Welcome to our Minecraft Review: Nether Update. I feel like Quinn has been talking about this update for a while now. Some of the YouTubers he watches must have gotten early or beta access and were showing it off. Every couple of days when we loaded up the game, he would remark, “I wonder when we’re ever going to get the Nether Update.” Well, we finally have.
However, I have to admit that we haven’t been able to explore the nether as much as we hoped. We actually tried the other day and it ended quite poorly. First Quinn died with a bunch of good armor and gear. Then, I went to help him and I died with a bunch of good armor and gear. Rinse and repeat a few times.
So, we did discover one thing. Mobs in the Nether now spawn much faster than before. I don’t think that they are any tougher necessarily, but there are so many of them that you can become overrun very quickly. So, a word of warning there. However, bear in mind that our experience was in a Nether Fortress. Outside of the fortress, all we encountered were zombie pigmen and I think Quinn called them striders.
So, apologies that I haven’t been able to do my due diligence on this update just yet. File in under “U” for “unsurprising”. In the meantime, I will work on some recon and also the videos of worlds promised a few weeks ago. And stay tuned for an actual Minecraft Review: Nether Update soon.
Thanks for reading Minecraft Dungeons First Look! I was going to call this a review and, technically speaking, it qualifies. However, I’ve only played through about an hour and a half with Quinn, so it is by no means comprehensive. So, to finish out another Minecraft week, let’s talk about Minecraft Dungeons.
I’m not sure how I learned about the game. I think it came up as a suggestion in the store perhaps. That’s probably it. That’s not entirely relevant other than I learned about the game late as usual. When I told Quinn about it, he said something about a YouTuber he watches talking about the game.
Perpetually, Captain.
The game was advertised as a classic dungeon crawler in the Minecraft style. For some reason, I couldn’t envision that. Even watching video, I was confused. What do they mean, dungeon crawler. Then, I played the game and it clicked. Oh, this is just Minecraft Diablo. I’ve just always put Diablo in the ARPG category. So, labels are dumb, Folks. Now that I’ve played it, let’s take a first look.
The Great
Fun! – The game is a ton of fun. I mean, at least to me, that’s the only qualifier for a game to be good. Sure, story and graphics are nice little cherries on top. But, there’s only one thing that I ultimately care about. Is the game fun. This game is. I had fun. Quinn kept saying during our play time, “This game is so fun!” A friend just texted me last night to say, “Minecraft Dugeons is so damn addicting.”
Familiar – This game isn’t Minecraft. But, it’s not meant to be. With that being said, it’s familiar enough that you will find yourself doing a double take when you aren’t able to mine that cobblestone over there or you take damage from a runaway minecart.
It’s exactly as advertised. Classic dungeon crawler with a Minecraft skin.
The Good
Helpful – We all know Minecraft is a kid’s game, right? Nevermind all those streamers on Twitch. By and large, the audience of Minecraft is kids and maybe their parents. Mojang hasn’t forgotten those roots and includes helpful hints and tips as you play. There’s even an icon that points you in the right direction in case you get lost. Very nice touch.
Tough? – Don’t mistake the game as a kid’s game for one that isn’t challenging. Sometimes, games remove the challenge. That’s incredibly frustrating for me. Thankfully, the Lego games don’t. Mojang seems to have taken a page from their book. The game is tough. Quinn and I wiped multiple times against a particular boss, even with the two of us.
The Decent
Limited – I don’t know if this is true, but the game does feel limited. As Quinn and I were playing, there aren’t a ton of different types of drops from what I can see. The map feels small. And, like any of these games, there isn’t much to combat. X,X,X,X,A,X,X,X,X,A,B,X,X,X. There are two expansions already planned and maybe more will come if the game is popular. Until then, expect to be a bit frustrated by how little there is. Even Quinn said, “Wow, I haven’t played this game much and I think I might already be close to beating it.”
Lego Failure – Mojang took a page from Lego’s book and made the game challenging. They appear to not have learned from the mistakes that Lego once made. Way back when, Lego games forced both characters to be in the same area on screen. This was incredibly frustrating for a young father of young kids. I think it was one of the Batman games. I’m not sure. But, eventually, they allowed for a split screen so that each person could explore individually. That was a huge QoL improvement that isn’t in Minecraft Dungeons. Not a huge deal, but as an explorer, it’s not ideal.
The Verdict
After a Minecraft Dungeons first look, I can confidently say that it is a game that will see quite a bit of play from us here at 2 Generations Gaming. I would, obviously, like to beat the game with Quinn and maybe Aiden if he chooses to play. Then, I’d like to do what I usually do with these types of games and replay it to explore. I was so bummed when they shut down the Torchlight 2 servers. I put so much time into that game. D3 has been a bit slower, but I have times that I’m very much interested in that one. Minecraft Dungeons will join that group for sure.
Every year in December and January, I come out of hibernation long enough to get inspired to work on the web page. Usually, that only lasts until February when I start back to school and everything falls into a state of disrepair for a few months. I am not the type to do resolutions, but this year I hope to power though those months of inactivity and instead make the page what I always hoped it would be.
As part of that plan, I’m going to start playing Skyrim and Fallout 3 again. That, too, is tradition. However, this year definitely feels different. I have, so far, avoided the post holiday “blues”. In the past, that is one of the things that has kept me from contributing to the page on a regular basis. If I can just keep that momentum going, things will be good around here.
My father believed firmly in the power of positive thinking. He also lived by the credo, “It’s a good day to die.” Time to start living up to his standards.
I started my trip back into Bethesda fantasy RPG this time with Skyrim. At first, my XBox 360 door did not cooperate and I was afraid that this plan might be dead in the water. However, through persistence (and a little bit of muscle, a steak knife, and a lot of swearing), I got the game up and running. What better way to start this adventure that with a quest!
Once I loaded the game and continued from my last save state, I texted Kevin to laugh that starting back with these games after months off was always an experience (pun not intended). He replied that it always took him about a half an hour to get acquainted again with the story, his character, items, etc. That’s about how long it took me.
Pardon the language, but this is exactly how I felt.
