From what I recall, Sheena's moment was actually legitimate, given the stance she was in was one that couldn't be simply "Why don't you just do this blatant action?" and she was also not in a position that she could be easily rescued too. Cannot realistically defend any other characters though. Genis is probably the worst though...
Lloyd: Ok, I got this plan, it'll totally work! You do this, I do this, and then victory!
Genis: Ok.
Lloyd: On the count of 3! 1...2...3...!
*Plan enacted, Genis doesn't run through*
Genis: Your plan was good BUT YOU FORGOT THIS IMPORTANT DETAIL WHICH IS WHY IT DIDN'T WORK PERFECTLY!
Well, gee, Genis, why didn't you...I dunno...BRING THAT UP TO LLOYD WHEN HE WAS TELLING YOU THE PLAN? You know...when the information would be useful? Mentioning it in hindsight after it has already been too late is kind of completely pointless given I highly doubt Lloyd will ever be put into a comparable situation again (no, this isn't foreshadowing for ToS2; nothing like that happens in ToS2.)
ANYWAY, onto stuff I played, and less punching Genis in the face for being an idiot...
Super Mario 3D Land: Beat this a while back, decided not to mention it because reasons you'll find out later! Fun game, better than I was expecting. Some claims I heard was that it's just small scale SM64, as well as uses the 3D on the 3DS Mechanic to be able to pull off things. I found neither of those real; you can actually get a sense of depth without the 3D Mechanic in the rare instances it's necessary, so that part is a wash. In the case of the SM64 parallel, it's not directly comparable.
SM64 was more of this big open world platformer where you run around large stages until you complete a task. SM3L is more like taking the standards of a 2D Mario game and applying a 3rd Dimension. It follows all the conventions of 2D Mario (get hit, you turn small, hit again you die. Get Power Up, you get powers, one of this lets you through fireballs. You know the drill), and puts in some of the 3D Mechanics like Backflipping and the side flip. It really came off as "A standard Mario platformer in 3D" as opposed to this grandiose adventure like SM64, Galaxy, etc. tried to be. Not that one is better than the other, more just illustrating that yes, 3D Land is something new.
It's hard to explain what I mean, but I guess it's mostly that 3D Land stages are all structured with a "race to flagpole" style that the 2D games have, while the 3D games clearly were not built like this.
Complaints? Difficulty is a bit too low for me. Some stages felt a bit repetitive (though most did keep things fresh at least), music just felt poorly done, and OVERUSAGE OF BOOM BOOM. Ok, this I have to get out now, and you'll see why later as well, but it's especially big here:
There are 8 worlds, and naturally 8 bosses. 3 of them are Bowser (or Bowser-like), which ok, fair, it's Bowser. So clearly the other 5 should be something original, right? NOPE! It's 2 Boom Booms, 2 FEMALE Boom Booms (she's basically the same thing but throws a Boomerang, apparently her name is Pom Pom...), then the two of them together. I don't have a problem with Boom Boom in general but my problem is simple:
He's such a basic and simple boss. Which is fine...FOR A MINI BOSS. WHICH IS HOW HE ORIGINALLY WAS. In SMB3 AND NSMB/LU, he was the boss of forts, or mid-world castles, which is perfectly fine. As a mini boss, I have no problem. The issue is that for some strange reason, he is now a boss, and one used repeatedly. It's like they couldn't be bothered to think of creative boss designs, or I dunno, use other pre-existing characters to make interesting. I don't like Bowser Jr. but at least they tried to make his few boss fights in NSMBU different from the previous ones. You have plenty of Mario characters who can be bosses, DON'T KEEP USING THE CHEAP MINI BOSS FROM SMB3 AS YOUR WORLD BOSS! Especially when the only other boss in the game is Bowser, and he's done so much better, it just makes him look worse by comparison.
Ok, that's out of my system, the final stage is annoying because the Checkpoint is right before the boss, but right after a cannon that you CAN botch because of how awkward the set up is, despite how the game wants you to think it's basic. The Final Boss itself is actually a cool platforming based boss that actually makes it feel like a legitimate battle against Bowser, despite not actually fighting him, more just avoiding everything he throws at you. You'd have to see the fight to understand.
