I honestly didn't hate this era despite the games not being that ambitious.
>>736304821NSMB 1 doesn't deserve to be lumped in with the rest, it was the N64-era 2D Mario game coming in late and still had a bit of that experimental early 3D crust to it.
Not hating it is fine. But I think it can be generally agreed upon that it was objectively the worst era for Mario in general. This statement is by no means original, but Odyssey was a saviour for the Mario series in my opinion. Even after that, it felt like an exception to the rule unfortunately.
>>736304984what in particular made it the worst era for mario? genuinely asking
>>736304984We got both Galaxy games alongside the NSMB stuff and we got 3D Land. Those were all great additions. Even if you can look back and say that compared to the other periods that this was the worst, it's still a pretty damn good lineup of games.
>>736304821They're mostly fantastic platformers from a pure gameplay and level design perspective. They have some of the most creative and imaginative stages in the series. It's a shame the presentation was the exact opposite of that, tired and sterile. If they had just put more effort into the art direction and sound, they would probably be considered among the best Mario games. But then, I also don't know if we would have gotten so many in such a short time frame.
>>736304821It's so funny how you literally in those very renders how one of them actually seems to have a semblance of soul and passion put into it while the other 3 are extremely corporate and boring.
>>736304821The real problem was that 2 and U released within months of each other.
>>736304821NSMBU+L > Wonder
>>736305246It was during the time when the Mario "mandate" was starting to be enforced, and even spreading to other spinoff franchises like Mario Party, Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi series.Combine that with how poorly received the Wii U was as a console and you can see why the early to mid 2010s are generally considered the "Dark Age" of Nintendo
>>736305246After Galaxy 2, this was pretty much the only Mario you got for a decade. This really unambitious, linear, restrictive design. Something about Sunshine and how jank that game can be really scared Nintendo and they heavily downplayed just about everything people like about Mario, 2D or 3D. Galaxy felt novel but it was the canary in the coal mine for how much they want to force the plumber into such a narrow box. 3D Land and 3D World are the result of such thinking, that Mario cannot afford to be anything more than the Bing Bang Wahoo dude. You can shittalk Odyssey and how overbloated it is, but you cannot deny it not only felt fresh, but finally Mario going places. Figuratively and literally. While none of the New SMB games are bad, they just were the symbol of the time of the rut Nintendo was in.And all this is just talking about the mainline games. Sitting through shit like>Paper Mario: Sticker Star>Paper Mario: Color Splash>Mario Party 10>Mario Party Island Tour>Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam>Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash>Mario Party: The Top 100>M&L Remakes>Mario Sports SuperstarsI could just keep going. The nightmare that was 2011 to 2016 was some of the most slop-tier content you could get out of the Big M. The few games that were just unabashedly good on the Wii U and 3DS could be counted on one hand. The ass-era of Mario is something that should be studied more.
>>736309306not reallyi replayed both and the level design of wonder kept me engaged, the level design of NSMBU was just boring as shitit might be better in co-op but fuck me they really decided that shit was worth it as a launch game
>>736309959wonder is too fucking easy and is boring after you've seen every wonder effect for the first time
>>736309959I think there is a valid complaint to be made that if you value raw platforming over gimmick levels, Wonder won't leave you particularly satisfied. Splitting all the unique movement powers into badges you can only have one at a time is also A DECISION I wouldn't make, so I definitely see why people think NSMBU is the better, more consistent 2D Mario experience.
