Topic: It's MAR10 today. So what Mario game are you playing or replaying?

[Revned]

JonLeung Said:

Well, it's MAR10 again!  So what are you playing?



If I have time tonight, I'll probably finish The Subspace Emissary mode in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.  It doesn't star only Mario, but he IS in it...  >_>

I finished it. The last level was really long and got boring. The final boss is pretty hard too. But, whatever, I have Sonic now.

[JonLeung]

I won't have time to seriously play games today, but if all else fails, maybe I'll put up some Super Mario RPG maps from Peardian.



(I played over an hour of Metroid: Zero Mission yesterday while waiting at the Mazda dealership since my vehicle was getting an oil change and tune-up; maybe I should've played some Mario then to make up for today.)

[TerraEsperZ]

I really should play some Super Paper Mario for the occasion. I stopped playing in the middle of Chapter 3, then just never got back to it.



(I've got as many games that I've stopped playing half-way through than games I've stopped mapping half-way through. In other words, a *lot*)



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Current projects: Bucky O'Hare (NES), Metal Storm (NES), Clock Tower (SNES), Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES)

[Will]

I am playing "Mario & Luigi Partners in Time". This particular copy and version is the most compatible I could get to play with DeSmuME. Except I cannot save and the combat graphics are wrong, but now that I have the best version I could find, I've managed to make a couple of high quality maps, I hope to submit any time.

[JonLeung]

TerraEsperZ Said:

I really should play some Super Paper Mario for the occasion. I stopped playing in the middle of Chapter 3, then just never got back to it.

You should!  I really liked Super Paper Mario.  Finished it on a rental, and got everything, even all the rare cards and etc.  There was enough time on the rental for my brother to play his own file from start to finish, though he didn't get everything.



Some people think there's too much story to read in Super Paper Mario.  I think it's nice to have some more story in the Mario games that I wouldn't complain about that!



Partners In Time is good too.  I'm looking forward to Mario & Luigi 3, where you can play as Bowser!  Though apparently Mario & Luigi spend most of the game in Bowser's body, from the looks of it.

[Revned]

I don't like the Mario RPG series, but I got Super Paper Mario anyway. Same as with Terra, I played a few chapters and then stopped. I hated having to go back to town and find all the levels; I just wanted to play.

[DarkWolf]

I have the Paper Mario for Gamecube, but only played it enough to make sure the disc worked.  It was something I bought used.  Should get around to playing it one of these days.



Does anyone else think it looks like Mario is doing a Nazi salute when he raises his arm?

[TerraEsperZ]

Not really, but his tiny dot-like eyes and his tendency to point at himself and raise his hand like a school kid do make him look a bit dumb



Super Paper Mario is the only Paper Mario game I was ever interested in for precisely the reason most people feel it's the weakest of the series: it's more of an action/adventure instead of an RPG, a genre I really dislike the mechanics of.



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Current projects: Bucky O'Hare (NES), Metal Storm (NES), Clock Tower (SNES), Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES)

[JonLeung]

*is ashamed at Revned and TerraEsperZ*



Super Mario RPG is great.  It introduced the concept of doing more damage or defending yourself with well-timed button presses, and for that reason alone is not as sedentary as other select-your-move RPGs.  Not only that, it's clearly the best Nintendo/Square collaboration.  Ever.  Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (which features Final Fantasy characters) isn't on the same level.  Having Peach and Bowser as playable characters and opening up the universe of Mario beyond the Mushroom Kingdom makes it awesome.



The Mario & Luigi games and the Paper Mario games have their unique quirks for mixing the RPG genre with the universe of Mario.  While Super Paper Mario has its moments, you're missing out by not playing the other ones.  



Though, not to be a hypocrite, I suppose there are some genres I can't handle, that even a mix of Mario can't improve.  Super Mario Sluggers was dreadful...



Maybe we'd better end the RPG-hating talk before I find out that one of you guys didn't play Chrono Trigger.  Then I'll really flip out!  0_0

[magicbay]

i got chrono @ played it.

[Revned]

I like very few turn-based RPGs. Chrono Trigger, FF1, old school Pokemon, and, uh... that's about it. They usually move way too slow for me, especially the long, usually boring story sequences.

[TerraEsperZ]

The only JRPG I have played since the days of my old NES was Final Fantasy VI (over a decade ago already), and I held on because I loved the story, the characters and the designs. But even I'm not sure I'd tolerate doing it again without cheating in some way. I also don't have fond memories of battling slimes in Dragon Warrior just so I could become strong enough to cross that damn bridge. You want to make me hate a game? Force me to do some level-grinding, and you'll succeed admirably. It's just so tedious, unless it happens naturally while making your way through the game like all three GBA Castlevanias.



As for Chrono Trigger (and possibly the recently translated Mother 3 thanks to all the good reviews from the 61 Frames Per Second blog), I too hope to play one day, but only because of the awesome overall quality of those games and not for the actual battle systems.



I much prefer RPG games that are closer to the mechanics of the PnP ones like Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Fallout 1 and 2 and Planescape: Torment (all games I hope to play from start to finish one day). Although there's a lot of fighting to do in those, you don't get any XP from it unless said death allows you to complete a quest. Rather, you get points from solving problems and quests, and you get more when you use a creative solution, and you don't climb in levels but improve individual stats using those hard-earned XP.



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Current projects: Bucky O'Hare (NES), Metal Storm (NES), Clock Tower (SNES), Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES)

[JonLeung]

Darn, I only had time to boot up an already-existing save file on Super Mario World on the Wii Virtual Console (which apparently, according to the first post, I downloaded three years ago today) and just defeat Bowser using the Back Door.  Lame.  Ah, well, there's a MAR10 every year.

I did try a tiny bit of New Super Mario Bros. Wii on my own today, and despite other players getting in the way in multiplayer, you're less likely to die all at once.  Me and my brother did everything in the game already though, except we never unlocked any of the hint movies.  I finished Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story semi-recently (even with the pointless grinding up to Level 40 which wasn't worth it), so I guess we just have to look forward to Super Mario Galaxy 2.

[TerraEsperZ]

As a total coincidence (seriously), I actually took out Super Paper Mario again today (after only making it to Chapter 4 since around the same date last year!). I decided to star from the beginning since it's been too long for me to feel "into" the story.

Oh, and allow me to troll a little bit: I still feel that the average JRPG mechanics suck 

[Peardian]

I completely forgot about it, to be honest, but that didn't stop me from replaying the first seven worlds of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and ripping all the debug rooms from Paper Mario.