ONM Remembered – #82
“I wonder how many Luigi fans are out there?”
from N64 Magazine issue 10 (December 1997)
Wahey! Remember when everyone was excited about and desperately pouncing upon any news relating to the mythical Super Mario 64 2? And then after the 64DD went belly-up we didn’t hear a thing about it? And then what we got was a game where you mucked about with a water spray? Those were good times, man.
I talked on my site long ago about how much I like ‘template games’, and like the idea of just taking the same concept and perfecting it. Even just treating it like an expansion pack, or whatever. I’d link to some of those waffles, but man oh man, were they badly written. Not that this is any better. Seven and a half years and the only thing I’ve got to show for it is a potty mouth.
One could argue it would probably have tarnished the good Mario name (before the countless sports spin-offs did the job just fine), but I would’ve loved a sequel that was basically Super Mario 64 all over again, but with new features and content they didn’t (or couldn’t) incorporate the first time around. Did you know the game was originally meant to include over 30 levels, and Yoshi was intended to be rode and not just serve as a teasing cameo? Look it up!
One of the 64DD’s major aspects was its expansion capability, to use or add to a game’s assets and whip up brand new content. Ocarina of Time was announced with two expansion packs in the works. Wouldn’t it have been great if, 64DD or not, they found an opportunity to make Super Mario 64 the way they originally planed? Y’know, instead of porting it to the DS, making the controls terrible and removing the co-operative multi-player?
I’m not bitter.
Sadly, it seems it’s only recently that Nintendo are happy to rehash their shit, only this time they’re pumping out New Super Mario Bros. sequels by the dozen. It’s funny how something that filled me with so much whimsy the first time around makes me bitterly depressed now. Oh, the life cycle of a fanboy.
On the bright side, they did eventually capitalise on the sheer amount of leftover guff when they made Super Mario Galaxy and made a sequel out of it, so that was mighty swell of them. Funnily enough, one forum I went to had someone complain the wait between Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 was too long. Buddy, they spoilt us by making us wait a mere three years!