Power Up assessments...Fire Mario is Fire Mario, you know what to expect. Boomerang Bros. Mario is a neat alternative, for all that it's rare. Tanuki Suit Mario is disappointing; can't fly, can't statue, merely has slow-fall, and it's Melee is a little too close for comfort. Of course, Tanuki Suit is better than no Power Up because extra hit + access to things you wouldn't have otherwise, so you don't complain when a Leaf pops up and you lack anything else, but generally always preferred one of the other two.
White Tanuki Suit needs to die though, or have an option to turn off. If you die 5 times in a stage (which happened on like 2 or 3 times), a Golden Box appears, hit it and you become White Tanuki Mario. This is PERMANENT INVINCIBILITY WITH TANUKI SUIT ADVANTAGES. So if you avoid platforming deaths, you just cruise the stage. I gt the "Failsafe for tough spots" mindset, but do it the way NSMBU and DKCR did with the "Automated character" concept. Gets you through the stage, but won't get you any of the hidden goodies, which is a good compromise. White Tanuki suit, I don't know what the penalty is for it, and in at least one case, it was placed in an obnoxious spot where I had to make a required jump to a platform on a rather narrow spot and it was placed right in the idea jumping spot. Seriously, what the hell?
Though, in hindsight, SM3L does feel very...test runny. Like they wanted to experiment with something new, so made it for a cheaper platform (that could use games at the time because 3DS was struggling bad pre-3D Land), as this game clearly doesn't use itself to it's potential and they didn't want a big major release. I dunno, kind of wish there was a game that used the same engine but to a much greater effect...possibly on the Wii U because it needs more games...OH WAIT...
Yeah, beat this too; took me longer than I'd like for various REAL LIFE reasons, but shh! Anyway, this game got immense critical praise and more or less lived up to it.
First off, yes, it does play a lot like 3D Land; anyone who says otherwise is lying. The difference is that while 3D Land kind of came up with the idea, 3D World perfected it. The stages are pretty much universally better across the board, rarely feeling repetitive, the world map is open instead of just a straight line leading to actual branching paths like in 2D Entries.
And yes, there is a bit of a Cat Theme going on in the game. Goombas and Bullet Bills are just two examples of things with cat-suits now, but 3D Land had obsession with Tanuki suit, so this is kind of expected. What's cool about cat suit is, once you get your mind out of the gutter, is that the Cat Suit is actually a very neat power up that's fun to play with. A more intuitive melee option, the dive-bomb attack is an interesting mobility trick, and climbing walls has obvious uses...just make sure you're prepared to resist hearing Luigi "Meow" because that is a thing that happens...
Oh right, that's the other big thing about SM3W:
FOUR PLAYABLE CHARACTERS WHO FUNCTION DIFFERENTLY. That's never happened in a Mario game before or anything, of course, this totally new and...
...derp, nevermind. Ok, while not the first time it has happened, it's nice that they brought this mechanic back after so long. The four playables of SMB2 with all their gameplay styles return, and honestly, this adds an extra element of the game. Worst case scenario? You just play as Mario the entire game and it's basically a notably improved sequel to SM3L, which is not a bad thing in the slightest. In any event, my thoughts on the characters:
Mario: Just good for familiarity purposes. His speed and jump arc are what you're most use to, so he's good if you don't know what you're getting into on a stage. It's pretty much what you expect for a Middle-Man character.
Luigi: Worst character in the game. His jumps aren't appreciably better than Mario here even though they are higher, but with a number of things like Backflips and such, it compromises that. The fact that his jump arc is slower actually hurts more than helps I find, as makes gauging where he'll land harder. On top of everything, he has the trademark "lack of friction" making precision platforming all the harder.
