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Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii Sets Sales Record in Japan

by Andy Goergen - January 19, 2010, 7:35 am EST
Total comments: 61 Source: Andriasang

The flagship title is the fastest Wii game to reach 3 million in sales.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii has sold over three million copies in Japan in just seven weeks, making it the fastest selling Wii title yet released in the region.

Famtisu.com reported sales figures of 3,002,753 as of the week ending January 17, just seven weeks after the game was released on December 3.

The other Wii titles that have sold more than three million copies are Wii Sports and Wii Fit.

Thanks to NWR Forum member BlackNMild2k1 for the news tip!

Talkback

CaterkillerMatthew Osborne, Contributing WriterJanuary 19, 2010

News of Mario doing really well again? We should place bets on when the latest article of "Nintendo is crap and Mario shouldn't be performing well" will be coming out.

It's nice to see that this game which is very traditional is selling faster than Wii Fit and Wii Sports, if only to shut people up. And this also ensures that 3D and 2D Mario can coexist for a lifetime. I honestly think this game can surpase the 6 million mark made by Super Mario Bros.

Mop it upJanuary 19, 2010

I just hope this stirs interest in more 2D games, as it would seem that Mario Brothers is the only 2D game that can sell well on a home system.

Killer_Man_JaroTom Malina, Associate Editor (Europe)January 19, 2010

For the sake of curiosity, I'd kind of like to know exactly what it is that makes Japan take to this when they didn't to Super Mario Galaxy. Is navigation in 3D really that daunting to them?

Good news for NSMB Wii. I assume this would have given hardware sales a big leg-up over there.

CaterkillerMatthew Osborne, Contributing WriterJanuary 19, 2010

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro

For the sake of curiosity, I'd kind of like to know exactly what it is that makes Japan take to this when they didn't to Super Mario Galaxy. Is navigation in 3D really that daunting to them?

Good news for NSMB Wii. I assume this would have given hardware sales a big leg-up over there.

I'm actually really interested in that myself. But I think the mulitplayer is a HUGE part of it.  And sooner or later co-op 3D Mario and Zelda will be the standard. When I think back to WW and Galaxy's shoe horned multiplayer I can't help but think Nintendo is really really trying to go in that direction. But until everyone feels important in co-op like in NSMBW, no Tingle Tuners or Star Bit shooters are going to make up for it.

NWR_pap64Pedro Hernandez, Contributing WriterJanuary 19, 2010

What I am loving the most about these news is that people claimed that NSMB Wii wouldn't sell as well as the DS version because "only one copy will be bought per household, unlike the DS version". At this rate, it might surpass the DS version.

I am getting ready to serve insane amounts of crow right now...

Quote from: Caterkiller

  And sooner or later co-op 3D Mario and Zelda will be the standard.

I hope not.  While I appreciate the multiplayer component of NSMBW, full co-op in Zelda should never be the "standard".  Zelda is a solo experience.  Make a spinoff for multiplayer if you want, but I would never want to see the single player Zelda experience go away.  I just don't think it's a good idea to take a single player adventure game and make it into a co-op game.  It's why I never played RE5. 

King of TwitchJanuary 19, 2010

Come on.. they can't even make customized soundtracks a recurring standard.

NinGurl69 *hugglesJanuary 19, 2010

"Red Steel 2 is a solo experience.  Make a spinoff for multiplayer if you want."

Chozo GhostJanuary 19, 2010

Nintendo seems to be setting records left and right. The sad thing is, we are probably getting desensitized to it. When Nintendo first because a huge success it was a huge deal, but now they're just breaking their own records and its kinda like "meh".

BlackNMild2k1January 19, 2010

It's all downhill from here. Sucks to be Nintendo.

This is why 3rd parties are supporting the HD consoles. Compared to the Wii there is only room for growth.

Chozo GhostJanuary 20, 2010

Quote from: BlackNMild2k1

It's all downhill from here. Sucks to be Nintendo.

Until next year when Nintendo smashes more records.

KDR_11kJanuary 20, 2010

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro

For the sake of curiosity, I'd kind of like to know exactly what it is that makes Japan take to this when they didn't to Super Mario Galaxy. Is navigation in 3D really that daunting to them?

