LotusFlowers

@DollyrotsFan1 No one was expecting a masterpiece. I think people were just expecting to have to use their brain at least...a little bit? There's nothing wrong with liking this movie (I enjoy eating spoonfuls of sugar straight from the bag sometimes like everyone else), but dismissing critics' opinions as "you wanted Citizen Kane?" is just misrepresenting what people are actually saying. A movie can be simple, and also care about telling a decent story.

@gcunit No one says this when a movie's story is good. If spectacle and character cameos is all people want, just watch someone else play Smash Brothers for 2 hours and save yourself 20 bucks.

Yeah I really don't understand why people say "Mario games have no story" to fight back against the critics. Y'all know the difference between games and movies, right? I don't think it is snobby or pretentious of movie critics to ask for a little more from their movies than an AI-level mashup of Mario Items and Nintendo characters for two hours. If that's all you want, then I will personally allow you to come over to my house and watch me play Super Smash Bros for two hours. I will charge you 0 dollars, you can call out any cool references you see, and you can help yourself to popcorn.

@CJD87 Dude, you're making a straw man of everyone's concern. No one is expecting Citizen Kane or Inception with Mario. No one is expecting "fine cinema." They are merely hoping for a story that's a bit more involved than References: The Movie. If the whole movie is nothing but references and colours, then that is...a pretty empty experience. And these film critics are merely pointing that out (if you read the reviews themselves). I also don't buy the argument that "Mario games never had great stories." That is fine - because it's a GAME, not a movie. A movie is not interactive. It's a passive experience. It should have a decent story to keep me invested, and it shouldn't feel like I'm watching someone else play a video game with bad voice acting.

Yes. This movie is bad. Obviously. You know what else are bad? Pop Tarts and Pizza Pockets. Dollar-store satisfaction overstuffed with sugary empty calories. And people still eat those. Super Mario Reference-y is just that, and people will eat it all the same. Because you can enjoy an objectively bad thing every once in a while. Though it is unfortunate that kids' films are aiming so much lower these days. I just wish these films weren't so afraid to try.

I dont think adult gamers are the target market for this new version of the game. When you consider the assist modes, the minigames, the easiness of the boss battles...this is clearly geared towards young kids who are aging into Nintendo's target demographic of players. Nintendo has a new Mario movie coming out, and they want the kids who see it to have a new game to buy. The next 3D mario isnt ready yet, but they can refurbish this game at minimal cost and sell it at full price to the kids who never played it. I think its part of Nintendo's broader strategy to court younger audiences in general (Nintendo Life reviewed Mario-themed building blocks last week for pete's sake) because they want toddlers to recognize and love Mario the mascot before they even know what a video game is.

I feel like many commenters are missing the point. The score ultimately doesn't matter because the average NL reader (who played Wonder in 2023) is not the target market for this new version of the game. When you consider the assist modes, the minigames the easiness of the boss battles...this is clearly geared towards young kids who are aging into Nintendo's target demographic of players. Nintendo has a new Mario movie coming out, and they want the kids who see it to have a new game to buy. The next 3D mario isnt ready yet, but they can refurbish this game at minimal cost and sell it at full price to the toddlers who never played it. It's pretty brilliant brand management, actually.

@JohnnyMind
Because assist modes, badge combinations and new transformations are not substantial to most players who have already completed the game. The bosses are cool, but not 20-30 dollars-cool. Also, I don't know if we can say the Toad Challenges are meant for single-player when literally every single clip of those challenges...are multi-player clips. If they wanted to demonstrate single-player viability for that mode, they would have put it in the trailer.

With the Switch 1's huge install base, I was wondering whether Nintendo would have a Series X/S situation on their hands, where indie devs would end up compromising their games to be able to sell them on the much less powerful (though much more popular) machine. I was half expecting basically every game to be cross platform for that reason. Not so, it seems!

Did 7 or Village even come out on the original Switch? If not, it makes sense why Requiem sales (by itself) are so low. If you are a survival horror fan/Switch 1 owner and missed out on all the RE from last generation, you'd likely buy the collection just to get caught up.