It didn’t help that apparently I saved the game in the sewers and the color scheme was nearly monochromatic. That alone made me almost quit the game and restart. On top of that, the reason I was in the sewer was that I was on the Thieves Guild quests. I had to collect three debts from people. It took me at least 3 failed tries of killing the first person and being put in jail before I considered restarting again.
I didn’t restart. I got smart. In all honesty, I stumbled on quest completion by accident. Instead of pulling out my mace and bludgeoning her to death and then having to beat the rest of the town to death, too, before either dying or ending up in jail, I simply punched her until she submitted. Not necessarily good, but at least it finally advanced the story.
All’s fair in love and Skyrim.
What are the chances that I continue playing to beat that story? That’s been my goal for the six years that I’ve owned the game. I can honestly say that after this latest play session, I don’t know. That’s unusual for me. I’m usually a big fan of the D&D style fantasy.
We slept in the living room last night as a family and we plan on it again tonight, so I played some Hearthstone and Minecraft on the computer. Therefore, I didn’t get a chance to play last night to see if I could find that hook. That’s the main problem. I’m just not that interested in the main story. When I played the other day, I completed the quest to be inducted into the Thieves Guild and I was so excited that I completely zoned out on the conversation that led into the follow up quest.
That’s not an isolated incident. When I first got the game, I played it for 50 hours over two weeks. I was unemployed and had a young child who napped daily back then. How did I play 50 hours and only make it to the Thieves Guild quests? A majority of that time was not spent questing. Mainly, I roamed the countryside looking for butterfly wings and flowers to increase my alchemy skill.
Skyrim can save its damn self.
I took stock of what my life had become and didn’t like it one bit. So, I put the game to the side for the first time. As I wrote, I’ve since given it a few more chances. Here I am giving it one more. One last?
What keeps me coming back? Obviously, I don’t have to like the game. Sure, it is almost universally considered to be one of the best games, both in the series and overall. It’s not like I’m ever shy about going against conventional wisdom. It’s clearly not a “keeping up with the Joneses”.
I think that it just goes back to what I wrote earlier. I’m usually a fan of any type of fantasy setting and I’m a fan of RPGs. I suppose that I just have to face facts and realize that if I’m going to beat this game, I may just have to power through the story that I don’t like very much. It’s either that or hope that some aspect (besides chasing butterflies) of the story finally hooks and speaks to me. As it stands right now, I’d much rather play the apocalyptic future version of the game in Fallout 3. Maybe I will just do that and try again with this game once I’ve finished Fallout.
After all, it’s looking more and more like Fallout might be a instruction manual for the near future.
(Editor’s Note: We did several of these last year with Mario. However, while we dedicated an entire month to Mario, we’re only giving Zelda a single article.)
Only one article for Zelda, perhaps one of the most iconic video game franchises ever? Look, this isn’t meant to insult Link and company. I simply don’t have as extensive a history with Zelda. Unlike Mario, which has gameplay simple enough that they made it into a mobile game, Zelda requires much more of a time commitment. I’m no longer at a point in my life when I can devote weeks of my life playing a game for hours a day.
Oh, Skyrim. You were there for me when I was an unemployed stay at home day. Now that I’m working, I let you sit on the shelf and collect dust. Oh, cruel fates for us both.
I remember certain things vividly from childhood. While that probably isn’t abnormal, some of my formative memories are strange. For instance, I remember one Christmas trip to my maternal grandmother’s house. Well, who wouldn’t want to remember holidays with family? It’s not that. Keep reading. Overall, these trips weren’t terribly memorable. Most of them, along with similar trips to visit my father’s family, are part of that amalgam of “holiday” memories that occupy space and occasionally bubble up into my consciousness. Not this memory, though.
So, what’s so special about this Christmas trip and what does it have to do with Zelda? Stick with me just a bit more. I promise a pay off soon. This isn’t just therapy time with Noob. During this visit, I did what I often do during a big get together. I searched for a quiet place to recharge. That search led me to a room with a Nintendo (original NES) and I think a projector and pull down movie screen. I may be making up that last part. Either way, the game being played was the original Legend of Zelda.
I only know this screen from memes. Just another in my long line of nerd shame.
This nerd shame stems from the fact that, unlike Mario, I never actually played the NES Zelda game. The first one that I played was the SNES classic “A Link to the Past”. That’s when my actual “lifelong” obsession with The Legend of Zelda began. The graphics are the SNES sprite based of my childhood. The story rivaled that of Final Fantasy III, one of my favorites from that system. I was hooked.
While I loved that game, it isn’t my favorite in the series. That honor goes to Ocarina of Time. I know that many people say that its sister N64 title, Majora’s Mask, is the superior title. However, I’ve never played that one. I know what you’re thinking. How can you have a comprehensive history without one of the best games? Well, first I never promised the complete history. Just my history.
And, I’ve never been much of a historian.
Similar to the Mario title for the N64, it took everything great about the game and added a third dimension. You had to worry about depth and height when fighting against bosses. Dungeons, a multilayered affair in previous games, now gave the developer free reign and they took full advantage. Also considered one of the most frustrating levels, the water temple is one of the most unique and innovative designs ever.
By not only giving your character the ability to swim, but also making it integral to the level design, Ocarina of Time achieved full 3D motion and showcased what the big deal was about 3D gaming. I think I’ve made this point before, but it bears repeating. Even though 3D is the obvious current standard in video games now, there was a time when people argued against it. One of their main arguments was that the camera angle and controls would go wonky every now and then. Unfortunately, they usually had a point with N64 games.
After revolutionizing video games with the game pad, Nintendo started down the path of crazy controls with that console.
I’m pretty sure that I never beat that game. I can’t say for certain because it was a while ago, but that was during a time in my life when I worked a ton, so it probably never got finished. As an aside, now that I think about it, there’s not been a time in my life since I started working that I haven’t worked a bunch. Okay, not exactly relevant. Just had to get that off my chest.
The fact that I didn’t finish the game is not that big of a tragedy, either. With the power of computers now at the level to allow for reliable N64 emulation, I can play the game any time that I want. And, now, just writing about it, I actually want to play the game again. Heck, I even have my USB N64 controllers! Okay, I know what I’m doing over the next few days.
I can say that I’m going to do a video comparing the two and then not actually do the video.
