#petey is just trying to get better and bowser is just being bowser

[swirlytwirly2249]

a reminder that you can be silly. just earlier i was thinking how bowser and petey from dog man are so simillar and could possibly be besties and have their kids go on playdates with each other and stuff. i grant whoever reads this post the permission to be silly. be silly. neow. :3

[wfagamerants]

With my Jamboree hype still in full force, I decided to revisit both previous Switch Mario Parties as a refresher, with some 3, 6, Star Rush and Top 100 on the side to help with some things I wanted to compare.

Mario Party is one of my favorite series in anything and I have been vocal about my relationship with the Switch games being rocky. I was curious to see if the benefit of hindsight changed my views on them.

The answer is one No and one Yes, with some no sprinkled in.

Super Mario Party

This is the big one for me.

From the Hudson games, to the first five NDCube titles, I unironically enjoyed every previous entry, as is well known with all the cheerleading I do for 10 and Star Rush in particular and even Island Tour has some good stuff well worth experiencing.

With all that in mind, it probably comes as a surprise THIS is the one Mario Party I genuinely can’t stand and a revisit did not change my mind one bit.

Not like I didn’t try either, even with my enjoyment of the other NDCube games, of course I was excited to see the old formula back, but that only means so much when it doesn’t do it well and that’s what I really do think is the case here.

Going point by point, as I like to do, I wanna start with one thing I do find praiseworthy…despite not liking it that much, the character roster.

Mario Party usually doesn’t have much going on in terms big roster numbers, so to see one push so far is genuinely refreshing and they did need to put work into it, given the amount of characters that needed to be updated (Hammer Bro and Dry Bones) or never had a playable MP outing period (Pom Pom, Goomba, Monty) not even mentioning all examples here, that stuff is commendable.

I’m just personally not that big on the selection. Losing the Toads really hurts and I am generally more in favor of less mook centric rosters, even if I like all the ones on offer. Pom Pom to me, even as someone who loves the boss characters like the Koopalings, King Boo, Petey, King Bob-omb, etc, is just a really lame and unappealing character, no better than Boom Boom who at least had Strikers to make me warm up to him.

Bowser being playable is also iffy for me. I love the big guy, but taking him out of his usual role has some very drastic consequences in function and flavor, which I am very happy Jamboree is addressing, to give us the best of both worlds, but more on that later.

Objectively, this is a good roster, it’s just very not for me.

Another thing I find praiseworthy and do enjoy is the hub. Dropping regular main menus in favor of an interactive hub where you can walk around and chat with characters is a cute concept I want to return.

Once we get to the actual board gameplay though, the cracks start to show right away.

Everyone already complained about it, even when the game was new and generally praised, but yeah. 4 boards is an absolutely abysmal number and that could at least be salvageable if they were all good and fun to play on but….you already know where this is going.

I will say, I do love the themes. As much as I think the previous games did more with the NSMB tropes than they are given credit for, it’s great to go back to something more original again. They are cool themes, they are visually great, that stuff all works out.

Too bad they’re really bad boards.

It’s been talked about to death, but yeah, the boards are incredibly tiny and small boards don’t even need to be bad. DS had smaller boards and did such a good job with them you barely felt it, on top of to me, being a Top 5 Mario Party.

Not only are Super’s boards even smaller than the ones for the game that HAD to scale them back, but they are also very linear, with little in the way of interesting gimmicks or alternate routes.

You can call most MP boards, aside from deliberately linear ones like Pagoda Peak, basically big circles or squares. That’s fine, they are BOARDS after all, it’s more what you can do on them that matters and makes you not even notice that.

King Bob-omb’s Powderkeg mine feels like the closest to  an aversion to this and even it just amounts to choosing either the smaller circle or the larger circle, to run in circles in. There is simply nothing interesting going on and the events are too basic and lame to distract from it.

What doesn’t help is that Super made some changes to fundamental aspects of MP we take for granted and it really says a lot about how well thought out those elements were.

For one thing, the Dice has been reduced from a 1-10 to a 1-6. This was already a thing in 9 and 10, but in those games you were all in the same vehicle and progressed together, it was way more about wanting the best result out of your current situation. In Super, being a classic style MP again, it just makes progression feel fundamentally more sluggish, since cutting down the dice numbers so hard means you will go by nature, much slower and the odds of barely going anywhere are way higher.

There is also just the general lack of truly threatening obstacles on the boards. This especially shows with Bowser being playable. Gimmicks like him being on the board like MP1 and MP4’s Bowser’s Gnarly Party are off the table, as is him having his own board or game specific ideas like Bowser Time in MP7. Instead of Bowser Spaces we now have Bad Luck spaces.

They Suck. Really hard.

The penalties are just not threatening and the game feels rigged to prioritize the tamest one. The coin penalties barely hurt, losing an item is really not that big a deal here, the star moving is rarely anything but a non-punishment, etc. They do get a bit more punishing during the last 3 turns, but not only does that window give them little time to come into play, but even losing a star is less of a big deal than it would usually be, for one particular reason.

The economy in SMP is totally out of whack. 

Now second and third place also get coin rewards in minigames, which WAS a thing in 9 and 10 as well, but in those games that had more of a purpose, given the much more limited control during board play for everyone. In a classic Mario Party though, this already has implications and it only gets worse with other elements thrown in.

