Yes, I know, my headline butchered Twilight Princess's actual game name quite a bit, but there literally wasn't enough room for its formal name to fit. Besides, neither of these two game series need any introduction, so let's just move on to last week's results:
- No More Heroes (83 votes) -- Winner!
- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (55 votes)
Interestingly, the vote counts for both the winner and loser were almost identical to last week's results. It's hard to call any game a loser, though, when the votes for both are so high. I had a feeling No More Heroes fans would come out of the shadows and rally for a win, but the amount of support was jaw-droppingly-astounding as I tallied the votes. I had no idea it would turn into a No More Contest showdown.
Last week we had two impressive games that didn't boast big profits, and this week we move on to two games with colossal amounts of game sales. We reach back to the dawn of the Wii in all of its curious and skeptical glory, and debate between two strong selling factors for the console. The controls, story, setting, gameplay, aesthetics and mood could not have been more different, making it truly an odd game debate to (hopefully) remember.
Chances are good that fans of one game will be fans of the other, so I'm expecting plenty of people to make some hard decisions. Which game do you think is better, and why? Give it some serious thought, get some Wii friends to share their opinions as well, and check back next week for the winner. Are you still a reader without an account? What are you waiting for?!
Bonus Questions: Which of these two series would you like to see expanded first? Any expectations or worries?
Contest:
6:15 PM on 03.03.2009
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without doubt
I'm leaning heavily towards Super Mario Galaxy though.
I liked TP for a little bit, but then I remembered that I had to wait 2-3 years to play it.
With TP, I was always thinking "Why aren't I just playing OoT/MM/WW".
Bonus: Zelda. Aonuma has said that he doesn't want to quit until he tops OoT. I guess I can see that happening, even if it's a very slim chance. I can never see SM64 being topped by another Mario game. And it doesn't really need to be topped either. I'm still learning new things and improving my skills in SM64. My fear with another Zelda game is that Aonuma has lost his spark and will only be able to produce more boring and formulaic Zelda games.
I vote Super Mario Galaxy. There's a reason Twilight Princess is abbreviated to TP.
Bonus: I'd love to see Zelda expanded on the wii because Nintendo need to make a true wii Zelda game and one that isn't as boring as Twilight Princess.
...and I want Wind Waker, dammit. *cries*
But yes, I liked Galaxy though I didn't get far in it too. But I enjoyed it more and got further in it than Zelda by far. I still can't put my finger on why that is.
As for the bonus, it's pretty much a given Galaxy 2 will be hitting soon, but I want to see them work with the gravity again. =P
As a non-fan of 3D platformers, Mario Galaxy made me change my mind. I really didn't like Mario 64. I feel like it wrecked most of what I loved about the 2D Mario games. Mario Galaxy made up for all that by going back to being linear, power-up packed, physics reliant, and skill based.
Twilight Princess is great, maybe my second favorite 3D Zelda game, but it's got nothing compared to the raw creative "vision" of Galaxy.
SMG exemplifies everything that a Wii game should shoot for. It appeals to those who have been playing video games for years and has a control scheme simple enough for the casual audience to grasp (and if they can't, they're kidding themselves).
Bonus question: Well, reading the above text, you can see I would like to see the Zelda series expanded first. But, i'm not sure I would like to see something truly innovative, since I just replayed Alttp and it is as amazing as ever. Even though I could do with some little changes to make things new again and cel-shaded graphics would be amazing. Wind Waker ruled.
As for now, Super Mario Galaxy is an easy winner.
Super Mario Galaxy is where my vote belongs.
Bonus: I want to see SMG expanded, respectably... It's just because I have a thirst for Mario that is greater than a vampires thirst for blood.
LoZ: TP --- 35
SMG --- 78
Anyways, this is a tough one, like every week. Unlike many gamers I enjoyed TP, yeah it lacked a certain charm and felt a tad empty, plus it was way too easy, but it was fun. There were some things though that dragged it down, like getting another Clawshot in the Sky Dungeon... the game basically said right there "hey, ummm we couldn't think up of any more items/weapons... so here's another clawshot, bye." Rupee's in that game were fucking useless, there's no need to buy anything, like ever, besides bombs. Also many chests had rupee's in them; since it's quite easy to fill up your wallet you end up leaving most of the rupee's in the chests! then you'll be forced to come back later when you don't have a full wallet just to get 100% completion, annoying. There were things that I did like, the whole wolf thing, bomb arrows, 5 heart pieces for a full heart container, the spinnner item, the dungeon layout was overall really neat, the motion contorls worked, the special sword moves, and there are a lot of mini-games... plus fishing was fun. Some random stuff I didn't like, there's like never more than 5 enemies on the screen at once, no fire & ice arrows, bosses were laughably simple and easy, too much remixed music, and there was no poe hunting.
Super Mario Galaxy on the other hand, was just awesome. It was exactly what I was expecting, and exactly what the industry needed. Another light-hearted, simple, gameplay driven game, that is a video game through and through. No super shadow rendering, amazing cinematography custscenes, or forced characters to back it up, just tight controls, solid design, and overall two-thumbs-up gameplay. Like LoZ: TP it was a bit easy, but not a cakewalk or anything.
