Watch Dogs wasn't ambitious. It's Assassin's Creed's sandbox style plus the ability to pretend you're playing GTA with really poor handling cars. Then throw in hacking that was implemented in a way that made it completely useless compared to just sprinting through clubbing all your enemies to death. Also, ambition is useless if it amounts to nothing. There's also a difference between playing it safe (Watch Dogs is literally the same as every other ubisoft game these days with a literal hack button), and making actual refinements to a game like SM3DW did.

SM64 was the first, and it's easy to say someone else would have done it eventually, but the fact is hindsight is 20/20 and it could have set gaming back over a decade if we had to wait for someone else to find the formula. It's obvious that 3D games at the time were content to use the tank or fork lift controls that existed at the time. It's not that the controller's analog stick allowed SM64 to play as it did. The N64 controller was designed that way because Miyamoto wanted the analog stick for SM64. There's a hge difference there.

Nothing Sonic games did remotely compared to the Spherical platforms and gravity tricks involved in SMG, period. It may have LOOKED the same, but it was nothing alike in practice or performance. Also, seriously look at that video you linked. The guy makes several attempts to get something he knows the location of because the camera repeatedly freaks out and sends him off in a direction he didn't want, and you see bad camera shenanigans throughout when he runs around.

We'll have to agree to disagree on the name. There are several branches of the Mario Franchise. There's Super Mario Bros, New Super Mario Bros, and 3D Mario. SM3DW is a culmination of all the elements of the original Super Mario Bros titles but set in 3D with 64 style jumps. It is Super Mario Bros. 4 for all intents and purposes.

If Watch Dogs wasn't ambitious and was only AC plus GTA cars and hacking, it wouldn't have taken the huge team behind it and it would be free from bugs. I'm not saying that an ambitious game cannot be also solid, but it takes more time and resources (look at GTA V). WD didn't play it safe. The proof: the reviews. A new iteration in the AC series (Black Flag) could achieve a much better score.

Yes, in the case of Nintendo, games and hardware are designed by the same person. But that's the kind of power that CoreDesign/Eidos and most teams/publishers didn't have at the time. They had to work with what they were given. But I'm sure Miyamoto wanted the analog stick for more games, besides SM64.

Ok, you can say SA2 had the idea, but Galaxy actually implemented it better. Still, inovation has to do with the idea, not with the execution.

About the name, we're done. :)

The rolling ocean was pretty much the only part of the graphics that was truly impressive. Even in the platformer field the same year's Blinx: The Time Sweeper on Xbox had it beat technologically.

Watch Dogs is just Assassin's Creed with carjacking, virtually useless hacking, and a less likeable hero. There was nothing revolutionary about it at all, and the ratings suffered because they promised new and exciting and then gave us more of the same with a less interesting gimmick. Oh shock and awe Ubisoft made an open world sandbox where you can make questionable moral choices, boy that's so original and ambitious. Ambition shouldn't be measured by the time and money thrown at something.

I never said he didn't but the point still stands, Mario 64 was originally planned for the SNES but was pushed back and the 64's controller was designed around Miyamoto's idea for that game and 3D movement in general. A fully analog stick wasn't needed to make 3D possible, just more comfortable, so Playstation games could have done it earlier, they just focused on tank controls because it worked best with their limited knowledge of game design at the time. All I'm saying here is that SM64 did it first and that's the hard part. Everything's easier to do once you know how to do it.

SA2 had an idea that looked similar, not the same. You could pour milk chocolate over a dog turd and make it look like a Snickers, but it's not the same when you bite into it. There's a drastic difference between what SA2 did and what Mario Galaxy did and it's baffling that we're even discussing this when eyeballs alone should suffice.

I thought that Sunshine was trash unfit of the Mario branding so I'm going to say that the GameCube fits your criteria. I haven't played 3D World but from what I've seen it looks like a quality title. Even if that isn't an essential Mario experience, Nintendo still have a couple years to produce one and frankly I'd be surprised if they didn't deliver at least one must have Mario platformer for the WiiU.

That's a highly contentious statement, considering the fact that Mario 3D World, IMO, is far more "must have", than Sunshine was. By a long shot. And then there's NSMBU, which while Wii was better in many ways, U is still a great game.

Sunshine is getting criticized way too much, because it was a great game, even if not on par with the memory of Mario 64. The only true issue was with some camera angle. The other things (the decors, the cleaning part) are just a matter of opinion. really

I am reading people talking about ambition, and Sunshine was a very ambitious game. It incorpored a brand new gameplay mecanic with the FLUDD, that quickly felt natural, in total opposition with the artificial cat gimmick shown in 3D World. Mario Sunshine featured big areas, pure 3D platforming sequences, and had overall a lot of variation and had many things to do or find, it was really packed with content.

That's completely different from the very limited scope, the "play it safe" and doing the minimum of the 3D Land/World formula. That's like comparing trying to do the best of the best and doing just enough.

this maybe be unpopular, but after playing 3dworld i'm pretty sure it's my favorite mario of all time. Especially after that epic ending. It fixed the issues i had with past marios (not keeping items past puzzles, the whole point was finding stars), and added co-op. Even going as far to bring back character characteristics from mario 2. Now it goes- 1. mario3dworld, 2.super mario world, 3. super mario 2, 4. super mario 3. 5. Super Mario Bros.

I really enjoyed 3D world even though I played solo because I have no friends :b
But I personally really want an HD Galaxy/Sunshine game as those two are my personal favorites and I want more galaxy soundtracks >:)

I think New Super Mario Bros. U is excellent. I haven't played SM3DW yet, but it it also looks good.