Here’s a quick Mario two-fer for fans of Nintendo’s portly plumber. I got some brief hands one time with two of his upcoming games for Nintendo’s extra-dimensioned new handheld console; the tentatively titled Super Mario 3DS and Mario Kart 3DS.
When I say brief, I mean it..I got roughly 5 minutes minutes with each of the Mario titles, and both were suitably impressive. Super Mario made me especially happy, and not just because of the return of the Tanooki suit from Mario 3. There are a lot of aesthetics and mechanics that return from Super Mario Bros 3, still one of my favourite games. though it’s made by the Super Mario Galaxy team, it plays and looks a heck of a lot more like Mario 64. Gone are the spheroid, gravity defying worlds of Galaxy – replaced by a more traditional Mario world. There’s lots to recognise from Mario games of old; flagpoles that signal level’s end, the flying ships that marked the end of worlds, the leaf that grants Tanooki powers.
I’m happy to report that it plays pretty damned wonderfully – and should help the 3DS sell a few systems. If there’s any game franchise that’s really helped move consoles, it’s Mario.
I also got to play Mario Kart 3DS for a bit, and for fans of Nintendo’s most famous arcade racer, it’s a treat. For the first time pretty much ever, Mario Kart runs at a sweet, silky 60fps making it the smoothest Mario Kart yet. there’s not much else to say about it – it’s Mario Kart. There are a few additions though, most notable the fact that each Kart is equipped with a hang-glider attachment that allows you to pilot your Kart during long air drops – a little like Pilotwings resort really.
Both pretty standput titles for a new system that admittedly needs standout titles. the stupidly named PSVita from Sony is attractively priced – and unless Nintendo does something to get more engaging software for the 3DS out quickly, NGP’s gonna stand for “Nintendo’s Got Problemsâ€
Last Updated: June 8, 2011
