Topic: Your Top 5 Improvements for Super Mario Wii U (3D Mario Game)

With the next 3D Mario game rumored to be releasing in a couple months, there has been much discussion of what the game will be like? Galaxy 3? Sunshine 2? Or another 3D Land. While none of us know for sure, here is my Top 5 improvements I want in the next 3D Mario game. Give your opinions on mine, and write your own! Some of these are pretty minor things, I'm sure Nintendo will make a great Mario game no matter what, these are just some suggestions.

Remember, everything I saw here is my opinion. I'm not stating it is the right one, nor am I saying that you should agree with me

5. A Large Hub World. Super Mario 64 is a memorable game. For many it was their first Mario game, and Peach's Castle is the best known aspect of the entire game. Exploring the courtyard and finding new parts of the castles was really exciting and added this awesome sense of depth. While Super Mario Sunshine's Hub world was much larger than the castle, it seemed less memorable to me. The Observatory in Galaxy was all right, but a step down from the previous two. Galaxy 2's Mario Planet wasn't really a hub world as it was a playground to test your skills, and 3D Land lacked one all together. I don't know if there should be an upgraded Peach's Castle, or something completely new, but I think this game definitely needs ones.

4. Day and Night System in the Hub World. As game consoles become more powerful, a sense of immersion in video games is becoming greater and greater. In Animal Crossing, one thing that always added to the experience was playing the game at night and seeing that the in game world was dark just like the real world. I also liked how Nintendo Land incorporated a similar effect, however you had to manually change the time of day. Say the Hub World is Peach's Castle. Now imagine playing the game in the daytime and seeing the sun in the sky, causing reflections on the water, windows in the castle had light beams coming from them, and there were clouds visible in the sky. Now imagine playing the game at night, seeing the moon in the sky, and having a more mellow rendition of the song playing. When you go inside, the Toad's are sleeping, and everything seems a bit calmer. This isn't necessary for all the levels, but adding depth like that in the hub world would be incredible.

3. More Diverse Bosses. Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 all had very different and exciting bosses, however, Super Mario 3D Land had the same bosses repeating over and over. Bosses are one of the most exciting aspects of a Mario game, and having dull bosses is a huge disappointment. It doesn't matter if they're bigger versions of standard enemies, or just brand new creatures, but we need diverse boss battles!

2. A New Character or Two. Adding Luigi in Galaxy was a nice step in the right direction. He had a slightly different jump and run, making the game a bit different and adding diversity. But, what if Peach was playable? Being able to glide a bit with her Umbrella, or Toad being a lot faster than Mario and Luigi. This would add replay value and diversity, especially if you needed to complete the game 100% to unlock these characters.

1. A return to non-linear gameplay. Super Mario 3D Land, in my opinion, is a merge between 2D Mario and 3D Mario, there is usually a fixed camera point, and there is only one path. In 64, Sunshine, and partially in Galaxy, there is a sense of being able to go anywhere in a level, and get any star, or find a secret one. With the power of the Wii U we could have huge diversity.

Honorable Mention: While writing the part about bonus characters, I thought of something - what if the game had something similar to the Mario RPGs where you would play as Peach or Bowser in their own stages, advancing the story, (I'm not saying the game should have deep story) or showing how things got this way.

SO! What do you think of my list? Make your own! I can't wait to see what you guys can come up with.

Just make sure the game is nothing like Super Mario 3D Land and it'll be great.

1-5: Make a new game instead of one relying entirely on nostalgia.

yes, but SMB2 hasn't been run into the ground. Same reason I approve of a new LTTP and Yoshi's Island btw.

Galaxy's level of level design combined with the level exploration from M64 is what I want.

Can't wait to see what they come up with, absolutely LOVE the Mario games

I really want the levels to not have a "finish." I want the worlds to be bigger. I think the reason Galaxy didn'y resonate with me as much as it did with others is because the worlds all felt very small and linear. Large, varied, non linear worlds would make me very happy.

I really want a very interactive hub world with lots of characters to meet and do missions for, and fun little things to play with.
Also, a story would be very much appreciated, lately all Mario games have just been a simple "Bowser steals Peach, got get her!" but no specific story or unique personalities are shown in the characters involved, so I would enjoy a change in that.

