Collectathon Mario vs Linear Mario; which is better?

[CM30]

Topic name is technically a tad misleading, but among the 3D Mario games, which type is better?

Collectathon type:

Super Mario 64
Super Mario Sunshine

Revolves around collecting 120 shiny objects across massive levels. Revisit each level a ton of times, lots of secrets, hub world.

Non collectathon type:

Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Mario 3D Land

Maybe collect stars, but visit each level only once. Linear levels, no sandbox type exploration. Few secrets.

Galaxy is kind of a bridge between both types really, not sure what to say there.

But which type of 3D Mario game is better?

 

[Fillfall]

Both galaxy 1 and 2 have you replay the levels to get stars, but the levels get quite alot of changes. I prefer 64 style.

 

[alamarco]

I prefer Super Mario 64 as the world was more expansive and involved. Super Mario 3D Land was a fun game, but it's hard to top a game like Super Mario 64.

 

[Super Leaf]

I Like Sunshine the best, but I like the Galaxys way better than 64.

 

[Bloody Gallade]

Collect-a-thon. Sunshine especially. The levels had a sort of coherance not seen in other 3d mario games.

 

[ebstiv23]

Super mario 64 remains my favorite 3d mario game. I guess I like collectathon better.

 

[MarioKartMaster]

SM64 was the best mainstream Mario game ever made. The only reason Nintendo has adopted the more linear form of gameplay is to appeal to the casual audiences. However, I prefer the more open worlds that SM64 offered, though Super Mario Galaxy 1 was sort of open too.

 

[Steven9wii]

at first i thought this was a new mario 2 topic. i choose collect-a-thon.

 

[MrTripStack]

[font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif]This thread seems to be a landslide so far and I'm also going to have to say that I prefer the collect-a-thon layout, Super Mario Sunshine being one of my favorite Mario titles of all time. I did love playing through Super Mario 3D Land recently on my 3DS but it just couldn't hit the same spot as past games that had you selecting different levels within the openworld "hub" and made you visit the same level multiple times to collect the different stars, where the levels would change a bit depending on the mission.[/font]

[font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif]I certainly hope we see a new 3DS exclusive Mario title in the future that follows the collect-a-thon layout, especially since NSMB2 is being released as a side-scroller (similar to the more "original" titles).[/font]

 

[re11ding]

I prefer the Collectathon really. There's more you can do and your not limited to one possible path (usually). I liked Galaxy though for it had a variety of the two.

 

[Dark Young Link]

I like the Super Mario 64 style better.