Anyone else besides me get it yet? I haven't had a chance to play it since I picked it up right before work, but when I get home I'll pop it in my GB Player. IGN gave it a 9.0 and called it a worthy successor to Paper Mario, so I'm anxiously anticipating going home tonight.
Yeesh, I've gotten more good games in the past month alone then I got in the entire first half of this year. It's crazy, I tell ya!
Mario & Luigi. It'll be great to play the 3rd Mario RPG game, or at least I hope so! I suppose Nintendo plans on continuing the "Mario RPG" franchise it seems to have created.
I went to the game store and a $20 copy of Gauntlet: Dark Legacy ambushed me...
I've been playing it (again because I'm procrastinating) and it is very good so far. It is just like Paper Mario/Mario RPG, but it adds a lot by having Mario and Luigi team up. Very cool game made by a company that Nintendo needs to snatch up if they haven't already.
Well, I caved and got it. Indeed, there are OTHER things to do and limited time, but there's a REASON I have this passage to Narnia!
This game is HILARIOUS! Mario all zee vay! Never heard of this company before now, but they have talent.
Also, the game is specifically designed to detect the Gameboy Player. While it doesn't do anything graphically (like having a nice border image, which I wish it did), it does ONE neat thing. In a Gameboy Player, the rumble option is not greyed out, but rather is enabled :D. It uses the GCN controller's rumble feature. Not much, but it's something. Plus, using the GCN controller feels pretty nice for this game. A fun time had by all, if they bothered adding a border for the game anyway.
Alpha Dream developed a Hamtaro game and Tomato Adventure before this which means not many people have played one of their games before. Both were published by Nintendo, though, so I'm assuming Nintendo is funding them in part, or is planning on doing so in the future.
Ah...
Lately OB1's been making threads about games he technically owns but hasn't played, thus depriving us of all important own opinions! He's just doing that so he's got dibs on starting the threads before anyone else who got the game, I know it! Well, OB1 better PLAY the next game he makes a thread about saying he has it, or I'll... point it out again!
The game came out yesterday but no one said anything about it, so I went ahead and made a thread! So sue me!
I've only had 20 minutes with the game so far, but I'm already loving it. It's nice to see Nintendo add GB Player-specific things to their new GBA games (Mario 3 also has rumble support).
Don't you just love how the GBA gets all of the cool Nintendo RPGs, new franchises, and full sequels? It's like they don't care about the Gamecube as much...
Ok I've put a few more hours into the game so here's what I think of it so far:
The controls are great for this type of game, and I love how you control Mario and Luigi at the same time, with each guy getting their own button for jumps and such. The Bros. actions are great, and I really enjoy the combat. Very similar to Paper Mario's but different enough that it doesn't feel like you're simply playing Paper Mario all over again.
I absolutely love the music, from the very old (SMB) to the pretty new (Mario 64), as well as the all-new tracks. And I love all of the NES sounds they use for jumps and other actions. At first I wasn't looking forward to this game that much since Intelligent Systems wasn't working on it and the only other games Alpha Dream made were Hamtaro and Tomato Adventure, neither of which I have played, but I'm glad to say that it's a great and worthy addition to the Mario RPG series.
The one thing I'm not completely satisfied with are the visuals, however. Well, the backgrounds to be more specific. They're just kind of dull and don't really have that Mario look and feel to them. I dunno, I guess I was just expecting something more from an original GBA game. The perspective used in the game can also be a bit disorienting at times, but it's not that big of a deal.
Hopefully Nintendo will port over Mario RPG to the GBA since I never got to play much of it. That's actually the one SNES port I've wanted the most since the GBA came out. I lived in Europe when it was released in the states and good 'ole Nintendo never bothered to release it there.
Have you checked in your local used game stores? Around here I can usually find at least one or two copies of that game in my searches for other stuff.
I'll say this, Nintendo seems intent on putting Mario Bros in every single one of the GBA Mario games. Well, it does raise the chances of running into someone who can play a multiplayer game with you on the go I suppose.
