@themasterds: I'm not saying the 2d Mario games they're making are better than the 2d Donkey Kong games they're making but financially speaking, Mario will make more money than Donkey Kong ten times out of ten. Releasing multiple games in the same genre and the same series on a platform that's struggling is just bad business. When you have a treasure chest of franchises that everybody loves, you should take advantage of that. I just feel like Donkey Kong got what he was due in the last few years, a couple of pretty solid games. If we want more than that then Donkey Kong would have to be a bigger franchise than it is, and I doubt they'll be able to do that as a 2d platformer.

@hunter5024: He's had 2 big games in the last decade. That's not what he's due, that's less than. This train needs to keep rollling. Honestly that notion that there shouldn't be multiple games in one genre under Nintendo's hand is fucked. If you were to apply that logic during Rare's heyday we wouldn't have had Banjo. Are you saying Banjo shouldn't have existed either? Also F-Zero and Diddy Kong Racing. Also Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi.

I am absolutely saying that Diddy Kong Racing shouldn't have existed. That game was terribad.

@johncallahan: Nonsense, that game's the best Kart racer ever made!

@themasterds said:

In every one of those opposing examples there is one that I would definitely take over the other.

@hunter5024: They weren't all meant to be opposing examples actually I was inferring that the last few would be killed by other unnamed games but never mind that, do you fall on the right side of history? Which do you mean, Paper Mario or M&L?

@believer258: @egg: Here's Donkey Kong Country 2, which looks like awful 3D models that have been turned into even worse sprites, because that's exactly what it is:

Here are some SNES games that actually look good:

@icemael: Looks like you picked the least flattering screenshot you could on purpose.

But, eh, I'm not going to argue about the graphical fidelity of SNES games.

@believer258: @icemael: First off that screenshot is perfectly fine. It has a ton of great detail in the environment and the shading and feel of everything looks right. Second off the animation is really what clinches the look.

Clearly these are the graphics of 20 years ago but I don't think there's any denying that these games were gorgeous, rich with detail, life and and an incredible amount of craft especially for 1994. Remember that back then Super Mario Kart looked impressive due because it had a top down perspective. And Star Fox looked impressive because it had some vertices. Donkey Kong had both the polygons and the atmosphere and the life. You can't take that away from it 20 years later.

Coincidentally the game that Retro just put out, and the one from 3 years ago and the one they'll make next, also has these qualities. It's beautiful, atmospheric and lively by today's standards. It's about the best you can get in a revival.

@themasterds: If you think that looks good I don't know what to tell you, because all I see are repulsive, plastic-looking environments and bad sprites made from bad 3D models made from character designs that are mediocre at best to begin with. Returns (and what I've seen of Tropical Freeze) is much better in that there's nothing about it that looks offensively bad, but the only parts I have any actual praise for when it comes to visuals are the silhouette levels and some of the parts where the camera swoops around in three dimensions.

@icemael: Really? I see storms, sunsets, dim lighting, foliage, sun beams, dramatic lighting, charm, lively worlds, perfect color choices, an incredible level of detail, stuff that doesn't fade with age with moving tech. I guess there's no accounting for taste.

If I had to pick I'd choose Paper Mario, but I'd definitely take Mario RPG over either of those. Personally I wish they would just create RPG's that have nothing to do with Mario.

@hunter5024: You picked righ- wrong! Paper Mario is the best of the three. Have you forgotten that in Thousand Year Door Mario becomes a Professional Wrestler? Also they do, it's called Pokemon.

@themasterds: You've got me there. I just think the mechanics in those games are more interesting then the characters within. It would be cooler if they were their own thing instead of an offshoot of the Mario franchise.

@hunter5024: I would definitely agree that the mechanics of Paper Mario should be in other games. I think that's part of what makes South Park look so interesting. Still though South Park doesn't have one element that Paper Mario has and that's the low numbers. That's part of it's appeal I think. Having low enough health, damage, defense numbers that optimal plays is easy math rather than literally impossible math you'll never do but you're fine eyeballing like in other RPGs. Hearthstone, Blizzard's CCG, reminded me of it actually when I saw the thought process involved in making ideal trades. Figuring out how best to use a guy with 3 attack. Using the guy with 2 attack to trade with the toughest motherfucker with 2 health. Reminded me of thinking about what moves to use given different enemies in Paper Mario. Obviously they're completely different games in most senses but they're the same in the contemplation that is possible because they don't use stupidly high numbers for no reason other than to be flashy.

I'm going to get back on topic. So, in DKCR the Tikis erupted DK Island, in DKCTF the Snowmads froze DK Island, could the Kremlings come back and just steal bananas, kidnap someone or point a doomsday device at DK Island? Given this will be the third game I think banana thievery isn't big enough anymore and given how they don't want to not have DK or any of the other Kongs not be playable kidnapping is off the table unless they want to have side characters kidnapped which isn't as big as DK or Diddy being grabbed. Maybe they can have the whole family be kidnapped and have it so that you rescue more as the game goes on. I'd expect more in the vain of Doomsday though. However the Kremlings already did that in DK64 and, given that the Tikis and Snowmads had more than threats to their name and actually fucked up DK Island bad, I'd expect more. Right now I'm thinking they'll have another doomsday weapon island and they'll get to fire it off before the game begins. It doesn't completely destroy DK Island but it's a start. They're getting ready for another volley, Donkey Kong goes to stop them once and for all before the Island is torn to shit. That'd work. Hard to say if there'd be themed islands again or it'd be subsets of New Mechanical Crocodile Isle. That's for Retro to figure out I think. Perhaps it's a chain of islands that play a part in the doomsday or something.

This is a repulsive, plastic-looking opinion and you should feel bad for having it.