Games Inbox: What is the best 2D Mario platformer?

The Thursday letters page is worried about what Epic Games’ layoffs mean for the rest of the industry, as one reader takes issue with the way Metacritic works.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Wonder-ful platfomer
I also feel that Super Mario Bros. Wonder doesn’t get talked about enough. I’m glad that it sold well but I don’t think it gets enough recognition for being both a great 2D platformer and having an actual new gimmick for the series, unlike the New Super Mario Bros. games, which added absolutely nothing of value.

The new Switch 2 Edition does seem a little pointless though. I’m not sure why they didn’t just add more single-player levels, as I’m sure most people would’ve preferred that rather than a bunch of multiplayer minigames that you’re probably not going to play more than a few times each (judging by how these things normally go in Nintendo games).

But I see you also brought up the age old argument over which is the best 2D Mario game, in your recommendations for Nintendo Switch Online games. I’m firmly of the opinion that it’s Super Mario World and that Super Mario Bros. 3, with everything else a long way behind (but still great). It is close, I’ll admit but for me Super Mario Bros. 3 is more technical and more focused on the actual platforming, whereas World has Yoshi and a lot of other gimmicks.

Again, I’ll say that the fact Wonder gets anywhere close to them both is a miracle, given how you’d think a lot of those skills have been lost over the years. So while it doesn’t seem like the Switch 2 Edition is essential I would definitely recommend Wonder to anyone who can play it on Switch 1 or 2.
Onibee

Nothing to do
The problem with these Nintendo Switch 2 Editions is that I can’t think of any game that needs anything doing to them in terms of performance or features. I suppose they could up Super Mario Odyssey to 4K and maybe add a new world (or more likely some unwanted multiplayer modes) but it’s totally unnecessary and it’ll just end up being like Super Mario Bros. Wonder where you’re better off just buying the Switch 1 version for cheaper.

The only one I can think of is Astral Chain, which has already been mentioned, but I don’t think that sold enough to get the treatment and most of the people that made it have left PlatinumGames now, so there’s not even a guarantee they’d do a good job of it.

I’d much rather see Nintendo make more low budget games instead, to fill the gaps in the schedule, although given how the last few of those have gone maybe that’s not a great idea.
Cubby

Epic fail
It’s hard to believe that Epic Games have lost almost 2,000 people in just the last couple of years, to the point where they’re getting close to losing half their number. And that’s for Fortnite, the most famous game in the world. No wonder everyone else is doing so bad.

As far as I can see they haven’t said exactly what people have left but if this includes people working on Unreal Engine then that’s going to have a knock-on effect on everything. Once again, we see the problem is that it’s too expensive to make games as they are now and yet the idea of lowering the budgets isn’t even a consideration.

I truly think we’ll be left with nothing but indie developers and Japanese publishers soon and I’m not sure I’ll be able to say anything other than Western companies had it coming.
MNex

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Subscription cons
I do feel Nintendo is doing better with Nintendo Switch Online now and most of their own big name games are available on most formats, but there’s still some smaller first party titles left out and the third party support is low and random.

I guess this is the problem with the Netflix style subscription approach, compared to the Wii Virtual Console, where you had to buy individual games. When each game costs money the original publisher has a clear incentive to have it on the service and Nintendo just takes their cut.

But with the subscription service I imagine it’s a bit more murky how third party publishers get paid and there’s also not as much incentive for Nintendo to chase them to add their games, which is why most of the games that are included are Japanese ones, where they have a closer relationship with the company. So I don’t know if it’ll ever be that complete.
Tanis

I sink therefore I am
RE: Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss inbox letter from a few days ago. I have played a short demo of the game during the last Steam Next Fest and I am positively optimistic. I read an interview with the developer where they promise an open-ended detective game in which you are free to roam, collect evidence, and investigate.

Although that wasn’t the case with the demo itself, which was pretty straightforward, featuring sub-Resident Evil level puzzles with extra steps. However, the world building and the futuristic subsea setting is very intriguing to say the least and slightly reminiscent of SOMA, which is always a positive in my book.
Ali K

GC: That description sounds like they’re trying to ape Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth to some degree, which was a decent but flawed game back in the day.

Righting the ship
I don’t want to make light of people that have lost their jobs, but I have to admit I am glad that Sony is moving away from mobile gaming. Although, to be honest, I didn’t know they even had any mobile games at the moment, so no wonder they weren’t successful.

But between this and also stopping PC ports they seem to be going back to their old ways. Only we can’t tell because they won’t talk about it and they won’t announce any new games. But I think if you’re optimistic that must be what they’re doing.

I guess the worst case scenario is that the PlayStation 6 generation is going to be even more expensive to make games for, so they’re cutting back in other areas and will still only maintain the frequency they have at the moment.

There’s reason to hope it’s more than that. The signs are that they regret the way this generation has gone and are getting ready to reverse course. After all, you’ve got to remember that with the PlayStation 5 dominating console sales they’ve not really been in a position to take advantage of that with their own games, so they’ve been missing out on a lot of easy profit over the last few years.

Hopefully that will tempt them back into making good games as a priority. Assuming any of us can afford the new console that is…
Stolos

Merch Effect
I don’t know how many people will be interested in this but a company called Master Replicas are starting to do Mass Effect ships and considering how much sci-fi merch can cost they’re actually quite reasonably price. The first one is the Normandy, obviously, and it’s £70 and 22cm long, which in my experience as a collector is a bargain.

I’ve no idea whether we’ll really see a new Mass Effect game ever but there are definitely still fans out there and hopefully their love for merch might be enough to keep EA interested. Bungie deserve another shot.
Fevermet

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No favourites
I’ve long thought Metacritic is pointless. All the reviews it shows and they’re basically split into two sections: a bunch of websites you’ve never heard of that apparently give everything 9/10 and then all the trustworthy ones underneath that, which are then divided into American sites, that always mark too highly, and UK ones which are more sensible.

You have to completely ignore that first layer to get to any kind of believable opinion and even then there’s only a handful I really trust. But they all get lumped into the final score, which is usually nothing like what the reliable sites have given it.

So I’m not a fan and now I see this list of the best publishers of the year and it’s Square Enix?! Who didn’t release a single brand new game last year? And the second is Chinese publisher, where even GC only knew one of the games they’d made.

The whole thing is silly and it was silly when Sega when last year and the year before it. The whole idea of having a best publisher is kind of dumb anyway, there’s only a very few publishers that I trust in any kind of a general sense and even then I’d never buy a game out of loyalty to them, so it makes no difference.

I think most people accept Nintendo and Capcom are great publishers but few people were in a hurry to pick up Drag x Drive or… actually, I can’t remember the last time Capcom made a bad game, so why didn’t they win? Like I said, the whole thing is dumb.
Coop

Inbox also-rans
I see there’s a new rumour that Capcom is also considering a remake of Resident Evil Revelations. I’m not too interested in that, but I really hope they do Revelations 2. It’s been mentioned a few times in the Inbox lately but I really feel it’s the hidden gem of the series.
Rex

I kind of lost track of what’s going on with Warner Bros. Is it being bought by Paramount now? Is that deal going through. I really want to hear about a new Batman game, but I feel we’re not going to until all that business is settled.
Grackle

GC: There’s some minor political opposition to it in the US but we’re not sure that will amount to anything.

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