My last stop on the Zelda train was Wind Waker. No, I didn’t hate the game so much that I stopped playing them. I know that the graphics were a huge controversy at the time, but I loved them. I enjoy that Nintendo sometimes takes big risks with the title because familiarity can breed contempt. I’m also glad that they didn’t make those graphics the standard because I’m enjoying the more realistic graphics of Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild as their systems get more powerful. However for Wind Waker, the graphics fit in with the theme of the game perfectly.
Even though I never played Twilight Princess or Breath of the Wild, I’ve been keeping up with the series through those games. Being a Nintenerd, I really want the Switch, but couldn’t justify the price tag right now. However, they have announced a new 2D Street Fighter game for it. Along with Breath of the Wild, a new Mario game, and the possibility of a new Metroid game, I suppose it is only a matter of time before I end up getting one.
(Editor’s Note: Remember when I said that the tutorial for Pokemon Sun and Moon was long? Well, it turns out that it was even longer than that! In fact, almost a month later, I’m still learning how ride that darn bike!)
Okay, so the last part of that note is included for humorous effect. These games don’t even have a bike as far as I know, but you can ride a Tauros and that’s way cooler! But, the tutorial of the game goes on forever. Thankfully, it integrates seamlessly into gameplay, so it isn’t nearly as tedious as many games make their tutorials. Granted, I’m an old man gamer who doesn’t even think that there should be a tutorial mode or, at the very least, it should be voluntary. You dang whipper snappers should read the instructions. Either that, or man mode the game. If you die because you didn’t know about a certain mechanic, you die. Learn from your mistakes or suffer the consequences.
If you think that’s harsh,all I can say is that we believe in sink or swim. And all of our kids (that survived) can swim.
But, we live in a time when tutorials are a mandatory part of the game. So, in true old guy gamer fashion, I’m going to complain about the younger generation not being able to adapt to changing circumstances while I exhibit the same tendency myself. When I was your age, we didn’t need tutorials to introduce us to the mechanics of games. Sure, you might argue that when I was your age, we only had a single joystick and button configuration, so it wasn’t like games offered that much in the way of mechanics. Hell, Grandpa, you could say, Pac-Man didn’t even use the button or any diagonal motion in its moves set.
Okay, now that I’m done arguing with myself, I can continue my review of Poemon Sun. Admittedly, I haven’t had as much time to play it recently because Quinn discovered it. Similar to his older brother, he stole it from me and played through a significant portion. However, that happened after I was able to play through the first two trials. He got me pretty far into the island with the volcano trial. In fact, he got me so far that I was disoriented when I picked up the game and started playing again.
Let’s be honest, though. It’s not like Pokemon gameplay is that involved, either. Once the initial shock of waking up miles from where you fell asleep wears off, you go back to walking in such a way that yo avoid any contact with other people because your social anxiety extends even into fiction worlds. Oh, is that just me?
No, Preschooler Ella, I don’t want to hear about how cute your Buneary is before burying that Pokemon in a shallow grave right before your eyes.
When Quinn wasn’t playing and doing whatever it is that five year old boys do…okay, and let’s unpack that statement a little bit before I continue. We converted what might have been attic space into a playroom for the kids. We carpeted it, painted it twice (once because Aiden wanted to use it as a bedroom), and bought an absurd amount of packing crates and shelving units to ensure that things remained in their place. All noble endeavors, right?
Well, the carpet is covered with all manner of dried paint and Playdoh, the paint job is chipped right down to the primer in several places, and the crates and shelves remain empty even as Lego pieces, Pokemon cards, Minecraft mini figures, and my various loot items from all sorts of loot crate type subscription boxes litter the floor and make travel through the room dangerous at best and quite often nearly fatal. So, what exactly is it that 5 year olds do? I’m not entirely sure. But, it would seem that everything that they do results in chaos and misery for everyone else involved.
Sure they look cute and all, but isn’t that exactly how the devil himself would attempt to initiate contact.
Luckily, Quinn’s adventures in my Sun game weren’t quite so destructive. Unlike real life, he understands and appreciates just how important Pokemon can be to a person, so I don’t think he wanted to upset the apple cart too much. In fact, he actually helped quite a bit and got me several new Pokemon, advanced the story almost to the point where I can attempt the next trial, and generally treated my digital life with the utmost respect.
When I finally got the game back from him and was able to play more than he was, I got back into the groove of the game. At the risk of sounding like a broken record or a shill, or a shill that was recorded on a broken record, I really enjoy the game. I mean, this shouldn’t come as a shock because I’ve been a fan of the Pokemon series since the beginning, but I haven’t played a Pokemon game seriously since Diamond. I’ve wanted to pick up a few that Liam got, but I didn’t want to delete his only save file.
I mean, seriously, Nintendo and Game Freak. How hard is it to add just one more save slot to these games? What am I supposed to do while I’m waiting for this technology to be available? *see above*
So, I honestly couldn’t say going in that I was going to enjoy the game. I can now definitively say that Pokemon is still a fun game series even if you’re 40 years old. I got a taste of that when Pokemon Go released, but like many mobile games these days, they knew that they could release an unfinished product and get millions of free beta testers as they worked on things behind the scenes. I’m not sure who to blame ultimately for this development, but I know that Blizzard has done this sort of thing for years and took it to a new level with Hearthstone. I honestly don’t think they do any in house testing on that game.
Unnecessary and completely unrelated Hearthstone insult. Excellent! *air guitar solo*
However, while Pokemon Go was undeniably unfinished at release, Nintendo and Game Freak have had a 2 decade track record with the Pokemon franchise on their mobile consoles. It shows. While the basic gameplay hasn’t changed, they have done some quality of life improvements that aren’t big, but they add to the game and keep you coming back for more. Also, the story and setting are different enough and engaging enough that you want to keep playing to advance that aspect of the game. Overall, I’ve been enjoying the game. It has accomplished several goals of getting me back into the Pokemon world and even considering buying some of the Sun and Moon cards to see what the game adds to that aspect of the world.
(Editor’s Note: Anyone else want to share? Oh, Noob, you’re not finished yet? Well, aren’t you the little chatterbox. Please, continue.)