In short, 2D Mario and 3D Mario are entirely dissimilar games. 3D Mario has exploration, puzzle solving and whatnot while 2D Mario is about getting to the end of the level. 2D Mario never had you replay the same level over and over to find all the stars. 3D Mario makes powerups level specific temporary effects while 2D Mario makes powerups regular equipment that you carry around. 3D Mario just sits back and tells you to play whatever you feel like, 2D Mario tells you to beat the levels in front of you or you can forget about progression. 3D Mario happily throws minigames and whatnot into the levels, 2D Mario stays 2D Mario. 3D Mario has tons of maneuvers for very specific situations, 2D Mario has jumping, running and shooting. 3D Mario had a bunch of games recently but there hasn't been a proper SMB game on consoles for 18 years. 2D Mario revived a dead game market, 3D Mario just continued Nintendo's decline into irrelevance.

Killer_Man_JaroTom Malina, Associate Editor (Europe)January 20, 2010

"3D Mario just continued Nintendo's decline into irrelevance."
It still boggles my mind that Super Mario Galaxy selling over 8 million copies worldwide could be thought of as a failing. Apart from in Japan, SMG did very well commercially.

While I don't think the differences between 2D Mario and 3D Mario are as bipolar as you're making them out to be, 2D Mario is fundamentally easier to grasp for sure. All I'm curious about is why Japan was the only region where Galaxy was not so successful. Must be a cultural thing.

NinGurl69 *hugglesJanuary 20, 2010

Galaxy failed to be a killer app.  Notice how the term "killer app" isn't being thrown around so much anymore; it couldn't be associated with this cycle's high-profile HD games.  PS3/360 killer apps failed to propel their consoles to the levels people hoped for, while Nintendo redefined what REAL killer apps do via Sports/Fit/Kart.  3D Mario did not propel Wii to success, Wii simply provided a habitat for 3D Mario.  On the contrary, 2D Mario does propel Wii (and captures the attention of Japan).  Thus, 3D Mario can be deemed irrelevant, like a pretty successful 3rd party game -- certainly not important enough to truly push sales of the machine.

2D gaming has its charm.  It's honest-to-goodness classic feel-good video-gaming that doesn't require so much extra brainpower to grasp, and gameplay easily accommodates display monitors of nearly any size (particular small, personal screens).  Decades of gaming were played on tiny, yet personal TV sets (and PC monitors were even smaller).

broodwarsJanuary 20, 2010

Well, at least it's not another Wii______ game setting records this time.  That's something, anyway.

NinGurl69 *hugglesJanuary 20, 2010

'Wii New Super Mario Bros.'
'Wii Mario Kart'

=O

NWR_pap64Pedro Hernandez, Contributing WriterJanuary 20, 2010

I find that the whole "2D Mario vs. 3D Mario" debate is both sad and frustrating.

Yes, 2D Mario is more popular. Yes, 2D Mario is easier to get into. Yes, 3D Mario is more complex and more core gamer oriented. But is one of them better than the other? Definitely not.

It's a matter of personal preferences. Yes, at this moment people prefer 2D Mario more. But last I heard, people still liked 3D Mario. And best of all, BOTH Marios excel in brilliance. Both games represent the best thing about Nintendo: incredible game design that remains influential to this day.

2D Mario revolutionized 2D gaming, platforming and level design. 3D Mario laid the ground for 3D gaming and exploration. Without any of them, the industry would be different today.

Ian SaneJanuary 20, 2010

Quote:

For the sake of curiosity, I'd kind of like to know exactly what it is that makes Japan take to this when they didn't to Super Mario Galaxy. Is navigation in 3D really that daunting to them?


Japan seems to be a country of groupthink.  I don't mean that as an insult, I've just noticed that individual tastes seem to be less common then what I'm used to here.  The market seems to be very trend based.  Something seems to either a runaway success or a big ol' DUD.

Don't think of NSMB Wii as 2D Mario think of it as the sequel to the incredibly popular DS game.  The DS is where it's at in Japan.  Super Mario Galaxy however is a sequel to Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario 64.  Here in the West Super Mario 64 is a legendary game.  But what sort of status does it have in Japan?  The N64 was the last place console there.  I think even the Saturn was beating it.  The Gamecube also wasn't successful.  At least here the N64 was a reasonably successful alternate console to the Playstation.  If Japan has less of a connection to Super Mario 64 because nobody played the damn thing then Super Mario Galaxy would be unfamiliar.  Meanwhile the market leading NES, SNES and now the DS all have 2D Mario games.  2D Mario is the style of Mario that was on trendy videogame systems so trend-happy Japan knows and loves 2D Mario.

