Dinklebot

@Serpenterror complete agreement, people are way over praising Astro bot in this comment section. Every single mechanic was from a previous, more innovative, Nintendo game. Really enjoyed Astro bot, but it’s so derivative, and people saying it’s better than any single 3d Mario are genuinely losing it!

I’m so glad others are experiencing this, I thought I was going crazy because I just couldn’t figure out why I always got tripped up when trying to select for Luigi. Also, they removed the “L to cancel” action in battle. Frustrating change, but overall the game has been pretty fun. I’m about 5 hours in. Does anyone else find it kinda strange though that Nintendo decided to do this Phantom Hourglass + Spirit Tracks merger rather than just, you know, an interconnected world like most of the M&L games have been? Seems like an overcomplicated system of traversal that might not pan out for me.

@WaffleRaptor01 totally agree. They really botched it with his motivation, replacement of the tri force with the dumbest possible name “secret stones”, super obvious and already exhausted plot point of puppet Zelda, that (now famous) terrible dragon tear memory animation of ganon laughing that looks like a literal YouTube poop animation, lack of interesting and varied sky islands, lack of interesting and varied depths locations… also ngl the final boss against ganondorf was laughably easy imo

Had fun with the new crafting and shrines though

@Anti-Matter I agree it’s more fun than people usually give it credit for — also color splash had waayyyy more bosses that required the annoying-specific-use-case “thing” stickers

@Not_Soos pretty good ratings imo!

@FawfulsFury thank you

Totally agree with you Ollie. I love TOTK but I still think BOTW has a certain magic. I think you did a great job describing that here!

@Quarth Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is very underrated – great Donkey-Kong-Country-Returns-Like game!

This looks awesome. Art is incredible. Love Savant!

@Mauzuri Hmmm that's a strange comment seeing as both BOTW and Sticker Star have great music!

Main hub town theme is fantastic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVsL0aDKp3M

This boss theme is excellent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqC5_XavB6I

This shop theme is great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rst7F3ETE3s

Sticker Star gives Kamek an iconic theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of0lfM-9PKY

Really cool atmospheric temple music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9WOdV6AApk&list=PLMf4m1TNEUp8W6ZcLXGxkEKgBZ--JP8yo&index=36

@Mauzuri The music is great!

Well written article, thanks for the read Kate! I agree that some Thing stickers required for over-world progression were frustrating, but I find that most people forget that only 2 bosses (outside of the Bowser Junior Scissors tutorial) in Paper Mario: Sticker Star, these being the giant Cheep-Cheep and Bowser, actually required the Thing stickers for progression. All of the chapter bosses can actually be beaten without Thing stickers – a good strategy for doing this is by using a lot of Hopslippers. Paper Mario: Color Splash on the other hand specifically requires Thing stickers to even do damage to chapter bosses. Not to mention that awful Steak battle which requires 3 Thing stickers used in a SPECIFIC order for one terrible fight... which can be easily messed up, forcing you to spend loads of coins to retrieve these items again. This is one huge reason why I prefer Paper Mario: Sticker Star over Color Splash. You can even do some of the worlds out of order in Sticker Star – it's great.

Funny, 20 years later and I still think it's the worst 3D Mario. It's the only one I've experienced to have a janky camera, collision bugs, and honestly the least engaging and unique content. It's a great game, I'm talking like an A- rather than the A I would give to all other 3D Mario games, but it really just isn't as good or polished as any of the others.

@Lizuka yeah, like the farmer

@Preposterous totally agree! I love that they went with bigger characters that you get to build! More detail, not just a lazy reskin of a minifig. I just cannot understand why so many comments in the Nintendo life community about Lego Mario come back to “I just wish they made normal sized mini figs”. Lego Mario is more creative and fun to build!

Mario Odyssey needs to be on this list!

The catching and battling mechanics in Legends Arceus are superior - really hoping these carry over into Scarlet and Violet!

@Bunkerneath

1. Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii, 3DS)

2. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Wii U, Switch)

3. [HOPEFULLY IN DEVELOPMENT SOMEWHERE]

Lego sonic feeling really lazy compared to Lego Mario. Just a goofy custom head on top of a cookie cutter mini fig body. I’m much more impressed by the interactivity and scale of Lego Mario. The figures being larger than mini figs allow for the screen in Mario’s eyes obviously, which is very fun, and allows the enemies to be designed on a larger scale so they incorporate more details in the builds. I’ll say on a positive note for sonic, the actual stage looks great!

@angus_luissen The traditional minifigs have always bugged me because I don't think there's enough variety between characters and they don't stand up very well... I think the "traditional minifig" LEGO Sonic looks totally goofy – and I love that they just made a new design for LEGO Mario rather than lazily tacking the mustache onto a minifig.

@chipia I genuinely don't understand this hate for Super Mario Party, the unique dice blocks and allies are fantastic new mechanics and almost all of the mini games are quality

@BenAV Um excuse you Super Mario Party is actually the best Mario Party

anyone still remember that Mario Kart Super Circuit toy from Wendy's that looked like the cover of a GBA box

For DKC3 I wish they would pull the new David Wise soundtrack from the GBA version!

@Apportal I agree, these quizzes are great!

@nessisonett Haha, fair enough!

@nessisonett Nope! It's Super!

@StuartGipp I love Sticker Star as well! Both Sticker Star and Color Splash are a lot of fun. Some folks don't realize you can actually beat Sticker Star out of order. Grab the trumpet in World 1, enter World 3 and grab the fishing line, enter World 5 and beat it before even encountering a single previous World boss. Pretty cool structure, and it lends to good replay-ability. Color Splash is great as well except that every Koopaling boss fight destroys the pacing, as the required "thing" card is often really obscure and you have to just flee the fight or accept a game over. Even still, I've enjoyed every Paper Mario for different reasons. Super Paper Mario is my favorite!

I'm shocked by all the negativity. I like this Crossy Road style Mario.

I don't care what anyone says, I've always loved Banana Blitz on the Wii. Jump button is fun, bosses are fun, music is great, levels are great, and it had a whopping 50 mini-games!

@nessisonett ... the actual gameplay is excellent and the motion controls could be made optional in a remake.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz has always been my personal favorite entry in the series. It has great original level design and boss fights. It also has a ridiculous amount of mostly-fun mini games. I know the motion controls are a point of contention, but I'm sure in 2019 SEGA will make them optional on Switch. Maybe this game will finally get the attention I always thought it deserved! So excited that Monkey Ball (hopefully) is coming back!

...Zelda + Rabbids Kingdom Battle anyone?

@SetupDisk I would love to believe that, but I can't shake the feeling that Nintendo lloooovvees these Zelda remakes/reimaginings. Link's Awakening this year, 2020 Skyward Sword HD, 2021 Oracle of Ages & Seasons or just a break year and a tease of BOTW 2.