The Year of Mario (Ports of 3D Marios! Super Mario Bros. Royale! Mario K-AR-t!)

Wet Dry World always was a bit of a pain, but that bit in the cage in the corner has always been quality. The Chucksters though... oooooh, bad memories. Especially that red coin Shine!

I'm really going to try and see Sunshine with fresh eyes; perhaps I was tainted by it not being the sequel to Mario 64 I wanted. However, that Chuckster comment doesn't make me too happy! Meanwhile in more "I am getting worse" news, I keep trying the Mario 64 tricks I see those cool speed-runners do... and fall off all the stages. I know I've done the 5 coin rings in Bob-Omb Battlefield without a wing cap before, but I realise that it's a waste of time me trying! I still love it though!

EDIT RATHER THAN DOUBLE POST
It's not for me still, but have you seen those latest trailers and interviews about Mario Kart Live? That is absolutely amazing, and actually gives me hope for the future of fun.
This one and this one.

Mario 64's controls do my fucking nut sometimes. I know it's an old game now but the camera can be so hard to deal with, and currently I want to punch the eel from Jolly Roger Bay in the face because if you venture too close to it while it's coming out it'll do like 6 bars of damage to you. And 'close' doesn't actually mean 'anywhere near touching' - the collision detection is just REALLY mean.

Yeah - I think this time playing it, I have to accept all the bits of Mario 64 that haven't aged very well at all. The worlds are interesting but it really could do with a spruce-up.
Having said that, as well as the things already covered here, my sister's been reminding me of horror stories in Mario Sunshine. I really don't get all the people that insisted that it needed a remake as "the best one" - there are some really un-Nintendo-like design choices in there. Are you having fun getting 100 coins? Which chapter did you jump in at? The wrong one, eh?

Hmmmm... a-month-ago-me was right about Mario 64. You can really tell it was everyone's first go at doing a 3D thing. Imagine if Tick Tock Clock was reimagined as e.g. Tick Tock Kingdom in Mario Odyssey - it'd be absolutely brilliant.

I don't know, I can still slip into Super Mario 64 with no hassle. I can't say that for the other pioneering 3D games of it's day, like Tomb Raider. 

I'm playing through Super Mario Galaxy and I'm on 66 Power Stars. As was the case in 2007, it's my vote for the game of the millennium thus far.

I can slip into the first half of Mario 64 easily; it holds up phenomenally well. The back end of the game, however, does reflect a lot of the more negative comments. Finicky level design, awkward cameras and an overall unpleasant and frustrating gaming experience- albeit still littered with moments of absolute gold.

I genuinely can't think of any moments of Super Mario 64 that I found unpleasant and frustrating. All of it still holds up phenomenally well to me!

~

Did anybody buy the Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch? I'm not interested in it at it's current price point - fifty quid is ripping the piss!

Nah, if I'm gonna buy a Game and Watch it'll be a real retro one.

~

The bit that really stands out to me as frustrating is the snowman who blows you off his mountain. Otherwise, it was just a general awkwardness in the levels with tighter spaces and fewer options.

Chalk one more for the non frustrating column, I'd stretch at including them sodding robots that throw you in Wet Dry World (the worst level in the game for all its creativity) but aside from that I loved revisiting it on the Switch. I did make a habit of doing all the stars for one stage before moving on to the next which might have helped perhaps.

I found the whole game rather frustrating on a replay, partly because it didn't live up to my memories but also... Can you really say that Big Boo on the Balcony, with that cocking 'jump blindly at the roof and hope you don't slide off', wasn't frustrating? It's bits like that, and the camera in general. (Mind you, if the Mario series has taught me anything, it's that cameras in 3D platformers are hard.)

Jumping on the roof was easy. What was hard was finding the balcony in the first place!

Ah no the roof's a nightmare. I just assumed I was doing it wrong! However, I've been a bit of a misery guts there I reckon, and I definitely forgive Mario 64's age.
I would have to say, having just started Sunshine again, I'm already like "I can't wait to get to Galaxy". I really wish the "stop and clean things" gameplay wasn't there; it's just so stop/start.

Jimbob wrote:

Ah no the roof's a nightmare. I just assumed I was doing it wrong! However, I've been a bit of a misery guts there I reckon, and I definitely forgive Mario 64's age.
I would have to say, having just started Sunshine again, I'm already like "I can't wait to get to Galaxy". I really wish the "stop and clean things" gameplay wasn't there; it's just so stop/start.

I've just got through Sunshine and started Galaxy myself and my word what a difference! Galaxy still looks and plays amazingly well

Oh boy - I  reeeally think I'm going to skip it! It still looks really nice, but I even got fed up with the non-Fludd-y bits.

Coward.

In all fairness, I finished the last secret in Bianco Hills once I had a controller than didn't make Mario scoot off to the left whenever he felt like it.
I'm going to persevere I think in terms of getting all the level shines, but there's so much that's really quite tedious in it. I know I'm being a miserable bastard, but having then played Galaxy / 2 / 3D World / Odyssey, they cut so much of that nonsense out.

To complete it, you only need to get as far as Shadow Mario in every level.

OK, in all fairness I romped through Ricco Harbour (it seems that second secret in Bianco Hills is far too hard for that early in the game). Still hate trying to slowly squirt my way onto thin platforms though.

EDIT as I've been posting too much here: that secret level where you've got to get Yoshi across about 5 miles of water, and then remember to have brought 50 extra lives with you, can fucking do one. Sunshine is still over-rated, and I maintain you were wall nuts to really want this to be re-released.

Also, was it as buggy on the GameCube? This is the third time this has happened.

I've heard people mention 3DAS having some bugs, so maybe not . . .

Well, I finished Sunshine - as in beat Bowser. I spent 15 minutes getting Yoshi to that island, with 8 extra lives, and then just lost them all in about 2 minutes in the secret level, so fuck that, I'm not 100%-ing it. I've moved with trepidation to Mario Galaxy - I really liked it before, but was never keen on the implementation of motion controls... BUT YOU CAN PRESS Y TO SPIN NOW AND THE STAR BIT GRABBING WORKS WITH THE TILTING OF THE PRO CONTROLLER WHICH IS COMFY TO HOLD - I'm so happy. I'm having trouble stopping playing Galaxy when it comes to bed/dinner time. It makes the collection worthwhile I say.