What Are Your Unpopular Gaming Opinions? (Ver. 2)

[Champion of Hyrule]

One reason I prefer superstar saga over paper mario 64 (I haven’t played any other paper mario or mario & luigi’s, for context) is the fact that you can dodge basically any attack. In an RPG where the amount of health you have starts at like 10 and the weakest possible attack from one enemy takes a tenth of your health, it feels like damage shouldn’t necessarily be an inevitable thing in each battle.

 

[fogbadge]

again sorry about that everyone

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

Since I brought up 3D Sonic, I may as well repost this from the profile posts:
I feel like my problem with the direction Sonic seems to be going in post-Frontiers is less that they're going in a direction I disagree with and more that they're going in a direction at all - like, look at a character like Batman or Mickey Mouse. The Dark Knight can coexist with Lego Batman; the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse can coexist with Kingdom Hearts; I don't see why moody teen-angst Sonic can't coexist with snarky slapstick Sonic - there doesn't need to be a "one true Sonic" or "correct" tone for the franchise, they basically perfected Sonic's tone when they aired AoStH and SatAM at the same time and let kids pick which show they liked better. At the very least I think it's good that the individual games aren't trying to please everyone, and are going for a specific market, (even if I'm not in that market) I just don't think the entire franchise (even games in a vacuum) should appeal to one sector of the fanbase alone.

 

[Aligo]

One reason I prefer superstar saga over paper mario 64 (I haven’t played any other paper mario or mario & luigi’s, for context) is the fact that you can dodge basically any attack. In an RPG where the amount of health you have starts at like 10 and the weakest possible attack from one enemy takes a tenth of your health, it feels like damage shouldn’t necessarily be an inevitable thing in each battle.

Yeah, being slowly grinded down due to unavoidable encounter damage is often a big detrimental to exploration in RPGs.

 

[Kold Pizza]

For certain video game series, I feel some are better off as 2D rather than 3D. I feel that way about the Pokemon series. I enjoyed the 3D games on some level, but the 2D ones simply feel more inspiring. I very much enjoyed the cool sprites, the great challenges as well as the sense of exploration. Even though the technology was more limited back then compared to today, you'd use your imagination while playing through it all.

When Pokemon first transitioned to 3D when the X and Y games were released; upon first glance, the graphics and visuals looked nice, but to me, the gameplay hasn't ever felt the same since then. The older generations, I feel, focused more on substance rather than style. Not to mention the newer Pokemon games overall are easier, and at times hold your hand. To be fair though, no Pokemon generation is perfect, each one has its flaws. That includes Gens 3 - 5 which many fans regard as the golden age of Pokemon.

While each gen is flawed, I feel the recent few Pokemon gens are more flawed than others. I think it has a lot to do with the transition the Pokemon company has made to 3D. Pokemon's lore and history for many years has been rooted in 2D and when the franchise transitioned its mainline games to 3D, there have not only been issues and growing pains transferring important game mechanics from 2D to 3D, but also to this day many people see Pokemon as a dried out series that ironically refuses to evolve just like its mascot Pikachu. It's not only that, but also Pokemon has become the highest grossing media franchise which is why I feel developers make the mainline Pokemon games out of obligation now rather than something out of passion. I find the recent spin-off games such as the new Pokemon Snap and Pokken Tournament more interesting than the recent mainline Pokemon games.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

When it comes to Sonic titles, I can entirely respect a fan that regards story as more critical then gameplay; that's an entirely valid viewpoint to have.

However the practical reality is for the casual/mainstream audience, gameplay trumps all more often than not. Something like Black Knight having a better narrative and characterization than a Colors or Generations doesn't really mean all the much if its core gameplay concepts are seen as too gimmicky and its lack of stronger market success means its ideas are never really followed up on. Same thing with multiple gameplay styles; if the ones besides speedy platforming are seen as underwhelming enough, the broader narrative purpose they serve is not going to be enough redeem them to a large portion of players that simply view it as a lesser portion of the game they're stuck playing.

Long term the series should have solid narratives and development of its mechanics, but it can survive lousy stories with much greater ease than it can outright bad gameplay experiences.

 

[Quillion]

I love when publishers milk their franchises... with spin-offs.

Because when franchises are milked that way at least we get to experience a franchise in different ways instead of the Call of Duty/Assassin's Creed method of burning out the main games.

