@Stevil: God, you're right. The resemblance is uncanny.

Probably another stinky Mario party.

lewness: another super mario rpg would be AWESOME

Does he really need to record more voice?!

Surely Nintendo has a huge archive of vocal samples to draw from already?

Also, it's weird he's in the new Ratchet and Clank.

@Xzyliac: Huh? What is questionable about that? Seen the E3 trailer?

Mario RPGs are real nice, but since the Legend of the Seven Stars, the story's almost inherent lack of depth and character development always made me wonder if those developers wouldn't be put to better use working on an original franchise. Not that I don't like those games(the new DS one is simply brilliant), but I really think the way they can spice up the mechanics while still making them feel really old-school, simple and accessible is something bigger, more traditional franchises, don't seem to be able to nail.

As much as I love Final FAntasy and will play the shit out of XIII, it just strikes me as a little too annoying that the mechanics have become VERY complex while not making their mastery rewarding enough or allowing you to have more control over what you're doing. Then again, party-based RPGs tend to have some trouble with balance and focus. Specially action-focused ones. The Tales series comes to mind, as grand as it is.

I tend to think it's something more than a Mario Party game, as like Onlinatron said, Nintendo already has a huge about of "Woo-hoo!" and "Okey Dokey"s pre-recorded for those games.

As for a Sunshine sequel, I'm love it if the FLUDD made it's way into Galaxy 2. Sunshine was a lot of fun, it just lacked environmental variety and truly genius level design. Galaxy has both of those departments covered.

@ Springsteen- Guardia Quest in Retro Game Challenge, Mother 3 and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years taught me that all I want from my RPGs battles is the basics. Quick battles, a few special techniques per character, and that's I'm happy.

@ Hcapt- Well, Pikmin 3 is coming sooner or later, and Kirby Wii has been on "coming soon" lists for years.

That said, I agree that we really don't need another "full" Mario game right now. That's why I'm leaning towards this being a game where Mario just shows up, and doesn't star.

New idea; if the DS2 for 2010 rumors are true, this could be some sort of new kind of Mario DS game, or even the long sought after Smash Bros. DS.

Even with a current Mario overload we're in, that would be cool.

@HCapt:It's baffling to me why there hasn't been a Star Fox game in ages. I feel like the canon has taken huge, cruel, unnecessary beatings with Assault and Commando, but it is yet another reason to reboot things. Those games felt very, very lame. Assault was just broken. Commando didn't have a clue of what it was doing. You can almost hear the developers going "Oh, ok, it has ships. And they shoot at each other. Look at that cool, huge ship, man. Oh, and they're animals. How cute. Give me a piece of paper with the series' story, please. Okay, I got some GREAT ideas cooking". Both games lacked focus and knowledge as to what the series represents and its own mechanics. It's like taking Zelda in a God of War direction sacrificing puzzling and exploration.

Star Fox is not about dogfights. It's about arcade-like runs through a level. It hurts to see a game about balanced, clever, challenging level structures be reduced to a huge plain where you just shoot things.

And all this talk about Mario and we don't have a clue about Zelda. the series needs a reboot, and I don't think the Wii an apt console for it. I would much rather see it being a launch title for their next console. I really wouldn't mind having Zelda skip a generation.

@ Springsteen

I'm not sure where you're going with Starfox, but Legend of Zelda deserves a Wii (not gamecube port) iteration more than just about any other title in the Nintendo library. Heck, motion plus was pretty much made entirely so that Legend of Zelda Wii would be worthwhile when it came out. I need my 1-1 swordfighting fix, and I don't trust Ubisoft to give it to me.

@Hcapt:With Star Fox I was referring to its absence on the Wii and perhaps some hesitance from Nintendo to release a new ones, given its waning quality, at least as far as I see things.

On Zelda, I was talking about its inevitable launch at a late point in the videogame's cycle. The Wii is slowly feeling the hurt from the other consoles' new prices and the novelty factor is growing weak. I feel that they may go for a different route and, while keeping production of the Wii(for the REALLY casual market that just wants a motion controlled videogame for eventual family fun), offer a new console that can either rival or go a very different route compared to the Wii one that Sony and Microsoft are catching up to. At some point you will be able to buy a Natal-bundled 360 at a very close price range as that of the Wii, and justifying the latter one's acquisition could be VERY difficult. The absence of the controller(as much as I don't see it working properly) itself could prove a seller to the completely casual crowd.