Quote:


I find that the whole "2D Mario vs. 3D Mario" debate is both sad and frustrating.


I don't mind it as a topic of discussion.  I think it's a good topic actually.  I don't like the idea that it was to be one or the other.  Zelda and Metroid also have a 2D and 3D style and at one point Nintendo seemed to embrace both but not so much now.  I suppose the DS Zeldas could be considered 2D but they don't feel right to me.  2D Metroid has been gone for years but the new Wii Metroid might be more like that.  But because of that Metroid Prime is probably gone.  The fact that Nintendo doesn't just keep both going is annoying.  I don't want to pick one, I want both.

Now here we are with Mario.  Fans talking about they prefer is just pointless fun discussion.  But I don't want Nintendo to be thinking that only one should exist.

Personally I think both of them are great.  Sunshine was kind of weak but then I found NSMB on the DS weak as well.  Sometimes these games just don't quite hit the mark.

TJ SpykeJanuary 20, 2010

Quote from: Ian

The N64 was the last place console there.  I think even the Saturn was beating it.

I personally doubt it. Saturn only did 9 million worldwide, N64 sold 5.6 million in Japan. So it's possible, but that means Saturn would have had to only sell about 3 .5 million combined outside of Japan.

Ian SaneJanuary 20, 2010

Quote:

I personally doubt it. Saturn only did 9 million worldwide, N64 sold 5.6 million in Japan. So it's possible, but that means Saturn would have had to only sell about 3 .5 million combined outside of Japan.


The Saturn pulled out early though.  You're comparing 5 years of N64 sales to like 3 years for the Saturn.  When both consoles were current the sales may have been in the Saturn's favour.  But I'll admit I've got no proof.  I just remember reading that at some point.  Still the N64 was not the market leader and Japan loved the Playstation.  Just makes me wonder if the bazillion Japanese Wii owners eating up NSMB Wii have no attachment to 3D Mario, which prior to Galaxy, was exclusively on "unsuccessful" consoles.

UrkelJanuary 20, 2010

That may be why 3D Mario isn't very popular in Japan, but 2D Mario is still more popular than 3D Mario, even in the west, as you'll see over the next few years as NSMB Wii hangs around the top 10 sales. There simply haven't BEEN any 2D Marios released on consoles for nearly two decades to prove that point.

I'm don't think anybody is really saying one is inherently better than the other, just that they are very different games that both happen to have Mario in them. Just because you like 2D Mario doesn't necessarily mean you'll like 3D mario and vice-versa, because they aren't the same.

CaterkillerMatthew Osborne, Contributing WriterJanuary 20, 2010

Once Miyamoto get's his 3D Mario and Luigi co-op engine running just you wait. Remember the old interview about Mario and Luigi running around in 3D space together for Mario 64 2? It's multiplayer party type games that seem to sell like crazy in Japan. Now add in a classic formula with the ability to play through the entire adventure with 3 of your buddies? Of course it was going to sell, I had no doubt at all.
And for 3D Mario to hit that it is going to need co-op as well. And with the ideas shown in NSMBW, I am certain many of the core ideas can be applied to 3D Mario as well to actually make it work.

For the life of me I could not understand how they kept buying Mario Party year after year.

There is absolutely no reason to not continue making Mario games in both 2D and 3D.

KDR_11kJanuary 21, 2010

IGN seems pretty angry about NSMBW being successful, their latest report on it makes a point citing all the critical response and whatnot.Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation) also seemed strangely angry about it for no reason though by now he seems to have turned hating the Wii into one of his trademark features.

NinGurl69 *hugglesJanuary 21, 2010

Hating on things to drive site traffic works for a couple weeks.  But it's been 3 years already.

DeguelloJeff Shirley, Staff AlumnusJanuary 21, 2010

Quote from: KDR_11k

IGN seems pretty angry about NSMBW being successful, their latest report on it makes a point citing all the critical response and whatnot.Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation) also seemed strangely angry about it for no reason though by now he seems to have turned hating the Wii into one of his trademark features.

Yahtzee's made a few PC games himself, I think.  Surely they are paragons of development to will leave all in awe and wonder.

(Surprise!  They're a bunch of crappy PC adventure games.)