Unfortunately, it seems that the video game spin-off industry is... diminishing(?) or slowing(?), since more annualized spin-offs feel so thin and the actually substantial spin-offs are now slowly released like any mainline game. It appears to me the happy middle ground of previous generations doesn't exist anymore.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

I think a lot of the efforts to simplify traditional fighting games for mass audiences are a bit misguided. I'm not talking about general accessibility options, just the occasional effort at removing the more complex button inputs and having less reliance on combos. I think its an approach that's ultimately flawed because the core issue of fighters lacking some mass appeal isn't really one of controller issues as much as it is that the fundamental replay value of the genre is not one that greatly appeals to many, especially younger gamers far removed from the heyday of the arcade.

A traditional fighter's core goal for players is to get better at the game to the point where you can defeat others, specifically human players in online and in person. Why that's fun for certain fans makes complete sense, but the issue is that such a goal is simply not enough for many types of people. To compare them with say a Dark Souls; both are difficult to get good at, yet the latter has clear immediate tangible rewards for improving; new skills, new unlocked sections, new lore to learn about. To literally experience more of such a game, you have to be better.

With a fighter though, once you've done every combination of Character A vs. Character B, you've seen everything the game has to offer. Yes there's a quasi-universe of meta there when one learns stuff like combos, hit frames, and timing. However that's the kind of thing for very dedicated types of fans that get lost in that sort of data world; the average casual fan simply experiences a game that beats them down early and (unlike a Smash Bros) there's not much immediate kinds of fun to be had if you're a low skill player, or that much single player content to sink your teeth into. And given that traditional fighters strongly emphasize one on one, even the option of compensating for lack of experience with a skilled team (ala various shooters) isn't really there.

To a degree big single player campaigns that do focus on story/character interaction, like the kind Mortal Kombat does can mitigate some of this. However even that can only go so far in bringing in low skill players and long term a lot of the relevance of such titles are going to be carried by competitive players.

Despite all this though, I don't think this is a real problem. For all the talk of fixing the genre, its still fairly strong in the market, and stuff like EVO will consistently bring new fans to the genre that are the types of players that will endure the early losses when playing competitively. Fighting games may not necessarily be the big monolithic titans of video games that they were in the early to mid 90s, but they have a solid role in the culture that doesn't feel like it needs changed all that much. Moreover with Smash and Smash clones still pretty prominent themselves, alternatives do exist for those not keen on traditional fighters.

 

[Rizen]

Excitebike is the worst track in Mario Kart 8 D. It's boring in layout and boring aesthetically. I hate whenever it's picked. At least Baby Park has a bunch of interesting rides in the background.

 

[Quillion]

I think a lot of the efforts to simplify traditional fighting games for mass audiences are a bit misguided. I'm not talking about general accessibility options, just the occasional effort at removing the more complex button inputs and having less reliance on combos. I think its an approach that's ultimately flawed because the core issue of fighters lacking some mass appeal isn't really one of controller issues as much as it is that the fundamental replay value of the genre is not one that greatly appeals to many, especially younger gamers far removed from the heyday of the arcade.

A traditional fighter's core goal for players is to get better at the game to the point where you can defeat others, specifically human players in online and in person. Why that's fun for certain fans makes complete sense, but the issue is that such a goal is simply not enough for many types of people. To compare them with say a Dark Souls; both are difficult to get good at, yet the latter has clear immediate tangible rewards for improving; new skills, new unlocked sections, new lore to learn about. To literally experience more of such a game, you have to be better.

With a fighter though, once you've done every combination of Character A vs. Character B, you've seen everything the game has to offer. Yes there's a quasi-universe of meta there when one learns stuff like combos, hit frames, and timing. However that's the kind of thing for very dedicated types of fans that get lost in that sort of data world; the average casual fan simply experiences a game that beats them down early and (unlike a Smash Bros) there's not much immediate kinds of fun to be had if you're a low skill player, or that much single player content to sink your teeth into. And given that traditional fighters strongly emphasize one on one, even the option of compensating for lack of experience with a skilled team (ala various shooters) isn't really there.

To a degree big single player campaigns that do focus on story/character interaction, like the kind Mortal Kombat does can mitigate some of this. However even that can only go so far in bringing in low skill players and long term a lot of the relevance of such titles are going to be carried by competitive players.