Long story short, the Wii is about to get a run for its money and Nintendo cannot just fall back and wait for the other consoles' cycle to end. Those 50 dollars per console are a HUGE hit to their profits and the company's infrastructure and overall costs probably grew expecting that sort of income. While Sony and Microsoft can just resort to the other sectors of their companies, Nintendo needs profit and needs to be kept at the public's eye and retain its image as THE videogame company(for those not as familiar with the media) that it amassed through the Wii. Otherwise, it will fall back to the oblivion that cursed the GameCube.

Long story shortER, as it stands, the Wii Zelda would be released way too close to the new console, and I sure as hell don't want another Wii Twilight Princess. The game was great, but it was a last-hour port that made little to no use of the new console when it could've been not only a system seller, but also a system functionalities exposition, much like Super Mario 64, Super Mario World-F Zero combo and Wii Sports before it. GameCube(Luigi's Mansion? Wave Race, perhaps) had a comparatively lame launch, and it hurt on the long run.

It's probably the next Paper Mario game. It's been like over 2 years since the last one came out, so next year would be a perfect release time for a new one.

@ Springsteen

The amount of editorial, factual inaccuracy, and ignorance of past events in your post hurt to read.

1. The wii doesn't sell inherently because of it's price point or it's novelty; it sells because Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii are system exclusives.

2. These "casuals" (a word I hate, because it means stupid and if anything these gamers are neither stupid nor easily influenced) don't have an interest in a different route or they would have bought a different console.


3. Natal hasn't shown any evidence of having even the software support of an eyetoy with Milo as the only announced title - the Wii is much more likely to have games a wii gamer would want than Xbox 360's Natal.

4. Why do you assume the so-called "casual crowd" would be more interested in playing a game with no controller than playing a game with a remote control that acts as your sword, golf club, padde, and steering wheel? If anything, having a controller that looks like a T.V. remote with one giant A button is much easier to understand and use than figuring out the correct way to wave your arms in the air for the games you play.

5. Nintendo has no competition for the new gamers it attracts, and the competition doesn't understand this expanded audience. I agree it needs to keep making system selling software, but the competition won't hurt it, only disinterest by it's audience could weaken the company into oblivion on consoles (handhelds are still strong and Wii is still a household name, so even if people lose interest in the wii, the wii can't fall into gamecube like oblivion at this point).

6. If Zelda wii is like Zelda Teilight Princess, then I lose faith in the Zelda franchise. That would be an abuse of the motion plus technology.

7. How do you figure Zelda Wii will be anywhere near the launch of Wii 2? Nintendo has shown no interest in a Wii 2, nearly everyone agrees that a Wii 2 would split the audience and would be a bad move, the competition shows no interest in the next generation, and with the abnormalities of this console cycle, the wii could easily become a ten year system.

8. Personally, I feel that the gamecube's sales were hurt mostly by a lack of system selling software combined with Microsoft and Sony purchasing exclusives away from what would have been cross-platform titles (Gamecune wouldn't have had Madden if EA hadn't run into legal trouble with the NFL over contract violation). But yes, I suppose that often a system launch can be pretty important.

I had nearly forgotten how depressed I am that I will never see captain rainbow on these shores. Thanks for the salt rub D-Toid.

Paper Mario 3... Paper Mario 3... Oh god please.

I find it odd that Nintendo keeps re-recording Mario's "WAHOO"'s and "LET'S A GO!"'s.

Random fact: Charles Martinet is the narrator for Way of the Samurai 3's english dub! (Not on his imdb page, but he's totally in the credits for the game!)

OMG! I hope it's the sequel to everyone's favorite Virtual Boy classic, Mario Clash!

really how hard is it to be the voice of mario....itsa me maaaariooo, yahoo, and wahooo.....pretty much all he says