Should Nintendo make a “Truly” Open World Mario game?

Styrofoam

Styrofoam

I like Pokio
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Now I know you might be thinking "Wait Nintendo's already made 3 Open World Mario Games" but I'm asking your opinion on a hypothetical "Truly" Open World Mario game. By "Truly" I'm talking Breath of the Wild, Skyrim, etc. No hub, no traveling between lands, purely open world Mainline Mario game. It's an idea I'm quite excited at the mere possibility of, If such a game was announced, I would be ecstatic, but how would you react? Should Nintendo make such a game? Or should they just bury the idea and go back to more traditional 3D Mario games?
 
I'd love to explore the Marioverse in an open world Mario game. Something that kind of captures what I would want is Minecraft on Nintendo consoles and the Mario texture pack. Just exploring all these iconic locations from the Mario games and you can do whatever you want with them.
 
Id also like to see a 3D Openworld Super Mario Game
 
i was definitely disappointed to find out that mario odyssey wasnt actually open world, so i want that to happen someday
 
I think that is a good guess for what Odyssey 2 could look like — connecting the MO kingdoms onto one map like BOTW Hyrule, and using warp pipes instead of the air ship for fast travel.
 
Eh. I'm not opposed to it but I'm not dying for it to happen.
 
Styrofoam said:
Now I know you might be thinking "Wait Nintendo's already made 3 Open World Mario Games" but I'm asking your opinion on a hypothetical "Truly" Open World Mario game. By "Truly" I'm talking Breath of the Wild, Skyrim, etc. No hub, no traveling between lands, purely open world Mainline Mario game.
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If anyone has that argument in mind, they're wrong. Nintendo hasn't made any open world Mario games. Sure, some of them have more open-ended means to reach a goal, but there's still an overall linear structure in it.

Truly open world games tend to have these components

*RPG-like system of level up and skill trees
*Crafting, get materials from randomly generated items near the player to gather or from enemy drops
*Bandit camps
*Radio towers that expose parts of a map
*Bunch of side missions to do

Mario doesn't have any of these. I've played Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn, by the way. Mario's worlds, even the Sand Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey, don't even begin to match the scale of those games.

I'm for an open-world Mario game but open world was a faddish concept at the time, when it seemed like every game and its mother tried to do open world and many just fail. This is similar to the first-person shooter fad of the day and the battle royal fad that was around from a few years ago up until now. Ubisoft's especially notorious for this, and you'd see these tropes crop up so many times players just got weary about bandit encampments and radio towers in open world games. How would Mario do open world while retaining the Mario identity but also not be so reliant on open world tropes that it's a bog standard Ubisoft open-world game but with a Mario paint?
 
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Penguin Mario said:
*RPG-like system of level up and skill trees
*Crafting, get materials from randomly generated items near the player to gather or from enemy drops
*Bandit camps
*Radio towers that expose parts of a map
*Bunch of side missions to do
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I remember when a lot of open world games didn't have this stuff.

Was amusing times.
 
I think Paper Mario 64, and Thousand Year Door came close to open world.
 
PaperYoshi said:
I think Paper Mario 64, and Thousand Year Door came close to open world.
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Nah, they're strictly linear experiences, both games lock you out of exploring worlds by typically introducing arbitrary obstacles such as train not working or guards stopping you from entering a forest. Open worlds tend to have environments much more massive in scale, 64 and TTYD have tiny arenas pipelined into entering hallways. The closest Mario game to an open world was Odyssey but it's still a pretty linear experience; usually open worlds have one gigantic world.
 
Dark Light said:
Nah, they're strictly linear experiences, both games lock you out of exploring worlds by typically introducing arbitrary obstacles such as train not working or guards stopping you from entering a forest. Open worlds tend to have environments much more massive in scale, 64 and TTYD have tiny arenas pipelined into entering hallways. The closest Mario game to an open world was Odyssey but it's still a pretty linear experience; usually open worlds have one gigantic world.
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Hmmm.. if you get to the end of Bowser's Castle in Paper Mario 64 you can travel back to most places in the Mushroom Kingdom.
 
PaperYoshi said:
Hmmm.. if you get to the end of Bowser's Castle in Paper Mario 64 you can travel back to most places in the Mushroom Kingdom.
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Well, that's a result of linear progression in an RPG. The more you progress, the more areas are opened up. I suppose in open-world games, there are roadblocks and level caps that practically stop you from going everywhere, but Metroidvanias do this too and those aren't open world. Open world games have a much bigger map to walk on, usually, and the objectives are more open ended and there are usually a lot of side quests scattered. Paper Mario 64 could be open ended if there was like, a big sprawling world and there are dungeons scattered throughout and there are areas you can visit, but you can't just go *anywhere* due to specific roadblocks (say you can't blow up a wall since you need bombs, and you need to get the bombs upgrade from another area) or the enemy is just too strong for you to progress. Paper Mario 64 DOES have Toad Town where visiting worlds are organic, but you get pointers where to go next and that's not really open-ended.

Paper Mario's 64 design and progression is strictly linear but I give you that there are some side stuff you can do and progression isn't visibly linear as it is in the Mario platformers.
 
So open world would be more akin to the Elder Scroll Games?
 
Yeah that's an example of something open-world. You can really tell the scale differences between the two. I can't find much examples you might be familiar with, but if you look at gameplay footage of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, that's another idea of how big open world games can get.
 
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