Mark usually helps me develop half-baked ideas about whatever video game I'm currently playing and we've been talking about Super Mario Galaxy recently. Mostly about how it borrows thematically from Super Mario Bros. 3 but sticks with the dynamics of Super Mario 64. Partially spurred on by the survey from Nintendo I got the other day which asks "How likely are you to buy a sequel to Super Mario Galaxy?", I've gathered some of my thoughts together.

You'll notice that SMG has the second-highest spot on Game Rankings (and previously the top spot) which is misleading, to say the least. There was a rash of perfect ratings right before and right after it came out that are to blame for that and if you've played the game for more than 10 minutes, you'd realize it's imperfections as well. Equally unfortunately, there were a couple ultra-negative reviews as well but that's at least predictable with a well-liked release.

There are some flaws with the game which immediately drive the rating down from a perfect score but I also have a habit of comparing Mario games to their predecessors which isn't unfair, I think - the goal being to have as much fun with a new version of Mario as you had with the old version while allowing for improvements from system-to-system. So, maintaining the concepts that are fun while allowing for a reasonable amount of change. I'm not really concerned with the flaws as much as I am with existing elements of Mario games that could have made the game more fun, ultimately by giving it a much needed bump in replay value.

There are two different types of persistence in Mario games. The first is world persistence, which Mario has only ever used in binary form. That is; in a series of levels this particular one is either complete or incomplete. This stems to create the dynamics of "which path do I take?" and "gather this many stars to move to the next world" but nothing you do in a level (short of getting a star or reaching a flagpole) effects your experience if you go back to that level. The only feature that I can recall that violates that rule is Super Mario World's yellow/green/red/purple blocks which you had to "enable" and take effect in previous levels and that's more action-to-the-past then real level persistence. I wonder if the idea of level persistence is written off when designing Mario games simply based on the argument that "levels aren't fun once you break all the blocks" which really only addresses full-persistence when you can very successfully implement partial persistence (the blocks come back!).

The second type is character persistence which Mario has classically been well aware of and only dropped with M64 and newer games (with the exception being New Super Mario Bros. for the DS). This is a tragedy of gaming! A long, long time ago, Mario used to be able to take his fire-power from one level to another. Combined with limited or progressing power-availability this feature single-handedly brings replayability to traditionally single-play levels by hinting at secret locations the first time around and revealing when the player eventually attains the relevant powerup. I'm sure this requires some deep level design thought about how to hint at secret locations but not confuse the player into thinking they should be able to get there without a powerup.

SMG has a modified world persistence which isn't constrained by path but by how many stars you have. Eh. It's different and achieves the same effect so my gut feeling that says that paths are better than stars is simply a nostalgic response. The partial level persistence could be improved, I think the fact that certain stars are only available when comets are in orbit was supposed to achieve the same replayability but complicated itself when the levels started branching into separate maps with timers and whatnot. More secret stars! Extra content based on skill, not luck! SMG manages to just piss me off with this next one though: the only powerup that doesn't go away until you screw up is the bee suit. Even firepower has a timer on it - how is that fun? Not only should they persist until you get hit, they should persist from one level to another. As I mentioned before, it does take a little more effort to design the levels appropriately but there are always creative ways to constrain! For example, if you didn't have enough room to build up some speed in SMW, there was no way you were going to fly anywhere.

Okay, I've gone on enough. SMG is a really fantastic game and I'm having a lot of fun playing it but I probably won't touch it again once I get all the stars. There are ways to fix that problem and make a great game really timeless.

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Super Mario Galaxy

As much as I didn't expect to pick up SMG on it's release day, I did stop by the Gamestop that everyone forgets about on my way home from work and bought the next-to-last copy. The luck! I'm just past the second observation dome so I've had some solid time with the game and it really does stand up to the reviews it's been getting.

The game is absolutely beautiful. In particular the segments in which you have no control as you're jumping from planetoid to planetoid within a galaxy. The fuzzy rolling hills which your Wii has just enough power to render nicely are the perfect fit for a game as cutesy and faux-serious as SMG - and somehow, this lack of realism is comfortable and authentic. If Bowser were any more real-looking than he is in this game, he'd be as fake as the live-action movie.

I'll admit, though, that the game does not get a perfect 100 from me. There's a certain small planetoid size in which you can hold the stick to the right and do tight circles around one pole, completely unintuitively. It's unfair to criticize that issue without mentioning that the game does an outstanding job of keeping you from touching the camera controls (which you don't even know exist unless you're jabbing at random buttons) and transitioning from being right-side up to wrong-side down. It's nice to have all the classic Mario-in-3D moves (backflip, longjump, triplejump, etc) plus new ones that you only realize once the game tells you they exist.

I've gotten lucky a few times and a comet has been around when I needed another level to complete a galaxy but mostly I'm crownless for the major galaxies.