Toad: He lost his SUPER SPEED VEGETABLE PULLS! ...and no one cares. More importantly though, he's the fastest character in the game, which makes him great for some areas (especially low timed segments inspired by NSLU) and really good on many bosses because a lot of times, simply running is your best method of evading. His low jumps are definitely a nuisance at times, as there are times where he'll just fall short of making a jump, and either you miss an optional star because no Cat-suit that anyone else could have gotten, OR he'll have to take a slightly longer route. Still, I think he wins the award of Most Improved Character from SMB2 <_< >_>
Peach: She's about what you'd expect from SMB2, only floating isn't anywhere near as broken. It's still good and lets her make jumps no other character can for some creative shortcuts, and lets her not need to use Long Jumps as much (which have much lower height) so she's still good in gimmicky ways. What she's bad at, however, is Multiplayer, because being the slowest character means she has the hardest time nabbing power ups and such, which means she won't be lording that crown as much as other characters to troll the hell out of other players!
Also, for no reason whatsoever, ASSESSMENTS OF POWER UP DESIGNS FOR CHARACTERS:
Fire: Peach > Mario > Luigi > Toad
Peach's white + red combo actually looks better than expected and they even added the extra Pony-tail thing in as well. Mario and Luigi are what you expect, and the White + Red > White + Green IMO. Toad doesn't look bad just worse than the others.
Catsuit: ...no...
I refuse to do this one because seriously, I have dignity
Tanuki Suit: Toad > Mario > Luigi > Peach
Toad looks kind of adorable in the suit, honestly. Mario fits into it better than Luigi does and Peach...uhh...there's no easy way to say this: THAT TANUKI SUIT MAKES YOU LOOK FAT!
Boomerang Bros. Suit: Mario > Luigi > Toad > Peach
Turtles with staches > turtles without staches, and again, Mario just works better than Luigi here. Toad still has an element of adorableness, but looks a tad underwhelming at the same time. Peach, while getting the Ponytail thing, it just kind of clashes with the outfit.
Bosses...well, Boom Boom and Pom Pom return AGAIN with multiple fights, and it's annoying when they do, but it's less times, and there are legitimate bosses intermixed that are new and creative, so it's not as annoying here, which allowed for Mario to have a boss rush of sorts late game...well, more like refighitng all bosses in a matter of 2 worlds, and the bosses are improved, but it still was a neat thing to do.
I could go on and bore you, but I think I'll sum up what SM3D is in a paragraph:
It looks at the past 30 years of Super Mario games, particularly the 2D entries, and combines all the favorable elements, and makes the most of them. ( I think the only thing it's missing is the SMB3 style inventory, but it does have the SMW "Hold item" which I don't think the two were ever used at the same time, so yeah.) IOWs, for those not checking, it means the following:
-Engine of Super Mario 3D Land (while not BETTER than other engines, its also not worse, and probably fit the design better than standard 2D platform style)
-Playable characters of SMB2
-Multiplayer that destroys Friendships of the console NSMB games
-SMW's Item Stock idea
-Stage design creativity that the series in general is known for
-A Mario Kart themed stage (...yes, this deserves it's own mention)
-A few low timed, High Obstacle driven stages that are similar to New Super Luigi U
-Bowser beating up Fairies. No, this isn't in previous Mario games, but it SHOULD HAVE BEEN
I emphasize it this way because apparently some people were expecting a REVOLUTIONARY EXPERIENCE ala Super Mario Galaxy, but SM3W was clearly not trying for that, but rather, make a game built on older elements from previous games, and make sure they are used appropriately and thoughtfully so they all add to the experience, and frankly, I can think of anything questionable they put in...except Luigi meowing...
Oh, if you're wondering, I played the game entirely on Random Character select, to keep things fresh. From what I can tell, the game will never choose the character you entered the stage with on Random, so it insures you will always be alternating characters, which was neat. This led to I think Toad being the one to blow up all of Bowser's Trains (there are 3 or 4 of them), and Peach beating up Bowser in a non-spin off title for like the first time ever, I think.
I did unlock Rosalina, and played as her for a stage and...good god I can see why people say she's the best character. Always has a melee move (which seems better than the Tanuki Suit's variant...by the way, Tanuki Suit in this game basically gives Peach's hover to every character, as opposed to "Slow Fall"), double jump, and her jump height seems way better than everyone else. She is really slow...I think slower than Peach even...but they had to try and balance her somehow.
She also gets a Black Cat Suit, which was unexpected...then again, Mario gets a yellow one for some strange reason.
And with that, I end this rant with the best part of the game by far:
The Bowser Pimp Mobile (image too big to post here)
