Pretty much

Yeah, looks just like a white DS. Jaw dropping indeed.

:)

"Flagship Mario game being bundled with the system."

To the vocal minority, but sidescrollers are still the killer app. Adding a timer and a flagpole does not make it one.

If you are comparing galaxy sales to NSMB games sales. The reason why galaxy sold less is as follows:

• Mission base system in open worlds makes it overwhelming to some players, having to 'search' for the goal.
• Proir 3d Marios, and galaxy, core gameplay is different as its focus less on stomping on enemies and actual platforming, but exploring.
• Games that requires nunchuck+ wiimote controls are very intimidating, especially to 2d Mario fans.
•  Prior 3d Marios( including galaxy) tend to be slower paced than 2d marios.( No dash button)
• Positioning can be difficult at times for 3d games because you are basically watching a 3d world with one eye open.

SMB3land seems to remedy all of these. Just because its indeed 3d mario, doesn't mean its the same situation as before.

But we'll just have wait and see how long its legs are saleswise

Holy shit o_o that DS has a analog stick on it.

You would have to wear gloves while using that thing because it's going to show dirt very quickly.

Besides everybody knows  that its supposed to be a Red system with a Mario game. sheesh!

1. Swapping that for level linearity is not a good remedy, as it just becomes a set of tasks instead of a level to play.

2. That is not the focus of the 2D Mario games, which was getting to the goal any way you could. Stomping and platforming were just some of those options. Options. These levels still look to have too many spots where you are required to do something in a certain way.

3. That is just a scapegoat, as the controls of the Galaxy games were still simple. People didn't have a problem with the controls. They had a problem with a game that didn't feel like a Mario game (even though I like them).

4. A dash button? Last I checked, pushing the analog stick all the way was supposed to be dashing. Plus padded out levels are what makes slower pace, not slower running speed. And adding a clock is not really reducing the padding that much either. It's instead made the level design dumbed down for both the 3D and 2D games.

5. Another scapegoat, as Galaxy found ways to position correctly and it still didn't catch on. Have you forgotten about that?

The level design has to play like the 2D Mario games, and if you think they do here, you need to play those games again, and try to see how many ways you can beat a level.

You're kidding, right?  Galaxy actually had some of the most difficult to position situations in the series, especially when the camera would suddenly turn upside down on you.  For a new gamer the Galaxies would be far more intimidating than SM64 despite the latter's flaws.

I didn't mean "every way". I meant the ones that worked, like following and fixed positions that actually made things visible. Focusing on those to the exclusion of the upside down areas would be a big help. This game doesn't seem to be doing that.

But the problem basically is that Nintendo is NOT doing anything new with this game. They are still trying to go "what will it take to get mainstream gamers to like 3D Mario?". The Gamecube was addressing the complaints of the N64 controller. That was assumed to make people like 3D Mario. Then the Wii Remote was assumed to make it finally happen (why blaming the nunchuck controls seems to be just ridiculous). Now it's 3D on the screen, and slapping on every 2D element they can think of other than the level philosophy (which is not just a time limit and clear goal alone; it's about freedom for the player) and actually being 2D.