It just doesn’t feel that rewarding to be good at minigames,  because even if you play well, you may not even build up much of a lead, with Hidden Blocks, Hidden Block items and Lucky Spaces that can give coin rewards in abundance and ALL that is combined with how little everything costs.

Stars cost only 10 coins and combined with how small the boards are, getting to one rarely feels like a hassle. Even stealing a star only costs 30 coins and items are remarkably cheap and that’s on top of there being so few events that really threaten your coin count. King Bob-omb is really the only one that makes a real attempt there.

All of that results in really dull board play. More than ever the game really is all about the dice roll, with nothing from the board layout, to events, to the items, doing anything interesting to let you strategize or anything like that.

There’s also the small annoyance of them finding it necessary to give you needless tutorials and tips, like when you open the map or getting an item for the first time, which you can’t disable. 

On a final note for the board play are the allies and ally spaces, as well as custom dice, all taken from Star Rush. A lot of people dislike them, but I do find their implementation to be the most interesting thing on SMP’s boards. Supremely unbalanced, it needs another pass there, but I can see interesting potential for it in a MP with boards of more substance.

There is also Partner Party, which is essentially the Star Rush mode of the game and as Star Rush fan, I should love it.

Eh.

I appreciate the thought, but you can’t do free for alls, There are way fewer opportunities to get and especially steal allies and the boards continue to be void of anything interesting. Even just playing the 4 boards it had once each, with the minimum Turn count of 10, felt like a slog.

Then there are the minigames, which I often see praise for and honestly, they’re okay enough, but I do find the overall selection pretty meh.

It has genuine highlights, Slaperazi, Croozin’ For A Broozin’, Don’t Wake Wiggler and Fuzzy Flight School all being ones I really like for instance and I don’t hate the motion controls, I think they work fine.

It’s really not so much that there are a lot of bad minigames and more that it misses types I really like. There are no platforming minigames, no brawling minigames where you just punch and kick other players off of a platform, only one mashing minigame, etc. That’s on top of the fact that I feel a lot of the rumble minigames are really samey. There are like three separate minigames where you use the rumble to select the biggest/most of the thing you are meant to get.

There is also a general major sense of reduced player interactivity that plays into this and the most blatant example of it for me is comparing Hammer Drop from Mario Party 1 (and Superstars) to Super’s very own Lightning Round.

They are very similar coin minigames, but there is a major difference that sets them apart. While the hammers and lightning strikes both aren’t much of a threat, Hammer Drop lets you jump to swipe the incoming coins and coin bags, even jumping on opponents and hindering them or even ground pound opponents to hold them back. In Lightning Round, that interactive element doesn’t exist and everyone is just slowly running to the coins, while dodging total non-obstacles.

That example sums up a lot of why I find SMP’s minigame selection to be just not as interesting as the rest of the series and it also contributes to a stylistic difference I am not fond of at all.

I always loved Mario Party for being a more zany kind of Mario game, putting the characters in all kinds of wacky scenarios and to be fair, Super isn’t FULLY devoid of it. It’s still a rare time you see, say, Peach, helplessly chased by a giant Wiggler or Broozer army entirely as a gag at her expense one moment and then the next she pilots a big Sidestepper mech to whack Bowser with hammers with. That stuff is just awesome.

Super just has very little of it, due to the lack of interesting board gimmicks and action-heavy minigames and even what is there is heavily scaled back. Like characters just go into their dizzy animations when a Bob-omb blows up on them, rather than flying off-screen and said Sidestepper mech minigame just flings the characters away with a generic flail the game uses for almost every single negative event, as opposed to the other MPs which will just totally crush the character.

Is it pure flavor? Yeah, but I like flavor, flavor is good. MP just has a particular personality to it that Super doesn’t capture. It has plenty of personality in other areas, but it is missing a particular aspect I thought helped make the games really energetic, competitive and cartoonishly charming. It’s as if Mario took a page out of Wario’s playbook to be more wacky and I miss that.

Having said all that, one area the game does quite well in are the side modes. Champions Road is a perfectly functional ‘’Play all the Minigames’’ mode and Toad’s Rec Room hosts some minigames I honestly wish had regular play counterparts.

River Survival is decent, not something you can go back to much, but it’s a neat concept that at its hardest, does offer a challenge and its own minigames are pretty enjoyable for the most part.

Sound Stage meanwhile is the big star of Super as a whole for me. I love the rhythm minigame approach, there is a great energy to it, it’s got some lovely charm with all the dance animations for the cast (Waluigi’s moonwalk being the best, just sayin’), it’s just a good time. At most I wish I found the music more catchy, but it does its job at being fun to play along with.

I didn’t mean to be as negative as this likely came across, but it is just how it is. While it has some content I really like and ideas I think have potential, SMP on the whole I just do not like at all. It brought back the classic formula, while totally butchering it and it’s just all around lacking in so many things I like about the series. I went back to it to see if time and benefit of hindsight changed my mind and sadly no, if anything I have only grown to dislike it more.

Mario Party Superstars

By contrast, Superstars won me over on several things I was iffy on. I still have my gripes, but overall, I was pleasantly surprised.

One not pleasant surprise since the game came out, to start similarly to the Super section, is the roster. It’s small, it’s lame, we all know that. Of course character choice rarely affects anything in MP, but as I said, flavor is good and besides: When a series makes this much money and makes so heavy use of reused models, animations and voice clips across games, I do expect it to at least be able to compete with games that came out in the 2000s in terms of content in all places.