EasyCureJanuary 21, 2010

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro

"3D Mario just continued Nintendo's decline into irrelevance."
It still boggles my mind that Super Mario Galaxy selling over 8 million copies worldwide could be thought of as a failing. Apart from in Japan, SMG did very well commercially.

And I'm assuming critically as well, no?

That is until IGN and the like found a way to revert to prepubescent adolescence...

Quote from: KDR_11k

IGN seems pretty angry about NSMBW being successful, their latest report on it makes a point citing all the critical response and whatnot.Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation) also seemed strangely angry about it for no reason though by now he seems to have turned hating the Wii into one of his trademark features.

^yeah, that.

Killer_Man_JaroTom Malina, Associate Editor (Europe)January 22, 2010

Quote from: EasyCure

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro

"3D Mario just continued Nintendo's decline into irrelevance."
It still boggles my mind that Super Mario Galaxy selling over 8 million copies worldwide could be thought of as a failing. Apart from in Japan, SMG did very well commercially.

And I'm assuming critically as well, no?

Oh, without a sliver of doubt. How does 3rd highest rated game of all time sound?

New Super Mario Bros Wii did pretty well on that front as well, mind you. The people who are angry at this game's success... oh dear.

Ian SaneJanuary 22, 2010

Super Mario Galaxy has kept Mario critically relevant and NSMB Wii has kept him commercially relevant.  No matter how you look at it he's on top.  And Galaxy still sold well and NSMB was still critically acclaimed so it ain't even like his games are one or the other.  This is like Mario's silver age (golden age would SMB->SMW era natch).

KDR_11kJanuary 22, 2010

Hell, if NSMBW hadn't put 2D Mario back on the map Mario would still have had Mario Kart to stay relevant.

Galaxy has sold more than every 360 game except one, which it's less than 100,000 below, and it's sold twice as many copies as any PS3 game. It's crazy to say that it was not a huge commercial success.

Mop it upJanuary 22, 2010

I think people are "disappointed" with sales of Super Mario Galaxy because it hasn't sold more than Super Mario 64 despite being released on a system with a larger userbase, and it hasn't outsold any 2D Mario games besides Super Mario Brothers 2 (both versions). What will be interesting to see are sales of Super Mario Galaxy 2, which I expect to be lower than the first game for various reasons.

Chozo GhostJanuary 23, 2010

Quote from: KDR_11k

Hell, if NSMBW hadn't put 2D Mario back on the map Mario would still have had Mario Kart to stay relevant.

2D Mario was already made relevant before back in 2006 when NSMB came to the DS.

Luigi DudeJanuary 24, 2010

According to Nikkei Net, New Super Mario Bros Wii has now sold 10 million copies worldwide.  The fact that it was able hit this in only 8 weeks on one console, makes it the fastest selling individual format title to reach 10 million.

I imagine the staff of IGN is now on suicide watch.

I just think that the heyday of the 3D platformer is over.  The concept has been done to death and isn't really "fresh" any more, at least fresh enough to go beyond the built-in Nintendo/Mario/3D Platformer fanbase.

However, a good 2D Mario game hasn't been done on a console for a LONG time, and NSMB Wii's "retro"-ness immediately ropes in players in their 30's and 40's that probably haven't played video games since the NES/SNES days.  These people now have a Wii (mostly for their kids), and would like something to play after the kids go to bed, or with their kids, or with their spouse.  They know Mario, they like Mario, the game is a no-brainer purchase.

It wouldn't surprise me if it sells 25-30 million by the time it's done.  Wii Fit has sold over 22 million copies, and Mario has more potential for continued sales IMHO.

ShyGuyJanuary 26, 2010

Excellent insight from Lindy. The heyday of the 3D platformer is indeed over. So are a lot of other genres too. The problem is, new genres aren't exactly filling in the gap. We have the sandbox genre from last gen thanks to GTA, The music game genre which has been ran into the ground in the space of four years, and Resident Evil 4 updated the third person shooter genre.

As a trade off, JRPGs, Strategy games. Flight sims, 3D Platformers, 3D fighting games, Survival Horror, Strategy RPGs, and even racing games to an exent are all faded/fading away.

Soon we will be down to FPS and Third person shooters with the occasional Third person action game thrown in.

This is why Nintendo went blue ocean and created Wii Sports and Wii Fit outside the stagnant waters.