I have played slightly more of a variety on console. Chris picked up a PS4 a couple of months ago and we played some MK and call of Duty on that. I enjoyed the latest MK and even had fun shooting at Chris and his stupid bot teammates. It actually made me consider getting one for myself, but then I remembered that it is summer and I only make enough to pay bills and go on five vacations. I know, I know. Feel sorry for me. If you feel badly enough, I can open a Kickstarter.
I have played a lot on the Wii U. While the boys and I haven’t continued our adventures in New Super Mario Bros. U, we did finally get a chance to rent Pokken Tournament. Unlike Pokemon Go, which feels like an extremely polished beta and fell slightly short of expectations, Pokken Tournament is everything I had hoped it woudl be and maybe even more.
That’s saying something. Pokken Tournament was one of my most anticipated games of the year. Under normal circumstances, a Pokemon fighting game would not excite me so much. I’ve seen too many of these offshoot type games come and go to know that the only reason they get any attention at all is because of the brand name. Nintendo, especially, is famous for green lighting extremely questionable games for their properties.
Remember Pokemon Dash? Of course you don—oh, you do? Well, then, I’m sorry. I’m very, very sorry.
This is not one of those games by any stretch of the imagination. Instead of keeping the development of the game in house, they partnered with the makers of Tekken. Granted, the aforementioned Pokemon Dash was the result of collaboration with an outside company. However, there is a big difference between Namco and whatever out of business company produced that abortion of a game.
Oh, and before you accuse me of a love in with Namco and Tekken, I need to assert that Tekken is not even my favorite game in the technical fighting genre(?) Is that even a thing? Or, did I just make it up? I don’t know. It sounds like a thing. Let’s treat it like a thing because it makes the next paragraph that much easier to write and I don’t have to go into a long back story. Even though we all know that’s what I love and I pretend that you all love it, too, in an attempt to convince myself that it’s all worth it.
So, in what may be a first, a short explanation. Once upon a time, there were two polygonal fighters that revolved more around actual fighting strategy than throwing balls of fire at the opponent. One, of course, was Tekken. The other was Virtua Fighter. I don’t know if the games were meant to be direct competition to one another. But, that’s what we do as gamers. We bring competition where there should be none. After all, look at the Hearthstone phenomenon. Bazinga!
Oh, you’ve spent the entire game playing strategically and following a carefully crafted gameplan? Here, let me cast a bunch of completely random spells that invalidates all of that and reduces the game to a series of dice rolls and coin flips. Hmm, well played.
Well, in the great technical fighting game battles of the 1990s, I was firmly in the corner of Virtua Fighter. In fact, Virtua Fighter 2 is probably one of my top 10 games of all time. I say probably, because I haven’t actually ever extended my list officially to 10, but off the top of my head I can’t think of 5 other games that I like better. Hopefully that establishes my credentials as a non fanboy of Tekken. With all of that being said, Namco does make a decent fighting game and they did a heck of a job with Pokken.
They could have just made all of the Pokemon play the exact same and just give them different voices and one or two attacks that fans would recognize. They didn’t. All of the Pokemon play as different fighters with different strategies. This adds a variety and replayability because you want to try to master all of the different styles. The game also makes use of the buddy feature common to many fighting games where you pick a companion Pokemon to fight alongside your main character. Overall, a great game and I can’t wait to play it more and have a more detailed review in November when the boys and I cover the game for Pokemon month.
Pikachu, I choose you! …to beat the crap out of other Pokemon!
Aside from my introduction to Pokken, I have actually been catching up (slowly but surely) on my XBox 360 list. I have advanced quite far in the story on both Fallout 3 and Skyrim. I haven’t even been using a walkthrough for Skyrim. Those who know me and have read my articles know that is quite the achievement for such an open world game. I still get distracted by the carrot on a stick side quests, but I’m moving right along. At this pace, I should be done with the main questline right about the time that they release the remake on the XBox One 360 Redux Master edition in 10 years.
Finally, of course, I played some Portal 2. The play through was nothing short of amazing and the game is still special to me. This time was more special, though, because they boys joined me for the journey. Both Liam and Aiden were able to get a kick out of the humor and Quinn was blown away by the sometimes twisted physics of the portal gun. I started an article about why I’m so attached to this game that I will play it time after time over other games that I haven’t yet finished. Maybe I will post it when I’m suffering one of my legendary bouts of writer’s block.
Well, that’s about it for my console summer. I still have two other articles to write about mobile games (where I’ve spent most of my time in the Digital Playground) and tabletop escapades. I haven’t done as much On the Tabletop, but I have gotten back into Magic and started to put together my Hordes armies, so there will be plenty of pictures. Until then, keep on gaming!
(Editor’s Note: In anticipation of–finally and yes, really!–the triumphant return of the Noob and Sons podcast, we celebrate our final Mario Monday, in true 2 Guys Gaming fashion, on a Tuesday. Hey, we finally talk about Luigi in this article, so we call it a Two for Tuesday.)
Yes, Luigi, you finally get your day in the sun. I couldn’t, with good conscience, continue to ignore you in favor of your brother. People were starting to get worried that you might hurt yourself.
Well, we’ve gone from the beginning, through the spinoffs, and landed safely in a new dimension. Our travels take us finally into the current–though with us that always means not so current–generation of Mario and Luigi games. We will focus most on Wii U, but I do want to touch on (pun intended) a DS game with Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon and continue to analyze the DS versions when discussing the other titles.
I think that we can forgo the facade that we are doing this for any reason other than to play games. There will still be analysis of each game, but the page is called 2 Guys Gaming. We need to be true to the name and spirit of the page.
We start with a Luigi game finally. Sure, he’s been in some of the other games we’ve covered, but this one is all him. We already talked about this one in the first (and only released so far) episode of the Noob and Sons podcast. I think I also wrote a companion article back then, too.
I stopped playing the game when I got stuck on the clock part where you have to defeat 12 (or maybe more) consecutive waves of ghosts. I really need to go back to finish the game. Life is just too short to deal with frustrating games. I uninstalled Hearthstone from my phone for that same reason. Even so, LMDM is a fun game, so I need to endure the frustration for the time that it takes to beat that part. Liam assures me that it is the hardest part of the game and the rest of the game should go without a problem.
