>>183308
I hardly mind. Combat isn't a concern for me in most games, and certainly not for Mario. The last boss I considered actually difficult was Wart. And that wasn't even really a Mario game.

>>183317
The third Bowser fight in SM64 was the last one I thought was crazy hard. But I was like... 7.

>>183319
Well he does chop off the areas of the stage closest to the mines so you have to actually aim unlike the other times where you can just grab him right next to them.

There are exceptions of course, but generally platformers don't have amazing bosses. Boss battles are more about action than movement, so it's a challenge to conceptualize.

Yet another reason why MMZ3 is one of the greatest games of all time.

At any rate, Nintendo seems to be aware that Mario Boss Battles are pretty easy.
Hence the trend to final bosses that aren't really battles as much as they are auto-scrolling survival stages.

PS4 beats Wii U lifetime numbers in the UK; Knack beats Super Mario 3D World.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/02/playstation-4-is-the-uks-fast-selling-console-in-history?abthid=529c90ff5bcd086615000010

Speaking of end bosses that are more stages than fights...

Cranky the fourth playable secret character?

>Former BigBig Studios, which was part of Sony UK, dev Kenny Linder commented on NeoGAF about the sales numbers of Super Mario 3D World, which was bested by Knack in the latest UKIE Game Charts. “Yep. Releasing it the same day as PS4 in UK/EU wasn’t wise. The frustrating thing was this game was probably ready to go in October.”

>As for where Nintendo goes from here, Linder stated that, “I think retail and the market will push Nintendo in a direction whether they like it or not. They MUST be in danger of losing shelf space at this point. Retail will have four major consoles (PS3/4, 360/One) plus 3DS/2DS to push which will all move units, and it looks like Mario can’t help even poor Wii U out.

>“If it goes from shelves, it will be finished. I am still confident in my crazy mind that Wii U will not see another Christmas after this one. But that’s just me. The future games will just get moved/axed.”

>“Releasing Mario on Friday was a really stupid thing to do, it could of come out weeks before that. I wonder if the same gamers who buy Nintendo home systems (150k of them in UK) are the same gamers that buy PS4/Xbox? That might explain lack of sales this week. Otherwise, nobody gives a shit. Also, I haven’t seen a single Mario 3D World advert on UK TV, whereas the other two (PS4 more so, especially last night, holy shit) are on all the time.”

>And how did Linder summarize Nintendo’s reason for failure, besides the lack of third party games, dismal marketing, understated indie push and seemingly missing first party titles? “They have failed to see what the market wants,” he remarked.

http://gamingbolt.com/former-sony-uk-dev-on-knack-outselling-mario-releasing-it-the-same-day-as-ps4-in-ukeu-wasnt-wise

>>183375

Jumpman, you don't have to run back here from /v/ and share with us every stupid article on "the console wars" that crops up.

Yeah, I'd prefer to hear actual news. Like new games, or interviews with designers.

I don't really care so much about the sales in comparison with others.
We all know the WiiU is doing poorly and the PS4 is the fastest selling console ever. Let's have something worth learning.

Nice view up here. This screenshot stuff is neat.
>>183376
>>183378
This.

Why come only 4 girls

Because that's all the Mario universe has for main characters and Sega's been moving away from the bat and bunny.

>>183387
>Amy
>Not Power-type

Come on Sega get your shit together

>>183388
Aren't you forgetting someone?

>>183392
sure.

>>183392
>>183395
Depending on what the current canon interpretation is, Birdo might count too.

>>183397
Regardless Yoshi is still the boyfriend.

>>183376
>>183378
>>183380
I personally find the sales situation with the Wii U, PS4, and Xbox One interesting, but I see where you're coming from.

Anyway, there was that one time Nintendo published a game about the Holocaust, Slavery, and Baby Jesus being possessed by the devil.

http://www.dromble.com/2013/12/04/when-nintendo-published-game-about-the-holocaust-slavery-and-jesus/

タイムツイスト（Time T…

>>183415
Virtual Console when

I can't beat the end boss.
Who will save the Olympics now?

"Boy I do like how levels aren't forced to be in the theme of the world they are in since that gives them more diversity."
>World Bowser
...Why can't every level here look like this??

>>183425
I want to say it's because environmental gimmicks restrict difficulty, because if the developers subscribe to restricting them to a themed world they never show up again, except maybe in bonus levels. So then you get a weird difficulty curve in the ice world or cloud world or whatever. But 3DW doesn't seem to be planned like this. Maybe they just weren't able to come up with 6 or so unique levels based around theme park rides that were actually fun to play.

Danny Wells, the live action actor for Luigi in the Super Mario Bros Super Show died.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/montrealgazette/obituary.aspx?n=jack-westelman&pid=168317547

What a depressing way to end the "year of Luigi".

>>183433
What no one realized was that the full name of the campaign was The LAST Year of Luigi.