Personally, I like the look of the game, backgrounds and all. While I had gotten used to the, uh... diagonal, er, angled... FFTA ARENA, style of view in SMRPG, this one's natural enough. I had been expecting yet a 3rd experimental art style, rather than something done before, though. SMRPG had it all CGd in a purposefully undetailed way. Paper Mario was NAMED after it's artistic style (in America anyway), so I suppose I was expecting yet a 3rd style for this one. Oh well, it's all good.
I like the voices and stuff. I find the Italian gibberish to be most amusing. Is green the color of cowards? I mean, Luigi used to be as brave as his brother, joining in on Mario's adventures all the time. Now though, he actually had to be FORCED to join up with Mario. Something happened... I call it "a total lack of storyline consistancy, like how you can get evil Bowser to take part in a go-kart race just out of the blue or something, which is Mario all over really so no complaining!". I've been meaning to shorten that.
Gameplay is nice too, though I've not gotten that far in. It's actually reminding me a bit more of SMRPG in the adventure field for some reason, except of course the new Luigi cooperation bits. I had to get used to making Luigi jump over cliffs as well as Mario, but oh well. The mini games seem very fun indeed. Also, I guess I should have expected neighboring kingdoms to a MUSHROOM land to be other sorts of vegetation lands. Where's Jack? The battle system has all the classic markings of a Super Mario RPG that's been there from the ol' SNES one, like classic timed attacks and dodges. Only now, it's added to with both characters having to worry about timing at once. The whole battle control scheme seems to change with each incarnation of the RPG series. That's to be expected. Well, the series has managed some pretty cool stuff going through 3 seperate developers. Anyway, I can't wait until I get to do those cool combo moves. The only confusing part is remembering that both A and B are confirm buttons, but for different characters. That's the entire new thing though, so I'll get used to it.
I always crack up whenever they speak their little Italian gibberish. Haha, just thinking about it makes me laugh.
I just think they should have gone for something more Mario-like, or at least something that's distinctive enough to set a new Mario standard (like Yoshi's Island). It seems that this new art style is stuck somewhere between Mario World, Paper Mario, and a box of pastel crayons. It's like they were going for something cool but quit halfway.
DJ, I think the term you were looking for is isometric. :)
Based on screenshots the graphics don't look especially impressive, at least compared to Paper Mario... but then again I think Mario RPG's look isn't so great either, at least on first impression. I'm sure you get used to it, but its not a traditional Mario look like Paper Mario is, for sure...
It is okay, but it looks more Square than Nintendo, I'd say... just felt a bit 'off'. Not bad, though, and as I said I'm sure I'd eventually get used to it...
I got Mario and Luigi today after I sacrificed a few of the odds and ends from game collection. I haven't played it very much, but from what I have played it looks like a very fun and funny game. Very remeniscent of Mario RPG, which is a good thing, because RPG is an awesome game.
An awesome game which Nintendo never released in Europe... because Nintendo hates Jews.
...
That's the only explanation I could think of! Nothing else makes any sense!
No, its because Nintendo of Europe hates its customers...
Can't argue much with that one...
NOE isn't so bad anymore, from what I can tell, but the NOE from the SNES and N64 days was considered to be fairly evil.
And we're talking about the SNES here... though they still have major issues. I mean, they didn't bring over Animal Crossing...
Actually, having gone to the more colorful places in this game, well, A colorful place, I can say I actually love the look of it. To me it just screams Mario.
Quote:Originally posted by A Black Falcon
And we're talking about the SNES here... though they still have major issues. I mean, they didn't bring over Animal Crossing...
They did get Doshin the Giant, though.
But wasn't Doshin not that good. compared to the pretty good Animal Crossing?
Hey look, European gamers! Don't worry your silly little heads about "reasonable prices" or release dates within the same year as the original release, or the many games never released (Animal Crossing, Excitebike 64, etc, etc...)... you got Doshin! YAY!!!!
Well, and the first KuruKuru Kururin, which is a quite good game. But that's GBA...
I wanted Doshin though...
I did a little bit, then read the reviews...