I certainly hope so. In addition to al of the bargain bin games that I have sitting in the closet and my Steam library unplayed, I also have an ever increasing number of unfinished games. I need to start checking those games off so that I can attempt to get value out of the games that I haven’t even opened yet.
To continue with the theme of spinoff games before getting to the discussion of how Nintendo has kept the gameplay of run and jump fresh for decades, we will talk about the Super Smash Bros series next. I knew of the games, but I’d never played them before last year. Then, Santa brought a Wii U with the game included and I really had no choice. I suppose that it could have gone in the “never been played” pile. Heck, so many other games are there and it grows by the day.
The boys made sure that wouldn’t happen by asking me to play the game with them. It is impossible to say no to your children when they ask to share something that you are passionate about. So, we played a couple of games, but it isn’t a game that excites me. That’s a little strange, because I like all of the characters in the game and I enjoy fighting games, but it’s not two great tastes that taste great together for me.
There’s obviously something to the game. They wouldn’t keep making them and people wouldn’t keep playing them if there wasn’t. Having seen streams of the game, I suspect that it is a competitive scene similar to Hearthstone. People watch players who are very good at the game and play it only to discover that they aren’t as good at the game.
I’ve also written about this game at least once previously, maybe twice. What makes this game unique among the games on this list is that I’ve never played it. Unlike other games that I haven’t played, it isn’t time nor a lack of interest that has kept me off of this one. In fact, of all of the new Mario games that have been released over the last 10 to 15 years, this is the one that has me most excited.
Some of my favorite games have utilized some form of creative content. One of the first games that really hooked me to an extent that I wanted to play it to the “end”, DOOM, allowed players to mod the game and even build new levels. Heck, at least one of those mods became a new game series in HEXEN and its sequel. More recently, I purchased the PC version of Minecraft because the boys told me that there are mods available for the game. Some of them do the same thing that they did for DOOM and change the game in fundamental ways. More on that in a few months when we talk about Minecraft on the podcast.
I don’t think that Mario Maker allows you to fundamentally change the game. Nevertheless, giving players that power over the history of the Mario franchise opens up so many possibilities. Granted, this assessment is made from total ignorance because I haven’t even watched videos of the game in action, so when I finally do get to play it, I will be completely spoiler free. Hopefully that happens soon as I ordered the game from Gamefly but then the game I sent back seems to have gotten lost in transit.
I often make the statement that all Nintendo has to do is release a new Mario, a new Zelda, and a new Metroid and I will buy the system. Really, though, all they have to do is release a new Mario game and I will get the system. The other two games are just icing on the cake. Mmm, cake. I’ll be right back.
Well, there’s no cake in the house and I’m too lazy to go to the store to buy some. So, back to the discussion of the game. After showing everyone how to make a proper 3D game with Mario 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy, Nintendo has gone back to what made Mario popular in the first place. 2D sidescroller games with the option to play 4 players. The boys and I have played through the first few levels in the game and I can say, without question, that it is as much fun as it was all those years ago. Heck, it might be even more fun because I get to share it with my kids now.
The Mario character is 35 years old this summer. He has outlived Atari, Sega as a console maker and his primary nemesis Sonic the Hedgehog, and shows no signs of slowing down. Just when you think that Nintendo can’t possibly get more from such a simple idea, they surprise you. Other than the 3D games, the franchise has never undergone a major redesign and, still, it remains fresher and more fun than at least half of the franchises out there today. Can’t wait to see what they have in store for us in the years to come.
(Editor’s Note: We have two Mario Mondays that we’re celebrating this week to make up for last week’s miss due to the holiday and school vacation. Isn’t that crazy?! Well, to make it even more crazy, we’re celebrating this first Mario Monday on what should be Wario Wednesday!)
As “processing power” (whatever the hell that is) increased, programmers took advantage of that increase by pushing games into the third dimension. As with most change, even those int he name of improvement, the journey into 3D was met with mixed response. While most gamers today will argue that 3D gaming as the standard is a good thing because it provides for so many possibilities and a wider variety of games, at the time older gamers were unsure about the change.
I mean, I understand some of the consternation. We went from talking about number of bits and colors to number of polygons and real time physics. DoA and the beach volleyball game introduced even another type of physics, but I will leave it to you to Google that one as it is slightly NSFW. No matter the controversy at the time, 3D was here to stay.
Or, just take a look at the cover of the game. Think about it…only for a second. Don’t overthink it. Yep, you got it. Now, feel free to Google your brains out.
In keeping with the theme of Mario Monday (on Wario Wednesday and a week late!), we will explore how adding this 3rd dimension affected Mario games. Maybe we can talk about what 3D Mario does better than 2D. Perhaps we will discuss if, and how, the 3D could have been done differently or better. Mostly, in keeping with our other tradition of the month, we will simply use it as an excuse to play some great older games.
Super Mario 3D Land/World
More recent (not the most recent, as I will discuss them more in the next article) Mario games have taken what was great about the early games and brought them into the third dimension. Unlike the other games I cover in this article, these games aren’t complete reworks of the mechanics of Mario.
Instead, they imagine how the old school Mario platformers might play if you were able to turn into the screen instead of just traveling left and right. You have full 3D range of motion, but are still restricted to a mostly linear path. The result is an interesting and unique experience unlike anything offered in most other Mario games.
The Verdict: A unique Mario experience, but I’ve seen 3D platforming done better in other titles.
Super Mario Galaxy
A friend texted the other day to sing the praises of this game. It, along with the sequel, are the last two games that present Mario in a completely 3D pseudo sandbox game. Galaxy does give full range of movement, but it is not as immersive of a world as GTA or Red Dead Redemption.
I don’t expect Mario to follow directly in their footsteps. I don’t even know how such a game might work. Part of Mario’s charm is the limited levels that provide immediate gratification when you complete them. So, I’m glad that they kept that part of the games intact. With that being said, the Galaxy games do more with 3 dimensions than any game.
