Why do people complain that recent Mario game stories are too simple?

[CM30]

Not trying to be harsh to anyone here, but it's not like the stories of older Mario games were exactly any more interesting than those in the New Super Mario Bros games.

Super Mario Bros 1 has Peach captured by Bowser, and all the story's in the manual.

Super Mario Bros 2 had the whole dream/Subcon thing, but practically speaking all you see in game is Mario or whoever falling out a floating door in level 1.

Super Mario Bros 3 had the transformed kings. I guess you could say Peach being captured was a spoiler of sorts, but it's not like the main plot had much more depth to it.

Super Mario World had a message about Dinosaur Land saying Peach was missing, and a nice/calm but completely meaningless intro in the GBA version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39NSu083GuA

Super Mario 64's story as such was already pretty flimsy (come to the castle for cake?), and it basically came down to Mario walking in the door and finding Peach captured. Really, it looks nice, but this is basically just a bunch of camera angles more than a story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLA30ii-DTQ

Really, is the story in New Super Mario Bros DS, Wii or 2 really that much more paper thin? The only real difference is that we don't see the camera pan out and Mario and Luigi running and jumping across the landscape before the game begins. Besides, it works and that's all that matters, right?

 

[pie595]

Games don't need a advanced plot to make it a great game. Sometimes a simple plot is just what a game needs and some games can work with out a plot. Plot is something that can be use to tell how things started and doesn't need to be complex. I mean a game doesn't need plot to be a great game, look at the game Minecraft, it has no to little plot and is still a great game. If plot was something every game need then some games won't be here today like Minecraft, Pac-Man, Roller Coaster Tycoon just to name a few. Plot isn't a big thing to complain about, I mean seriously its like crying over spill milk.

 

[Gelivable]

I never heard people complaining about this.

 

[Darking]

I've never had a problem with SMB games having little to none story. In fact, that simplicity is one of the factor that make me love the series.
All I wanna do is run through the whole Mushroom Kingdom or whatever other place to rescue the princess. In my opinion, Level design and gameplay ideas are 99% of a plataform game, while the story can perfectly be the other 1%.

 

[Dark Young Link]

I've never heard anyone complain about this either. They're Mario games though. The reason they're fun is because they're stories are simple and easy to follow. It doesn't need a huge plot like Legend of Zelda to be fun.

 

[Captain Cutler]

I've felt that way to some extent. However, when I say that I don't care for the plots of recent games being so simple, I'm not comparing them to the older Mario games, and I don't think that I need to do that in order to say that a different Mario game altogether doesn't have much plot and I'm not terribly fond of it.

Rather, what I'm trying to say is more along the lines of 'I prefer the Mario games that have stronger plots, like Sunshine and the RPGs, and I wish that Nintendo would make more interesting stories in other games.' I don't expect them to do that (I think it'd be silly--as you say, Mario games generally haven't had much in the plot area), but I would love it if they did.

Reading some of the posts in this topic, I think people are generalizing about plots in Mario games. Saying a plot is too simple doesn't necessarily mean that someone is looking for some elaborate storyline. While some people do want that, I'm sure, someone who wants more plot could easily just want something a little more interesting. And even if they did want something more than that, I don't think it should be a condemned opinion. There's no reason that people shouldn't be allowed to want a certain type of game.

 

[Porkman]

Well the stories kinda hinted a link to other titles however...consider this....Mario is defeated in Mario 64, then luigi's mansion comes into lay (consider it a sequel) the fortune teller ghost says "could bowser have been revived!?" at one point of the game, When king boo is talking to mario in the painting he says "this is for all the trouble you've caused me in the past" ...coincidence...? who knows? Maybe people just like the indication that the stories are sum how related, unlike what galaxy 2 did to mario..(though the game is great).

Oh and there is also in super mario 64 ds,..the dialogue that certain characters use hint to it happening AFTER the original 64 version. Koopa the quick is happy to see mario again and says he's lost some weight (or is it the other way around?)...yoshi is still on top of the castle and lakitu says that bowser may be responsible again..

Just things I've picked up on as I've played the series.

 

[Dark Young Link]

Well the stories kinda hinted a link to other titles however...consider this....Mario is defeated in Mario 64, then luigi's mansion comes into lay (consider it a sequel) the fortune teller ghost says "could bowser have been revived!?" at one point of the game, When king boo is talking to mario in the painting he says "this is for all the trouble you've caused me in the past" ...coincidence...? who knows? Maybe people just like the indication that the stories are sum how related, unlike what galaxy 2 did to mario..(though the game is great).

Oh and there is also in super mario 64 ds,..the dialogue that certain characters use hint to it happening AFTER the original 64 version. Koopa the quick is happy to see mario again and says he's lost some weight (or is it the other way around?)...yoshi is still on top of the castle and lakitu says that bowser may be responsible again..

Just things I've picked up on as I've played the series.

It's considered that Luigi's Mansion is considered a sequel to Mario Sunshine because of King Boo saying that since King Boo is only in that. In Mario 64 he's known as Big Boo. Unless Big Boo and King Boo are the same and there was a translation error. Then we're all messed up and nothing makes sense any more.

*Sigh* Plus Yoshi says that it's been a while since their last adventure which was like Super Mario World I think. So there's a lot of hints that show connections. I've even seen a Mario time line, but that is just silly. Unless it's not...