StratosJanuary 27, 2010

Quote from: KDR_11k

Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation) also seemed strangely angry about it for no reason though by now he seems to have turned hating the Wii into one of his trademark features.

Which is funny because from his earlier videos I got an impression that he was actually fond of the Wii. Maybe it was because he seemed to hate less on the earlier Wii games he reviewed.

Quote from: Deguello

Yahtzee's made a few PC games himself, I think.  Surely they are paragons of development to will leave all in awe and wonder.

(Surprise!  They're a bunch of crappy PC adventure games.)

I thought his adventure games were great titles that had great atmosphere and engaging stories. I was surprised how much I got into them in spite of their old, pixilated graphics. And the music just worked as well. I was genuinely freaked out my the monsters that hunted you.

Ian SaneJanuary 27, 2010

Quote:

Excellent insight from Lindy. The heyday of the 3D platformer is indeed over. So are a lot of other genres too. The problem is, new genres aren't exactly filling in the gap. We have the sandbox genre from last gen thanks to GTA, The music game genre which has been ran into the ground in the space of four years, and Resident Evil 4 updated the third person shooter genre.

As a trade off, JRPGs, Strategy games. Flight sims, 3D Platformers, 3D fighting games, Survival Horror, Strategy RPGs, and even racing games to an exent are all faded/fading away.

Soon we will be down to FPS and Third person shooters with the occasional Third person action game thrown in.

This is why Nintendo went blue ocean and created Wii Sports and Wii Fit outside the stagnant waters.


Considering how milked first and third person shooters are I doubt we'll ever get to the point where just those will be made.  Their time will come and go like everything else.  I think it's all really a matter of effort and the Wii series is not the only option.  Hell, Pikmin probably could have had a bigger impact if the Cube wasn't so unsuccessful.  They make a new one on the Wii and it could influence a new genre.  Or maybe not.  You never know but it's always worth the effort.  We know new ideas exist because if you have a "design your own game" discussion on a forum like this new ideas pop out of the woodwork all the time.  It's a matter of choice.

And ironically if anyone contributes to making games stagnant it's Nintendo themselves.  They stick to their franchises more than ever these days.  The Wii series is the exception.  As great as NSMB Wii is it's one of Nintendo's least original games.  It's pretty much a cookie-cutter sequel to the DS game with very half-assed multiplayer shoehorned in.  And the DS NSMB was a supreme "play-it-safe" return to the classic Mario gameplay.  And we've got Super Mario Galaxy 2 on the way.  We didn't get a Super Mario 64 2 or a Super Mario Sunshine 2 but we are getting a very straightforward sequel to Galaxy.  It'll probably turn out great and I'm looking forward to it but it's a very low risk safe and unoriginal game.

If Nintendo put their creative effort to something besides non-games or sequels they could probably bust out some groundbreaking new genres.  It's all about whether you try or not.  They, like most videogame companies, are content with coasting.  Zelda with Motion+ however has a lot of potential to have a big impact.

KDR_11kJanuary 27, 2010

By the looks of it the game industry will cling to the xPS no matter how low it falls and if the xPS market crashes so does the game industry.

NinGurl69 *hugglesJanuary 27, 2010

We can hope.

Ian SaneJanuary 27, 2010

Quote:

By the looks of it the game industry will cling to the xPS no matter how low it falls and if the xPS market crashes so does the game industry.


All it takes is one company to find success with something new and everyone will copy them.  If shooters cease to make money they won't be made as much.  You know why so many FPS games are being made?  It's because Halo and Call of Duty are hugely successful.  Even while other first person shooters are flopping and losing money SOMEBODY is very clearly making big money on them so the followers do the same thing.  It's no different than how Nintendo is making oodles of money off of the Wii series but the copycats are bombing huge.  The companies that keep trying to sell you a shitty rip-off of Wii Sports aren't looking at the poor sales of other games like that.  They're looking at Nintendo getting rich.

The Call of Duty series is one of the best selling series of the last 15 years.  So nobody looks at Haze bankrupting Free Radical they look at Activision getting rich off Call of Duty and think "I've got to get in on that."

So the industry won't cling to something that's not making money because they only cling to stuff that SOMEONE is making money off of.  Companies may go under but I think the industry will be safe.  Coming up with the next big thing provides a business advantage so there will always be a company trying to come up with the next big thing.  Money inspires innovation.

If the industry truly crashes Nintendo will crash with it.

