Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@Novamii Sonic Superstars is far from the worst Sonic game, but it feels unpolished and unfinished (especially on Switch). I agree 2D Sonic co-op platforming doesn’t work very well, the game’s all about going fast so it’s so hard to have everyone on screen.

I haven’t played Mania, but I’m sure it’s a lot more enjoyable. I think the series should’ve continued a pixel art style, it runs smoothly and looks really good overall. Mania did a great job modernizing the OG style, but Superstars kind of went away from it.

@StewdaMegaManNerd I mean, I haven't fully played X7 in a while, but I remember it feeling clunky and... underproduced. It's a finished game, but I didn't find it a very entertaining game. Not horrendously terrible, but not great. But hey, I enjoy Sonic 06 (for the wrong AND "right" reason), and I think pretty similar to Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric as you do X7. X7 voice acting does suck tho.

As for Mega Man 2... I can see what you mean about the repetitive soundtrack, still think it's great personally. I find the game fair (use wood shield and the air weapon for the birds in Crash Man's stage, and using weapons to cheat sections is a very Mega Man thing). The weapon weaknesses are... fine, usage wise and such, but the Metal Blades are the Metal Blades, so it's kinda silly in that area. I like the Wily Stages ( stage 3 boss is annoying because of how precise you have to be). And the final boss has a cool build-up, and using the most useless weapon is very clever in my eyes. It honestly amazed me when I a kid. In fact, this game is what made me a Mega Man fan (that and the Archie comic).

Also, BEST. INTRO. EVER.

@Novamii @PikminMarioKirby Yeah, as somebody who has quite a bit of experience with 2D Sonic games, I didn't like Sonic Superstars that much either. It's a game I wanted to like more since I liked the Genesis games and Mania, especially since the game's controls feel pretty good - much better than those of Sonic 4. But yeah, I thought Superstars could have been quite a bit better. And yes, those boss fights are terrible... they're just one waiting game after another. Some of the music is pretty bad too, particularly the ones that try to emulate the Genesis style.

And while we're on the subject of Sonic, I do have an opinion that could very well be unpopular. I don't enjoy the boost era Sonic games, like Unleashed and Generations. I think it's mostly due to Sonic's controls just not working in my favor... I was able to finish Sonic X Shadow Generations earlier this year - both Sonic's story and Shadow's story - and yeah, overall I just didn't enjoy the game nearly as much as I wanted to. I know Generations is a beloved game for a lot of people, and I'm definitely glad if any of you like it. I wish I did too.

@Novamii I think your complaints about the bosses are a pretty popular opinion. As for the rest... I feel like Sonic games are pretty famous for simultaneously being beloved but also often not very good. The score on NL is 7.2/10 which isn't bad but is pretty low for such a major title (coincidentally the same score as Pokemon Scarlet/Violet)

I've yet to play a Sonic game I thought was superb. Although it's almost unquestionable that the character seems to fare far better in 2D outings than 3D ones,

That being said, I owned Sonic Adventure growing up and am still intensely nostalgic for the Dreamcast version of the game, including the fun little VMU chao game it gave you access to.

I don't know why I've been thinking about this in 2025, but over the years I've seen people dismiss the Wii U version of Rayman Legends and say the ports improved/fixed the game, and I reject these opinions by default. To this day, Rayman Legends to me was still the absolute peak of the Wii U. Both as an utterly brilliant, content rich 2d platformer, but for how it utilized the Wii U's unique features. No other AAA, hardcore game ever matched up to the unique experience of using the gamepad with other people platforming in this game. While that aspect of the game is a bit short compared to what I would've wanted, it was otherwise wildly fun, compelling and creative in the way I wanted Wii U's major titles to have been as a whole. in general a real shame Wii U's asymmetrical multiplayer never went as far as it could have, because I would've played equivalents in all sorts of games.

And in general, I think Rayman Legends, despite being fairly acclaimed, still doesn't get the credit it deserves as an all time great platformer. Not every game relying on "more content" is for the best, but it was for this one. Like when they released the timed missions as a free download months ahead of time, that alone was awesome and gave me a dozen hours of fun before the game even came out. And then you had the core levels, which were awesome like I already explained and then these almost Mario Galaxy comet-like challenges were awesome and then they pulled a Pokemon gen 2/Rogue Squadron 3 and...just put the previous game in this game, like crazy people.

