Next mainline 3D Mario discussion thread - Super Mario Odyssey 2/Open World Mario, etc

Z

Zordian

Goomba
It's been over four years since the last mainline Mario game (Odyssey) and one since the smaller 3D Mario released (Bowser's Fury).

We are due for a new big mainline 3D Mario title and I wouldn't be surprised if it gets announced this year, especially since we are getting the Mario movie this year, and I think it's time for a discussion about it.

I believe Bowser's Fury was a test to see how Mario could work in a open-world environment, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't even originally a game but when Nintendo saw how well it was going they made it a full game and packaged it with 3D World (even though I believe it could have released separately, but that's another thread), I thought Bowser's Fury was an amazing game and the only thing that could have made it better is if it had Odyssey controls.

I think the next 3D Mario (whether it be on Switch, Switch 2 or a cross-platform title) will be an open world Mario where everything is connected with tons of side content, new costumes, and more!
 
To me, I think open world is starting to become a tiring trend, especially since if Mario went open world, it'd be like the third Nintendo property to take upon it in this generation (after Zelda and Pokemon Legends Arceus), and this doesn't take into account the dozens and dozens and dozens of open world games flooding in this generation. Don't get me wrong, I like a good open world title (Burnout Paradise, GTA V, and Forza Horizon 4 are all great games) and I'd excuse it a little more if there was effort put into it to stand out from other games, but honestly, the trend of...big open map with busy work repeat objectives scattered in them and unlocking more repeat busy work objectives across the map, with many collectibles, climbing radio towers, and beating up bandit camps can and will start to grate on you. This is why my reception of Sonic Frontiers has been lukewarm at best (though part of it is because the Sonic Team isn't exactly competent and its first impressions weren't exactly dazzling...another topic for another day).

I'd like to see Mario take upon a more linear approach, something different in presentation and style from 3D Land/World. Maybe not open world, but still open to exploration. I'd like to see Mario dabble in platforming genres he hasn't done before, the most notable one I can think of is the Metroidvania, where you explore in a smaller scale room and degree of backtracking to be expected. Sure, there are also a lot of games these days that are Metroidvanias too (like Hollow Knight, Ori, and....er Metroid Dread) but it's something refreshing for the Mario series, I feel, and I don't think we've had 3D Metroidvanias before, at least, not big name ones.
 
I'm skeptical to believe we would get a second entire new entry on the same console. Galaxy 2 is an outlier.
 
2D Mario has stiff, stiff competition though. Donkey Kong, Rayman, Yooka Laylee, Sonic, Kirby, Ori, Hollow Knight, Shovel Knight, etc. have all evolved the genre, while New Super Mario Bros. U feels like a dinosaur.
 
Disagree. If the 2.5D art style was replaced with like that 2D art style associated with merchandising and whatnot, or if the game actually looked visually stunning, people would love newer 2D Mario games to death since the gameplay itself is like top of the line 2D platformer.
 
The next Mario game will be a deep philosophical and psychological story about what drives Mario to jump and the complex relationship he has with the world he lives in.

It will be called The Jump Man.
 
It sounds like a documentary about basketball shoes


...

has anyone really cracked a joke between the basketball shoe name and the name of the carpenter.
 
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