MarioWiki Poll Discussion

Some Mario games give Mario speech in text boxes, while other games portray him as a silent character. How do you feel about this?
  1. I would prefer Mario to always have text box speech.
  2. I would prefer Mario to remain silent, and have other characters talk for him.
  3. I would prefer Mario to remain silent but not have other characters speak for him.
  4. I would prefer for Mario to receive full voice acting instead.
  5. I would prefer Mario only talk in gibberish.
  6. I am alright with Mario's speech being portrayed inconsistently.
  7. I have no opinion on this subject.
This joint poll was proposed by @BBQ Turtle originally, and was revived by @Shbig Changes after an era of languishing in the archives. If I had to be real with you guys, I find Martinet's Mario voice kind of annoying but also think it's weird to have him actually talk either via text or audio. I think the peak of his characterization is in Superstar Saga and the like, where he speaks a bunch of nonsense italian and does charades with Luigi or whoever he's with at any given time. SMRPG is good for this too.

For me, it's probably a tie between 2 and 5.
 
Punished (Real) Luigi said:
I would prefer Mario only talk in gibberish.
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Option 5. Yeah pretty much the M&L games (or the first four at least; I'm still in the early-mid stages of Paper Jam and haven't been playing much of it lately, and I've never played the two remakes though I did purchase them before the eShops closed) handled it perfectly imo
 
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I fall into the Full Voice Acting/Gibberish/Okay with Inconsistencies options. Text boxes do absolutely nothing for me and just leave me wanting to hear them speak or have the Mario + Rabbid SOH treatment where they say a line or two from the text box. Having other characters speak for Mario/Luigi is so annoying and draws out the pace, going with my favorite M&L title Dream Team my favorite cutscenes were when they're highly animated, and you could understand the events without any spoken words. Didn't drag pacing and was very cute.

At this point I want them to bite the damn bullet already and have the Bros talk. Even gibberish or small sentences I don't care, what I care about is hearing their lovely voices. I am the annoying mofo who spams the Call Mario button in Luigi's Mansion or makes him purposefully run into dust clouds multiple times for his cute sneezes cuz it's great! LM3 has so, so many new voice lines/clips that go beyond the requirements while maintaining the appeal of a silent protagonist because Luigi never outright speaks full sentences. But full voice acting would be a treat. (Especially after Charlie Day Luigi, yes I am still miffed shut up *pout*)
 
Option 3/5. Having other characters talk for you should really only be done if they have some kind of speech impairment, like not being able to hear themselves clearly. Mario, however, does not have a speech impairment, so I think he should talk gibberish, even if it won't mean anything. That way, Toad shouldn't have to cover up for him in the rpgs and party games.
 
I personally would prefer Mario talk but only speak simple phrases or sentences (like "let's-a-go") but I'm not sure if that would cover Option 4, because "full voice acting" sounds like it would mean Mario would be talking more complicated sentences.
 
Risen King Chrom said:
I personally would prefer Mario talk but only speak simple phrases or sentences (like "let's-a-go") but I'm not sure if that would cover Option 4, because "full voice acting" sounds like it would mean Mario would be talking more complicated sentences.
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I was thinking the same thing, like how Mario and Luigi do occasionally speak intelligible phrases like "Okie-dokie" and "Mama-Mia" in the M&L games but whenever they say full sentences and such it's in gibberish. I like this.
 
I'm okay with anything other than him being silent of course, recent games have always given him unique voice lines. Like my favorite voice line ''WHAT?''. But honestly, textboxes would be cool too. It'd be cool to slowly see more dialogue with Mario in the future to maybe build more character for him.
 
What is your opinion on indie games that draw heavy inspiration from dormant Mario subseries gameplay (Wario Land/Pizza Tower, Paper Mario/Bug Fables, etc.)?
  • I greatly enjoy these games, and I would like to see more made to fill the void left by official games.
  • I enjoy these games, although I would prefer more official games with Mario characters.
  • I do not like these games because of the original characters, but I would like them with Mario characters.
  • I like the concept of taking heavy inspiration from Mario gameplay, but I do not like the games that have been released.
  • I do not like these games in general.
  • I have not heard of these games/I have no opinion on these games.

As far as polls go, this one from @Turboo is fairly unique because it involves unofficial material, content that does not, in fact, feature the plumber himself in any meaningful way. Instead, as Nintendo's franchises all drift away from their roots and either disappear or drastically change, it's only natural that an independent developer or two would step up to the plate and try to replicate these franchises, or at least create something close enough to automatically appeal to a pre-built audience of dead franchise fans.