Despite all this though, I don't think this is a real problem. For all the talk of fixing the genre, its still fairly strong in the market, and stuff like EVO will consistently bring new fans to the genre that are the types of players that will endure the early losses when playing competitively. Fighting games may not necessarily be the big monolithic titans of video games that they were in the early to mid 90s, but they have a solid role in the culture that doesn't feel like it needs changed all that much. Moreover with Smash and Smash clones still pretty prominent themselves, alternatives do exist for those not keen on traditional fighters.

You know, for all the talk of how open world games are prone to causing decision paralysis for linear game fans, I think traditional fighters as they are now have surpassed open world games in causing decision paralysis.

Whereas even the most open of open world games rely on restricting the player's starting equipment loadout to provide a sense of progression, fighting games in general are built upon giving the player every single option with a character and throwing them in expecting to figure them out. On its own, not a bad thing, but then modern traditional fighters need to stand out by having a lot of different mechanics on the usual normals & specials setup of SF2 (I know that part of this is to serve balance, but still).

Perhaps modern games in general are hitting a point where the peak of the bell curve of satisfaction with amount of choice has been passed and now they're prone to choice bloat.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

I think a lot memes and reputation about certain games/companies end up leading to some real misunderstandings about the reality of the video game marketplace especially overseas.

The contemporary status of Konami specifically (not to defend their workplace culture or the.. combative relationship with Kojima) is quite a contrast than one a lot of the internet would tell you. Their latter would suggest that they make no games and that whatever profit they make is from pachinko. Even ignoring that many various Eastern game companies make some money from those machines, its simply not true. Granted Konami did retreat inwards and focused largely on their home market, but to say they're not even semi-active with video games is a falsehood. To put things into perspective, do you know what the best selling Konami published game ever in Japan is, given all the franchises (Metal Gear, Silent Hill, Castlevania, Contra) they've put out in the last 40 years?






Its this:

Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa Mo Teiban! a Monopoly/train station board game simulator (funnily enough originally a Hudson Soft IP) that came out for Switch in 2020 and has sold over 3.5 million copies despite never releasing outside Japan.

I'm not saying this to defend Konami or their lack of certain releases (god know I'd like to get some Metal Gear ports and a return of Sparkster), but simply to illustrate why some of rhetoric about their status or speculation about being acquired by a Sony or any other company is based on the faulty premise once you look at their numbers and actual output. Stuff like the recent Suikoden remakes or Silent Hill revival wasn't a surprise given their respective focuses (steady JRPG numbers on Switch in Japan, Sony likely footing the bill for a Western appeal series). It especially makes complete sense now given their more conservative approach of in the last few years of not doing AAA games and raking in the profit from stuff like Yu-Gi-Oh releases were likely both done to cut costs and build up their financial reserves. Konami opening up a new R&D studio gives a good idea as to where such money is likely going

Basically I think the facts in a lot of traditional narratives about the industry are bit more complex than many fans are willing to actually admit.

 

[Perkilator]

I like the horror-action aspect of Resident Evil more than the zombie horror aspect, although both are valid on their own merits.

 

[Quillion]

I think a lot memes and reputation about certain games/companies end up leading to some real misunderstandings about the reality of the video game marketplace especially overseas.

The contemporary status of Konami specifically (not to defend their workplace culture or the.. combative relationship with Kojima) is quite a contrast than one a lot of the internet would tell you. Their latter would suggest that they make no games and that whatever profit they make is from pachinko. Even ignoring that many various Eastern game companies make some money from those machines, its simply not true. Granted Konami did retreat inwards and focused largely on their home market, but to say they're not even semi-active with video games simply isn't true. To put things into perspective, do you know what the best selling Konami published game ever in Japan is, given all the franchises (Metal Gear, Silent Hill, Castlevania, Contra) they've put out in the last 40 years?






Its this:

Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa Mo Teiban! a Monopoly/train station board game simulator (funnily enough originally a Hudson Soft IP) that came out for Switch in 2020 and has sold over 3.5 million copies despite never releasing outside Japan.