The worlds are contained on spheres and you travel from one to the next in x, y, and z (for you no math people, that’s front-back, left-right, and up-down). Sometimes you luach yourself through the air. Sometimes you free yourself from the “gravity” of one of the microplanets to fall to another. In both cases, the effect is nothing short of magical.
The verdict: Full range of motion makes these games more interesting and fun than other sandbox games in spite of the comparatively limited size of the worlds.
Super Mario Sunshine
For some reason, this is one of the least popular Mario games. I’m not sure why, but I suspect that it is because of the different gameplay. In addition to the normal run and jump, mario had a water cannon mounted on his back that allows for all manner of different abilities. It allowed you to reveal secret areas, defeat enemies, and even fly for short distances.
As I discussed, gamers can be the most sensitive when it comes to changes. Any time Wizards of the Coast updates their band and restricted cards, players invariably complain. More recently, Blizzard updated Hearthstone to include a standard mode. You’d have thought that they required players to pay a monthly subscription to remain in the game. While I think that the entire concept of Hearthstone is ridiculous, people enjoy it and the concept of standard is necessary for the health of any card game.
The point of it all is that gamers complain about every change, no matter how small, benign, or even necessary it is. So, it’s no surprise that Mario’s water cannon met with mixed reaction, to put it mildly. Many people hated the idea. What I find funny about that is that it is a logical step between Super Mario 64 and Galaxy. Not content with a 3D world, they pushed the envelop to allow players to more freely move around in the up and down direction.
The verdict: A fun game with slightly different gameplay that wasn’t appreciated in its time. Actually a decent step forward in the evolution of 3D games.
Super Mario 64
At the time, this was the greatest game that I had ever played. I wasn’t alone in that sentiment. So many people loved the game for so many reasons. Even today, it remains my favorite Mario game and the first game that I beat to 100%. I had to cheat on a few of the trickier star pieces, but I still got it done. Heck, I even launched myself onto the roof to meet Yoshi.
I purchased an N64 strictly for this game. Sure, I owned other games, but this is the one that sold me the system. It took everything that we loved about Mario and brought it into the brave new world of three dimensions. Unlike the 3D World and Land games, the worlds were immersive and worth exploring beyond just the linear path. That same immersion makes up for the fact that it doesn’t offer the same full range of 3D motion that Galaxy does.
The verdict: In my opinion, still the best Mario game ever made. A great marriage of the old and the new makes for a great experience.
(Editor’s Note: Join us in our second installment of Mario Monday!)
Last week on Mario Monday, we explored his evolution from supporting Jumpman to main character of his own line of successful games. This week, we continue with an analysis of some of the games from other genres that star everyone’s favorite plumber.
Oh, jeeze. Oh, Luigi, I didn’t know you were there. Oh, Man, this is getting awkward.
maybe we will talk about how innovative, inventive, or inspirational the games were. Perhaps we will discuss how the games either created or changed their respective genres. We can explore some of the other games that owe their existence or success to Mario offshoots. Because, honestly, this real reason we’re doing all of this is to play more games.
Dr. Mario
My first experience with Mario outside of his strange platforming universe was Dr. Mario. I bought (or got it for Christmas) a Game Boy to play the more traditional Super Mario Land. not a bad version of the game, but the limitations of the system are painfully evident. The Game Boy came bundled with Tetris. Thankfully, that is one tradition that has come back into favor. Who the hell wants to buy a game system just to stare at it? Give me some games, you cheap asses. But, as usual, I digress.
Innovative, inspirational, inventive? At the time, and only having really played Tetris in comparison, I don’t know that I’d call Dr. Mario any of these things. It follows in the footsteps of Tetris by dropping puzzle pieces from the top of the screen and it still revolves around groups of four to take things off the board.
Genre changing or creating? Seeing as how I compared the game to an earlier game in the genre (Tetris, still the most well known and arguably the best puzzle game ever), Dr. Mario did not create a genre. I don’t even think it can be argued that it changed the genre all that much. They changed the game a bit by making the pieces pills and involved clearing certain elements from the board, but as we saw earlier, even that owes it’s existence mainly to Tetris.
The Verdict: A fun, if not necessarily new game in the genre that offered me and my friend Kevin endless entertainment when in high school. If you are looking for more genre defining games, check out any number of the mobile match three games available.
Mario Party
I don’t remember if Christine got me a Nintendo 64 for my birthday or if it was just the last time I remember her being interested in video games. Lately, she seems to have infected with the “MOM” virus when it comes to video games and thinks that they just serve the purpose to rot people’s brains. Either way, I picked up Mario Party because it was one of the multiplayer games that interested me and we played it a few times but ultimately decided that it would be more fun with even more people. Being only mildly interested in interacting with society, we didn’t have those people in our lives, so Mario Party hasn’t been a big part of our lives. Maybe now that we have kids, we can help to cure her of “MOM”.
Innovative, Inspirational, Inventive? As much as Mario followed in the footsteps of Tetris to become a doctor, the same cannot be said in any way for Mario Party. The concept of trying to market board games to a younger audience is not new. However, Mario Party put a new spin on this old genre by almost folding the elements that make Mario unique into a board game to create a weird amalgam that works in spite of the fact that it probably shouldn’t.
Genre changing or creating? I wouldn’t say that it changed the board game as video game genre, since most of them still basically just take the board game and try to recreate it as a video game. Sure, they add new animations and sounds, but that was most likely inevitable. I will say that this game and the more narrowly focused Wario Ware are almost a genre to themselves.
The Verdict: If you have a bunch of people over and want something other than Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit, toss in Mario Party whatever number they’re up to and, not to put too fine a point on it, have a party.
Mario RPG
I don’t think that I ever played that version of Super Mario RPG. I remember it being released and thinking that it was a cool idea at the time. For some reason, though, that never actually translated to playing the game. I think at the time, I was more interested in the Sega Genesis because it offered Mortal Kombat with blood. Ah, to be young and dumb again.
Innovative, Inspirational, Inventive? Having not played the original, I can’t speak as to how different that one was from traditional games in the genre. I have played the GBA version of the game, which I guess isn’t quite the same game, but uses elements from the RPG game and Paper Mario (thanks again, Wikipedia!). In that regard, the game succeeded much like Mario Party. It blended elements from traditional Mario into a different genre of game.
