“revival”
Hello Nintendo Life! I’ve noticed that there’s been a resurgence of Mario RPGs in the last year or so. Mario himself felt a little different from Super Mario Wonder, but in a good way. The unique charm that (more often than not) avoided the franchise for a long time…is back! For Mario RPGs in particular, it didn’t look that good until recently. Paper Mario began to get rid of unique characters, story and RPG elements, and Mario & Luigi seemed to disappear. But now with recent remakes like Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door retaining the unique characters and story, and the return of the Mario & Luigi series with Brotherhood which seems to have as much unique charm as the previous entries, now I have hope for the future of Mario RPGs! What do you think the chances are that Nintendo will continue to make Mario RPGs with unique characters and story like we’ve seen with games like M&L, TTYD and Super Mario RPG?
PikminMarioKirby
I don’t think the games ever lost their charm — that was the only thing that kept me going through the Origami King battles, personally — but they must have lost some I don’t know what while. It is significant that two of the three you mentioned are remakes of games from past generations. Hopefully, going back to them reminded developers what made the best entries so appealing. future is looks great, but I’d still go in with limited expectations. Brotherhood will be a test. – Ed.
“love for Baron fur”
Nintendo life. what’s up Where’s the Tetrisphere? Where is Wetrix located? Where is Mashed fully loaded? I’ve been waiting longer for these games than a new car. Everything would go well on the Switch. Let’s get them back. Also, how about the love for Baron’s fur flies. Peace out.
James
I used to keep a list of N64 games I’d buy when I saw they were cheap, and Tetrisphere and Wetrix were on it. I’ve never seen them cheap. Sounds like perfect NSO food to me.
And just for you, I’ve updated our Baron: Fur Is Gonna Fly game page with a banner and icon. That’s the extent of the love it gets from me, but comment if you’re a fan of flying fur. – Ed.
“a bit philosophical”
Hello again, Nintendo Life! Thanks for responding to my letter last month! It certainly brought back repressed memories of flipping through PS4 discs only to see the beautiful cover of Dark Souls III smeared with all the “Game of the Year” stamps. Agonizing things.
Moving on, my question is somewhat philosophical, how much do you think hardware power and game size really matter? It’s an obvious given that games must run well with minimal performance issues, but the discussion doesn’t end there. Does the Switch 2 really need to be that powerful? Revisiting my favorite 6th gen titles made me think about how much power we need to create compelling experiences. Of course, as a huge Musou nut I was happy that Age of Calamity is as beautiful as it is, but that definitely shouldn’t come at the expense of performance. I believe there has to be a middle ground somewhere.
Yousef
Nintendo is showing every generation that you don’t need unlimited power to make the best video games in the world. BUT! One big advantage of more powerful hardware is the ability for other companies to run their own ports with less need for optimization. Publishers are extremely risk-averse right now, and Switch ports aren’t as financially viable as they were five years ago. Software competition is intense, despite the sheer number of consoles out there. A decent port of a good game with a 70 on Metacritic? That could easily fail.
This is not a case of ‘lazy developers’ who don’t want to spend hours optimizing; it’s a matter of money. Again. More power gives teams that don’t have Nintendo’s resources—studios that don’t make the hardware and know its flaws inside out—a valuable buffer, ultimately lowering developer costs and reducing the risk of games being dropped. Sure, the weave in Mario’s denim will look better than ever, but aside from the novelty of Nintendo’s own experiments, more power will really allow third parties to put their games on the platform, regardless of size. – Ed.
“fixing upper parts”
Hello, NL team!
As I’ve learned, people who restore and repair obsolete hardware are a very cooperative community and new knowledge is always being thrown around.
I think it’s very *VERY* important to emphasize how influential a skill it is to see something broken and be able to say “how can I fix it”.
Whether it’s aimed at the old gameboy or the state of modern gaming, we’re a community of tinkerers and should continue to share our thoughts and passions about it. Never be afraid to think to yourself, “Can I fix it? How?”, because someone surely has an answer.
What are some of the cool things your returned or repaired?
Lots of love (with a touch of alcohol),
MetaCrysta
Hmm, well, I’ve taken apart and cleaned a few DMG-001s in my time, and I don’t have a Joy-Con that I haven’t broken apart and fixed. I put a new blade on my kitchen blender the other day. Took the hoover apart. Filled in some old screw holes in the wall. Does that count? – Ed.
What about you Alana?
Ollie?
Bonus letters
“I’m not trying to spam.” – Pastellioli
it is exactly what would a spammy McSpammer say. – Ed.
“2 years ago I built a Donkey Kong build out of Legos and 2 years later there were less than 700 supporters left to be reviewed by the Lego team. He has more than 9300 of the 10000 required supporters and only 70 days left to expire. Would this be something you could share on any of your social networks to give Donkey Kong a chance to become a real set?
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/c2b4c41c-eba9-4882-ad8f-ed8caa405d82“- Richard
Oh, go on then. You know I have a soft spot for Lego. – Ed.
“Thank you for reading my letter!” – Isaac Estudillo
I elite squad of underpaid letter readers enjoyed themselves immensely. – Ed.
“Hat Trick of Stupid: Just earlier this morning Nintendo was fine and Freaking Dandy with it “- Coffeemonstah
Oh, that Shigsy is fickle, prone to overturning tea tables. Fine china he went through! – Ed.
That’s all for this month! Thanks to everyone who chimed in, regardless of whether you were listed above or not.
Got something you’d like to get off your chest? A burning question you need an answer to? A fix you can’t keep? Then follow the instructions below and we look forward to reviewing your letters.
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