Topic: Anyone notice how dull the aesthetics in NSMB are?

Unlike most Nintendo games, There seems to be a very bland, and when you think about it, kind of creepy aesthetic in the New Super Mario Bros. games. Its hard to describe, but everything seems to lack.... life or energy. It has that sort of clean plastic look that doesn't look lived-in. Compared to something like the Galaxy games where there's a clear direction that went into the games' aesthetic and created settings and mechanics based around the space theme. NSMB doesn't seem to have a clear theme to it. It seems like the designers just went for a cartoony art style, and thought that excuses them from creating a compelling aesthetic. Whenever I look at NSMB, it doesn't set me up for over-the-top platforming fun the way most other Mario games do. Instead it sets me up for bland, almost creepy Fisher-Price visuals.

But it isn't just NSMB though, A Link Between Worlds has the same problem, which is a stark contrast to other Zelda games. 3D Land and 3D world also suffer from this. This is a problem because we're talking about Nintendo here, the masters of creating compelling aesthetics in gaming. To see them go for a style so bland and dare I say, "childish" is very alien of them, especially since while Nintendo is family-friendly, they're usually not "Fisher-Price" levels. This video may explain what I'm talking about a little.

What I'm trying to say is that, Nintendo needs to do a compelling aesthetic with Mario like they did with Sunshine and Galaxy. The toy like aesthetic of 3D Land/World and the NSMB games feels very fake, dull, and doesn't look nearly as "alive" as they should be.

I agree , the NSMB games don't have that kick like they did in the old days

take a look at DKCR and tropical freeze now those games are full off life

I think he meant 3D Land.

I'll give the 3D games more credit because it was made by clearly masters of their craft, as opposed to the "it might as well have been the marketing team" NSMB sequels.

I was just playing Super Mario World and thinking how plain the graphics looked compared to many 16 bit platformers. I think it's a 2D Mario thing to not be too jazzy.

eh, I like em.

Heh, ya but I don't mind em that much, since I think that they were basically going for what they were in the Snes/nes era.

NSMB was fun, NSMBW was ok, reminded me a lot of Super Mario World. After that, I just wished the series was dead. Played through 2 like, once...couldn't even complete it...Haven't even finished U...

2.5D sidescrollers usually look pretty cheap TBH. It seems like really great 2D art is a long lost art these days among AAA developers.

ALBW is one of the cheapest looking Nintendo games I've ever seen though. If someone told me it was a flash game, I probably would have believed them.

I hate it when games have plastic art styles. It's just laziness, and looks very dull. Of course, there are people that like this for some reason...

Very well-explained. The NSMB titles just don't have any character. When you look at SMB 1, 2, 3 and Super Mario World, they all had a different aesthetic style. The NSMB games look like the assets are just copied and pasted in each time with a bump in resolution depending on the platform. I felt the same way about A Link Between Worlds. Great game but kind of a lifeless Hyrule... I actually prefer the art style done in A Link to the Past. Here's to hoping they mix up the Mario visual formula in the next outing. I did love Super Mario 3D World, though. Gorgeous game.

The aesthetic was tolerable at the Wii U's launch, but that's because it was the first time I'd even seen Mario in HD. Nothing else first-party even came out for the Wii U until Pikmin 3 almost a year later, so I had nothing to really compare it to. Now that good looking games like 3D World and MK8 and DK:TF are out, it's almost painful to go back to Mario Bros. U. And let me clarify: The reason for that is in part because of the cheap visuals, but mostly because of the lack of imagination and originality that game had.

If you've played through DK:TF, it's not hard to notice the huge level of care that was put into that game. Each stage is original unto itself, and every nook and cranny was packed with attention and detail. Many DK:TF stages had set pieces that totally blew my mind (especially the savanna, which was one of my favorite parts of that game). On the contrary, what does New Super Mario Bros. U have that the first New Super Mario Bros. for the DS didn't? Some tweaked levels? A new power up or two? Up-rezzed graphics? An overworld map? I honestly can't think of anything else.

The problem that plagues this series more than anything is the sheer lack of innovation. And it's crazy to say that about a Nintendo game, since Nintendo's games typically innovate in spades. But simply because it's 2D Mario, it flies off the shelves. It's the closest thing Nintendo has to a Call of Duty. Why would Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games/Treyarch do anything drastically different and risky with the COD series if people will buy it just because it's Call of Duty? Likewise, why would Nintendo do anything drastically different with the NSMB series if people will buy it just because it's 2D Mario? I think that's sadly the direction they went in following the success of the first NSMB.

So yeah, I think the visuals are definitely underwhelming, but I think that's only one of many problems with that series.

Honestly, the newer DKC and Kirby games blow the NSMB games out of the water in terms of gameplay, level desgin, and overall artstyle.

I just played Kirby Triple Deluxe and I was impressed by how vibrant and lively the game was.

The NSMB games aren't bad, but they feel like games that play everything too safe. It's a shame, because 2-D Mario games could still be just as innovative as their 3-D counterparts.

You know Nintendo is phoning in the NSMB series when Super Mario Land 1 and 2 both feel more original in terms of ideas and level design than New Super Mario Bros 2!

Honestly, the newer DKC and Kirby games blow the NSMB games out of the water in terms of gameplay, level desgin, and overall artstyle

Especially Kirby Epic Yarn.

Good Feel is great at its craft.

The Mario bros. games are supposed to appeal to kids. Keeping things simple with a bit of color makes things far easier to take in. Super Mario World is an absolutely brilliant game, but it's "psychedelic" visuals for lack of a better word, massive variety of enemy types, and at times steep difficulty level are a lot for kids to handle. Is dumbing things down the right decision overall? Business wise i'd say yes, but it would be nice to have a new age SMW on our hands at some point.

I don't know. I played SMB, SMB2, SMB3, AND SMW as a kid and had no problem with the visuals or the difficulty level of any of them.

Kirby is aimed at kids, but they still manage to be some of the best platformers on Nintendo's platforms, and they often come up with innovative ideas. Even Kirby's Return to Dreamland and Triple Deluxe manage to try new things despite being classic Kirby platformers.

The issue is that the NSMB games just don't try to innovate to offer anything new outside of a new gimmick powerup. For a company like Nintendo that prides themselves on being innovative or trying new things in their games, the NSMB games stand out as games where things are literally copied and pasted between games.

SMW was a hard game, but it was not impossible. None of the old Mario games outside of Lost Levels should be impossible to beat over time. Not to mention, Super Mario Land 2 is much easier than most Mario games, and it still came up with awesome level idea despite being on the Game Boy!

The NSMB games to be blunt, feel like expansion packs of each other, rather than a fresh new sequel.

"Oh its for kids, they don't have to put EFFORT into the game!" Your target demographic is no excuse for laziness. Look at several kids cartoons like Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, Avatar. They're kids shows, but even they're more creative than the NSMB series

That's good to hear. Personally I had a hard time in the latter levels of SMW when I first played it.

Thanks for the input. As I said before I think this is a business decision on Nintendo's part, however unfortunate it may be for their creative potential. Hopefully they're working on stuff to satisfy our expectations in the future.