Unpopular opinions about the Mario series

Hmm I might take back what I said a little bit.

It turns out the meshes (NOT TEXTURES, JUST THE MESH) from Brawl to Smash Ultimate are nearly mostly reused, save for additional polys. HOWEVER Smash Ultimate's Mario deviates the most from the original, mostly his hair having additional poly including a different topology (?) and the sideburns look less defined.

You'll be hard-pressed to really find the differences; the farthest to the left one is Mario Party 4 Mario, which Brawl Mario is definitely based on. But if you look at how the edges are clustered, there really isn't any major changes since Brawl, just a couple of lines on the shoes, more lines on the hands, more lines on the overall buttons. Additional triangles were created for the eyeballs, but it's relatively minor. That the sideburns on Smash Ultimate's Mario is the most noticeable one in terms of overall structure of the mesh, it should be telling.

From left to right: Mario Party 4, Brawl, Smash 4, Smash Ultimate
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Oh yeah Brawl Mario's rear is more... well endowed with poly count, which is a bit strange (the next two Marios do have an extra edge or so on the wrists and the overall straps; the hands have received signficantly more edges). I don't think it's really for the backpockets, since texel density isn't really affected by poly density.

Even the UVs (green lines) are remarkably the same, though Brawl Mario has an additional cut in the middle of his nose and on the cheeks. Not sure what is going on with some of the green regions, but that's probably just the way the program is reading this ripped file, and I don't think it's accurate to how the meshes were UV unwrapped.
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(Btw if there are apparent scale differences, that's on my end; I didn't think minute differences in mesh scales would really affect comparisons)


So I'll have to challenge SmashWiki's claim here (https://www.ssbwiki.com/Mario_(SSB4)#Aesthetics):
  • Change
    Due to the aesthetic used in Smash 4, Mario has a sleeker design, and his overall color scheme is more vibrant. His overalls also lose the back pockets used previously in Melee and Brawl. Altogether, these changes make him appear virtually identical to his appearance as of Super Mario 3D Land.
The sleeker design is a component from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He does not appear virtually identical to the 3D Land Mario; he's closer to those recolored Brawl Mario mods available on Brawl Vault, such as this recolor mod that makes him look more like the Smash 4 Mario

So I guess all of them are pretty on model to the original, BUT that being said, Smash 4 and Smash Ultimate Mario are basically holdovers to Brawl Mario by virtue of being, well, virtually the same model but different textures. Mario has changed a lot since Brawl so it's technically true that in terms of contemporary generational comparisons (e.g. Brawl Mario - Galaxy Mario; Smash 4 Mario to 3D World Mario; Smash Ultimate Mario to Odyssey Mario), Brawl Mario is the closest one, but mostly because the succeeding meshes don't change very much besides additional poly allocated to hands and hair and overall buttons.

Besides, when Brawl Mario gets to make different expressions rather than the "in the zone" fighting face, he looks pretty much just... Mario. He's made quite a few varied expressions, so I'm not sure where SmashWiki's (or MarioWiki's?) claim that "Brawl Mario never smiles" is really supported by evidence.

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Sure, the evidence is a bit out of the way, and I wish Mario made THESE faces in-battle rather than default to the usual angry expression, but yeah, please, this claim that Brawl Mario never emote or smiles, it's just Brawl Mario libel at this point.😤 He makes more expressions than MELEE Mario for christ sake.

And if *that* isn't smilling vs the default angry expression the Smash 4 Mario makes while he loses, then I'm chopped liver.
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(only in Marioboards I get to post long-winded detailed anaylses about digital clusters regarding my favorite character kthnx bye)
 
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While I am excited that Mario Kart 9 will have 24 players, I am consequently not sure that I want it to be the launch title for the Switch 2, because the saying "a rushed game is eventually good, but a delayed game is forever bad" applies as it could be tough to process 24 players ESPECIALLY for an online mode, so much time should be spent to work out the kinks. Concededly I do not know everything about how which elements of games are hardest to program, but that is from an outsider's perspective to the topic.
 
I've played a kart racer with 16 racers with gameplay far more frantic than Mario Kart is. Trust me, Mario Kart will handle it.
 