Genre changing or creating? Given such a diverse collection of games in the genre, it is difficult to change the genre as a whole. With that being said, Super Mario RPG and its official and unofficial sequels are different from most of the games that came before. They still have the traditional level system and powers as those games, but the addition of Mario mechanics, at least in the version that I played, add to the game and make it more fun to play in some ways that traditional RPGs.
The Verdict: the Super Mario RPG version of the games offer a new enough experience that they definitely have a place alongside some of the greats like Final Fantasy. I’m not saying the games are as the Final Fantasy games. If you want an introduction to RPGs and love Mario, definitely play these games.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
I think that I’ve mentioned before that the Game Boy Advance is still my favorite mobile platform, even with all of the amazing games available on tablet and phone. What can I say? I think I’ve also said that I’m a “things were better in the old days, get off my lawn” old guy when it comes almost anything, but especially gaming.
Innovative, Inspirational, Inventive? Definitely innovative and inventive, possibly inspirational? The main game has similar game play to the original Donkey Kong, but they tweaked it and added a puzzle element to the game. By itself, that would be enough. They also added new enemies and traps to the game to make it feel like an entirely new game. I don’t know if I can say inspirational because I don’t know of another game like it.
Genre creating or changing? I’m not even sure what genre to classify this game. I suppose it is a puzzle game and that’s what I called it up there, but it also has elements of platformers, too. So, I guess it created the platforming/puzzle cross genre, but it might be the only game in that genre. We oldbies remember Lemmings. Also, is Braid similar? I’ve never played that one. Oh, Toki Tori, too, but I might be the only one that played that game. So, maybe it did create a genre after all.
The verdict: Of the offshoot games (other than the best for last next game to be discussed), this one is the most fun and entertaining as a single player experience. Sure, Mario Party offers a better multiplayer mode, but if you’re only in the mood for a party of one, then this is your game.
Mario Kart
True story confession time: I might be a filthy casual when it comes to gaming, but I do have my moments of hardcore (or at least semi-hardcore) every now and then. I rented Mario Kart Wii. It might have been from Gamefly, but I think it was actually a legitimate game rental store because we got at least one of the steering wheels. I was playing the game against Liam and I put some oil on the stove to heat up. You may know where this story is going. Well, the oil reached the flash point, caught on fire, and started melting the microwave. We freaked out, called the fire department, and lived with my in laws for 2 weeks while they cleaned our house of the mess.
Innovative, Inspirational, Inventive? Well, it’s not really any of these things necessarily. At the same time, it is all of these things. Does any of that make sense? Of course not, but neither does almost burning down the house while playing the game. The game is a back view racing game similar to Pole Position, but it does add the elements of multiplayer, power ups, and the ability to mess with your friends. All of those things add enough to the game to make it a unique game.
Genre creating or changing? Mario Kart did not create the racing game obviously. It did change the genre in a significant way. It gave rise to the “Kart” subgenre of racing game. Terrible game after terrible game came after Mario Kart with a variety of characters and settings that never lived up to the promise of this one.
The verdict: Mario Kart stands alone (more or less, there are some clones that are actually decent) as the defining and best Kart style game series. After all, no other game ever caused me to burn down the house. Though, I did ignore a “emergencies” to finish defeating a WoW boss once or twice.
(Editor’s Note: As part of our relaunch and month long celebration of all things Mario, on Mario Mondays we will be taking a trip through the history of everyone’s favorite plumber.)
Sorry, green guy.
Every week, we are going to explore a different era as defined by us, of the Mario Games. Maybe we will compare them to their contemporaries of the time. Perhaps we will try to dissect the magical formula that allows such a simple formula to endure for over thirty years. Mostly, we will just use it as an excuse to play all of these great games in a misguided attempt to recapture our youth. If recent cinematic history has taught us anything, it is that we fall hard for sentimentality and nostalgia here at 2 Guys Gaming.
This week, we start in the most logical place, the beginning. That may seem obvious, but when I write, I often don’t begin at the beginning. It’s more fun to drop your reader into the middle and make them travel back to the beginning. Nevertheless, when assembling a chronology, it is probably best to start at the beginning.
Perhaps we went back a bit too far.
Mario started his journey as Jumpman in Donkey Kong, so that’s where we begin our journey, too. Before we do, though, I find it interesting that many of those early video games were –man games; Jumpman, Mega Man, Puckman. You probably remember that last one by a different name because they feared immature kids and teenagers might alter the title to something offensive. Having been an immature teenager, I understand the concern because it is something that I might have considered in my dumb youth. I’ve never defaced property, but I did chuckle when they had to change the name of the Public Dock in my old hometown because people kept stealing the “L”. I certainly would have referred to the game by the offensive name in conversation. I might have even though they changed it to avoid that calamity. How about that? A Mario history lesson and a Pac Man etymology in one article. We are learning you good.
Donkey Kong (1981)
How did it compare? Donkey Kong released during what many consider to be the first Golden Age of video games. The aforementioned Pac Man, Q Bert, Galaga, Dragon’s Lair, Tetris, Xevious, 1942, Zaxxon, Dig Dug, Pole Position, Burger Time, Joust, and many more I’m probably forgetting in spite of some very helpful Wikipedia pages. If faced with an arcade full of those classics, I doubt that Donkey Kong would be where I chose to spend my quarters. In fact, I know that it wouldn’t, because when faced with those games in collections, I choose other games over Donkey Kong. Verdict: It’s a fun game, but not even in my personal top 10 when complared with other games of the time.
Does it endure? In spite of my feelings about the game, it does still hold a place in the history of Mario and video games. During one of the peaks of popularity, Donkey Kong more than held its own as a favored game. Yes, that does endure to this day. How? Well, it has been shown time and again that if there are at least two people interested in an activity, they will turn that activity into a competition. While I have always thought that competitive gaming is a bit silly, DK owes much of its popularity and success to several people trying to beat each other’s high scores. Verdict: Because of Fistful of Quarters, the legacy of Donkey Kong is still very much alive.
Really, that whole previous paragraph was just an excuse to show this sweet picture of Billy Mitchell again.
