Mailbox: Mario RPG-naissance, Xenosaga Sadness, Golden Days – Nintendo Life Mail

“resurrection”

Hello Nintendo Life! I’ve noticed that over the past year or so, there’s been a resurgence of Mario RPGs. Mario itself has been a bit different since Super Mario Wonder, but in a good way. A unique charm that (more often than not) has eluded the franchise for a long time… is back! As for Mario RPGs, things haven’t been looking great until recently. Paper Mario started to strip away its unique characters, storylines, and RPG elements, and Mario & Luigi seemed to have disappeared. But now with recent remakes like Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door retaining the unique characters and storylines, and the return of the Mario & Luigi series with Brothership seemingly having just as much unique charm as the previous entries, I now have hope for the future of Mario RPGs! How likely do you think Nintendo will continue to make Mario RPGs with unique characters and storylines like we’ve seen with games like M&L, TTYD, and Super Mario RPG?
PikminMarioKirby

I don’t think this game ever loses its appeal — it’s the only thing that pulls me through The Origami King’s battles, individual — but they certainly lost some. I don’t know anything for a while. It’s worth mentioning that two of the three games you mentioned are remakes of games from generations ago. Hopefully, revisiting those games has reminded the developers of what makes the best entries so appealing. The future To be looks bright, but i’ll still approach with managed expectations. The brotherhood will be challenging. – Editing.

“love Baron fur”

Nintendo life. What’s going on? Where’s Tetrisphere? Where’s Wetrix? Where’s Mashed full-load? Been waiting for these games longer than I’ve waited for a new car. They’ll be fine on the Switch. Bring them back. Also, a little love for how Baron fur goes. Bye.
James

I used to keep a list of N64 games that I would buy if I found them cheap, and Tetrisphere and Wetrix were both on that list. However, I never found them cheap. Sounds like perfect fodder for NSO.

And just for you, I have updated Baron: Feathers will fly the game page has banner and icon art. thats how much i love it but hit the comments if you are a fan of flying feathers. – Editing.

“somewhat philosophical”

Hello again, Nintendo Life! Thank you for replying to my letter. last month! Definitely brought back repressed memories of browsing through PS4 discs only to see the beautiful cover of Dark Souls III tarnished by all the “Game of the Year” stamps. Horrifying.

Moving on, my question is a bit philosophical, How important do you think the hardware power and scale of a game really is? Obviously the game needs to run well with minimal performance issues but the discussion doesn’t stop there. Does the Switch 2 really need to be that powerful? Replaying my favorite 6th generation titles makes me wonder how much power we need to create engaging experiences. Sure, as a die-hard Musou fan, I’m happy to see Age of Calamity looking this good, but performance certainly shouldn’t come at the expense of performance. I believe there has to be some common ground.
Yousef

Nintendo proves every generation that you don’t need unlimited power to make the best video games in the world. BUT! One huge benefit of more powerful hardware is that other companies can run their ports with less optimization. Publishers are incredibly risk-averse these days, and Switch ports aren’t as financially viable as they were five years ago. Software competition is fierce, despite the sheer number of consoles out there. A good port of a great game with a 70 on Metacritic? That can easily be a non-break-even.

This isn’t a case of ‘lazy developers’ not wanting to spend time optimizing; it’s a matter of money. Again. More power would give Nintendo’s under-resourced teams—studios that don’t make the hardware and know its weaknesses—a valuable buffer, ultimately reducing development costs and reducing the risk of releasing a game. Sure, Mario’s denim crossover would look better than ever, but beyond the novelty of Nintendo’s own experiments, more power would actually allow third parties to bring their games to the platform, regardless of scale. – Editing.

“repair man”

Hello NL group!

As far as I know, old hardware restorers and repairers are a very collaborative community and there is always new knowledge being shared.

I think it’s *VERY* important to emphasize the importance of the skill of seeing something broken and being able to say “how can I fix it”.

Whether you’re looking at an old console or a modern gaming setup, we’re a community of repairers, and we should continue to share our thoughts and passions on the subject. Never be afraid to ask yourself, “Can I fix this? How?”, because someone will surely have the answer.

What are some interesting things? Friend restored or repaired?

Lots of love (with a little rubbing alcohol),
MetaCrysta

Hmm, well, I’ve taken apart and cleaned a few DMG-001s in my time, and I don’t own a Joy-Con that I haven’t opened up and repaired. I put a new blade in my kitchen blender the other day. Disassembled a vacuum cleaner. Filled some old screw holes in the wall. Does that count? – Editing.

What about you Alana?

Ollie?

Bonus letter

“I don’t mean to spam.” – Pastellioli

That is Exactly what a Spammy McSpammer would say. – Editing.

“2 years ago I created a Lego Donkey Kong build, and 2 years later it is only 700 backers away from being reviewed by the Lego Team. It has over 9300 of the 10000 backers needed and only 70 days left. Can you share this on any of your social media to help Donkey Kong have a chance to become a real set?
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/c2b4c41c-eba9-4882-ad8f-ed8caa405d82“- Richard

Oh, go ahead then. You know I love Lego. – Editing.

“Thank you for reading my letter!” – Isaac Estudillo

My elite, underpaid team of letter readers were delighted. – Editing.

“Hat Trick of Stupid: Just this morning Nintendo was fine and dandy with it “- Coffeemonstah

Oh, Shigsy is a capricious fellow, prone to overturning the tea table. The beautiful china he used! – Editing.

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That’s it for the month! Thanks to everyone who wrote in, whether you were listed above or not.

Got something you want to get off your chest? A burning question that needs answering? An edit you can’t contain? Follow the instructions below and we look forward to reading your letters.

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