Is Hotel Mario really THAT BAD?

[xDragonWarrior]

So a lot of people say that Hotel Mario is one of the worst games of all time(IMO mainly from the AVGN review) but I don't see why it gets such a bad rep.To me the gameplay is reminiscent of 80's arcade games like Mario Bros.Yes the cut scenes are kinda bad and it's not the best Mario game but it's far from bad IMO.So what do you guys think,is it really as bad as some make it out to be or is it a pretty decent game.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIyO-ojujOU

[Tempest]

It's a neat game, but shoehorning in the Mario license wasn't a good fit.

 

If you want to try a similar game, look at Looney Tunes Hotel on the Atari 5200. It's a prototype game, but it's very playable (possibly finished).

[+LS650]

I think this is a case where very few people have actually played the game, so we count on the bloated opinion of a few negative gamers who have.

[godslabrat]

...and this is why you can't have an opinion on a game before you play it.

[Seob]

No, it's not a bad game. Just the problem that everybody is talking without playing it.

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

I liked it and its a fun game for people to play. Wouldn't mind playing it again. I just need to find it!

 

Anthony...

[CatPix]

It's also very trendy to treat the CD-i (and the Jaguar and 3DO) as "shitty systems with shitty games", so a game on CD-i, with a famous name on it, that get associated with more notoriously bad games (that is, the Zelda games)? Free hits!

Edited May 19, 2014 by CatPix

[famicommander]

I really like Hotel Mario. You just have to make sure you have one of the Genesis-style controllers with three buttons, because otherwise the controls are really bad.

 

The cutscenes are cringe-inducing but the gameplay really reminds me of classic arcade platformers (Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Mario Bros, etc).

 

The three Zelda games, on the other hand, are just as bad as everyone says they are. Truly awful games.

[The Usotsuki]

But the 3DO had Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

[+thegoldenband]

I haven't played it, but Hotel Mario always looked decent to me. I think the Half Blind Gamer (the best and most prolific CD-i reviewer, AFAIK) did a detailed review of it at some point?

 

But the 3DO had Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

 

I don't think even ardent CD-i fans would deny that the 3DO and Jaguar are in a different class as gaming machines; the 3DO had edutainment pretensions, but it was really a game system first and foremost. The closest counterpart to the CD-i would be something like the Tandy VIS, I suppose.

[mbd30]

The AVGN didn't hate it. He compares it to a 1980s arcade game, which would have been disappointing as a Mario game for an expensive next generation console in 1994. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl2Wz1qlzco;t=7m10s

[+frankodragon]

The cutscenes are cringe-inducing but the gameplay really reminds me of classic arcade platformers (Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Mario Bros, etc).

 

 

The cut scenes are a staple of the Youtube Poop community though.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i-vwqNAp_E

[Austin]

It has awful FMV, but the game itself isn't bad. It's probably one of the better CD-i titles available, for what it's worth.

[Bill Loguidice]

I've never heard Hotel Mario called one of the worst games of all time, let alone the worst. It's actually a decent game in my opinion. The two Zelda games are the ones that are routinely called worst, but usually from people who haven't played them, similar to how Atari 2600 ET or the Atari Jaguar is treated. It's like the cool thing to do, whether justified or not (and I'm not saying it's not justified). The fact is, both Zelda games don't suck, only one really does, and it's mostly about expectations for what a Zelda game should be. The same certainly applies to Hotel Mario or any of the other Mario spin-offs for computers.

 

As for comparing the CD-i to the 3DO and Jaguar, I'd say with the addition of the DV cartridge, you're talking in a similar league. Where the CD-i fell down in comparison was in the controls. Too many concessions to address the numerous controllers options available and no true day one multiplayer. Otherwise the hardware is quite competent, particularly for games with lots of FMV requirements.

[famicommander]

I've never heard Hotel Mario called one of the worst games of all time, let alone the worst. It's actually a decent game in my opinion. The two Zelda games are the ones that are routinely called worst, but usually from people who haven't played them, similar to how Atari 2600 ET or the Atari Jaguar is treated. It's like the cool thing to do, whether justified or not (and I'm not saying it's not justified). The fact is, both Zelda games don't suck, only one really does, and it's mostly about expectations for what a Zelda game should be. The same certainly applies to Hotel Mario or any of the other Mario spin-offs for computers.

 

As for comparing the CD-i to the 3DO and Jaguar, I'd say with the addition of the DV cartridge, you're talking in a similar league. Where the CD-i fell down in comparison was in the controls. Too many concessions to address the numerous controllers options available and no true day one multiplayer. Otherwise the hardware is quite competent, particularly for games with lots of FMV requirements.

There were in fact three Zelda games on CD-i, not two:

Wand of Gamelon

Faces of Evil

Zelda's Adventure

 

The former two are sidescrollers whereas the latter is a top down view. And I would have to say that they all really do suck. The AVGN reviews of those three games really do cover all the bases without much hyperbole, regardless of my disagreements with the Nerd on Hotel Mario. The controls are poor, the graphics are often a barrier to gameplay (not being able to recognize traversable pathways, background objects blending in with foreground), the hit detection is bad, the level design is often cheap, the load screens are frequent and long, the cutscenes are terrible.

[Austin]

Yeah, I can't say the CD-i Zelda games are good at all. They are playable, and it's not like they are broken or anything, but they are extremely sluggish, clunky, and a chore to play. This goes for even the third one that resembles more of a traditional top-down Zelda game.