Nostalgia factor: Since I wasn’t a huge fan of Donkey Kong as a kid, the game does not conjure warm and fuzzy memories for me. Still, I think that we’ve show that it has a place in the Mario Pantheon and probably offers some gamers a time machine to rekindle the gaming glory of their youth. Verdict: I suspect that a take it or leave it poll might be split right down the middle.
Mario Bros (1983)
How does it compare? Released in the same stacked era as Donkey Kong, Mario Bros matches far more favorably against the competition. It doesn’t make sense as the overall game play is essentially the same. You run and jump, but instead of avoiding barrels, you flip and knock off enemies. Why the heck am I telling you this? We’ve all played these games. If you haven’t, find a friend and play some Mario Bros. I’ll wait. That–that illustrates the primary advantage that Mario Bros. has over Donkey Kong. The coop two player mode meant that you and a buddy can just hop onto the machine and wreck bugs together until you run out of quarters. And that’s really all you can ask for a game. Verdict: Two player mode makes this game much more fun, but still really boring as single player.
Does it endure? This game may not have been the topic of a movie documenting the quest for the high score, but id did spawn several cartoons and a terrible live action movie adaptation. When offered as a mini game, I will always gladly take the opportunity to relive my introduction to Mario Mario. Verdict: This game still lives on my computer and sees more frequent play than Donkey Kong.
Nostalgia Factor: This is the first game to identify the character as Mario, so that has to be worth some points. Unlike Donkey Kong, I have actual fond memories of Mario Bros. I played the game in the arcade and at home with friends. I’d venture a similar guess that many others share my opinion of this game as when they fell in love with the moustache. Verdict: If this one doesn’t take you back, you need to go back to video game history class. And, do the homework this time.
Trust me, this is homework you won’t mind doing.
Super Mario Bros. (1985)
How does it compare? Super Mario Bros is quite possibly the best game of its time. I can say this with confidence because it still finds a place in top 25 and top 10 lists to this day. Some of that is obviously nostalgia (but this isn’t the nostalgia section, so more on that later) but mostly it is just because it is a great damn game. It was revolutionary. It helped to advance the idea of games with finite length that could be finished. It was innovative. Even as a completely linear adventure, it encourage exploration by scattering secrets throughout. It was challenging. Everyone wasted a quarter their first time playing by running directly into that first Goomba. Above all, it was fun. Verdict: This is one of the best games of all time, not just the era it was released.
A game where you do the same thing over and over and it is still fun? Modern games could take a hint from Mario.
Does it endure? In a word, yes. Any time I download the questionably legal (Most likely very illegal, but I calm my conscience by adding the questionably. Hey, it’s all about casting that shadow of doubt.) MAME, I always test it with Super Mario Bros. first. I always die at that first Goomba, too. I used the game to test streaming possibilities and it is one of Liam’s favorite games. Verdict: Can I envision a day when it falls out of favor for more modern games? Sure, but Super Mario Bros. is here to stay and will continue to delight gamers for generations.
Nostalgia Factor: This is the game that started it all for so many of us. By us, of course, I mean me and I’m projecting from that very small sample size. Hey, I’m might be a mathematician, but I’ve always struggled with Stats. My parents bough us an NES for Christmas one year and I was so happy that I could finally die to that stupid Goomba in the privacy of my own home. Really, though, this game and others bring me back to the arcades with friends. Throwing away our birthday money one quarter at a time in between rounds of mini golf or waiting for our movie to start. Verdict: My generation misses the arcade era so much that we’ve invented barcades to take us back. Games like Super Mario Bros. are the reason why.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)
How does it compare? What happens when you take one of the best games of all time and improve it in all possible aspects? I know that I am prone to exaggeration and hyperbole, but think about it. It has better graphics, bigger levels, more innovative power ups, and trickier secrets. Verdict: It is the reason that I owned an SNES adn the best game of its time.
What other game lets you jump in a boot to hop on enemies?
Does it endure? The legacy of Super Mario Bros. 3 lives on every time I purchase a new Nintendo system to play the latest and greatest (Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. In my estimation, the greatest game in the series has yet to be eclipsed and, for once, I will adhere to no spoilers.) in the series. And, yes, I have bought them all. Heck, I didn’t have to go through that whole previous paragraph to answer the question. Verdict: Not only have I bought all of the new Mario games, I’ve bought Super Mario All Stars 3 times on three different systems simply to be able to play this game.
Nostalgia Factor: Just as the original Super Mario Bros. brings me back to the arcades of my youth, this game reminds me of great times with my brothers playing on the SNES that I bought with money from my job at Toys R Us. Now I get to share those types of memories with my kids. Verdict: Nintendo continues to improve and impress.
Super Mario World (1990)
How does it compare? I don’t want to say that the games took a step back when this game released. That wouldn’t be entirely accurate. It wasn’t exponentially better as SMB and SMB3 were over their predecessors. It wasn’t worse, either. It just didn’t add enough over SMB3 to make it a universally better game. Verdict: This gamerepresents more of a lateral move but is still one of the best games on the system.
Does it endure? Not as much as either of the two previously discussed games. I will play Super Mario World every so often, but I haven’t bought it multiple times as I have SMB3 and it isn’t a got to game as the original SMB. Additionally, Liam played it for a few weeks on the Wii, but it hasn’t grabbed his attention like some other Mario games.Verdict: It might be unfair to compare to the other two games, but this one definitely doesn’t stack up, even years later.
Nostalgia Factor: I don’t have any special connection to this game. No time spent in arcades. No memorable games with my brothers. Not even the new style of nostalgia of playing the game with my boys. It just doesn’t have the aalure of the earlier games because it didn’t make that quantum leap and was just good enough, in terms of Mario games, to ultimately be forgettable. Verdict: Sorry Super Mario World, you just don’t fire up the Way Back Machine in any meaningful way.
Well, there it is. Our triumphant return with the first installment of Mario Monday. Be sure to come back next week when I discuss five of the off shoot Mario games; Dr., Party, Kart, RPT, and vs. DK. I’ve spent the better part of the past few weeks putting together a schedule and a plan to stay on that schedule. We’re back, and I hope it is for goot this time. Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy all the new content. To steal a quote from Hearthstone, “It’s good ta see ya again!”
