Oh look it's September. That month in Florida where we begin betting which city will be destroyed by a hurricane this year. I had almost forgotten until the news began telling us we're all going to die. It's this time of year when I begin seriously questioning why I still live here...
RIP AlphaDream
https://kotaku.com/mario-luigi-rpg-devel...1838692022
I always remember them for their Mario & Luigi series. After Paper Mario basically died (Sticker Star, Color Splash), it was just the Mario & Luigi series that was left. And you gotta admit it to them, it has always been an outstanding series.
I have always wondered what the series would be like if AlphaDream was allowed to make the next entry for the Nintendo Switch. The latest title was the 3DS remake of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. Probably in hindsight, the 3DS was a dying system when it was released so late in it's cycle. Perhaps the Switch might have been the better choice.
waitwhat. they what?
i was always under the impression the mario & luigi series did well enough o.O
That's sad. Given how crap the recent Paper Mario games were, there's officially no good Mario RPG franchise alive anymore...
RIP the dream
Hopefully Nintendo can scoop up some of the developers and just move them in-house. No need to let such a great series die. I doubt Nintendo will start making "real" Paper Mario games again, but one can hope. Always loved M&L. PM was basically the spiritual successor to Super Mario RPG, but that series abdicated that status recently, and M&L has done a fantastic job all around in filling that void.
Bowser Inside Story Remake sold very badly, because the 3DS was at the agony of its life.
That's sad, I really like M&L RPG series, even if I felt it lost a portion of its craziness after Partners in Time.
(10-03-2019, 10:32 PM)DrHouse64 Wrote: [ -> ]Bowser Inside Story Remake sold very badly, because the 3DS was at the agony of its life.
That's sad, I really like M&L RPG series, even if I felt it lost a portion of its craziness after Partners in Time.
All their 3DS entries (including the two remakes) weren't that bad actually. Paper Jam might have been disliked by some, since having that many generic toads brought nightmares flashes from Color Splash, but it's actually a pretty great and solid entry. The Superstar Saga remake was awesome as well. I must have noticed the signs earlier. The Bowser's Inside Story remake supported fewer languages than their previous 3DS entries. Probably a lack of funding. That being said, even with Bowser's Inside Story you can't go wrong, back on the NDS it was one of top-tier titles.
I suspect that a) the 3DS was long overdue when they released Bowser's Inside Story. People went for the Switch instead and b) It was their fourth Mario & Luigi title on the 3DS, meaning they re-used the same art-style for the fourth time, this also ties back that a graphical upgrade thanks to the Switch would have been appreciated more.
It could be that they never got to work on a Switch version since they lacked the funding to rework the assets for HD. It would have been the cheapest for them to just re-use the assets again for on the 3DS.
While I found the games to be great, I never liked the touch controls. Superstar Saga, Partners in Time and Paper Jam definitely shine here without the mandatory need for touch controls. I really don't get why people hated Partners in Time. I loved that entry. Yeah, it was way more linear, but nevertheless loved it as well. Sadly, Partners in Time won't likely receive the same make-over. I always found Bowser's Inside Story (while probably being their second-best entry, followed by Superstar Saga) to be reaching it's conclusion way to quickly once you reached about halfway through the game. And the minigames weren't that fun... At all. Way too many of them being repeated. Dream Team was awesome, but it felt a bit like a de-ja-vu from Bowser's Inside Story, and you guessed it, more touch controls.
I really would have wanted a Mario RPG on the Switch. Perhaps Paper Mario makes a proper return. Perhaps Nintendo will offer support to AlphaDream for them to continue. Perhaps another studio may proceed with the Mario & Luigi series. The series should be intellectual property of Nintendo themselves. After RareWare was gone, Retro Studios did a fine job continuing with the Donkey Kong Country series. Who knows, Intelligent Systems is still around.
Admentus Wrote:I really don't get why people hated Partners in Time. I loved that entry.
It's been
years since I last played M&L:PiT, but it was the first game of the series that I got. It was wonderful, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Haters mad 'cause Fawful doesn't get enough screen time, probably. All I remember was that it was a blast, and everything I'd hoped for from a Mario RPG.
Admentus Wrote:Who knows, Intelligent Systems is still around.
Maybe if Nintendo stops beating the Fire Emblem cash-cow, they'd let Intelligent Systems develop some new "Wars" games. It's been ages since the last Advance Wars (11 years!!) and the Switch is kinda like the perfect system for that. Nice, large screen as an HDTV or in portable mode. You'd get endless hours of replay value too, and with modern online play, things could get exciting. Custom maps and scenarios for download/sharing would be icing on the cake.
Alas, we'll be getting another FE game circa 2021, like clock-work. Nothing wrong with FE, but... we're kinda getting saturated with them recently.