A hub world would be great, but I don't want to see Peach's Castle again. Maybe Bowser's Castle or something, with the hub world being under villain control?

Not sure about this. Personally, I'd prefer the levels had day and night mechanics rather than the hub world, and have it so different missions are possible at night than in the day. Seems like the next logical step after Sunshine and it's alternating day and night levels in Pianta Village.

The hub world doesn't need day and night mechanics, but the levels could benefit massively from it.

I disagree Super Mario 64 had diverse bosses. After all, we got Big Boo three times, Big Bully twice and his clone in Snowman's Land once, with many of the other bosses being fairly bland in attack pattern and design even with only one appearance. I agree that Mario 3D Land screwed up in this regard though, and that bosses should be like those in Sunshine and the Galaxy games (more Galaxy, Sunshine had a tendency to bring back the same bosses too much). Interesting bosses with actually difficult battles would be nice to see.

Not sure, but if so, I think there are a ton more potentially interesting playable characters than Peach. More playable characters would be nice though.

Agreed entirely with the last points.

I do agree we need more exploration 3D platformers. I think the last one was during the PS2 era which is...slightly depressing.

Thanks for the responses guys. I definitely feel like 3D Land, while fun, was a step in the wrong direction.

...What? How can we suggest improvements for a game that we know nothing about?

Really? Because I feel I like the last three NSMB games were the real step in the wrong direction.

That has nothing to do with anything.

How about this time, Bowser has succeeded in taking over the Mushroom Kingdom, and the hub is his castle? You need to get enough stars to reach his throne room. Playable: Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Peach and Toad, all with their own abilities. (Wario and Waluigi are really just in it to try and take over themselves)

If the "Start to Finish" leveldesign is used, we defenitly need more levels than 3D Land had, or they need to be way longer (branching paths, second goals).
For objective based levels: Go the 64 route. It was more focused on exploration than straight forward "shiny get". A large, wide open Level with puzzle bits.
Galaxy was a nice mix between "start to finish" and exploration. It had slightly linear, more platforming oriented levels with branching paths.

I like the suggestion of other characters. The DS remake of 64 did a really nice job with it (except the yoshi hat thing, that was rather strange). Having to use different characters to achieve other goals can squeeze out quite a bit of playtime. It would also fit the (fanmade) Universe theme by getting the Mario Universe characters together.

The art style should stay where it is. I really like the 3D design of Galaxy / 3D Land.

A Hub-World is a definite must. I liked galaxy 2 a lot less because of its boring level map system. Peaches castle in 64 was brilliant. It had easy access to all mayor levels whyle sub levels where a bit more hidden and it had tons of secrets to discover. If they go the "more characters" route, it could use a bit of metroid in it: Having to use other characters abilities to reach new places.

But the most important thing is: It needs to be great in all regards. This could and should be the WiiUs saving grace. It will be hard to topple galaxy, but if they do, it could be a masterpiece in its own league.

How about different locations for the HUB world? There could be Peach's Castle, a Haunted Mansion and then Bowser's Castle.

1 I defenately want a hub world that can compare to Delfino Plaza. With hidden areas, and a beautiful world.
2 Some worlds that use the Gamepad well, similar to Galaxy's ball rolling levels.
3 DLC would be acceptable if it changes the game, similar to New Super Luigi U.
4 Star Coins were annoying in Galaxy 2. I'd rather want them out.
5 If they can find some way to incorporate NFC as well (Which I have a feeling they will), that would be fine.

And maybe it could take place not only in the Mushroom Kingdom, but also Sarasaland, Kitchen Island, Evershade Valley, all of the other locations in the Mushroom World!

That actually sounds pretty fun!

I don't think it's fair to include Super Mario 3D Land with the other 3D Mario games. It was a sort of hybrid between 2D and 3D Mario games - the platforming of the 3D games with the story, level design, enemies, power-ups, and world map of the 2D games. Nintendo will obviously produce something much deeper than Super Mario 3D Land for their 3D Mario game - it will probably be more akin to the Galaxy games.