Chozo GhostJanuary 27, 2010

Quote from: Ian

All it takes is one company to find success with something new and everyone will copy them.

Sorry, Ian, but that's wrong. Nintendo has been EXTREMELY successful by producing quality games on the market leading console. Third parties are not copying them and repeating their success.

Third parties get it wrong by either producing crap, or putting stuff on the competing systems which don't have the market share. Nintendo consistently gets things right, but is their successful strategy being imitated? Hell no,

Ian SaneJanuary 27, 2010

Quote:

Sorry, Ian, but that's wrong. Nintendo has been EXTREMELY successful by producing quality games on the market leading console. Third parties are not copying them and repeating their success.


I never said copycats get it right.  But it's clear that WiiSports kicked off a trend of inferior knock-offs.  I don't expect them to repeat Nintendo's success, just to attempt to.  The fact that no one really has makes the most sense - the innovators are usually more successful.

Third parties see Nintendo's strategy as "glorified mini-game comps = $$$" and miss the point.  They miss the marketing and the fact that Nintendo's games are always of a high quality and that Nintendo doesn't just make non-games.  But they still make what they make because they see Nintendo succeeding and assume they can do the same thing, they just miss the details.  Same reason why everyone is shooter-happy on the other consoles and everyone was making GTA rip-offs last gen and we had eras of Super Mario clones and Street Fighter II clones.

Whether or not one actually succeeds in imitation is irrelevant.  It's probably more common to fail by doing so.

Mop it upJanuary 27, 2010

Quote from: NWR_Lindy

I just think that the heyday of the 3D platformer is over.  The concept has been done to death and isn't really "fresh" any more, at least fresh enough to go beyond the built-in Nintendo/Mario/3D Platformer fanbase.

I'm not so sure that 3D platforming has reached its full potential. Its hayday was on the Nintendo 64; besides Mario there have been very few released on successive systems. Lesser-known Nintendo 64 titles like Space Station Silicon Valley and Rocket: Robot on Wheels brought some really interesting ideas, which could be expanding upon using modern hardware. And I'm sure with a system like the Wii, there are some unexplored ideas to be found.

I love platformers of all kinds so I really wish they'd make a comeback...

Chozo GhostJanuary 27, 2010

Now that we have a traditional hardcore type game (NSMB) with MEGA popularity we can only hope the 3rd parties will start imitating that. I must admit that I don't really care at all about Non-games, even if they are 1st party non-games of exceptional quality. I probably tinkered around with Wii Sports and Wii Play for a few hours before moving on to other games...

So 3rd parties attempting to imitate that doesn't matter to me at all. But now there's NSMB, and that is a genre of game that very much matters to me. I don't expect 3rd parties to produce clones of the same level of quality as Nintendo is capable of, but it would be nice if they would at least try. I hope they can have some success. I don't think anything they do could ever be as successful as NSMB has been and will be, but that doesn't mean they still can't do very well for themselves.

No more Raving Rabbids, please. But a few authentic Rayman games would be nice.

BlackNMild2k1January 27, 2010

Is Sucker Punch still around? I never did get to finish Rocket: Robot on Wheels and would like to see a VC release.

UltimatePartyBearJanuary 27, 2010

They made Infamous.  They seem to be in the Sony camp, but I'm not sure if that's because of ownership.

King of TwitchJanuary 27, 2010

Quote from: Mop_it_up

I'm not so sure that 3D platforming has reached its full potential...And I'm sure with a system like the Wii, there are some unexplored ideas to be found.

I love platformers of all kinds so I really wish they'd make a comeback...

Quote:

We didn't get a Super Mario 64 2

Still waiting

TJ SpykeJanuary 27, 2010

Quote from: UltimatePartyBear

They made Infamous.  They seem to be in the Sony camp, but I'm not sure if that's because of ownership.

They are an independent company, but they have only worked with Sony since 2000. Sucker Punch is best known for making the Sly Cooper games.

Mop it upJanuary 28, 2010

Rocket: Robot on Wheels was published by Ubisoft. I wonder which company has the rights to it...?

Chozo GhostJanuary 28, 2010

There will never be a "Super Mario 64 2", at least as far as the name goes. The 64 name only mattered because it was on a system called the "Nintendo 64" and Nintendo was really pushing the 64 thing hard in those days because it was the only system that advantage. But nowadays, 64 bit stuff is outdated, obsolete, and laughable. Nintendo would never use that name for a sequel, even if it actually was a sequel.