Speaking of which, this game is a bit funny to evaluate because it is all remakes of older content, but there is still plenty to talk about.

First there are the boards, five in total. Only one more than Super in terms of quantity, but they are all so much better than all of Super’s boards combined that they may as well be four boards more than Super had. That said a 6th board would have been appreciated, ideally they wouldn’t have just a N64 focus, but if they really wanna then at least give 3 a second board.

The board selection itself is quite pleasing. It has Horror Land so that alone is already a slam dunk, but there is a good quality level all around. The lack of a proper finale board is felt and I would have rather had a second MP3 board than two from MP1, simply because the former has much more interesting board design, but as it is, it’s fine.

Peach’s Birthday Cake made me roll my eyes when I saw it, but it turned out to be the most pleasant surprise of the whole game. The addition of items, a shortcut ramp and Bowser also doubling as a short-cut, if with a penalty, along with the lottery being moved, makes getting around and actually getting stars is far smoother and quicker. This also makes star stealing Piranha Plants far more of a threat, since there actually is something to steal now and that’s on top of there also being coin stealing Piranha Plants now.

This game turned what I thought was easily the worst Hudson era board and turned it into my second favorite one in this game. I am still stunned to this day and the improvements made to it show some really smart thinking that makes me optimistic for Jamboree’s new original boards.

The other boards haven’t seen any major changes and that’s perfectly fine. Playing Yoshi’s Tropical Island with items is a fun new experience though.

The actual board play has improved a lot, on top of playing on actually good boards, the coin distribution after minigames has been reworked to give the winner 10 coins again instead of only 8, with second and third only getting 2 and 3 respectively, making minigame wins far more of a benefit to build up a lead again. Stars are also back to the usual 20 coins and Bowser is back and as punishing as his spaces always are, so seeing harsh loses through that and the returning Chance Time brings back a ton of value to coins and stars that they largely lost in Super.

One new addition that’s consistent across all boards is Lucky Spaces, functioning the  same as in Super. The coin and item rewards you get from those can be really extreme and coupled with how many of these spaces there are, it gives the game a pretty chaotic feeling at times. For this particular game, I’m cool with it for this game, but ideally future games cool it a bit with these things.

There are also some nice QoL additions that once again, give me a lot of confidence for Jamboree. The generally increased game speed is a plus. Getting to choose between random Bonus Stars and the classic three is a feature that always should have been there. Getting to save up to 8 sessions, even online ones, is incredible and having the option to speed up board event scenes is a godsend for ones you may see many times in a row.

So yeah, the board game portion to me is a total hit in this game. The minigames are where I get more mixed. Not counting item minigames there are 100 in total and over half of those were already in Top 100. Not a bad thing by itself, but it does make some choices made bother me even more. Also not a fan of the N64 focus on the minigames as well, since it not only throws out a lot of good minigames, but it also screws over the GameCube and Wii & Wii U minigame packs, which would have been really cool options with a bigger selection.

Despite the latter gripe, I think the selection is….okay. It has it’s winners, particularly Hot Rope Jump and Dungeon Duos, but also some really notable stinkers like Spin Doctor, which wasn’t even in Top 100, so they deliberately picked that over something like Camp Ukiki or Apes of Wrath from the same game, genuinely bewildering. Duel Minigames in general really got the short end of the stick with only 5 in total and of all things, they pick stuff like Spin Doctor (which is at least okay) or Mass Meteor (one of MP6’s few stinkers).

Top 100 wasn’t perfect in that regard either, but I found its overall selection way more consistently solid and satisfying.That and bringing back certain minigames a third time just baffles me. Piranha’s Pursuit is a really bad minigame in all its incarnations, that can way too easily turn into a free win for the one player. It was a weird choice in Top 100, but bringing it back again in Superstars, without any changes for the better, really pushes it.

It’s still largely a good selection, it’s just easy to see the cracks when you have older versions to compare these games to and some did get butchered a bit. Tidal Toss’ hitboxes for the biggest waves not matching the visuals in particular being a NASTY example.

The characters also make far more grunts in many of the minigames and...yeah they can get pretty insufferable, especially with how small the pool of voice clips in this game is, compared to say, MP10, which had two minutes worth of clips for everyone.

There is also a case where the game still feels like holds back on bit on Mario Party’s old personality, with alterations to some minigames, for some examples:

You don’t see losing players bounce away in the lava anymore in Bumper Balls, they just vanish.

Several minigames replace more distinct damage poses with the generic flail, even if the more appropriate animation is elsewhere in Superstars.

The characters just lamely fall off the record in Dizzy Dancing, instead of crashing into the walls.

Squared Away lost it’s ending animation, which was already a thing in Top 100, the only time it took something like that away, but that had an excuse due to it using a generic minigame results screen like the other NDCube games did before.

Even taking the slapstick aside, replaying 3 in particular really revealed how many small things got cut for more generic animations. Hide and Sneak in particular has the characters just all do a heads down ducking pose, as opposed to the original where everyone had a distinct one, like DK adjusting his tie or Mario lying down.

Again, all this is flavor, but it sticks out even more when you are remaking content and if the roster is gonna be that small, going the extra mile on a few things would be appreciated.

It feels weird too, because the game oozes personality in so many other areas.

The title screens are all lovely.

The board ending pics and loser elimination sequences at the end of a round are very classic Mario Party.