Probably, yeah.

Anyways, since we're talking Sonic here, I might as well get it off my chest:

I do not care for Ian Flynn. Or at least, I don't put him on the same God-like pedestal others do. To me he's just another writer, and writers aren't without flaw. Flynn included. I feel his writing style is a bit too "plot drives the characters" for my liking(at least in the comics, I can't comment on the games he wrote) and I don't agree with his desire to have everything adhere to one specific canon.

My hot take for Sonic is that I don't really care for the movies. It feels like they get a ton of praise for doing the same exact thing that a majority of terrible live action video game films do. The whole "Oh wow! Video game character in real life!!!!"

Even if it's done better because it actually follows the source material, I'm just tired of that same exact trend being utilized over and over again. I wish we would get more films for games that don't involve the characters either coming from our world into the game's world (stuff like Monster Hunter, A Minecraft Movie) or Video game characters coming to the real world (the Sonic Movies, A Minecraft Movie).

I want more films like Detective Pikachu or the Mario Movie, but with actual decent plots that aren't just a rehash of the game- or in the case of the Mario Movie, a nostalgia fest with no actual substance to it narratively.

@VoidofLight Credit where it's due, though: I at least respect the Sonic films for actually trying to be movies. Whole time I was watching Mario, I was just thinking to myself, "why can't I just play this? What is the point of bringing Mario to film if you're not going to tell a story that works best for this specific format?" I never quite got that with Sonic.

This is why I feel like people fell in love with the film series in the first place. I don't mind if the first film didn't have the most video game-ish elements in it. It's good on it's own, and that's something you can't say for most video game movies (and other similar style family films, adaptations and such). Also, I'm used to different adaptations of Sonic as a Archie Sonic fan. I even enjoy elements of Underground.

I need to do a re-watch of the series, cause I have this weird feeling I like the first one the most for some reason.

Speaking of Sonic Adventure, I also have fond memories of Sonic Adventure 2 in particular, as because Nintendo fan, it was the first Sonic game I played and I remember liking it a lot. But when I played the demo of the HD version on Ps3 a few years ago (which admittedly, those versions are considered less than ideal AFAIK), I did not particularly liked how it played. Which kinda made me...not want to go back to it anymore, for fear my memories will be ruined by the reality of how it plays.

It would be doubly disappointing as someone who rarely feels this way about N64 games despite being told repeatedly those games in particular have aged poorly, so it would stand out even more if Sonic Adventure 2 has.

I never understand the appeal of rhythm heaven games, even the new rhythm heaven game announced just zero interest for me.
I grew up by Rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution, Beatmania IIDX, Drum Mania, etc so I expect the gameplay of good rhythm games must have interface, the scroll and wide variety songlist like those rhythm games.

Otherwise, I will not impressed at all.

So I have a pretty big unpopular opinion. I don't think Mario Kart World selling itself as an Open World game is a good thing- and I can't see why it's so special. It feels like they're just tacking on the free roam Open World aspect as it's own sectioned off thing that will contribute virtually nothing to the gameplay- at least from what we've seen. Sure, it's cool noticing that the courses actually exist in the world, but it feels like a gimmick or novelty that adds no real substance to the experience as a whole. Especially in regards to both Knock-Out mode and Grand Prix.

I also don't like how course design is clearly suffering due to this open-world revelation. It seems like with Grand Prix, the courses themselves are taking a massive back-seat. We only spend one race out of each cup (the starting one) doing three laps around the courses. The rest of the races are where we spend 2/3 of the laps getting to the course, and one final lap around the actual course itself. Majority of Grand Prix's gameplay is focused specifically around the sprints and getting from one course to the other. It looks like it won't really be fun either, since the routes to those courses are just linear lines with nothing interesting added to them.

Sure, the game might have VS mode. It might have time trials. But it feels like Grand Prix is the experience I played the most in Mario Kart 8- especially given how you can complete all of them by getting a trophy for each and every cup. It was a really fun challenge on the maximum speed and in mirror mode. I hate how this game probably won't have anything like that- and all because it wants to sell itself on being an open world experience.

I also dislike how they got rid of the custom vehicle, so it feels like there's less strategy in planning out your stats of your kart. You're now stuck to picking specific Karts- and if there's a Kart that's the "best" one, it'll probably be the only one people are going to play with.