Games like Bug Fables and more recently (and notably) Pizza Tower have been gaining more and more popularity, as people begin to take notice of these types of titles during Nintendo's pretty brutal game drought as of late. I, for one, am happy to see it. It's Option 1 for me. While I think in some situations such as games trying to mimic Paper Mario (or some kind of hypothetical Mario and Luigi clone), I'd probably swerve more towards Option 2 because I think the Mario cast adds a lot to the formula, Pizza Tower showed me that a game can have entirely original characters and be arguably more endearing and likeable than the thing it's paying homage to, and I'd like to see more developers try to make something original provided its done with enough flavor to make it stand out as its own thing.
 
Option 6 as I haven't played any of the very specifically dormant Mario series-like games so I don't have an opinion on their quality. However, I still consider this an interesting premise for me personally as I have Bug Fables on my Switch but have not gotten around to playing it yet.
 
i haven't played bug fables, but pizza tower is absolute choice. it actually scratched my itch for wario land, there's antonblast on the horizon, and i don't really trust nintendo to put out anything worthwhile as of late. option 1.
 
Option 6. I've never played either title and likely never will play them.
 
For this, I think I will vote for the neutral option. While I didn't play either the Wario or the Paper Mario inspired games specifically listed in the examples, I admire their ability to capitalise on the vacuum left by Nintendo to achieve success in their wildest dreams. One title that I did play is Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. I know the duo is basically created with Banjo-Kazooie as their basis, but this game in particular is based on Donkey Kong Country, which is of course within this branch. Personally I like it but the titular Impossible Lair is just too difficult for me to handle, even though I collected everything before tackling it.

Also, something I've noticed is that only the successful homages get acknowledged, which is natural because the winners basically get written in history while the others are more or less forgotten. So like Bug Fables tend to be brought up as the Paper Mario champion, but nobody would for example, bring up The Outbound Ghost since its quality isn't remarkable. I surmise that from this, there is a desire for a homage to be great because of how generally enjoyable the original is in the first place.

You know, I have to wonder if any indie developer attempts to imitate WarioWare. That's a game series that seems like a decent candidate for its offbeat humour, but maybe WarioWare already gave off the indie vibe that it's hard to top it (except the price).

Thank you for reading.
 
yeah, i was a bit too blinded by one singular game listed as an example and i wholly ignored the duds. Yooka Laylee's the Impossible Lair is touted as "ermahgerd Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze spiritual successor!!!" but it has nowhere near the same quality, from controls, to level design, to scope, to aesthetics. It's not a great successor to the original DKC trilogy either.

in the end I'd say my answer to this poll is contingent on the quality of the game, as it obviously should. if the game is on par, i'm sticking with option 1.

winstein said:
You know, I have to wonder if any indie developer attempts to imitate WarioWare.
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dunno about indie attempts (there isn't much demand for that since nintendo is still supporting the warioware series) but i think this counts conceptually (trigger warning, cartoon blood):

 
I'm all for projects that are born from the passions of passionate fans, so if we can keep getting excellent games that reimagine past formulas, I am the avid supporter of it.

There has actually been a separate indie attempt at a WarioWare-like called Spookware, which is based in being a dark comedy/vaguely horror game. I've heard that recent iterations/versions of the game have toned down the more grisly elements, but it does still deal with imagery involving gore and other horror tropes, so keep that in mind if you search for it. Still a neat project, though, if you're able to approach it.
 
Koopa con Carne said:
yeah, i was a bit too blinded by one singular game listed as an example and i wholly ignored the duds. Yooka Laylee's the Impossible Lair is touted as "ermahgerd Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze spiritual successor!!!" but it has nowhere near the same quality, from controls, to level design, to scope, to aesthetics. It's not a great successor to the original DKC trilogy either.

in the end I'd say my answer to this poll is contingent on the quality of the game, as it obviously should. if the game is on par, i'm sticking with option 1.
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I have a bit of fondness of Yooka-Laylee as characters so I think it's nice that there is an attempt to imitate Donkey Kong Country, and the game has some unique ideas likechanging up levels with a natural element (e.g. submerge the level in the overworld with water, and the level is underwater) and using Tonics to affect the overall difficulty. However, the game is certainly not as polished as a Donkey Kong Country game is. Even the characters are treated as the full set so unlike Donkey Kong, if Laylee is out, you're essentially handicapped because certain moves can't be performed like the Buddy Slam (the game's equivalent to the Ground Pound). The only thing I didn't like about the game is how difficult the final level is (you can't use Tonics to ease the gauntlet, unfortunately). I don't even think that Donkey Kong Country's final levels are this difficult because I can at least clear them (at least the bonus ones in Returns and Tropical Freeze).

dunno about indie attempts (there isn't much demand for that since nintendo is still supporting the warioware series) but i think this counts conceptually (trigger warning, cartoon blood):

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I don't consider Dumb Ways to Die as an indie attempt that fits the other examples because it's an adaptation (from an Australian campaign) instead of something original, similar to a licensed video game because a lot of them rib on original games (the various Mario Kart clones like Garfield Kart come to mind). However, Spookware is what I mean because it is original.

Thank you for reading.
 
