galaxy is way more fun than sunshine
(Feb 21, 2023 at 12:39 AM)Draku Wrote: galaxy is definitely a better game than sunshine but it still sucks shit compared to 64I'll be real while 64 has the best gameplay in the series the level design falls off really hard in the back half
whenever i play it i always basically 100% the first 2/3rds but as soon as i have to go up the stairs to the tower I drop it. no fun to be had up there. tick tock clock is ok though.
i think its less that and more just that they ran out of time, the first half of the game is great but rainbow ride is basically a test room with random shit pasted everywhere and tiny huge island is just one very small level copypasted once to give it the illusion of having more to it
tall tall mountain just has bad level design for sure though, but mostly because every star involves hauling ass to the top from the bottom with no changes.
i forgot snowman's land though that one is also good like tick tock clock
tall tall mountain just has bad level design for sure though, but mostly because every star involves hauling ass to the top from the bottom with no changes.
i forgot snowman's land though that one is also good like tick tock clock
(Feb 21, 2023 at 1:02 AM)Fun With Despair Wrote:wet dry world is weird because it's not a particularly well designed level and feels like a big testbed because as far as i'm aware it basically was, but it's still kinda cool. snowman's land is great and has a lot of little facets to it that make it a cool (HEH) level. like it feels like it has several small areas and literally does in the case of the igloo. tall tall mountain is great and does the vertical climb thing in a different manner from tick tock clock (it mixes the usual level design factor with platforming more thoroughly than TTC's more straightforward approach), and has the best slide. tiny huge island is a fascinating level idea and is designed very well around it, the way you maneuver the island changes so heavily based on the perspective. you're rewarded for being on the much more difficult big side since it's where most of the star objectives are but you have to utilize both halves to get around and reach everywhere. it's fucking cool.(Feb 21, 2023 at 12:39 AM)Draku Wrote: galaxy is definitely a better game than sunshine but it still sucks shit compared to 64I'll be real while 64 has the best gameplay in the series the level design falls off really hard in the back half
whenever i play it i always basically 100% the first 2/3rds but as soon as i have to go up the stairs to the tower I drop it. no fun to be had up there. tick tock clock is ok though.
tick tock clock is absolute kino. really cool mechanic with the clock speed adjustment and it's a pure platforming level in a game that definitely needed at least one. i used to hate rainbow ride but nowadays i really like it, there's a LOT of movement options intentionally available to you that circumvent the slow-ass carpet rides so long as you're willing to take the risk on them. you can literally dive all the way into the main hub of the level from the very start of it by going backwards rather than take the initial carpet for instance. it's the level that puts both your platforming AND 3D exploration skills to the highest tests and while i totally get how that generates salt in a game that's normally pretty laid back and easy it's so fun when you know what you're doing.
bowser in the sky is a fantastic note to end the game on, all three bowser levels are great but sky's my favorite. rewards you a lot for figuring out intended skips and proper execution with just the right amount of challenge before the only bowser fight that puts up a real resistance.
man mario 64 rules. odyssey had some pretty good ideas for trying to nail a similar game but they fell for the content inflation meme. so much empty space in the levels, shit like the ice desert is horrendously designed. at least a handful of the kingdoms felt like they could have been in a mario 64 sequel.
tick tock clock is one of the best levels in the game for sure, can't agree on tall tall mountain even if i do love the slide though. the mountain is great to climb... once, but running back up every time doesn't add any kind of interesting challenges to the run, it's just a straight shot up to the star basically that you repeat every time, and some of them are annoying like the monkey. i will say the level would be incredible if SM64 didn't kick you out after collecting a star, but the fact that it does makes this level a lot more tedious to play through.
tiny huge meanwhile is a level that i actually do love the gimmick for, but just doesn't hold up on replay in terms of being fun to play for me. its fascinating the first time, but afterwards I feel like it just just repetitive and outside of the boss mission and the race (it's always nice to see a boss, and it's funny that the level gives koopa the quick an origin story), the missions are boring and the level has little in the way of interesting platforming gameplay. it's basically just a big cube in some water with the occasional ledge or gap and some pipes, the size change gimmick is really cool but for me it doesn't carry having to run around the same boring level twice to do anything.
wet dry i think i like the actual design of for the most part even if its a test room. i like the robot wars flipper guys and the water level gimmick, but jesus christ every mission here sucks so much dick that it ruins the level completely. it also loses points for being visually boring as sin besides the underwater town. not a big fan of "weird place with platforms" levels besides the bowser ones already.
