metroid game that isn’t just a twitchy Halo clone aimed at adolescents that drink “gamer fuel,” a Donkey Kong game, a Kid Icarus game, etc., all lovely and beautiful and fun and nostalgic with winks to us original NES generation players now playing with our children, updated and built around the wiimote and nunchuck but not at the expense of fun and accessibility. The fact that Galaxy is all of this and more and nothing else is really reveals that they’ve just plain chosen not to make it happen, and that just makes me sad.
I disagree. Granted, if you’re looking for a game thematically similar to Galaxy (magical, lovely, wonder), you’d be hard-pressed to find that on any current gen console. However, if you broaden your horizons a bit, there’s quite a bit worth playing on the Wii, in my humble opinion.
Punch-Out!! was clearly a labor of love by the creators and they brilliantly updated this classic. The game has a fantastic presentation and the gameplay is still brilliant.
I couldn’t disagree more that Metroid Prime 3 is just a “just a twitchy Halo clone.” I will concede the game’s opening does seem remarkably similar to Halo’s, but once you’re off that ship, the game is very much its own beast. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s a fantastic game (Metroid Prime 1 is better–which is now on Wii, btw), but it’s certainly a very well made game that offers much more than most modern shooters.
If you’re into multiplayer, Smash Bros Brawl is a stellar effort. They refined the hell out of that series and polished it into a diamond. I’m still playing this game with friends more than a year and a half after its release. Mario Kart Wii is also a damn good time, as is Wii Sports Resort
And if you don’t mind some odd-ball titles, both Samba Da Amigo and Boom Blox offer unique experience that simply wouldn’t work on any other systems.
With all that being said, I still think this is one of the worst generations of consoles, as far as games are concerned. I think the Wii offers some great experiences, but many of them are fundamentally different to what Nintendo has offered during prior generations. I do agree it’s a travesty there hasn’t been a stellar Zelda Wii yet, but it’s been reported that they are working on another one–here’s hoping it turns out well.
Agree to disagree; they removed that game’s soul the day they made it a FPS. The Wii installments have been functionally the same as the Gamecube version.
Both Kart and SBB are essentially the same games as their gamecube predecessors. Animal Crossing, too. Indefensible.
Samba was significantly better on Dreamcast. Boom Blox, however, is a great mechanic attached to a decent game.
Yeah, we’re definitely going to have to agree to disagree, as I feel Metroid Prime is not only one of the GameCube’s highlights, but is also vastly superior to its 2D predecessors. Hell, I wouldn’t even categorize it as a “shooter”–it’s Metroid in 3D, not an FPS. It’s no more a typical shooter than Super Metroid was Contra.
Animal Cross is a near clone, that much is true. Brawl, to me, played substantially differently than Melee–I loathed Melee, but adore Brawl. It’s true the fundamentals are the same–it is a sequel, and thus a complaint that could be lobbed at almost any series, but a comparison to Animal Crossing certainly isn’t apt.
Same thing with Mario Kart. it’s true that it’s a racing game–if there’s any way to switch it up without fundamentally making it a different game, it’s beyond me. I thought it played very differently from Double Dash (which is my favorite game in the series, incidentally), but had enough new mechanics to make it interesting (motion controls, stunts, new boosting system, online play).
Significantly? That game had some major quirks too. I prefer the Wii one myself, as although it’s admittedly not quite as precise, that fact that you don’t need to whip out a pad, and four corded maracas each time you want to play more than makes up for the difference (plus it was way cheaper too).
But hey, different strokes for different folks. I think the Wii has the most compelling software this generation…even if it’s still less compelling than most prior generations.
I bought a Gamecube controller, extension cord ('cause the stock cord is like 7 inches), and a memory card, all to go with the copy of Metroid Prime I bought, 'cause I’ve heard such great things about it. I came home and started playing, and explored and figured things out on my own for about 2 or 3 hours (no guide or anything, just having fun and absorbing the experience); I was getting pretty well into it. It was a little dark for my taste, but fun. Then I got to the first big boss, died, and it kicked me all the way back to the beginning. I was so pissed that I haven’t even looked at the case since then. That was over a year ago.