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I'm going to go for option 1, even though I've never actually played any, because I am looking forward to Bug Fables once I get round to it and I believe that Mario-inspired games sound like they could be fun
 
winstein said:
Also, something I've noticed is that only the successful homages get acknowledged, which is natural because the winners basically get written in history while the others are more or less forgotten. So like Bug Fables tend to be brought up as the Paper Mario champion, but nobody would for example, bring up The Outbound Ghost since its quality isn't remarkable. I surmise that from this, there is a desire for a homage to be great because of how generally enjoyable the original is in the first place.
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The term that I am looking for is survivorship bias! To my understanding, any thing that doesn't conform with a certain level of survival, or in this case excellence, are likely to be forgotten. Because of the specific examples used in the poll, it's very likely that the choices are squarely based on the enjoyability of those games instead of the less visible and very likely less excellent games. Of course, there are less-excellent Mario games, but their visibility is greater compared to the cream of the crop indie games. So by comparing those two, it's inevitable that the indie games are treated favourably.

In any case, I still stand by the neutral option (the last one in the list) because they can be hit-or-miss. Anecdotal example that is not a Mario game: I played a game called "Letter Quest Remastered", which is a riff of Bookworm Adventures. The heart is in the right place, but it's severely lacking (e.g.: there is no sense of combos in Letter Quest), and I am not surprised that nobody's referring to it as a "proof of concept" on the viability of a new Bookwork Adventures game (I'll like to add that EA somehow saw fit to delist the original Bookworm Adventures games, so there is a vacuum in this aspect).

I imagine that there may have been certain attempts at Wario Land, but if it weren't for Pizza Tower, nobody would say "you see, Nintendo? This is proof that the players want a new Wario Land!". Bug Fables is similar: nobody's going to cite The Outbound Ghost as the "proof" that Paper Mario should return to the traditional formula, as opposed to using the more successful Bug Fables as one, even if using two games as proof is better than one.

Thank you for reading.
 
I've never heard of Bug Fables, but Pizza Tower was good. I'd like to see more like it, it doesn't matter to me if the games have Mario characters.
 
Besides sequels, every 3D Mario title has been a major gameplay departure from the last, introducing new mechanics. How do you feel about this approach?
  • I prefer when new 3D Mario games are completely different from the previous entry.
  • I prefer when new 3D Mario games have similar gameplay to previous entries, but with a different core mechanic (Cappy, FLUDD, etc.)
  • I'd prefer more direct sequels with no changes to core gameplay, just more content such as levels and powerups.
  • I prefer a mix of both; with new 3D Mario games releasing with new gameplay, but sequels still being made to fill the gap and provide a familiar experience.
  • Regardless of changes from game to game, I do not enjoy 3D Mario at all.
  • I have no opinion.

Thanks to @Vruet for the initial concept, this week's poll addresses the 3D Mario games such as Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Super Mario 3D world that largely play the same as their predecessor. Do you guys prefer this kind of thing? Or would you rather have a couple new mechanics that change the way you interact with a very familiar moveset? What about a Mario game that played totally different?

It's interesting to think about, I guess, but I've gotta go with Option 2 personally. I think games like Sunshine (yes, I know everyone hates it) and Galaxy tend to use their new mechanics well to carve their own identity and provide a unique experience. I'm a big fan of the basic gameplay concepts introduced in Super Mario 64, and despite their differences, each new 3D Mario tries to carry on that general feel. I wouldn't want a big change, it would be too hard to get used to.

Well, now that we're done with my opinions on the poll, it's time to announce that @Ray Trace has decided to step down from the Poll Committee due to a lack of free time. This is obviously a pretty understandable reason as life should always come before internet polls about Mario, so I'd like to thank her for her time with us, and extend an offer to return, should things improve in the future.
 
Option 2, here; as much as classic 64 is nice, I definitely feel like the big main 3D games are good laboratories to experiment with different mechanics and stuff. I think it works well in this case.
 
Option 4. I love Super Mario Galaxy 2 and I think a sequel to Super Mario Odyssey would be fantastic. On the other hand, I also love the creativity and new ideas that the games came up with (even to some extent for Super Mario Sunshine, which in my opinion is okay but the weakest). So I guess imo the games should be innovative but exceptionally amazing games like Odyssey and Galaxy deserve direct sequels
 
I think I'll go with option 2. I like 3D Mario best when it tries new things and experiments with original ideas. Sure, I wouldn't mind a sequel to Odyssey, but if video game series don't take risks, it won't be long before they become dormant.
 
Option 3. I mainly want Super Mario 64 forever with cool new powerups. While I like Cappy and Super Mario Odyssey, I'm not a huge fan of having one central, 'core' mechanic. I want more variety and options to solve puzzles. I also prefer SM64's explorative, creative style of gameplay over the 'just get from a-to-b' style from Super Mario 3D World.
 
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