Ok, well... I'm going with Twilight Princess. It's the underdog (however that works), got bashed a bit due to it's faults, and although I love SMG, I'm just going to go with Link on this one.
Vote: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Bonus: I want to see another Zelda game. Worries, it'll be too close to the formula, it needs to keep the basics and that's it. Overworld, dungeons (lots of them, and they must be crazy complex. Obtuse level designs here and there for serious head-scratching, some time/reflex puzzles, and lots of enemies. I mean just throw in a room here and there, lock the doors, then throw a bunch of tough enemies at us), several towns (like 5 or so, but they all must provide different things and add quests. Seriously, take a page out of the MMO formula and have villageers/townsfolks/cityfolk send you on quests), and secrets, lots of secrets. get rid of the items, besides the bow, boomerang, and hookshot/clawshot. Give link items that are enemy specific? equal to the sword i combat? or even just fun to use? I don't know. As for expectations, well I think I did that already.
The nest mario game better be even better than Galaxy.
Bonus Question: Zelda, I want to see it done right for the wii.
And even though I'm a MASSIVE Zelda fan, I have to say I'm more excited about a Galaxy 2 than the next Zelda instalment.
Zelda needs a massive reboot. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Miyamoto saw the ICO team games and shat some bricks. There's almost zero evolution from Ocarina of Time to Twilight Princess. They need to do something really new. Just a shame Wind Waker was panned - I rate it so much higher than TP.
My vote goes for super Mario Galaxy.
Bonus:
I'd like a new Zelda game first, one that (again) fights for the Crown that "Ocarina" still owns.
Both games actually disappointed me, but SMG's level design and physics were admittedly charming.
I'd rather see Galaxy revisited sooner because I was left wanting more- not because it wasn't fulfilling but because it was SO GOOD and fresh. I feel they need more time for Zelda. Needs reinventing!
Im sorry, but I didnt like Mario Galaxy. It felt like Mario 64 with a little waggle thrown in.
Twilight Princess, while an excellent game, was still a massive disappointment. While Wind Waker made the effort to not only connect the stories of previous Zelda games and actually referenced other ones, and actually made Ganondorf an interesting character, and had some legitimate character development in it and a breathtaking finale, TP had none of these things. It was Ocarina of Time for the Wii, but without any charm or spirit. The Zelda formula to a T. Great gameplay, great temples, great graphics, and still a very fun game, but it did nothing for me at the same time.
I was hoping Twilight Princess, being between OoT and WW, would have bridged the two games. I was hoping for an amazing story, one where it ended with the world being flooded, with Link sacrificing his life to save as many people as he could, bringing them to higher ground. I thought Ganondorf would be a badass villain, one that actually sets up a rivalry between he and Link, but you don't even come face to face with him until the end. How a game can be outstanding and disappointing at the same time is beyond me, but Twilight Princess was.
Mario Galaxy, on the other hand, was an evolution for Mario. Brilliant levels, gorgeous graphics, and easily the best music for a Nintendo game in a long time. Taking the music to a live orchestra sounded great and made playing that much more special. Gusty Garden or whatever's song is beyond incredible. And the gameplay, while it was basically the same as Mario 64 and Sunshine, felt leagues above them because of how polished it was.
Not to mention that, while Mario games don't need a story, the ending was amazing. It was just beautiful to look at, and you actually felt, for the first time in a Mario game, that Mario and Peach were together. The way they held hands flying around the shooting stars and explosions to a beautiful song is too awesome to put into words.
As for what I'd like to see expanded first? Zelda. Make another really good one. Now.
TP was actually my first Zelda game, so all of the cliches that people feel has been getting re-iterated over and over was all brand new and wonderful to me. I play all of the SMB games though and was still utterly blown away by Galaxy. Zelda was fun, Mario was just simply the most funnerist.
Bonus: Zelda series has more room for expansion, I think. Mario has his hands in every genre imaginable. I'm always open to new experiences though, bring it on.
Twilight Princess was a worse Ocarina of Time
Twilight Princess was still a really fun game. Mario Galaxy was good, but not great.
Twilight Princess ftw
I would like to see Zelda expanded on. What TP lacked, I think is, the creation and existance of a world that didn't involve Link or some convoluted transformation mechanic. Where relative desolation worked perfectly for Wind Waker, the Hyrule of TP felt dead and barren. Like Fallout 3 dead and barren.
Everyone has an idea what the Zelda series needs. Most of all, I'd like to see a Zelda world that tapped into the adult-ish Link again, but gave him a world with considerably more life and vastness. Give me more towns, more ponds. Give me more than a few roller coster rides, give me a world that I want to explore without goals, or just stand around in. Oh, give me dungeons again. Stick to the formula a little; its got to be a Zelda game. But make it bigger, more epic. Like, Lord of the Rings Epic. The lore is there. It just needs a tour de force execution.
/hopeful rant
As I already said before, i always was more of the Zelda kid during my childhood so I would like to see a great exapnsion for the Zelda series very soon
Zelda really needs a serious new installment. And none of that power puff link shit, either.