I'm not saying this to defend Konami or their lack of certain releases (god know I'd like to get some Metal Gear ports and a return of Sparkster), but simply to illustrate why some of rhetoric about their status or speculation about being acquired by a Sony or any other company is based on the faulty premise once you look at their numbers and actual output. Stuff like the recent Suikoden remakes or Silent Hill revival wasn't a surprise given their respective focuses (steady JRPG numbers on Switch in Japan, Sony likely footing the bill for a Western appeal series). It especially makes complete sense now given their more conservative approach of in the last few years of not doing AAA games and raking in the profit from stuff like Yu-Gi-Oh releases were likely both done to cut costs and build up their financial reserves. Konami opening up a new R&D studio gives a good idea as to where such money is likely going

Basically I think the facts in a lot of traditional narratives about the industry are bit more complex than many fans are willing to actually admit.

I've heard that the issue was Kojima's increasing ambitions were bleeding Konami dry of resources and that played a role in why he was fired.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

I've heard that the issue was Kojima's increasing ambitions were bleeding Konami dry of resources and that played a role in why he was fired.

My overall sense is that its a situation where a lot of simultaneous things are true:

-Kojima was/is a visionary director that's taking gaming to interesting places, but has had a tendency to go over-budget with his more grandiose projects.
-Given the struggle that HD titles were for Japanese developers, a move away from AAA gaming that Konami ended up doing did made financial sense.
-Regardless of Kojima's mistakes when it came to money, nothing justifies Konami's dubious treatment of him/his work after he was let go (see the Game Awards fiasco).
-Konami did have a genuinely lousy workplace culture (thought so recent reports suggested that has changed a bit) and could have been much better when dealing with various franchise directors.
-That much of the online venom about the company and memes about Pachinko were both based on a flawed understanding of their business model and a general lack of interest/knowledge of any of their non-Western appeal IP's like Metal Gear, Silent Hill, and Castlevania.
-The general backlash against the company was much less pronounced in Japan because Konami was and is still producing the franchises they're more interested in.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

It became harder to get actively invested in Metal Gear after Guns of the Patriots. Portable Ops certainly had its issues (mainly feeling like less interesting story retread of previous games) and MGS4 had its share of contrivances to wrap up the series, but it still felt like it had a strong conclusion. Games following that struggled in their narrative content (ironically while the gameplay was arguably getting stronger); the main antagonists were weaker, the universe shrank too much via various characters suddenly being connected to each other, and the emphasis on theme began to overtake the cohesiveness of the core plot. Big Boss himself seemed to get less interesting as things went on and poetic meaning of his arc in MGS3 began to lose its significance the more they tried to elaborate on his motives.

By the end of Phantom Pain, I just couldn't care anymore. The series had indulged in edgy concepts it didn't really earn or do justice to, threw in past and future villains seemingly for sheer memberries, and became so focused on exploring vague themes of revenge and identity that it lost itself in artistic self indulgence. Metal Gear Survive may have been seen as the big insulting stain on the IP, but the franchise had already begun to get too big and extended for its own good.

 

[MasterCheef]

these are the best new playable character choices for the next smash game

Master Chief
Captain Price / Soap / Ghost
Elysium = from Soul Calibur
Ahri
Noah & Mio = Alts
Ethel
Impa
Tabuu
Miraidon & Koraidon = echoes

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

Glad that COD and Halo are finally getting repped, but otherwise greatly disappointed, especially with Tabuu. Subspace was garbage and should be left in the past with Smash Tour.

HWYR if the next Smash added the Fighting Polygon Team, but they had no gameplay differences from the characters they're cloned from (so they'd have specials) but instead randomly swap every stock?

 

[Oracle Link]

Removing the Original Pronouns He/ She from Character Creation is SUPER Stupid!

 

[fogbadge]

Removing the Original Pronouns He/ She from Character Creation is SUPER Stupid!

why it's like they ever got used

 

[GameArtist1993]

I didn't think Pokemon Battle Revolution wasn't THAT bad, sure it wasn't Pokemon Stadium 3 but its Gen 4 mechanics finally allowed us to use our beloved Pokemon to the fullest potential, Little Cup was awesome as it gives unevolved Pokemon a chance in the spotlight and giving us a good excuse of breeding strong competent Pokemon.
My favourite area is Gateway Colosseum.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

With a lot of the discourse about RE4 as of late, I have to say, I don't think any game is so special or unique that it being remade is a bad idea in and of itself.

