Pretty easy thread. What's your favorite of the 3 3D Mario games?
Personally, it's hard to pick between SM64 and SMG, but I'd have to give a slight edge to Galaxy. Sure, it's a lot more linear, but the mechanics and difficulty curve were fine-tuned to almost perfection. SM64 is pretty clunky by today's standards, and Sunshine was just a pile of crap.
I like this question a lot. It took me about 10 minutes before I could decide which one I liked more. It really came down between SM64 and SMG, SMS doesn't compare very well between the two. But I decided that Galaxy had several features that 64 simply lacked.
1) One thing is that there was orchestraical (sp?) music designed for each individual stage in Galaxy, while 64 reused the same stage music for different stages.
2) Another thing would be extras after you've beaten Bowser.
Very time consuming, but at least it motivates to keep playing.
3) And the last would be unlockable upgrades/powers. In 64, You can become Metal, Intangible, you can fly, and you can ride a Koopa Shell. In Galaxy, you can become a Boo, the classic fire Mario, a bumblebee, a Spring, Ice Mario, and you also ride the Koopa Shell. So a bit more features in Galaxy.
Sunshine was ok, but Super Mario Galaxy was amazing.
Sunshine felt rushed to me. You do some of the missions numerous times just in different levels, F.L.U.D.D isn't really a power up but a gimmick, and I remember having slight problems with the camera. It doesn't compare to the other two games in my opinion.
I haven't played Sunshine, but I guess Galaxy. 64 was good but after a moment I felt a bit bored; the same happens with Galaxy but not that much. I'm not much of a fan of 3D Marios, but, sure, Galaxy is superior than 64.
I haven't played Galaxy enough to see how people like it that much. *shrugs* Guess it's the same way when someone doesn't see why most Metroid fans seem to worship Super Metroid. (which I do, but not...not literally xD)
I haven't played 64 too much either. I have it on my Wii via VC, but I really just don't like it much.
Sunshine. I don't care what anyone says, I loved this game. I loved the unique objective: clean up the island. I haven't beaten it, but I still loved it.
But compared to the 2-D sidescrollers...the 3-D Mario games are nothing.
Other than having to collect those damn blue coins, I love Super Mario Sunshine, because it is rather unique compared to 64/Galaxy.
The only game I bothered to get every stars is 64 though, both N64 (120 stars) and NDS (150 stars) version. XD I'm stuck at 111 stars for SMS and my save got deleted, so yeah.
I can't pick but GALAXY's orchestrated music is an excellent addition and should be used in future games as well and you have a real reason to get every star whereas SM64 only had yoshi afterwards. Both are classics & SMS was ****.
There will always be a place in my heart from Super Mario 64. There's just something awesome about running around in that game.
As for Galaxy... I haven't played it so I wouldn't know.
My main complaint about Galaxy was that it was just too linear. It nailed the difficulty curve and mechanics (except a sometimes-wonky cam that was still better than 64 and Sunshine's), but it didn't have the exploration that 64 had.