The way characters literally pull out maps when you study the board map is amazing.

The dismayed reactions everyone has when landing on a Bowser space are great.

The Stickers are a fun evolution of taunts that can express way more.

Really, the game is full of great personality, it’s just in the minigames where some of the old charm they had gets weirdly sanded off.

Lastly there is online which is as functional as one could hope for. Has its hick-ups, but for Nintendo standards it’s fine. It’s not a disaster ala’ Mario Maker 2.

All nitpicking aside, this is a good game and a good Mario Party. I don’t think it’s one of the best ones, but the QoL additions and generally really solid board gameplay show the potential for it is there.

More than anything it feels like a testing ground to study the old board designs and test out things like the online, rather than something meant to be big on its own. I didn’t even touch on side content because there really is nothing to discuss.

Good game, but I was waiting for the next big thing and now it’s finally happening.

Super Mario Jamboree

My thoughts back here still apply and are very up to date, since we haven’t seen anything new since:

Playing the other two games again just really put into perspective how many things already got improved from one game to the next and it makes me all the more hopeful for Jamboree.

I have no doubt it will be the MP I have been waiting for all gen and I couldn’t be more excited~

[crownedflora]

𝚃𝚆𝙴𝙻𝚅𝙴 𝙿𝙴𝙾𝙿𝙻𝙴 𝙸'𝙳 𝙻𝙸𝙺𝙴 𝚃𝙾 𝙺𝙽𝙾𝚆 𝙱𝙴𝚃𝚃𝙴𝚁

tagged by: @toestalucia Thank you, friend!!! Istillfindpeoplemistakingyoururlforsomethingelsehilarious everysingletimeHaAHahhdAHehaeahedasjdf- plsneverchangeit. unlessyoureallywanttoofcourse tagging: Feel free to steal it from me!

ONE ( ALIAS / NAME ): I've gone by many names over the course of my time on the internet, but none of them reeaallly stick. So, if you've known me as somethin' from elsewhere/before, feel free to use that name. Otherwise, give me one, I guess (honestly, I'm so bad at coming up with names)??? If I got a problem with you calling me by a certain name though, I'll probably tell you. There's only one person who knows certain names/aliases from long ago that are forbidden from being publicly uttered, but I don't think I'll have to worry about them ever doing that, so I doubt there's going to be many I'll actually have an issue with. I think. ...Actually, better yet, should probably check in with me if it's okay to use another alias/name in public just in case, please.

TWO ( BIRTHDAY ): March 8th

THREE ( ZODIAC SIGN ): Pisces

FOUR ( HEIGHT ): 172.72cm

FIVE ( HOBBIES ): Aside from writing? Playing video games, listening to music, watching stuff, reading comics/webcomics/etc. ...I should really get back into drawing...

SEVEN ( FAVOURITE BOOKS ): Ha ha ahaha ha ha... I don't remember. It's been a while since I've actually read a novel. ...Huh? I'm just feeling self-conscious over my real answer? Now whatever gave you that idea...?

EIGHT ( LAST SONG LISTENED TO ): Green Garden First heard this song in an anthropology course I took years ago. The instructor would play this song almost every morning before the start of class. Even though I was super tired, my face buried into my arms on the desk, I'd still somewhat try to rhythmically move to it. It hadn't taken long for me to decide that I HAD TO find out what it was called, but instead of asking my instructor (haha, social anxiety), I tried to pay attention to the lyrics, store 'em in my head for later, and then attempted to search the song using said lyrics when I got home. And now it's become a permanent addition to the list of songs I'll listen to every so often. Plus, I like to think it's a song that fits my Petey. Have definitely listened to it in the past while writing starters/replies or just working on various pages/info before.

NINE ( LAST SHOW WATCHED ): SO, I just finished watching-- Uhhh... Don't worry about it. All you need to know is I've watched many things, and am still juggling through several other things that I'm currently watching, and keep considering adding even more to the list.

TEN ( INSPIRATION FOR MUSE ): Music tends to play a part in inspiration. It used to have a larger role when I'd listen to his boss themes years ago and it'd get me all pumped and ready to write! It also depended on the scenario for the RP, too. Like if it was a more peaceful encounter/interaction, my usual go-to was 'Have a Nice Talk' from Bowser's Inside Story (even though Petey never appeared in that game). Otherwise, if it was something more battle or action-y oriented, then I'd listen to something at least somewhat fitting! If the interaction's a crossover one (which will be the case a majority of the time), I might listen to something fitting from whatever my partner's muse's series for the scenario (if applicable, and I like the theme and/or think it fits the tone/mood). These days, music doesn't have as big of an effect as before, and the music used for inspiration is more varied. Otherwise--whether they're directly related to the muse I'm playing or not--watching stuff, reading things, playing games, and listening to voicelines also plays a role in drawing inspiration.

ELEVEN ( MEANING BEHIND YOUR URL ): Matching URL with my friend! Also refers to my portrayal of Petey being a prince/king/royalty from headcanons and the story we were thinking about doing here together.

[echoeternally]

Mario Thread Opinions

I saw something making rounds on Twitter featuring Mario characters, so, I wanted to respond to that, but without flooding the timeline.

So, I’ll put them here instead! ...And I’ll try to keep thoughts short...

... ... ...

