@hardwenzen: I wouldn’t trust a Conker sequel from anyone besides the team that made the first game. The humor of the first game wouldn’t ever get the green light these days anyhow.

Anyways, those are cinematic elements you mentioned. They’re important (depending on the game), but they’re not essential to gaming. The God of War revival games, for example, thrive in those areas, but it’s the gameplay that makes them truly great games. You just seem as though you don’t want to see Mario’s face, and if the face wasn’t Mario, you’d appreciate the games more or something. It’s, in my opinion, an interesting way to look at things, to say the least.

The Super Mario platformers (2D and 3D) are the most dynamic and versatile games ever made. A game like Super Mario Galaxy 2 or Super Mario Bros. Wonder each have more ideas than what most franchises could ever dream to showcase over the span of many entries and decades.

@hardwenzen: After 140 hours in ToTK, I can say that was not my experience at all. Playing SMBW now, and it’s buttery smooth and looks amazing.

But if you don’t like such games, that’s okay. To each his own; your loss and all that.

I don’t know. For me, Sonic kind of fills that void of wanting to play “okay” games as a break from the awesome games out there, so that when you return to the awesome games, they feel even more awesome because you just spent so much time playing a merely decent game.

I’ll probably get Superstars after completing the amazing SMBW a few times, so I can appreciate the game I play after Superstars even more. The best Sonic games are still a good time overall, despite their annoyances.

@hardwenzen: Compare the lineup of the Switch in terms of first, second, and third party games to their past systems. Switch wins easily.

It’s easily the best Nintendo system, and it isn’t even close at this point.

Nintendo fans get accused of thinking with their nostalgia caps on, but the talent at Nintendo is better today than it has ever been. Anyone holding on to the notion that any other Nintendo system tops the Switch is silly and blinded by nostalgia themselves.

Game is sensational, and I’ve only beaten a few levels. The NSMB games were classic, but this is a whole other level of genius and fun.

The New Super Mario Bros. games. They’re criticized for being “bland,” but the gameplay is still awesome. It brought back 2D Mario, and it revitalized 2D platforming. It all topped off with New Super Mario Bros. U., which is a modern masterpiece in my mind.

Probably an 8/10 on this site and a high 80s Meta. It’ll probably be another 10/10 in the franchise for me. I never grow tired of them.

@TheEroica:

I agree about the Sonic franchise not being top-tier as far as platformers go. I have a soft spot for the Genesis games because I grew up with them, but their emphasis on speed was their most notable aspect and their most annoying.

Mindlessly dashing through a predetermined path is not gameplay, and it’s especially annoying to suddenly run into a “gotcha” object that damages your character at the end of that predetermined path. And Sonic’s movements are so loose and fast that the more contained platforming moments in a confined space feel wonky because the character feels out of place due to his speed and looseness.

Still, every time a new game in the series is announced, the hopeful nostalgia bubbles up within me, but then I realize it will probably be no better this time around. I might try this one, though. I will see what other reviewers say.