While some of this is rooted in my own personal biases (I never saw RE4 as the sacred cow so many others did), I also believe that there is always the potential for interesting updates and improvements with a remake if done right. The fleshed out characterization of Ashley in Resident Evil 4 alone demonstrates that even acclaimed titles like that one have things to could be bettered with subsequent versions.

I'm not saying that remakes are inherently great and yeah there is potential stagnation in the industry if companies rely on them too much vs making new games, but I just can't go along with some of the up front hostility that certain hypothetical reimaginings have received. I love Super Metroid, but if Nintendo announced a remake tomorrow, I'd like to believe I could keep an open mind and hold off any solid judgements till I saw the gameplay and aesthetics for myself.

 

[Quillion]

Looking back now, the open world proliferation that happened late-Seventh Gen in AAA games is one of the greatest things to happen to the industry.

It marked the point where technology had standardized enough to allow for more efficient development and therefore more expansive games, and this in turn led to greater agency when playing. At this point, the medium could now truly deliver on its strengths like how Marlon Brando delivered on films' strengths with his acting. And eventually, games like Witcher 3, RDR2, and Ghost of Tsushima proved that you can put good stories in open world games. Even the remaining linear games today have elements of exploration and/or agency to make themselves more compelling experiences like the Xenoblade series and the Norse series God of War.

Yeah, a lot of companies are abusing the open world structure today, but is that so different from companies abusing the linear cinematic structure early in the Seventh Gen?

 

[Perkilator]

Rose should’ve been a Solo Unit in Project X Zone 2 instead of Ingrid.

For context, Rose appeared in Namco x Capcom as a boss who eventually becomes a Solo Unit. She, Armor King and Judas (from Tales of Destiny) were made to serve Black Valkyrie (from Legend of Valkyrie) via soul contract. She and the others are eventually freed and Rose joins the party during a battle in Soul Edge’s metaphysical world.

So yeah, she already has more of a history with Bison compared to Ingrid, even within PxZ’s continuity.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Given their popularity, story potential, and wealth of options, the core Disney film/TV empire might be some of the most wasted media properties when it comes to contemporary gaming. So many great titles emerged in the 3rd through early 6th generations, but outside Kingdom Hearts, it doesn't really like the last 20 years have produced the quality and number you'd expect. Its a pity that they've not more significant relationships with developers outside EA and even mismanaged their own attempts at gaming division so badly. A Disney/Pixar that was working with the likes of Capcom, Sega, or even Nintendo could have made for some really strong titles and maybe potentially expanded on the stories/characters of notable properties.

Especially with the emergence of digital game releases, something like the upcoming Illusion Island should have been much more common in the era of the Wii to now.

 

[Perkilator]

Rose should’ve been a Solo Unit in Project X Zone 2 instead of Ingrid.

For context, Rose appeared in Namco x Capcom as a boss who eventually becomes a Solo Unit. She, Armor King and Judas (from Tales of Destiny) were made to serve Black Valkyrie (from Legend of Valkyrie) via soul contract. She and the others are eventually freed and Rose joins the party during a battle in Soul Edge’s metaphysical world.

So yeah, she already has more of a history with Bison compared to Ingrid, even within PxZ’s continuity.

On a side note related to PxZ2; I just learned that the reason why there’s no SRW characters in Project X Zone 2 is because Haken accidentally transported himself to the OG universe and is trapped there during Moon Dwellers. I seriously think he and Sänger should’ve been a Pair Unit in PxZ2. Is there any way for this to work according to OG’s timeline or nah?

 

[Quillion]

Given their popularity, story potential, and wealth of options, the core Disney film/TV empire might be some of the most wasted media properties when it comes to contemporary gaming. So many great titles emerged in the 3rd through early 6th generations, but outside Kingdom Hearts, it doesn't really like the last 20 years have produced the quality and number you'd expect. Its a pity that they've not more significant relationships with developers outside EA and even mismanaged their own attempts at gaming division so badly. A Disney/Pixar that was working with the likes of Capcom, Sega, or even Nintendo could have made for some really strong titles and maybe potentially expanded on the stories/characters of notable properties.

Especially with the emergence of digital game releases, something like the upcoming Illusion Island should have been much more common in the era of the Wii to now.

TBF, the 6th-7th gens were a dark age in terms of licensed games in general, not just Disney.

Also, they're just as hard to work with their IP as Nintendo is.