Mario Kart Wii was the whole reason I wanted a Wii. I don’t think I knew anything about Galaxy and probably wouldn’t have expected to like it if I did. Mario Kart 64 was my favorite game of that generation and one of my favorite games of all time. I was a little let down with MKW. I didn’t think there were enough tracks, and they just didn’t seem big or beautiful or “fun” enough. It’s an alright game- my 2nd favorite on the Wii, probably-- but not what I was hoping for. The online portion is basically pointless IMO since you can’t communicate with your opponents-- you might as well be playing a computer. And that goddamn blue shell is a shining example of a pointlessly unfair element in a game. All it does is punish you for doing good.
Twightlight Princess . . . I’ve got 2 or 3 play hours on that game and NOTHING has happened yet. I’m still in the town you start out in, or just outside of it, I think. I haven’t played it in a long time. I probably need to buy a strategy guide before I judge this game. I surely can’t call it intuitive so far, though.
Overall I’d agree that the Wii is a huge wasted opporunity so far, with the sole exception of Galaxy (though I haven’t played Punch Out.) I hope there are some games coming down the pipe that will rectify this. I have no interest in Xbox360 or PS3 (I have always stuck to 1 console per generation, and it’s always been Nintendo except in the Xbox1 generation) and I don’t really care for computer games.
TP is a Gamecube game, revamped for Wii because they needed a few flagships to promote the release to their existing audience. (In my opinion) it does not count when discussion good/bad Wii games.
Either way, modern Zelda games tend to start off a little slow, and TP perhaps takes this a little too far. It builds to a very nice pace after you get sucked into the Twilight at the conclusion of the forced tutorial. I’d fire it up again if I were you, if you need help ask me (or post, or whatever), I remember there being at least one trigger that is almost bullshit in how annoying it is to get to work. The game itself isn’t too hard, but there are definitely a few (very few) points where stuff just doesn’t work like it seems like it should.
It’s not really an FPS though. It may sound like spin, but after playing it I agree wholeheartedly that they did, indeed, make a First Person Adventure. It’s much, much closer to Metroid 3D than Halo Adventures. It has all the usual backtracking flagships with all the stuff involving using new powerups to find the next ones as well as the optional missile expansions and energy tanks. The only thing that I really found that changed is that it’s perhaps a little less of a platformer and due to the scan visor there are a lot less arbitrarily hidden items (a good thing IMO, Metroid is great and all, but there is a special place in Hell for the level designers who hid some of those item expansions).
Yeah, the save station thing was a really bad design decision.
That fishing part did it for me. I nearly stopped then, but my girlfriend and I finally figured it out after hours of attempting to fish.
What a horrible part to a game.
Was it the actual fishing or getting the goddamn fucking no good son of a mangy flea-bitten mongrel two-legged crapsack of a cat to actually take the fish you caught? That was the trigger I was thinking of.
I finally got my 121st star last night. It wasn’t nearly as hard as the first time around, when I was figuring everything out as I went, but Luigi presented a few challenges of his own.
I think if I was a kid I’d start over right now and play the whole thing again. For now, I’ll leave it alone (and maybe try to find some games with a similar essence of fun) and wait anxiously for the sequel.
I might pick it up again shortly before Galaxy 2 is released.
There are a few things part 2 could do to top it, but I seriously doubt the producers would have the exact same things in mind as me, so I anticipate it coming in slightly lower than the first one. Mario Galaxy will probably be at the top of my favorite games list for a long, long time.
The actual fishing was wretched. Getting the cat to take the fish was simple compared to that.
The game is dead to me and I won’t even look at it.
Really? It only took me one try to catch the fish both playthroughs, just pull up when the marker goes down. I never had a personal issue with the cat either, but my friend spent 4 hours trying to get it to trigger.
Some advice please.
I have Galaxy, and I have had a hard time getting into it. I probably haven’t played it in 4-5 months. I remember getting stuck on one particular board I must have played 20 times (I had to throw bombs at garbage?) that I just couldn’t master. Was that a particularly troublesome bottleneck for people, or am I just terrible at this game? Anything I should aim to do to really fall in love here?
That is a really hard board. Aim at the gold dots on the floor. Experiment with touching the bombs right away to start their timers. It takes a lot of tries. There is no wiggle-room in the timer, so don’t lollygag.
I sort of fell out of love with it when I had 90-something stars and couldn’t find anymore. I bought a strategy guide to find the rest and that’s when I really knew we were meant to be together. You can’t force it, though. If it’s just not your type of game, you’re not going to be able to make it your type.