Original Tweeted Characters

Mario: He’s such a cheerful and happy protagonist! I don’t get why people ever have strong dislikes for him. He’s full of energy and normally kindness. Maybe they think that’s bland, but I’ve been following Mario’s journeys since I was very young, so he’ll always be a great protagonist for me.

Toadette: She’s so energetic and sweet! She’s come such a long way since her debut from Mario Kart: Double Dash, and currently, Toadette seems to be a regular mainstay for the franchise. You’re doing amazing, sweetie! Keep going!

Dry Bones: One of the cutest zombies and/or reanimated dead characters that I can think of. While a tricky enemy to handle, I still enjoy seeing them. Plus, they’re welcome additions to spin-off games like almost always!

Shy Guy: The beeeeest! Shy Guy is the cutest little enemy, and I love how they get included into various roles as either friend or foe. I think I’m always happy to see Shy Guy around in some way!

Pink Gold Peach: Peach deserves a cool power-up form! While I wish she had it outside of spin-off titles, I think it’s a cute concept regardless. (Though, I get the disappointment when she shows up.) People mention “rose gold” as a title instead, and I think I agree with that, but also, alliteration.

Peachette: (deep, heavy sigh) You could have been so fun conceptually...the potential for future uses that could be dramatic with bait-and-switches for Peach. But...marred by Internet memes...also, not a fan that Toadette gets replaced on-screen by Peach in the first place, so, yeah.

King Boo: This dude has so many change-ups in how he appears. I kind of love him as both a Mario enemy and a Luigi’s Mansion main boss. He makes a good adversary for Luigi, so, I hope he sticks around to spook the cast! Love his laugh too, lol.

Daisy: She deserves so much love and attention, and I don’t understand why the developers at Nintendo have kept her locked behind spin-off titles for so long. I feel like that could change going forward, so I’m hoping that she becomes even more awesome and help save the day in future adventures!

Peach: Arguably the most iconic damsel in modern media, though I wish we could let her evolve past that. Peach is strong in her own right, so let’s see her headline a franchise and save the day herself! She doesn’t get opportunity to do that enough. She can be more than just Mario’s plot device. Anyway, she’s great, and I wish she would get more respect from Nintendo. She could make the Disney princesses shudder if given the chance.

Yoshi: Quite possibly the cutest steed known to pop culture! He’s so sweet and precious, like, I feel as though no one can help but love Yoshi. Anytime he pops in and the moment immediately improves!

Luigi: As a younger sibling myself, I totally can relate to Luigi easily. He’s the best deuteragonist that Mario could ask for! His fans can sometimes be a little much, but I can understand the enthusiasm! Luigi’s a good boy. Nintendo should dunk on him less though; he’s proven well enough.

Hammer Bro: Bah, an enemy that always keeps me wary! Probably one of the biggest common enemies that is practically guaranteed to be at least a light challenge. As they appear in more spin-off games, I like their energy and excitement more. They’re fun dudes!

The Koopalings: No clue how they were kept dormant for so many years, because they provide so much flavor to the series! Then again, it’s painful to see any of them separated from one another, and including seven characters can be a challenge. Overall, I love them, and they make great opponents and even additions to rosters! Best generals, I think.

Kamek: I know that the name isn’t supposed to be significant, but he ended up being so. And I really wish we would get a version of Kamek that stands out from the other Magikoopa! His role seems too important to be neglected as often as it can be. Definitely the coolest standalone enemy on Bowser’s minion roster, and I hope they keep helping this one stand out more in the future!

Waluigi: He’s pretty funny, and he can sucker a few laughs out of me time and again. I think that he’s underrated by the Mario franchise itself, and that he should appear more often or join Wario for his franchise. His loudest fans are definitely a bit too rambunctious. Still, he’s been around for 20 years, and I do agree that he probably deserves better.

Rosalina: Definitely a cool character that I really hope we keep in rotation. She should be used for more than just spin-off shenanigans without question, so I hope that we see her more as time goes on. (She almost joined Odyssey in a cool appearance!) Anyway, I love her motherly and calm yet elegant nature, and the lore that she gave to Super Mario Galaxy as well. Luma princess!

Bowser: As Mario is one of my favorite protagonists, Bowser would be one of my favorite antagonists! Though, I do wish he’d get a break. He’s a fun character without always being evil. We should give other villains a chance to go crazy and let Bowser do something else, either helping Mario or just living life without being the big bad. He’s sometimes more interesting being just a dad above all else!

Piranha Plant: Plant gang rise up! Not going to lie, one of the most iconic Mario enemies to appear, and yet, I feel like they’ve been slept on until their recent inclusions in games as playable characters, most especially in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Great surprise trap enemies too. Overall, love these chompy dudes! ...Except when they chomp me, that is, ha!

Metal Mario: Probably one of Mario’s coolest power-up forms! He’s appeared in several spin-offs as a playable character, starting with Mario Golf for the N64, if I’m not mistaken. While I prefer him as a power-up, he’s a fun concept to see turn up every so often.

Whomp King: An iconic opponent in Super Mario 64, and one that I’m surprised to see turn up every so often! Yet, I’m also surprised that we don’t see him more often as well. It’s odd, but then again, Whomps can be underutilized. I like him though!

Wario: Greedy guy supreme! Wario is perhaps the grossest Mario character, but also one of the funniest. He’s usually a welcome addition to the rosters that he joins, so, I like to see him around too. His laugh is hilarious and definitely one of the more recognizable out there!

