My reaction while watching this:

“Huh. I mean, I guess I see where Mario is coming from.”

“Wait.”

“O…OOOOOOH.”

This got that weird lump of flesh between my ears thinkin’. (Which isn’t pretty, seeing as I’ve been laid up in bed all weekend with the [insert poop emoticon here].) I asked myself, “How do I feel about today’s Mario games?” (Specifically, the ones released on console.)

I guess we need to take it back a bit. Super Mario 64 was new and innovative for the series, and if we want to take it back just a hair further, so was Super Mario RPG. (ONE OF MY FAVES HOLY CRAP.) Since then, we’ve had Paper Mario (love) Super Mario Galaxy 1 and Super Mario Galaxy 2 (never got into SMG 2, disliked the waggle controls), Super Mario Sunshine and…what was after that? New Super Mario Bros. Wii? The 3D side-scroller that released on the Wii? Ugh, I know there were other Paper Mario-esque games released in there somewhere and of course there’s Super Mario 3D World and other side-scrollers and AHHHH too many. /overload

In short, it seems as though the main “innovations” occurred baaaaaack in the day, and since then Nintendo has just been tweaking the formula a bit.

Considering all…that… I think I’m sitting pretty with the Mario series. Like, I love the side-scrollers as they bring me back, and I LOVE Super Mario 3D World because it reminds me of Super Mario 64 — I only hope Nintendo makes more Mario games like those. Unfortunately the Mario RPGs are on handhelds, and I’m not much of a handheld player, but at least I know they’re out there. So, yeah. I think at the end of the day I’m happy Nintendo has remained rather traditional with the Mario franchise. I mean, what else would they do with their most iconic character? Put him in a gory, sexual M-rated shooter? (That would be amazing btw.)

Anyway, this was just one of those Sunday morning brain-dumps. So I’ll ask you: What do you guys think? Are you happy with how Nintendo has treated Mario throughout the years? Or would you like to see something different? And if so, what?

The post Let’s Talk About The Mario Series! first appeared on A video game blog and other shenanigans | Blondenerd.com.