Out of interest, did you all prefer the original graphics or the slightly jazzed up graphics of the SNES version (Mario-AllStars I think).

I liked the graphics in Super Mario 3 best, actually.

The one graphics part of Super Mario World (#4) that I hated was those little bat things that would attack from the ceilings in the caves. Couldn''t even tell what they were, they looked like flying pickles or something.

Just a quick note before I head home, with Mario levelling up there''s a significant change in the characters appearance and abilities (smash blocks / throw fire balls). In most RPG''s all that would change for your character is some stats, and weapon changes are mostly cosmetic. With SMB being levelled up allows you to find different ways through the level in some cases. I think that''s something that''s not used as much these days, whether Mario was big or not depended on whether the player had got a mushroom. It wasn''t given to the player at a certain point and allow him/her to continue with the game but was a reward the player could find and would allow them to take a hit.

With these types of bonuses you can reward the player (graphically and in gameplay options) for great play (like the fireworks at the end of the level). This way the player can really feel that they have acheived something and can add to the magical feel of the game.

Anyway it''s just a thought...

I like the graphics of Super Mario Sunshine (Nintendo GameCube) the best

I''ve the chance to have it, it rocks

-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-

Also note that you could complete each and every level without ever powering up to big mario...

The game Donkey Kong introduced Mario...Mario then came back in the arcade game "Mario Brothers" (which also introduced Luigi) which for some reason is all but forgotten, even though it was a very good game.

In "Mario brothers" players had one screen to work from (no scrolling ) there are a series of platforms resembleing the layout of "Joust"...Mario and/or Luigi (it was a two player at the same time type game) could jump up from under the platform to knock the section of platform up slightly (just like little mario does in SUPER Mario brothers released a few years later)...at the screen edges of these platforms sits a tunnel which spat out a series of enemies...includeing the turtle (actually most of the enemies seen in SUPER appeared in this game)...the object was to simply defeat the enemies from entering into the two tunnels at the bottom of the screen...its a pretty simple game made difficult by the fact that the platforms seem to be made of ice or something slick.

Also I don''t think Miyamoto had anything to do with Pokemon (which first appeared on the gameboy, during the time Mario 64 was in development) altho Miyamoto typicaly does a lot more "overseeing" these days on several projects at once, then one specific game (outside of Mario and Link). Miyamoto also had nothing to do with Metroid, which was designed by the same fellow that helped create the Gameboy system (as well as Virtual Boy, but lets not go into that )...I''m not trying to "dis''" Miyamoto (I think he is THE game design god...the best of the best!)...but he often gets credit for things that he didn''t do (and has never said he did in interviews...he is a very modest and honest man...very deserveing of the respect given to him :D )...

Feel and Variety
Both were already discussed so I won''t go into too much detail but you guys probably seriously underestimate how important great feel is to a game. That Mario slid the right amount. That Mario''s jumps were natural (even if in real life physically impossible). That perfect little bounce off of enemies that he jumped on. Small details, perhaps, but deceivingly important in my opinion.

He didn''t make pokemon. . .

Oh, guess I was wrong about Pokemon. Oh well, all them Japs look the same (just kidding!).

But I guess Pikmin(he DID do that one didn''t he?) would work as a replacement example.
The whole game was about collecting food, spaceship parts and bizarre little creatures.

Another cool thing about Mario, was that since it was played by just about everybody, you could talk about it weth just about anyone(well, anyone with an NES).

And it didn''t involve chicks with huge tits, or guns, or gore, or any real violence to speak of. Making it something that parents wouldn''t object to so much.

hmm...how much longer before we have brainstormed enough and need to think about how this should impact OUR game design.

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Original post by GameCreator
Feel and Variety
Both were already discussed so I won''t go into too much detail but you guys probably seriously underestimate how important great feel is to a game. That Mario slid the right amount. That Mario''s jumps were natural (even if in real life physically impossible). That perfect little bounce off of enemies that he jumped on. Small details, perhaps, but deceivingly important in my opinion.

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I think this portion of game design is where instinct and intuition come into play. This gameplay mechanic stuff is harder to quantify and break down into simple processes and techniques. I would guess that this part of design is a matter of tweaking numbers and stats after implementation has been completed to a certain point. Which is probably why some companies don''t get this part right, since it has to happen near the end of the development cycle.

The unfortunate thing is this stuff can be based on opinion. I loved everything about Deus Ex except its feel. The guns felt awkward and clunky, the interface didn''t feel right, and it was frustrating for me to play the game. Lots of other people apparently didn''t think so.

i dunno if anyone else has said this but whatever.

I think what made it so fun compared to most other platform games was that is it focused on jumping from platform to platform, and made it difficult. the beign able to go faster, sliping when you jump going fast on the landing, minimal prescence of enemys.

Alot of platform games mostly focused on lots of strong enemys well sortov forgetting the platform aspect. Mario was mostly tricky jumping lines that involeved speed modulation, precision jumping techniques, andmodulating the amout youll slip. The enemys were quite simple and they could be good (when you need to bounce off their backs) or bad. But it was like platform in its purest form, not much of that other crap. Some other platform games did really in making it a real platform game, like sonic (which also was huge). Mario was also simple, no special moves or whatever. If you go fast its hard, if you go slow you run out of time. The levels werent confusing to get through or anything, they werent really long either. Donkey kong was allright platforming, with the vine swinging and stuff, but not great. Mario the 2 things you did were modulate your speed and how much you will slip, the most common way of dying is not from an enemy, but falling into the abyss.