The Malstrom Discussion Thread

[LordTheNightKnight]

Mr Khan said:

LordTheNightKnight said:

Mr Khan said:

 

Tiny Huge Island was entirely designed around the multipath concept. Some worlds didn't work that way, but many of them did. The second star of Lethal Lava Land gave you two choices, one of which was more platform intensive, and you could use powerups to do the stage differently (the very essence of variation in 2D Mario, which is otherwise linear as a tarmac but for your ability to access different paths with powerups). In some cases you could use the cannons to traverse space if you were brave

Some stages and stars were highly restrictive (especially the stars that did what became standard in Sunshine: that if you wanted Star 2 you had to select Star 2 at the level start, or it wouldn't even be possible), but many were wide open. Hell, i never do Shifting Sand Land the "correct" way unless i'm going for 8 red coins

So any freedom in these games should be more universal, as in try to avoid any stages that require a set path.

Set paths are the core implement of 2D Marios, however. What i think would work in that case is, as i mentioned before, having power-ups that you hold over between stages. An understated problem is that power-ups have been on a temporary basis and used (especially in Galaxy) to merely get you past certain obstacles. Really, Sunshine was superior in that regard with the alternate FLUDD nozzles, as while certain nozzles were required to do certain things, you could also use them to approach the game differently and apply them the way you wanted to apply them

Yeah. Also Malstrom did mention that power ups are just optional ways to enhance the games in old school Mario games. I also realize that some of the less fun levels in Super Mario World were those that required a power up to get to the goal (even if just the secondary one).