Various Previews (mostly DS)

[OB1]

I was quite underwhelmed by Mario & Luigi's art, as you may remember... I'd say that this is better than that. It doesn't match Yoshi's Island (or Paper Mario), but it's better than M&L probably...

Yeah, but not by a whole lot. Who was it that loved M&L's art again?

I'm just pointing out that after you do things virtually the same way over and over in a short time period people DO get tired of the formula... you can keep doing it anyway (see Mega Man), but most people stop for a while at some point.

Mega Man is not a tenth as good as Metroid. There's no comparison there. And with MM you have ten games following the same exact formula, one that was fun but up to a point.

Let me ask you this: After having played so many Zelda games (especially the Oracle games which are carbon copies of LA in terms of graphics and gameplay), have you ever once said "Man, this is kinda getting old". Hopefully your answer will be the same as mine: Fuck no! And Metroid isn't anywhere near Zelda in terms of number of similar sequels! Here's how I'd brake it down in terms of gameplay for the two series (hell I'll throw in Mario as well), bunched up into the titles that play a lot like each other:

Metroid series:

1. Metroid, Metroid 2
2. Super Metroid, Zero Mission
3. Metroid Fusion
4. Metroid Prime, Metroid Echoes

That's a 7:4 ratio.

Zelda series:

1. The Legend of Zelda
2. Link's Adventure
3. A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages, Minish Cap
4. Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker
5. Majora's Mask

2:1 ratio.

Mario (platformer) series:

1. Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Land
2. Super Mario Bros. 2
3. Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario Land 2
4. Yoshi's Island, Yoshi's Story
5. Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine

2:1 ratio.


As you can see, Metroid is the least repetitious of the three big Nintendo franchises. You may argue about some of my choices, but it's still pretty accurate.

And for comparison's sake, here's a Mega Man list, for all of the games that I can remember off the top of my head:

1. Mega Man 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
2. Mega Man X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6...

You know what? Never mind. :D