Dry Bowser: Bowser’s reanimated corpse! Originally a cool concept and perhaps even a surprising one! Since I like Dry Bones, I tend to like this dude, even when he’s not exactly Bowser himself sometimes, since that happens. Either way, cool and creepy, so totally a unique flavor!

Pom Pom: Honestly, not an addition that I ever expected, but totally welcomed alongside Boom Boom’s return to the franchise. I love her shuriken attacks and ninja theme, because I’m a sucker for that. And more female creature features are always welcome to roster! Not every lady needs to be a princess, after all.

King Bob-omb: I love him! He’s arguably my favorite boss from Super Mario 64, and I’m so happy that he’s been popping up more frequently. He’s finally playable for the first time in Mario Kart: Tour, so I hope he appears as such in future titles! His mustache deserves greatness!

Toad: I have literally always had a huge soft-spot for the Mushroom Kingdom citizens. Also, I feel like Toad should be recognized as an individual as much as Yoshi is! He’s cheerful, helpful, sweet, and usually so helpful! Plus, I totally crush it when I use him in Mario Kart, lol. One of my favorites as well, and I consider him as part of the core cast!

Bob-omb: Who knew living explosives could be so...cute? I can’t deny that I delight in seeing them, even though they usually terrorize me whenever they’re around. Totally love to see them included, as they’re great inclusions.

Boo: Spooky time! I love seeing Boo, they’re fun. Also, horrifying to face off against, since they’re not usually the easiest to defeat. They’re cute though, and I love to listen to their cackles and trills! Also wonderful inclusions, both in the main Super Mario games and hilariously so in Luigi’s Mansion. (I love their titles and names in those games!)

Bowser Jr.: While his existence should raise questions, mostly concerning how, I tend to hand wave that as easily as Nintendo does. I love that Bowser has a bratty kid, it’s so entertaining to me! And it’s precious, because I really enjoy seeing Bowser having a soft spot for his son. Junior himself is enjoyable to see too, because he’s a pint-sized enemy with lots of personality!

Pauline: That’s my girl! That’s my girl right there, whoo! I’m so deliriously happy that she’s returned in the greatest form, from nameless damsel to major city mayor! And now she’s regularly included for Mario franchise casts by the fans and the developers. She deserves it, and I hope we continue to see Pauline appear all the time in the future! Get it, One-Up Girl!

Baby Daisy: A cute baby bean, and a logical companion for Baby Peach! Not usually a character that I favor, but I don’t mind her. The scariest kiddo on the racetrack, that I’ve learned.

Petey Piranha: It makes sense that the Piranha Plants have a boss leader, since Bowser is that for the Koopas, and then we have such for Bob-ombs, Whomps, Boos, and the others. Anyway, the sludge stuff is gross, but I do love to see Petey! He’s actually sort of cute with his little utters of “yay!” in spin-offs. Plus, he’s usually a fun flavor of boss to battle!

Lakitu: Honestly, I forget that these dudes are supposed to be bad guys; they’re usually so friendly and helpful! And I think I prefer them that way overall. But, they do make challenging opponents when they’re not helpers, so that is fun to see from time to time. Totally a great mainstay to the roster either way!

Baby Rosalina: Like, I do get the idea of her, but at the same time, she’s more or less a walking contradiction, more than Bowser Jr. or the other babies by far. She is cute though, and I guess we’re not meant to think about it.

Koopa Troopa: Basically Bowser’s equivalent to Toad, and I don’t think that’s a comparison that’s addressed often enough. Like, they’d be great to make Bowser’s forces more sympathetic. Anyway, I like them as enemies, though I tend to see them as helpers fairly often too, since that’s how they’ve appeared over the years. Totally a great mainstay!

Boomerang Bro: As if their hammer throwing cousins weren’t bad enough, we get these dudes to battle from time to time. They’re tricky but cool variations on classic opponents. And I think I enjoy seeing them when we have big cast herds for the spin-off Mario titles.

Bullet Bill: Fear. These guys just come flying out of cannons and my instinct just shifts into fight-or-flight. I love them appearing, but I’m always wary of the challenges they normally present. Also, similar to Bob-omb with the whole, “who knew living artillery could be cute?” Because I know it’s Mario, but geez.

Baby Luigi: The baby bro! He’s a fun alternate option for Baby Mario to rescue, and cute to see included from time to time in spin-off titles. Though, I think his best appearance was Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.

Banzai Bill: The developers went, “Hey, know what’s scary than a big bullet chasing you down? How about a MEGA DEATH BULLET that destroys everything in its wake? Let’s even give it a creepy slasher-grinning face!” And nobody really questioned that. Utterly horrifying to battle (or just run from), but cool conceptually, so I like the enemy inclusion.

Buzzy Beetle: They’re such lowkey baddies that I actually love. Like, there’s even a sinister hint to them with the glowing red eyes and everything! Totally underrated as opponents, and I enjoy their appearances whenever they’re around.

Baby Mario: The leader of the bunch, and you know him...wait a minute. Anyway, he’s a fun character concept, and I like the idea of exploring characters at different points of their lives! It’s cute to see Mario was thrown into heroics since basically birth, and Baby Mario’s usually entertaining to see around, even though we should really question the lacking moral/ethic decisions of letting babies drive go-karts and playing sports.

