Games Inbox: Is the next Super Mario game open world?

The Super Mario Galaxy movie didn’t hint anything about a new game (Universal Studios/Nintendo) The Monday letters page is alarmed to find out Super Mario 64 has a 30th anniversary going on this week, as another reader sticks up for Marvel’s Wolverine. Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk Two anniversaries, no gamesI doubt Nintendo will acknowledge it but it’s the 30th anniversary of Super Mario 64 this week, in terms of its US release. It came out in June for Japan though and not till March the next year for Europe. Still, I’m sure there’s no one here that likes to be reminded that the game, and possibly they, are that old. An only slightly less annoying subject is where the heck the next 3D Mario game is. It’ll be nine years next months since Super Mario Odyssey and we haven’t had even the slightest hint about a new game, while the Switch 2 is getting on for two years old. We had more tie-ins with Star Fox coming out of the Super Mario Galaxy Movie than we have Mario and I don’t think he was featured in any game for more than two seconds in any of this year’s Nintendo Directs. I’m sure we’re all in favour of not overdoing any character but this is a very odd situation. I saw some speculation as to whether the next Mario would be open world and this does seem to me like a logical guess, although it’ll be a bit odd that Kirby gets an open world game before Mario. But after games like Zelda and experiments Bowser’s Fury, and even bits of Odyssey, I think it can definitely be done well, without turning into a Ubisoft game. The very fact that we can predict it probably means it’s not true, but I’d love to hear if anyone had any other ideas.Cubby Expert, exclusive gaming analysis Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. There’s dozens of us!The reader at the weekend, talking about Marvel’s Wolverine has my axe. I don’t know if I’d call it my game of the year, considering GTA 6 is coming out in a couple of months, but I really liked it. It’s not going to change the world or win a ton of awards (GC said this in their preview, let alone their review, I remember) but it did what it set out to and I liked it. Personally, I would’ve preferred if it had been a regular X-Men story, not because I didn’t like the characters but there weren’t actually that many of them and Walter’s plot was handled very oddly, with a very sudden end, where I wasn’t even 100% sure what was up with him. But in terms of gameplay it was great. Not too shallow at all. I enjoyed it, didn’t find it too easy, and never got bored of it. More or less anyway. They probably could’ve shaved two or three hours off the running time and it would’ve been better but then they couldn’t charge £70 for it and you know what publishers are really bothered about…Arthur Tales from the c-suiteI’ve never heard this Xbox exec’s name before but I see he’s following in the long history of dummies that just can’t stop taking (or typing). He felt he had to defend the honour of Xbox but the only fact he could argue is the number of GTA 6 pre-orders (which he didn’t give a number for, we just have to take his word on). Hundreds of people being laid off and the only thing he can think to say is ,’But ackshually! We have had had as many pre-orders as you’d expect considering our percentage of the console business!’ OK, so not very many at all then? I know all execs are off their trolley to some degree but Xbox ones always seem the most unhinged. Sony are just as bad but they have one sensible role: don’t talk unless you absolutely have to.Danko Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk The Legend of GanonI can’t say I’m particularly surprised that Nintendo decided not to make a game about Ganondorf, the ‘King of Evil’. Although I’m surprised that basing it on him was Nintendo’s idea, not Ubisoft’s, who seemed to be the sensible ones pushing for a new character. You only have to think about it for a few minutes and the idea falls apart. Are you going to be playing as Ganondorf doing evil things… in a Nintendo game? Or are you going to have him start out as nice and then slowly learn to be evil? Like at the start he’s just a brat and then he learns the ways of being a genocidal manic as the story goes on? We don’t know what type of game it would’ve been, but the whole premise makes no sense to me. And before anyone says Bowser’s Inside Story and Super Mario RPG… Bowser is a buffoonish cartoon turtle that’s never got anything right. Ganon has won multiple times before and slaughtered (presumably) millions of people, I’m not sure how you either start with that or, even worse, lead up to it in a game that isn’t The Last Of Us levels of serious.Onibee Wait and seeIf Sony is asking what developers think of the disc ending for games I’m sorry, it means Sony is worried they have made the wrong decision. This is Sony. As you know, in Sony’s eyes they don’t do anything wrong, until now. Even though the factory that makes them has started making something else they are still making 10% of discs. Why else would they now, all of a sudden, ask developers? They’re not sure if it’s right. I think in the next few months Sony will say discs are staying but won’t apologise. So remember this message. If developers say they should keep the disc, I’m saying Sony will U-turn on it and say discs will be staying and I will be emailing in when they do and say told you so.David Tribute bandAt this point I would imagine that Rare as a company are well past the point of ever returning to their former greatness. Gregg