Chris Kohler on the Wii U's current dire situation.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/12/wii-u-sales/all/

He goes over the negative Bloomberg report, the idea of loosing the Wii U GamePad, why Nintendo going third-party wouldn't work, and more.

>Nintendo’s current management can turn things around. Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto have screwed up, but they don’t do that a lot. They learn from their mistakes. They try weird things, and when those things work they work really well. Now, if Nintendo were to release another console in five years that does even worse than Wii U, that would be an indication of serious systemic problems. But stumbling once isn’t a reason to give up, no matter how big the screwup is.

>>183434
(s)
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/12/reggie_declares_the_year_of_luigi_will_continue_into_2014

>>183441
That's certainly one of the more fair and reasonable analysis I've seen.

>>183360
It was more fun when 3D Land did it.

>Dual Destinies
>Episode 5
>"I will now give my verdict."
>OBJECTION
GODDAMMIT APOLLO I WILL END YOU
...Because I accidentally spoilered myself and know the main big reveal. ;_;

Now, buddy. You better not be summoning what I think you're summoning.

MHF-Ｇ「ファイアーエ�…

>>183456

Sometimes I feel like the Fire Emblem series sacrificed its soul when they made Awakening. I mean I don't care too much since the alternative was cancelling the series but it's still a bit sad.

>>183457
How so? I never played a Fire Emblem game before, but I've had a distant appreciation for it.

>>183459

I've only played the Game Boy ones, a bit of the Game Cube one and Awakening and... well...

Awakening is a bit more focused on the character relationship aspect? Outside of that I didn't really find too much different.

>>183459
It's too popular.

>>183457
The only thing I didn't like about awakening was the character design.

Speaking as probably the only person here that's actually bothered to play every single one of them (except 12 because I was just that angry at 11), I would say that mechanically Fire Emblem is the best Fire Emblem ever aside of: the full reintroduction of asshole reinforcements as the default setting, the ability to turn off permadeath, and the excess of DLC (which I will probably buy all of because I am a slave to this series).

Storywise the best is probably 9 and 7 will always be my favorite but Awakening just FEELS good to play, it's fun. It is kind of selloutish though, what with the DLC, the FF character designs, and the dating aspect but the game's good enough that I don't really give a shit.

That said, no amount of Fire Emblem will make Monster Hunter a good game so you haven't got me there Nintendo!

>>183464
The character designs are a weird thing for me. I don't DISLIKE them in and of themselves, they just feel like they're from Final Fantasy rather than Fire Emblem, they have that distinct, overdesigned look whereas FE has usually favored much more simply designs.

>>183452
I was REALLY hoping he'd be playable. Oh well.

Also: Mighty Switch Force on the 3DS. Its got me interested; Should I pick up 1 or 2?

Funny you all talking about Awakening.
I just got my Fantasy Medieval Eugenics Simulator 2013 copy last wednesday, and it has been a blast so far.
Haven't got yet into the future spawns part yet, but I already have plans about that.
And too bad there's no same sex marriage option.
I seriously wanted that option.

>>183468

>And too bad there's no same sex marriage option.

Well to be fair.

How do you justify future prodigies of certain party members coming in to help when they opt to go the route of have-no-kids.

Adoption's an option but that's only really work in one or two instances as it'd be kinda silly if you had EVERY CHARACTER go the gay route and they ALL just happened to adopt a particular child and raise him/her.

It's funny that Idle Thumbs generally don't mention Nintendo all that much and now they've been all about 3D Land/World.
Well, one of them any ways.
Don't tell them I don't remember who they are.

FINALLY beat Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies. Wonderful game; I love the new graphics engine, and the 3D actually seems to add a little something in (not much, but something.) However, it felt as though there were less things to figure out (primarily in Investigation, with no evidence analysis (except a single instance) or fingerprinting) and was much more of a visual novel than a deduction game versus prior entries.

I'm a tad disappointed that we didn't get to see Maya (again!), Ema Skye, or Gumshoe. Gumshoe could have been worked in to the final act... Also, Pearls is stated as being 17, but she just doesn't seem that way. Maybe it's because I'm used to young Pearls, or perhaps because her and Athena or Juniper (who are 18) are just very different. I was really hoping for a reveal at the end where a now-25 Maya comes to the office to see Nick and she is the spitting image of Mia. Or for Mia to possess Pearls when Phoenix is on the rocks in the final act.

The final act was solid, but not stupendous like the original Ace Attorney, but then none of the other games have been able to live up to that. Defeating Gant in that case was exhilarating, whereas this one was a more gradual thing instead of a sudden turnabout. Also the final act had many scenes that would have been great for am FMV (in particular "Fulbright" removing his various masks and freaking out), but the ending one was nice.

I would happily pay $50+ for an anthology of AA1-4 done in the Dual Destinies engine, even if they made no further improvements.