rainbow ride i think i'm just going to concede that its a matter of personal taste and i probably can't be convinced to like it. it's a platforms-in-a-void level with boring aesthetics and no real cohesion. you might be able to do cool shit here but if i have to go out of my way to make my own fun because the level is boring and annoying when you're playing it as intended, that doesn't make the level good, it sucks shit! maybe if the rest of the game didn't exist it'd be fine, but as it is it's just the rotten cherry on the shit sundae that is playing through TTM and WDW like 16 times doing the exact same thing in the exact same order except one time you get a cool slide
no arguments on snowman's land or tick tock clock though, great thematics and lots of fun. tick tock clock has some similarities to tiny huge in terms of its gimmick but the actual level layout is far better than the former.
tiny huge meanwhile is a level that i actually do love the gimmick for, but just doesn't hold up on replay in terms of being fun to play for me. its fascinating the first time, but afterwards I feel like it just just repetitive and outside of the boss mission and the race (it's always nice to see a boss, and it's funny that the level gives koopa the quick an origin story), the missions are boring and the level has little in the way of interesting platforming gameplay. it's basically just a big cube in some water with the occasional ledge or gap and some pipes, the size change gimmick is really cool but for me it doesn't carry having to run around the same boring level twice to do anything.
wet dry i think i like the actual design of for the most part even if its a test room. i like the robot wars flipper guys and the water level gimmick, but jesus christ every mission here sucks so much dick that it ruins the level completely. it also loses points for being visually boring as sin besides the underwater town. not a big fan of "weird place with platforms" levels besides the bowser ones already.
rainbow ride i think i'm just going to concede that its a matter of personal taste and i probably can't be convinced to like it. it's a platforms-in-a-void level with boring aesthetics and no real cohesion. you might be able to do cool shit here but if i have to go out of my way to make my own fun because the level is boring and annoying when you're playing it as intended, that doesn't make the level good, it sucks shit! maybe if the rest of the game didn't exist it'd be fine, but as it is it's just the rotten cherry on the shit sundae that is playing through TTM and WDW like 16 times doing the exact same thing in the exact same order except one time you get a cool slide
no arguments on snowman's land or tick tock clock though, great thematics and lots of fun. tick tock clock has some similarities to tiny huge in terms of its gimmick but the actual level layout is far better than the former.
64 fans - gamers. elitist attitude. shaves armpits. 50% chance of being a rick & morty fan
sunshine fans - creative. sarcastic. insecure. very funny.
galaxy fans - ideas guy. clean shaven. horrible fashion taste. abandonment issues.
galaxy 2 fans - cool. everyone likes them. has an attractive significant other. has nothing to add to the convo.
odyssey fans - insecure but more confident than sunshine fans. just stopped using axe body spray. owns funko pops but wont admit it. does not shave at all.
sunshine fans - creative. sarcastic. insecure. very funny.
galaxy fans - ideas guy. clean shaven. horrible fashion taste. abandonment issues.
galaxy 2 fans - cool. everyone likes them. has an attractive significant other. has nothing to add to the convo.
odyssey fans - insecure but more confident than sunshine fans. just stopped using axe body spray. owns funko pops but wont admit it. does not shave at all.
Galaxy is more fun to play because it doesn’t suck, but sunshine has the better characters, settings and aesthetics, so I find it more fun to experience. Galaxy feels a little stale after a bit. I guess I’d rather play Galaxy but I’d rather watch someone play sunshine.
(Feb 21, 2023 at 1:54 AM)Fun With Despair Wrote: can't agree on tall tall mountain even if i do love the slide though. the mountain is great to climb... once, but running back up every time doesn't add any kind of interesting challenges to the run, it's just a straight shot up to the star basically that you repeat every time, and some of them are annoying like the monkey. i will say the level would be incredible if SM64 didn't kick you out after collecting a star, but the fact that it does makes this level a lot more tedious to play through.fair enough, i find the fact that you can optimize your climb and take some interesting shortcuts/different pathways up make it worth it but it doesn't allow for TOO much variety compared to many of the other levels.
(Feb 21, 2023 at 1:54 AM)Fun With Despair Wrote: tiny huge meanwhile is a level that i actually do love the gimmick for, but just doesn't hold up on replay in terms of being fun to play for me. its fascinating the first time, but afterwards I feel like it just just repetitive and outside of the boss mission and the race (it's always nice to see a boss, and it's funny that the level gives koopa the quick an origin story), the missions are boring and the level has little in the way of interesting platforming gameplay. it's basically just a big cube in some water with the occasional ledge or gap and some pipes, the size change gimmick is really cool but for me it doesn't carry having to run around the same boring level twice to do anything.i find the layout more than good enough, the parts of it that come off as flatter or more restrictive are due to the gimmick amplifying everything so much in one way or the other that there couldn't be "normal" level design if they tried which is itself unique. the beach area and what's used for the koopa the quick race are definitely fine even from a normal perspective in my book though.
