Look, say what you will about the derivative nature of the Mario games (and Nintendo 1st-party products in general, Vitality Sensor excluded), you have to admit that for sheer platforming fun, they are absolutely unmatched. Just look at the varieties of platforming experience on display here. While for themes and graphics they’re not breaking any molds, the creativity on the level of fun and gameplay is oozing out of every frame, and sometimes that’s all that really matters.
Yoshi is nice, of course, but I’m loving the drill and the 2-D segments more. That allows for precision game design, as we’ve seen in New Super Mario Bros and stuff like Mega Man 9. I swear, one of these days I might actually have to buy a Wii.
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