How has everyone else fared? Did your preorders come in on time or did you wait in a line to pick it up?

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(haha, you thought this post was about Halo because of the title - it's not, my 360 is still broken)

Ohmygod, this is becoming my video game blog and I'm not completely displeased with that. IF ONLY Vox better supported video game assets. I imagine I'm the only one to blame for that little detail though. As a warning, the occasional Zelda plot spoiler pops up to illustrate my point here.

The Legend of Zelda is a curious sequence of games. More curious than most never-ending game franchises because it's not character-continuous (i.e. most Zelda games aren't a direct sequel; they follow different, although highly similar characters) and it's been stylistically reinvented a number of times and most of those survive as non-failures.

Many franchisey (yeah, that's what I said) video games apply the same situations over and over again and we assume that the characters that look the same actually are the same and that they exist somewhere, in some form between their mostly uniform adventures. Zelda often (but not always) reinvents it's similar characters as another generation of hero, princess and lord of evil, completely unaware of their predecessors (initially, at least). To some degree, this leaves the game open to new players who don't necessarily have to pick up all the storyline back to the NES games before feeling like they're included in an adventure. Every Link (rather, every player playing as Link) has to learn his role in the events taking place and figure out how to use each weapon as he finds them, starting from the basic sword and shield. Apparently all these adventures are interlinked (pun completely intended) and Hyrule of The Adventure of Link (as much as I hate to speak of it) is the same Hyrule from Ocarina of Time. This seems unlikely at first glance since Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass are based entirely on small islands where you traverse here and there by boat which contrasts to other Zelda games where making your way from one area to another involves crossing land by foot. You do eventually learn that the Kevin Costner version of Hyrule is one and the same with the Hyrule you're used to but with some extra flooding added in to seal Ganon away. I guess that particular method didn't work very well.

Zelda has also been fairly successful at adapting to each new platform. There was some serious talk about the impact that the transition to 3D had on the player base and I've heard old school Zelda fans turn down new games because they find managing the camera in 3D difficult or nauseating. That seems to be a tradeoff that the franchise was willing to make to not be viewed as ancient when games pushed hard to adapt to three dimensions during the N64 days (Beautiful 2d or 2.5d games are still made! Their comeback is another topic altogether...). Games in the Zelda franchise have also made the stylistic transition to cell-shading in Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass. This is accompanied by a shift in mood - the seriousness in Twilight Princess is rarely found in either of these bordering-on-cartoonish titles. I find this style much more attractive than games that make a poor showing of realism. But that's not meant to knock Twilight Princess and the main point here is that most of these games have been fairly successful regardless of their style or platform transition. It's almost surprising that Phantom Hourglass has had such a good response from video game critics since it incorporates many of these shifts from other Zelda games. It's 2.5D, cell shaded and incorporates a completely new drawing-control scheme (including the forward roll which I still have not been able to master).

Strangely enough, I didn't even hear a lot of bellyaching for Phantom Hourglass about "this control scheme is going to ruin Zelda!" or mumblings about how people dislike the kiddie look cell shading tends to lend. Could it be that Zelda fans are used to change? That they have some faith in Nintendo to switch things up and still give them a game they enjoy? If only all franchises were so lucky!

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It's Metroid-obsession month on Nick's Vox so I'll share a nice article I ran across today. Here's a history of Metroid development which probably lends too much sympathy to the series based on "poorly timed releases" but a great read nonetheless.

A History of Metroid

http://wii.advancedmn.com/article.php...

A four-page history of Metroid development.

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Super Paper Mario!

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If you're a member of the Wii group and haven't posted to the group yet, here's your chance! Answer the improvised Question of the Wii and post it to this group!

The question is: "Do you have Wii Play yet? What's your top score in Tanks/Fishing/Cow Racing?"

Click here to answer it!

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Do you have Wii Play yet? What's your top score in Tanks/Fishing/Cow Racing?

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Feels a lot like Mario 64, totally excited for this one as well.

Super Mario Galaxy

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We ♥ Wii gets [this is good]'d! Go us!

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Dearest Voxies,

There's a new kitten in town and it's plastering my blog with more cuteness than you could ever imagine. But there's a catch: kitten needs a name.

Let's explain... Kitten is two years old but she's ultra-compact, weighing less than 5lbs and looking like a 6-month old kitten. She has absolutely no teeth (removed by the vet because of complications), she's allergic to herself and has a runny nose, she's super-loving and a big attention whore. And she has really smelly farts.

So here's the deal: we need to name her and we're going to let the vox community do it. Well, kinda. You get to suggest names and we'll pick the best one. That person will win the grand prize of one (1) $10 Amazon gift certificate. To aid you on your quest we're including a number of pictures of the kitten with everyday objects so you can understand her size and cuteability.

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