Goomba: The number one low-level grunt of all-time! At least, I think so. They’re such fun enemies to see included almost all of the time. It’s fun how they’re normally super easy to fight, but can be surprising challenges in various appearances too. Simple conceptually, yet really diverse in use! Overall, one of the best baddies out there!

Thwomp: Floating death trap extraordinaire! These dudes are utterly terrifying to be anywhere near, most especially under. I tend to remember them for the blocky blue forms used during the N64 era, but I think that’s the less iconic form. Still, they’re great trap enemies for sure, with a great slamming grunt to boot!

Captain Toad: While I’m not entirely sure if he’s meant to be separate from the Toad we know, I treat him that way. Plus, it’s fun to have a light-hearted version of Wario’s treasure hunter role used, and one that actually provides aid to Mario on his adventures! Plus, a hero in his own right. A great character indeed!

Wiggler: Instead of chanting “don’t be suspicious,” it’s “don’t wake the wormy” for me. This crazy caterpillar is full of anxiety inducing moments for sure, but on the cuter side too. Also, shout-out to the Flutter form! Anyway, they make a fun enemy, and it’s fun when they go from passive to aggressive!

Cheep Chomp: I really can’t deny that I’m surprised that this was included for an opinion list. Anyway, bigger and scarier fish enemies are always a good fright to include, so, why not? I like the purple version too.

Baby Peach: The original baby princess, which is weird to mention, given that I never expected more than one to appear or matter. Anyway, she’s a cute companion for Baby Mario and has her own baby princess posse, so...yeah.

Boom Boom: These dudes were always such cool enemies in Super Mario Bros. 3, so I’m really glad they came back into newer games! I love seeing them appear more in spin-offs lately too, they’re entertaining options to shuffle in with the cast now and again. Fun to face off against too; normally easy, but can be tougher too!

Cheep Cheep: Fishy! It’s weird how they can be so cute, and yet they’re so dangerous, since one bite cuts you down to size. But yeah, I like them as basic aquatic enemies!

Blooper: These troublesome dudes...they can chase you, tentacle smack you, and ink you in the face! That last one never used to be a problem in kart racing, but they totally improved over the years. Good enemy. But, also? A really, really cute spin-off character! I kind of love seeing them appear in other titles as playable characters. Especially in Mario Tennis Aces. Their voices are so cute!

Whomp: Really weird to see them included so far from their king. But anyway! Cool enemies, totally underrated compared to their Thwomp cousins, and I like to see them turn up now and again. They make fun guards, most commonly utilized in the Mario Party series. They’re fun enemies and deserve more love!

Additional Characters That I Like Too

Birdo: The disrespect at people never including my girl...shameful! Anyway, I love Birdo a lot. She’s pretty cute and should totally be included way more often than she is. And she pairs so nicely with Yoshi, that’s so perfect! Plus, she’s probably the earliest trans character that I was ever introduced to, and/or consciously aware of. Anyway, I love her, so there.

Toadsworth: Why does he get so neglected over the years? I thought he was a great inclusion for Peach’s staff, and yet, he’s diminishing so frequently over the years for some reason. Anyway, he was a very entertaining character, made a great equivalent to Kamek, and I wish he’d be used more frequently.

Donkey Kong: Not going to lie, I tend to not include him in Mario cast calls a lot too, since he just feels comparatively detached to other characters. That’s so weird for someone that basically helped kick off Nintendo’s main franchise. Anyway, I love him a lot, even if I don’t show it much. He’s a cool kong, and doesn’t need to be the king to prove it!

Chain Chomp: The bark and chain rattle of sheer terror. I love these guys though! They’re so cute! And dangerous. But cute! Whether being used as a baby’s weapon of mass destruction in racing, or as another avid tennis player, Chain Chomps are just delightful to have around.

Wart: Yeah, not really expected to be included. But, I like Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2, and he’s basically my new character to campaign for since Pauline made it back from the yester-years already. Wart has great potential to be an alternative to Bowser, or even just a fun character to include, so, I hope that we see him come back to the Mario franchise in the future some day!

Nabbit: This pesky thief actually stands out well enough to me, probably because he’s included as a playable pick in the New Super Mario Bros. games from time to time. Anyway, an oddball of sorts, but pretty cute to see pop up from time to time! Maybe he’ll be kept in rotation for future spin-offs...we’ll see!

Monty Mole: Perhaps a more forgettable enemy, but I think they’re entertaining and rather unique ground enemies! Also, I enjoy their Rocky Wrench cousins. But yeah, I felt these dudes deserved a special mention too!

Diddy Kong: Although I typically don’t consider Diddy a Mario character, he’s appeared so often enough that he should be. I like him as Donkey Kong’s go-to partner, and he’s fairly cute too!

Tatanga: Look, if Wart doesn’t work out, then I’m rallying behind Super Mario Land’s Tatanga. Plus, if we get more Daisy, we might as well get an enemy to go along with, or rather against, her. Who better than this little dude? ...Though, I kind of like the bulky version from the comics more. Then again, it’s less expected for a tiny guy to be a main bad guy, so, he’d work either way. Another fun alternate for Bowser, so he can have a break, and Mario gets more enemies!

Fire Bro: I saw the Boomerang Bro and was kind of expecting this dude to show up too. Normally easier to handle than their weapon tossing cousins, at least for me, but they’re challenging enough too. Another fun variation inclusion for big roster herds.

Spike: You know, I recall the Paper Mario version known as Clubba best. But anyway, I like these dudes, and I’m enjoying seeing them appear more often in newer spin-off titles. They’re cute! And they provide strong diversity for Bowser’s usual forces.