[Osgeld]

totally ignoring the fact it has mario in it the game is a extremely over cooked simple classic, and while it has pretty graphics it lacks things like controls that are worth a crap, and its not even that fun

 

not to derail the topic, but why is it when a game is called shit, the atari age post always says something about it being the worst game of all eternity? There is a difference tween bad, and its so bad you have to check this train wreck out, and a lot of ground in between.

 

I dont think I have ever seen anyone besides this post call it "one of the worst games of all time", that sir would be a freaking feat considering what a "gem" the CD-I was

Edited May 21, 2014 by Osgeld

[godslabrat]

Is it true the 3do was a failure??? Discuss

[AtariORdead]

Hotel mario had the unfortunate situation of having to live up to the standard of other mario games and be compared to them, but thats the stuation you put yourself in when slapping a name like that on to a game.

 

As for the game itself, its not great, but certainly not terrible. I imagine if it had something like a looney toons, or disney character attached to it instead of mario it would have been given a bit more leeway.

[CatPix]

From what I have read and found on the Internet, it's more than Philips didn't had any idea on how to deal with video games company; also, the company's heads had no idea the CD-i could do better than they expected (and remember, it was 1993, so they were probably all very ignorant of video gaming. Maybe some of them were concerned 10 years ago when Philips was selling the Videopac/Odyssey² and the MSX computers, but that's about it).

It's kinda typical of Philips behaving. Not much people knows that the Laserdisc was created by Philips, and didn't get success because Philips didn't know how to market it and was unable to pair with a media distributor to get famous movies. Pioneer bought the right to the then-called LaserVision, renamed it LaserDisc and marketed it as high end high fidelity video support, with a large choice of classic and new movies.

 

The same happened with the CD-i; it's a powerful machine for the era, but it was made with serious shortcomings because the creators and directors had their idea of the product, but not much clues about how the public would like to get from the CD-i.

The 3DO have a multimedia side; the pad bear "reading" functions that also act like actions buttons if needed. This certainly could have been made on the CD-i, but it didn't, instead keeping only the pad and two actions buttons.

Think about how making games would have been easier with at least the play/plause button added to the pad, serving as a real pause/menu button.

 

Anyway, when the deal with Nintendo broke, Philips had this Mario and those Zelda licence to use, and no idea on how to make them true.

 

They simply offered big money to ANY company that would show them a working proto of a Mario and/or Zelda game, and a free CD-i development toolkit.

This is where Super Mario's Wacky worlds come from. One company showed up with this proto. Philips was impressed, and they gave the money.

And because they forgot to tie the money offer with the release of a completed game, they ran off and kept the money, with no desire to complete Super Mario's Wacky worlds.

 

Then came Animation Magic, which tried to cash on the Mario and Zelda games to get a foot in the video gaming industry, with quick and easy money.

 

You may have read from Animation Magic Developers that Philips offered too little money to make a game; the fact it, this money was an HELP, not a complete funding of the game. AM made two games out of the same game engine (the two first Zelda games) and the Mario game, for later releasing their "Mutant Rampage : Bodyslam" game on CD-i.

The latter CD-i Zelda game was ALSO made in 1993, but by another company, who did a careful bug tracking and intensive testing of their game, to the point of delaying the game release by a year.

[+thegoldenband]

As for comparing the CD-i to the 3DO and Jaguar, I'd say with the addition of the DV cartridge, you're talking in a similar league.

 

Jeez, I don't see how that's true -- those two consoles have a lot more horsepower, no? The CD-i can do FMV rail shooters pretty well, but I don't remember seeing anything to suggest that it can pull off games like Escape from Monster Manor or Road Rash. My impression was that the CD-i's only real trump card is high-quality FMV.

[mbd30]

James and Mike playing the unreleased "Super Mario World" sequel for CD-i. I wonder how good this game would have been. What exists is so incomplete that it's hard to say.

 

[xDragonWarrior]

James and Mike playing the unreleased "Super Mario World" sequel for CD-i. I wonder how good this game would have been. What exists is so incomplete that it's hard to say.

 

if what they have played,if it had of been released(granted they kept the gameplay the same),it would have most likely pretty decent.Maybe not a true successor to Super Mario Worlds but still a pretty good attempt(again assuming the game would have stayed like it is in the proto)

[Bill Loguidice]

 

Jeez, I don't see how that's true -- those two consoles have a lot more horsepower, no? The CD-i can do FMV rail shooters pretty well, but I don't remember seeing anything to suggest that it can pull off games like Escape from Monster Manor or Road Rash. My impression was that the CD-i's only real trump card is high-quality FMV.

 

It's definitely not a one-to-one equivalent, I'm just saying it puts it in the conversation. The DV cartridge added quite a bit of memory and allowed the CD-i to run games like The 7th Guest, which required a good 486 PC at the time, with excellent color fidelity and resolution. Considering how many FMV games were on both the 3DO and Jaguar CD, it could often perform better in those scenarios, and even offer improvements for regular games. Certainly the CD-i platform had significant flaws, but, all things considered, it was competitive for its time, and, despite the 2+ year headstart over the 3DO and Jaguar, was arguably at least competitive with those two platforms with the addition of the DV cartridge, which was a standard feature on later models. Naturally, as with any add-on, support wasn't universal, but it was at least a significant portion of the library.

[CatPix]

For multimedia purpose, it's certainly a good system. However, it lack EVERY feature on other systems of the era : no scrolling, no tiles, no sprites. And for the Jaguar and 3DO, the CD-i lack 3D capabilities. And on that chapter, even the "weak" Jaguar can perform better than the CD-i.

It does have a good CPU and graphic capabilities.