@VoidofLight I don't have the strongest thoughts on the track design itself until the Direct - it's too early for me to say that it's Mariover, but I will disagree in regards to the kart customization. It was a fun novelty to have in 7/8 and led to some nice experimentation, but the bloom faded off the rose when you eventually just settled on your preferred kart/character combo - this was further proven in the online scene, with so many people going with the same roller-centric meta-builds every damn time. World going back to preset builds trims the fat, which I don't think is inherently bad design.

@N00BiSH I guess with the kart thing. I just personally rather have custom karts because it felt like for a while it brought more strategy to the table- but I guess it'll be the same either way, given people will just stick to the same Kart in whatever system they bring.

As for the courses, I hope we get some well designed ones. I'm still hoping the direct will justify the open world, along with showcasing some of the courses. My main gripe is mostly just how Grand Prix mode is more about the in-between of going through courses instead of actually doing laps around the courses themselves.. with the in-between areas looking far less interesting in comparison to the actual courses. I'm fine with Knock-Out mode being mainly just in-between segments, but I wish we actually got to do a full 3 laps around the courses after we get to them in Grand Prix.

I think I read somewhere that the lack of 3 laps was a misunderstanding, but I'm too lazy to look into it myself, so I wouldn't know. I'd disagree with that if its actually the direction, at least until its justified as of comparable quality in execution.

But I will say, I'm not willing to say anything about it in general, since while I am also increasingly disinterested in the entire open world genre, every time I say that I then enjoy the new open world Zeldas more than nearly any other video game I play. My favorite 3d video games of maybe the past decade shouldn't be these bloated open world games that replaced my precious classic Zelda games so I could do endless cooking nonsense, climbing to get insignificant items for an eternity, the worst main quest of the 3D games (and pretty bottom tier across Zelda in general) with inexplicably mid sidequests from the same series that gave us Majora's Mask and Skyward Sword...but they are. This looks so much less bloated and has a non-open world game to thoroughly enjoy, from a series I'm far less consistently in love with anyway, so I'm more than willing to see where this goes.

@kkslider5552000 Nah, I watched the footage. Unless there's a way to configure it to where you can turn off the in-between routes (which I don't think that's what intermission means), the courses have 2 laps where you go between courses and 1 around the course itself.

Also, I don't mind Open Worlds, but I'm just tired of tons of series becoming Open World. I think Open World Mario Kart can be interesting- and I'm more than willing to give it a shot.. but I don't know what they'll end up sacrificing in order to accomplish it- nor am I understanding fully what they aim to do with it that makes it the main selling point of the game. We'll find out soon though. I know that Xenoblade Chronicles X is probably my favorite Open World- so I hope Nintendo can find some way to beat Monolith in that regard.

Unpopular Mario Kart World take that I'm sure nobody's heard before: I think the inclusion of Mario enemies as racers is more satisfying than if we just got more crossover characters. They were nice extras to have in 8DX but I wouldn't want them to oversaturate the roster, lest the game run the risk of becoming Nintendo Kart(which I dread. Greatly).

I also think it's hilariously hypocritical that there are people yearning for the Koopalings to return, as if their inclusion wasn't heavily scrutinized before.

My take on Mario Kart World is that the open world racer is hardly a new idea that elevates the franchise into the levels of something that's worthy of charging the premium price that they're asking for it.

Lots of people are already comparing it to Forza Horizon, already into its 5th iteration, and before that you've got games like Burnout Paradise (ported to the Switch and often available at a bargain price) and Midtown Madness from the late 90s, that offered a mix of free roaming and a variety of races.

I've had a lot of fun with that formula over the years and don't think it's a bad direction to be taking the franchise in, but it just isn't the Holy Grail that some people seem to think.

@N00BiSH I agree, partly because I think inclusion of non-Mario series racers would break the cohesion of the game and its vision, but also because I believe if Nintendo were to do a "Nintendo Kart" I would be more interested in the courses than the characters (although you'd need good reps for both!)

Honestly I still hope we get a Nintendo Kart one day but I'm happy they've gone in this direction for this entry.

Also didn't realise people didn't like the Koopalings in Mario Kart 8 - I'm personally a fan. But could it just be different people holding different opinions?