Most would argue Sunshine and/or Galaxy are the sequel(s) and successors to 64.

KDR_11kJanuary 28, 2010

On a rather funny note, most systems that came after the N64 actually used 32 bits.

King of TwitchJanuary 28, 2010

They slapped the word "New" on two different outdated laughable sequels. Hey, it could happen.

Quote from: KDR_11k

On a rather funny note, most systems that came after the N64 actually used 32 bits.

Weren't parts of the Dreamcast and PS2 128-bit? And I'd assume the 360 is 64-bit, as it uses a modified G5 and the G5 was 64-bit.

Quote from: Zap

They slapped the word "New" on two different outdated laughable sequels. Hey, it could happen.

To call NSMBWii outdated or laughable is ridiculous.

KDR_11kJanuary 28, 2010

The bit counts are overall extremely questionable because different parts of the systems worked at different bit widths. I think the PS2 has one 128 bit bus but it's nowhere near a 128bit word size (which I believe is the real definition of the bit count of a CPU).

Chozo GhostJanuary 28, 2010

How many bit graphics does the PS3 have? After the 5th generation we stopped hearing about things like "my console has higher bit graphics than yours". We know the N64 had 64-bit graphics, but the systems that came afterwards seemed to stop keeping track.

StratosJanuary 28, 2010

Quote from: Chozo

How many bit graphics does the PS3 have? After the 5th generation we stopped hearing about things like "my console has higher bit graphics than yours". We know the N64 had 64-bit graphics, but the systems that came afterward seemed to stop keeping track.

Because they never passed that supposedly. Why brag when you are equal to a previous gen system in amount of bits? Granted more matters than 'bits' and as stated here, not all systems were clearly defined as having a single 'bit count' that ranked its power compared to other systems.

BlackNMild2k1January 28, 2010

Quote from: Chozo

There will never be a "Super Mario 64 2", at least as far as the name goes. The 64 name only mattered because it was on a system called the "Nintendo 64" and Nintendo was really pushing the 64 thing hard in those days because it was the only system that advantage. But nowadays, 64 bit stuff is outdated, obsolete, and laughable. Nintendo would never use that name for a sequel, even if it actually was a sequel.

Most would argue Sunshine and/or Galaxy are the sequel(s) and successors to 64.

What about Super Mario 64.25 DS?
http://i50.tinypic.com/2zhqnb7.jpg

And Galaxy is the successor to M64, Sunshine is an experiment gone wrong like Zelda II.

NinGurl69 *hugglesJanuary 28, 2010

My Wii has Thrust Processing.

KDR_11kJanuary 28, 2010

Quote from: Chozo

How many bit graphics does the PS3 have? After the 5th generation we stopped hearing about things like "my console has higher bit graphics than yours". We know the N64 had 64-bit graphics, but the systems that came afterwards seemed to stop keeping track.

Depends on how you measure again. Output is pretty much 24 bit across the board though many screens are too shitty to even display that (the Wii may actually be using 16 bit output but I can't tell because the TV it's connected to has only reduced color depth despite the 16.7M color claim on the box). I think for HDR you need extra bits but I'm not sure how many they actually use, I think it's something like 10 bits per channel (for a total of 30). Note that color depth measurement means the NES was 2 bit* like the Game Boy (C64 was 1 bit), the SNES 8 bit, the Mega Drive 6 bit and I think the PS1 and N64 were 8 bit too. PS2, XBox and Gamecube were 16 to 24, depending on the game (most used 16, can be seen most prominently in P.N.03 since that uses lots of greyscale colors that come out slightly hued in the banding).
*= The NES and other low bittage platforms used multiple palettes for different sprites and tiles, later platforms had a single palette for the whole screen.

NinGurl69 *hugglesJanuary 28, 2010

I'll assure you Wii is maxed on 16-bit output.  P.N.03's and Wind Waker's color banding and dithering issues haven't shown up in recent Nintendo games like Resort and Mario Galaxy, since Nintendo's been using a more artistic, dotty halftone approach to displaying tones and gradation.  Shattered Memories is a recent example where the banding is present in select areas, due to lighting situations already pushing palette to its limit (the tones generally present without problems, the flashlight glow looks fine, and the grain noise hides some inconsistencies).

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