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

Rayman Legends is horrifically underrated. It's crazy to me that people - including it's own devs - treat it like a "spin-off" and not a proper installment in the Rayman saga, it's so masterfully designed and animated.

I'd argue it to be the best Smash story mode ever made (in the same way that Super Monkey Ball 2 is the best 3D Sonic game ever made) - you've got your tilts and Smash attacks and air attacks, and all of them have good uses within the game as well as a rhythmic flow.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

While I've seen a lot of predictions that mainstream AAA gaming is not likely to change that much or that the scene is heading for a crash, I'm inclined to believe that its most likely that largely the Western side of the industry is going to be hitting a severe correction within the next five years. While various major Japanese companies are certainly not without their issues I think many of the ones that most struggled in the 7th/early 8th generation have recovered, slowly gotten back to more modest AA games, diversified their libraries, and more importantly have effectively learned to budget their releases

Capcom has completely turned around and their big projects tend to do great numbers, even gradually testing the market for older IP's via the collections. Konami retreated to the homeland for a while, and are now slowly getting back into AAA gaming, all while getting steady money in Japan via low key titles. Bandai Namco has kept steady Koei Tecmo's relationship with Nintendo has yielded dividends, and even Sega has remained strong in spite of dubious mobile experiments. Nintendo success speaks for itself.

Square Enix and Sony are pseudo exceptions to a degree (and are the ones that have notably been increasingly Western oriented in the past decade) but even the former has shifted to a degree. They sold the Western IP's they struggled to manage, turned FFXIV into a major revenue source, and are even putting out more consistent mid level titles; with a gradual build up of them on Switch which has largely worked in the market. Even Sony's focus towards cutting edge graphics and big budget projects has not come without its own cost, with a drop in both hardware and especially software sales back home because the market simply isn't interested in much of their exclusives.

But even comparison to Sony, the Western scene feels increasingly bloated; both in size of games and companies. The combination of narrow investment on select series and excess monetization also runs the risk of alienating parts of the market long term. Activision-Blizzard, Ubisoft, & even Rockstar Games increasingly focusing on select IP's due the detriment of other franchises, microtransaction becoming a major cornerstone of EA's revenue stream, and Bethesda becoming entirely unreliable in putting out stable releases because the profit model demands titles be out at certain points. Even Microsoft has shifted to a game pass model paired with major studio acquisitions because its hardware business never effectively recovered from the underperformance in the 8th generation.

Now again, I don't its heading towards a crash, because that would suggest companies going out of business and large scale abandonment by either retailers or players which I don't think could happen given how entrenched these companies are. I do think even with the crazy amount of money being made right now, that so much of the current operating model is not a healthy one long term, and that the more Redfall esque launches we see? The more companies will pivot to a more stable strategy of game development.

 

[Perkilator]

There was a problem fetching the tweet

This is a hill I will die on and nobody can stop me.

 

[DrCoeloCephalo]

As easy as it is to treat modern Pokemon like an object of ridicule for its rushed trash, learning to sprite and game develop, design and code myself has given me a greater appreciation for their 2D spritework. I also appreciate channels going out of their way to further prove my point on Pokemon's overlap issues. Really reassuring how many people will fall back on an ad populum of saying "It's just a YOU issue" and time and again recent works by content creators show me it clearly isn't.

 

[fogbadge]

There was a problem fetching the tweet

This is a hill I will die on and nobody can stop me.

i think i'll join you on it

 

[fogbadge]

i think listening to then fans is a terrible idea. and a touch naive to suggest cause the fans with the good ideas are in the minority. now using it to find out what the fan favourites are is fine but never let the fans design the game for you. apart from anything else we'd be blighted with a gardevoiur dating sim

 

[DragonRobotKing26]

The video game adaptations never have a kind of curse or something,this thing is just commented only in movies,not cartoons,animes and comics.

Sonic The Movie or Detective Pikachu wasn't the first movies to break this thing of curse of video game adaptations,Super Mario Bros. Super Show is a good cartoon,Sonic SatAM is a good cartoon,Pokémon anime is a good anime,Silent Hill movie that was made in 2006 is a good movie but nobody said it's a movie that "broke" video game adaptations curse,and i never heard anyone of a bad book/comic book adaptation.

 

[fogbadge]

i never heard anyone of a bad book/comic book adaptation.