Luma: How did we not see these little fellows in the main set? They’re so adorable, I love seeing them all the time now! Definitely one of the coolest races to come from the Mario games, totally fitting for the franchise, and I love seeing them appear basically whenever they do. They’re so cute!

Rex: The retro Super Mario World enemy that’s rather squishy and most commonly forgotten. I think they work nicely as an evil equivalent to Yoshi, at least in appearance. It’s honestly strange that they’re so underrated and underutilized by the franchise; they’re pretty cool!

Ninji: Little ninja-like minions from Super Mario Bros. 2 that appear sparingly across the Mario series. Another enemy that I feel is super underrated and totally has potential for inclusion in spin-off games or just as a more frequent opponent like Rexes should be.

Koopa Paratroopa: Kind of included with Koopa Troopa above, but I like to see Paratroopa distinguished, since they normally tend to be, even among flying enemies. Plus, they’re common inclusions to the Mario spin-off titles, so it’s weird to pass over them. Anyway, I like these winged menaces too!

Professor E. Gadd: Speaking of underused characters and E. Gadd should totally pop up there. I like that he’s a Luigi’s Mansion mainstay, but I miss the days where he was slowly branching out in other titles, perhaps most notably in the Mario & Luigi series, but he’s also the reason that Mario had FLUDD in Super Mario Sunshine! I wonder why he’s not included more frequently; even if not playable, he makes sense just being used in some capacity.

Spiny: Lakitu’s little monsters that rain terror from the skies and onto the ground! Perhaps one of tougher baddies to battle with, but I like to see them, since they’re pretty iconic. Even without being Lakitu’s minions, they’re still plenty tough for Mario to battle against. Plus, they’re kind of cute? We should see a blue variation some day though, so that way we all know who to hammer on for all of those Mario Kart horror stories...

Cappy: Since this is being posted on the 3rd anniversary for Super Mario Odyssey, I’ll give him an additional inclusion. After all, Cappy is probably one of Mario’s best companions for a 3-D Mario title to ever be included, easily surpassing FLUDD and Baby Luma / Co-Star Luma. I hope he’s not left to be forgotten as the years go by, because he had plenty of personality and flavor that really made the adventure even more entertaining, and a great concept to engage with the game play, so, here’s to Cappy!

... ... ...

Phew. Anyway, these are just some thoughts on Mario franchise characters! There sure are a lot of them, huh? Probably too many to count if we really dig through the series, that’s for sure!

That’s all from me though, at least for this. Thank you for reading!

[fairyhaven13]

I know I said “Feast your eyes” as a pun before, but last time I was referring to what the characters in the picture were doing. This time I’m telling you to feast your eyes, so it still counts.

This is day 15 of Drawtober, day 5 of “Midnight Feast.” It fits better because it’s nighttime for me right now, it was a busy day so the picture came late. It’s just a simple sketchdump, but I’m proud of the designs nonetheless. Yesterday’s princess awakened my nostalgic inner twelve-year-old who drew Mario princesses incessantly, so I redid some of my old characters from back then. The princess descriptions are under the cut.

1: Princess Aubergine (aka eggplant, get it, ehh), the Yoshi’s ruler. She’s just as curious and bouncy as the dinosaurs she leads, and it’s quite a sight to see such a dignified woman racing down a hill after a butterfly, followed by a crowd of cheering lizards. She’s always hungry for knowledge and, well, just hungry in general.

2: Princess Dulcamara (a nightshade), the Boo’s second in command. King Boo is in charge, of course, but Dulcie earned his favor and was offered the title, turning her into a poltergeist. She’s silent and sinister, smiling as she slips a drop of poison into your cup. Not out of meanness, but because if you die, you can join her kingdom!

3. Princess Nettle. She’s a nutty pyrochemist who made buddies with a bunch of bob-ombs, bullet bills, and chain chomps. Bob-omb King went “oh, neat” and started telling everyone she was his princess. Nettle went, “oh, neat” and agreed with him. Now she hangs out at his castle, building bombs and blowing stuff up.

4. Princess Ivy, my second princess ever, drastically different from her old design. She used to be all in green, with a mermaid skirt. Now she’s decked in a leather jacket, gold scales, and flames. She was originally the only babysitter who could survive the Koopa Kids’ antics. She got so popular with the kids that Bowser essentially adopted her, so now she’s a Koopa Princess.

5. Princess Venus (like the fly trap), the Piranha Plant ruler. Besties with Petey. Utter snob, manipulative predator, thinks she’s much more attractive than she actually is. If you make her mad, she will first try to turn everyone against you, and if that doesn’t work, she will literally try to eat you.

6. Princess Amanita (the mushroom toads are based on), the Goomba second in command. She was a normal Goomba offered the Super Crown by the Goomba King. He had no children, so he had to choose an heir. She is endlessly cheerful to the point of being annoying, and somewhat naive, but usually has the best of intentions.

7. Princess Pearl Lilypad, my first ever princess, who used to be just a blue Princess Peach. She rules the Piantas in Isle Delphino, but most Piantas in the universe declare fealty to her. She’s the most mature of the princesses, most diplomatic and aware of what it takes to rule a kingdom. Usually to busy actually running the show to play games or throw parties. Happy to help others when they need it, and has successfully made many allies and treaties.