Despite being a fan of Boos it pains me to say this but I think the movie king boo design kinda sucks and to me it feels very unfinished
 
While I am excited that Mario Kart 9 will have 24 players, I am consequently not sure that I want it to be the launch title for the Switch 2, because the saying "a rushed game is eventually good, but a delayed game is forever bad" applies as it could be tough to process 24 players ESPECIALLY for an online mode, so much time should be spent to work out the kinks. Concededly I do not know everything about how which elements of games are hardest to program, but that is from an outsider's perspective to the topic.
I mean Nintendo has probably been working on this game for much longer than we think (probably since 2016 or 2017) so they might already have a lot of the kinks worked out. Also the Switch 2 is probably going to be much more powerful than Switch 1, so it might not be as bad. Finally, if Nintendo made actually good net code this time, it might be the best Mario Kart online we've ever seen. Admittedly, this is making a lot of assumptions.
 
I mean Nintendo has probably been working on this game for much longer than we think (probably since 2016 or 2017) so they might already have a lot of the kinks worked out. Also the Switch 2 is probably going to be much more powerful than Switch 1, so it might not be as bad. Finally, if Nintendo made actually good net code this time, it might be the best Mario Kart online we've ever seen. Admittedly, this is making a lot of assumptions.
I don't think Nintendo is working on the game for that long, judging from the footage. That reveal trailer really looks like it was only recently started development with all of those reused assets, looking like just 8 with different looking characters, and gameplay looking exactly like 8 except without any items or standout gimmicks.
 
Mario Party Advanced isn't bad It just needs a few weeks and it could be better
 
I don't think Nintendo is working on the game for that long, judging from the footage. That reveal trailer really looks like it was only recently started development with all of those reused assets, looking like just 8 with different looking characters, and gameplay looking exactly like 8 except without any items or standout gimmicks.
It could be a Smash Ultimate situation where they've been developing the game in secret for longer than we thought. So if Nintendo did with this what they did with Ultimate, they could've started working on 9 after the release of 8 Deluxe. So they could've started development in 2018 for what we know. They had Home Circuit and Tour in development at the same time, so 9 could've also been in development at the same time as those 2 games. I'd argue that it had to have started development since at least the introduction of the Booster Course Pass in 2022. To me, the BCP was Nintendo's way of giving us something to chew on while they developed 9. (yes, also to delay 9's release date so 8D could make them more money) However, I'd wager 7 years of development would give Nintendo enough time to make an even grander and better release than 8D even after the BCP release.
 
Everyone will hate me for this, but the original Luigi's Mansion is a bad game. I wanted to like it, but I found it too short, tedious and repetitive. It also didn't help that I played a lot of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon several years before I could play this one, so I found it to be a big downgrade from Dark Moon.
 
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Everyone will hate me for this, but the original Luigi's Mansion is a bad game. I wanted to like it, but I found it too short, tedious and repetitive. It also didn't help that I played a lot of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon several years before I could play this one, so I found it to be a big downgrade.
I really agree I do not like the whole series, although it's supposed to be horror It wasn't horror It was more like a comedy horror Also, I think the Mario Sluggers Baseball series is kind of underrated.
 
I'm someone who played the original Luigi's Mansion first and has some nostalgia for it (I've watched my brother played it when it got first released) and I strongly agree that Dark Moon is a significant upgrade over the original. One of my biggest issues with Luigi's Mansion is the tons of missable content; like once you captured a boss ghost, you have zero second tries and I don't think you know what quality pic you got unless you save scummed (and btw I think the only times you can save in that game is by talking to Toads).
 
And it's designed to make you want to replay it from the beginning for a bigger prize mansion 😅 so tedious.
 
And it's designed to make you want to replay it from the beginning for a bigger prize mansion 😅 so tedious.
I wish there was some way to make a game that wasn't horror, but feels like horror, but isn't too tedious or babyish-easy.
 
I wish there was some way to make a game that wasn't horror, but feels like horror, but isn't too tedious or babyish-easy.

Well there's this kid's game which has some legit horror elements in it lol.

 
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