You don’t know many books fans I’m guessing

 

[DrCoeloCephalo]

Super Mario Bros. Super Show is a good cartoon

Pokémon anime is a good anime.

The first one is a meme in the vein of Donkey Kong Country where it is loved for its ridiculousness and obvious animation errors rather than its actual quality.

Pokemon anime is just loved for being Pokemon related which brings in ratings regardless of the fact it is heavily criticized for constantly keeping its protagonist from experiencing growth and tossing aside its emphasis on the elrment chart whenever it is convenient for them ("Aim for the horn"). The VERY INSTANT Yo-Kai Watch anime started beating Pokemon XY anime ratings in Japan and was ergo viewed as "better" by the homeland, the Sun and Moon anime immediately went the direction of completely changing the art style and tone to that of a slice of life comedy with a dash of dark tragedy no different from the YKW anime.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

There's been several issues with various video game adaptations up until recently that have meant they've been fairly flawed. Part of it was demographics; video games are such a relatively young medium that the audience for them effectively needed to grow up and become parents themselves for major adaptations to really find an audience. The Mario Bros movie from 1993 was flawed for many reasons, but part of the problem was that there simply wasn't an adult demographic big enough to be invested in the movie (and be more inclined to take their kids to it. The Mario series was still too new and still unknown to older moviegoers that various parents would have been turned off even if the movie hadn't been dubiously executed.

Secondly the mainstream recognition of video game characters/narratives has been a slow and steady process. Pop culture took an embarrassingly long time to even get to depicting video games themselves with any accuracy or understanding, let alone adapting them into motion pictures with any real regard. Respecting the nature of gaming narratives and how they're achieved has only really happened because the medium is so insanely successful and there are now enough young writers/producers/directors that actually respect it enough to both be faithful and non half ass the production of such adaptations. And even then there's still a tendency to stick close to franchises that are conventionally close to Hollywood style stories; the gushing about the Last of Us TV show is some ways a reflection of that very pattern.

Finally that aforementioned lack of regard for gaming characters and stories meant that all to often such film versions were just an excuse for the production to use the gaming setting as a backdrop for their own experiments/preferred plots. The Super Mario Bros movie being a cyberpunk dystopia because that's what the filmmakers wanted to do, the Paul Anderson Resident Evil movies being a showcase for his wife, whatever the hell the Halo TV show was going for. Utilizing gaming projects as a springboard for ones ideas isn't bad and of itself, but both financially (because a series needs a safety net of fans to reliably go to the movies) and creatively (because an eventual deviation/subversion of the game's elements means more than doing so right of the bat), just making the film version of what's already there is a good way to start. Video game movies need to walk before they run and so many have chosen instead to chaotically sprint because they were convinced audiences would come see them regardless.

The very basic and conventional nature of the animated Mario movie isn't necessarily ideal, but its a far more practical and useful as a base for video game films than 90% of the ones that have come before because it respects what its adapting and understands that sometimes the key thing is just pleasing the audience more than anything else.

 

[Rizen]

I never understood why Undertale is so popular. Visually it looks like a late 80s game- terrible graphics, the doding minigame just seems annoying and I admit I've never given it a fair chance but every time I try to get into the story my eyes roll back in my head and I can't help thinking the dialog sounds like it was written by a 14 year old.

 

[fogbadge]

i think games that were designed to be uncompetitive, like smash, pokemon and mario kart should remain uncompetitive

 

[wizfoot]

Borderlands has an awful art style. Cel-shading everything to look like latex doesn't make your game look nice, it makes it make me want to tear out my eyes.

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

I wish people would set expectations higher for tears of the kingdom’s story...

Spoiler

Sure some parts are powerful but characters are still really one note and one dimensional and most of the story is complete garbage that feels like a placeholder. You can’t look at me with a straight face and tell me “gorons eat bad rocks!!” is an engaging plot. Shoutout to the cutscenes with the sages that are basically repeated four times, providing nothing original between them since it might be your first time watching them. I repeat they exposition dump the same thing four times because it might be your first time watching them. I know this is harsh but totk is clearly trying to have a good story and considering the amount of hype nintendo put into this product I find it appropriate to have very high expectations for it. I can still enjoy the story (so can you lol) but I don’t think it deserves all the praise it’s getting.