Tropical Freeze or Mario Bros Wonder?

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JackHandy said:

pikashoe said:

The fact that you are saying stripping away aspects of the game to put it on nes would make it worse proves that 2d platformers have evolved since that era. 

No, that's not my argument. My argument is that the things modern 2D games do better are mostly in the polish-and-presentation department; that if you put TF on the NES where that polish and presentation would have to be stripped away due to hardware limitations, what you'd have, on a basic, skeletal level, would be far less than you'd have with SMB 3. 

The last time I played a 2D game and felt a true sense of wow and awe on a basic, mechanical level was SMB 3 back in the day, which is why I consider it to be the peak of the genre. DKC would go on to wow me too, but looking back, it wasn't because it did anything mechanically better than Mario (it was a great game, though). It's because it looked and sounded amazing, and that's how I feel about all modern 2D games. They're prettier, more gimmicky, have better sound and save points etc. But at a basic, core design? No. Not even close. SMB 3 still (unfortunately) hasn't been topped, and I don't see how it ever will.

It's peak.

The GOAT.

Tropical Freeze's dynamic levels aren't just a gimmick though, any more than Mario 3's powerups or world map are just gimmicks, they're an intrinsic element of the gameplay.

A level like the one in TF where a giant octopus attacks from the background and pulls apart the level around you as you try to dodge through it, that's beyond anything possible on NES hardware. 

Which is "better" is of course a matter of personal opinion, but to say that 2D platformers have only added polish, presentation, and gimmicks since the NES is reductive and untrue, they've also become much more dynamic.