Mario has always been there for Nintendo. He's one of a few of Nintendo's mascots that has a guaranteed hit every single time, whether it be a traditional platformer game, or a spin-off, it's quite apparent that gamers flock to the Mario name. Ever since the NES we've seen him make a name for each system he's appeared on, and he has literally carried these consoles on his shoulders. From the unforgettable Super Mario Bros., to the creative Super Mario Bros. 3, and the innovative Super Mario 64, even the oddball Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins all have been seen as the pinnacle gaming experiences for the respective systems. And since the name and series has evolved, more and more effort has been put into making the next installment even more unique and even more worthwhile. Because of this, development has become increasingly more complex and difficult, causing us gamers to only see the Mushroom Kingdom cast in a true Mario title roughly once every five years (and then a spin off about, oh...every six months) and when we do, we flock to the title with drooling mouths and high expectations.
I'd say it's safe to say Nintendo learned their lesson with the GameCube. You can't launch a Nintendo console without a true Mario title. It just doesn't seem right. Don't get me wrong, Luigi's Mansion was quite, an, um... fun experience, but it was slow and incredibly short, and the overall gaming community wasn't particularly impressed. So with the Revolution in sight of a 2006 launch one can only expect a Mario title to launch right along side it.
After all we've been hearing ramblings of the fabled Super Mario 128 since the GameCube was known as the Dolphin, and even though we got our hands on Super Mario Sunshine in between that time, it seemed more of a concept idea then an actual Mario title. Personally it seemed like a modern Super Mario Bros. 2 to me, it was a different setting, with lots of new characters and creatures, as well as an odd direction in terms of gameplay with the water pack. However make no mistake the classic platforming fun was still intact (even if a bit altered), and certainly holds the title as one of the best games made the console, but it didn't really advance the series the way Super Mario World, or [i]Super Mario 64 did back in their day.
So how can the alleged Super Mario 128 avoid a similar fate of disappointment? By taking advantage of the new, snazzy Revolution controller of course. I have no doubt in my mind that when Nintendo was prototyping the new controller, they had to think to themselves, "How is this going to work with Mario?" I mean the Mario series has never really been a one button game that the controller seems to sport, so Miyamoto and company must have some ideas on how it's going to mould with the new, unique device.
But what are those ideas exactly?
At first glance, I have a hard time seeing how the controller will work with a platform game at all. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I think it's safe to say that the Revolution will be the home to the first person shooter genre, as well as other shooter-esque type games (arcade, third person, and randomness like Killer 7), even the sports genre will more then likely see an overabundance of games (baseball, golf, tennis, and hockey anyone?). Oddly enough the genres that would appear to work best on the new controller have never really been that popular on Nintendo's systems to begin with, sales are sluggish and often resulted in poorly designed ports of existing, quality games on other rival systems.
So that's where Mario comes in, could he prove me wrong in that the controller can work just as well with any type of genre? Could he define the platforming genre all over again with this unique style of play? He just might.
Ever since the controller was revealed people all over message boards have this apparently wonderful idea that Mario will be controlled by tilting the controller left, right, forward and backwards. I can only hope all of these people are proven wrong in every which way, I find the idea irrational, if Mario defined the analog stick to begin with, why give that up? We're getting an analog attachment, so let's use it. It might be a bit boring, but too bad, it's the easiest and most efficient control scheme, not to mention we'll have plenty of opportunities to use the controller's tilt function. Leave the tilt method to games like the already announced Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, because you know they're going to use it.
With that, when the controller was first shown a teaser video was released along side with it showing various ways people can use the controller. Within this video was a woman holding the controller "flicking" it upwards to the chime of the classic Mario jump noise from Super Mario Bros. that we've all seemed to memorize over the years. Whether this idea comes to light or not with Super Mario 128 or not seems to be up in the air. Personally in a 3D environment the idea might not be as effective as say a 2D sidescroller, especially considering since Mario's debut into 3D he's had the ability to perform double and triple jumps at the press of a button, something that could be thrown off with the flick method.
I know, I know, I'm only a couple paragraphs into this feature and already I've said the controller will not be involved with either Mario's movement or jumping ability. But no, I'm not crazy, in fact far from it, I believe Nintendo will take a different approach. Rather then making Mario accept the new controller, the controller is going to have to accept Mario in that while you'll be seeing a lot of controller interaction, it won't be the entire focus of the gameplay, and that we'll still recognize this as a traditional Mario game.
So where does the controller come in? With every Mario game there's certainly a variety of gameplay methods thrown at us or in some cases "power-ups" to help us move around and uncover new and exciting areas of the Mushroom Kingdom. Instead of making the controller act as the meat of the meal with Mario's direct movements, it should instead focus upon the side dishes and make every bit of those as exciting and fresh as possible.
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