Mayles was the last of the old guard to leave and I don’t think there’s anyone there now that has done anything anyone actually likes, other than Sea Of Thieves. At the very best, all you could hope for is a completely new team making something in the same style, but at this point Playtonic would be closer to an authentic Rare than actual Rare. And to be honest they’ve been around for 12 years old now and they’ve still not really made anything that great. We talk a lot about video game series that outstay their welcome, after years and years of using the same name to sell something that’s basically completely different than what it started as . Rare aren’t Rare anymore, Infinity Ward aren’t Infinity Ward anymore, I don’t know if Valve even employs people that can make games nowadays and who can say what’s happened at Blizzard, but you can just tell how much has changed since their next Starcraft game is going to be a first person shooter. Some Japanese companies keep the same people for decades but that’s not usually true for anywhere else, at least not except for execs and the odd one-off. You’re literally only as good as your last game, in my opinion, simply because probably the same people weren’t even involved. People leave, people join, developers change.DFence Same as alwaysI’ve started playing EA Sports FC 27 and I’m a fine with it. I’ll be brutally honest, I long ago stopped thinking about it as a normal video game that you give reviews and scores to. That is not a compliment to the game, because it’s always had a lot of problems, but it’s just party of the furniture now. If you don’t get it what are you going to play? Even if it’s eFootball it hasn’t got all the proper teams and players, so you’re losing half the appeal. As far as I can see FC 27 is pretty much the same as always: some improvements, some pointless changes, even more microtransactions. I know we should hold them up to higher standards but… this is how it’s always going to be, isn’t it?Kets Don't miss Gaming news! Add us as a Preferred Source As a loyal GameCentral reader, we want to make sure you never miss our articles when searching for gaming stories. We have all the latest video games news, reviews, previews, and interviews, with a vibrant community of highly engaged readers. Click the button below and tick Metro.co.uk to ensure you see stories from us first in Google Search. Add us as a Preferred Source GameCentral has been delivering unique games news and reviews for over a decade Forced errorSo I’ve just completed my second playthrough of Star Wars Zero Company and thought I’d share my thoughts. With this not being my usual cup of tea, but after thoroughly enjoying the Mario + Rabbids game years ago, and recently it’s sequel, I thought I’d take a punt on Zero Company and swiftly trade it in afterwards. Well, I have to say it really is a great game, with almost 70 hours played it’s been difficult to turn off at night and has led to a number of very difficult school runs. I also work for myself at home and have struggled to not just take a day off to continue playing where I left off the night before. It’s also breathed some life back into my PlayStation Portal as it’s a perfect fit for it, especially when my daughter claimed the front room TV or after I turned off my PlayStation 5 at night and then decided I wanted more once in bed. One thing I was disappointed in though was its performance, even on my PS5 Pro with VRR enabled, and in performance mode, the third person sections were quite poor, with frequent stuttering, and during battles there was lots of freezing, a few crashes here and there forcing a reset and the camera often has a mind of its own. I had heard about all these issues before hand but was hoping for a patch to fix them. However, there hasn’t been any yet. I also found the third person sections to be a bit of a waste of time, where you are essentially just walking to a battle with nothing to do in-between. In this area I think Mario + Rabbids handles it better. That being said, overall I think it’s an amazing game and it won’t be getting traded. I already feel like playing it for a third time but will wait until over Christmas for that probably. I’m not the biggest Star Wars fan, I enjoy the films (pre-Disney anyway) but I really enjoyed the story too. Took a little bit to get invested but by the end I genuinely liked all the characters and cared about what happened to them. Fingers crossed for a healthy slice of DLC in the not too distant future.P B GC: We didn’t see it crash but it certainly has some technical issues. The problems at the end of development are likely the reason for that, so if they do get further funding perhaps some of that can be improved on. Inbox also-ransSo after reading your Rare article, I tried to think of what studios Microsoft bought and turned into world beaters… now I’m getting on my memory is not as good, but I couldn’t think of any.TWO MACKS Does anyone actually call it EA Sports FC 27 or even just FC 27? Everyone I know just says FIFA. It’s part being used to it and part it’s just a really rubbish new name.Joxter Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk The small printNew Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter. Arrow MORE: es Inbox: What is the best Rare game?Games Inbox: What is the best Rare game? Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Will the PS6 release be delayed?Games Inbox: Will the PS6 release be delayed? Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Are you still an Xbox fan? GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.