(Feb 21, 2023 at 1:54 AM)Fun With Despair Wrote: rainbow ride i think i'm just going to concede that its a matter of personal taste and i probably can't be convinced to like it. it's a platforms-in-a-void level with boring aesthetics and no real cohesion. you might be able to do cool shit here but if i have to go out of my way to make my own fun because the level is boring and annoying when you're playing it as intended, that doesn't make the level good, it sucks shit! maybe if the rest of the game didn't exist it'd be fine, but as it is it's just the rotten cherry on the shit sundae that is playing through TTM and WDW like 16 times doing the exact same thing in the exact same order except one time you get a cool slidethere's a big point here where our viewpoints innately differ -- you seem to be under the impression that all of the cool-ass movement you can do in rainbow ride to bypass sections is unintentional. meanwhile i see the fact that, specifically in the last level of a game all about finding new ways to progress through the same levels, they intentionally start you off in a super grating autoscroller-type section that you have to wait eons on to reach the main hub of the level. yet, if you simply turn around and jump off, you can reach an extremely convenient spot instantaneously. it's not a remotely tight jump at all and they put a pole there on purpose to remove any room for error. it is literally just "hey, player, did you try turning the camera around to do something different?". the entire level is made like this, and while there are some jankier skips that were definitely not intended it's the obvious design philosophy from the very entrance to the stage if you ask me.
as for that last point, something key to my enjoyment of mario 64 that i feel like a lot of people, especially playing it nowadays, miss about the appeal of it:
the beauty of mario 64 is that you do not have to collect every single star.
my favorite replays of it have all been quick 70 star runs done on a whim to fill out an afternoon or something. if you ask me, the game was not really made with 120 star runs as the primary objective in mind -- you can start a fresh file and tackle a path of stars that seems most interesting to you for a particular playthrough. generally speaking, you can enter a stage and IMMEDIATELY have like 3+ different star objectives available to you in some fashion. even the ones with gimmicky layouts for their first stars let you do this, outside of dire dire docks! bob-omb battlefield, the "forced" first stage, can be over in moments if you simply free the chain chomp for example, and then the game's options are already opening up. this is another major strength the game has over sunshine's padded garbage and episodic level design, as well as how linear mario galaxy and even odyssey are in their progression. due to the way that unlocking stages works purely off of star progression rather than individual level progression, you can tackle the game in a fresh way every time. you can skip stages and objectives completely. appreciate points of the game you normally don't touch and try something new to make yourself like them more.
I think Draku and Despair should've just continued posting colossal paragraphs about Mario 64 levels because this shit is primo we-used-to-live-on-a-mario-forum-together hyperfixation fuckery
(Aug 24, 2023 at 9:25 AM)King Piranha Plant Wrote: I think Draku and Despair should've just continued posting colossal paragraphs about Mario 64 levels because this shit is primo we-used-to-live-on-a-mario-forum-together hyperfixation fuckeryyou act as if i stopped
So here's the best appeal I can make in Mario Sunshine's favor: if you could live inside one Mario game, what would it be? Do you want obstacle courses over death pits, or a tropical resort
(Aug 24, 2023 at 12:57 PM)Spritanium Wrote: So here's the best appeal I can make in Mario Sunshine's favor: if you could live inside one Mario game, what would it be? Do you want obstacle courses over death pits, or a tropical resortIF ALL OF /v/ WAS TRANSPORTED INTO MARIO 64 HOW MANY OF THEM WOULD HAVE TO DIE TO CLEAR IT
Squid Game spinoff idea
(Aug 24, 2023 at 4:15 PM)Draku Wrote:This gives me an idea for a video.(Aug 24, 2023 at 12:57 PM)Spritanium Wrote: So here's the best appeal I can make in Mario Sunshine's favor: if you could live inside one Mario game, what would it be? Do you want obstacle courses over death pits, or a tropical resortIF ALL OF /v/ WAS TRANSPORTED INTO MARIO 64 HOW MANY OF THEM WOULD HAVE TO DIE TO CLEAR IT
How many stars can you obtain if Mario could only jump 2 ft, lift 40 lbs, couldn't use power ups, couldn't take damage or die, and couldn't cancel fall damage? Basically what if Mario was a real man.
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