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Six things I like about Hotel Mario

-Addictive, like all good puzzle games.
-Characters look great!
-Good, colorful graphics.
-Koopa Kids!
-Music is bouncy & pleasent.
-Save after any level!

Six things I don't like about Hotel Mario

-Animated cutscenes.
-Cheap enemies
-Jumping is broken!
-Limited powerups.
-Loose control
-Too long


Been playing it recently w/my new controller ... much improved!

- The difficulty is unbalanced. (eg wendy . Time limit.
- The door concept is nice
- Nice backgrounds
- High scores are not significant (you can return to the first stage without losing your points, as many times as you want)

I'd forgotten about the time limit ... but you're right!

And the high scores are meaningless.


I also don't care for how a boss can get into an elevator after you are already in one and eat you.

- lack of two player simultaneous co-op mode
- doesn't run properly on DVS CD-i

Shroo-man wrote:- lack of two player simultaneous co-op mode

I really miss co-op play. 2-player games on CD-i seem to be an after thought. (how many are there, like a dozen?)

For some reason I found the controls more responsive* and faster when played with the CD-i mouse. But of course that makes the "up" and "down" needs for the elevators much harder to do.


(*compared to the "4 button" gamepad with a stupid fake screw-in joystick, with a switch for left-handed players. The switch was a nice idea, though it still looks silly having the "." button appear twice)

Gaara wrote:For some reason I found the controls more responsive* and faster when played with the CD-i mouse. But of course that makes the "up" and "down" needs for the elevators much harder to do.

Yes, and also crouching is tedious with the mouse (to avoid the fire in the gothic hotel)
Gamepad > thumbstick > mouse

The best controller for this game is :THIS

Trev wrote:

Shroo-man wrote:- lack of two player simultaneous co-op mode

I really miss co-op play. 2-player games on CD-i seem to be an after thought. (how many are there, like a dozen?)

yeah about that many simultaneous 2 player games. I think there are a fair bit of 2 player games that take in turns though

It's one of my favourite games ever. The 2 player mode obviously allows you to play as Luigi, so it's the nearest on cd-i to ''Sonic & Tails''! I agree that simultaneous 2 player would have been fantastic.

To my knowledge, the following are the only 2 player simultaneous games..

Frog Feast
Solar Crusade
Pac Panic
Whack a Bubble
Mystic Midway - Phantom Express
Ms Pacman (Arcade Classics)
Going Dutch (Family Games 2)
Striker Pro
Ultra cd-i soccer
International Tennis Open
NFL Hall of Fame Football
Caesar's World of Boxing
Rise of the Robots

Alan

Thanks for sharing the list Alan. A shame it is so small, but what can you do?

For a CD-i game Hotel Mario is pretty good. Like the Zelda games, it can't compare to the Nintendo Mario games. Still, given they machine, and the rest of the CD-i's library, it's not bad.

Trev wrote:For a CD-i game Hotel Mario is pretty good. Like the Zelda games, it can't compare to the Nintendo Mario games. Still, given they machine, and the rest of the CD-i's library, it's not bad.

I may be the only person in the world who likes "Hotel Mario" more than "Mario & Yoshi" (Gameboy, also on NES). Then again, I also prefer "Mario's Fundamentals" (PC CD-ROM) and "Wrecking Crew" (NES) over "Mario & Yoshi".

Anyone else think "Hotel Mario" and "Wrecking Crew" are rather similar in some ways?

Gaara wrote:I may be the only person in the world who likes "Hotel Mario" more than "Mario & Yoshi"

You know something, I think you are right.

Seriously, if you genuinely feel that way than I'm happy you can get that much enjoyment from Hotel Mario. Surprised, but happy.

Gaara wrote: Anyone else think "Hotel Mario" and "Wrecking Crew" are rather similar in some ways?

I've actually been contemplating downloading Wrecking Crew on Virtual Console. I like that it has a save feature that the cartridge version lacked. It is similar to Hotel Mario you think?

It's not so much that I love "Hotel Mario" (I like it, but consider it flawed and repetitive), more that I can't stand "Mario & Yoshi".

I wouldn't say "Hotel Mario" and "Wrecking Crew" are "similar", but they share a surprising number of elements, such as going into a door to avoid an enemy. The odd thing: "Wrecking Crew" is a platformer with lots of platforms but no jumping, "Hotel Mario" a platformer with lots of jumping but without any real platforms.

So, what is it about other Mario games that you can't stand?

Btw, I'm gonna download Wrecking Crew now. I've had my eye on it for a while, but the possible Hotel Mario similaraties has me sold.

I think you misunderstood.

I like the Mario series as a whole.

But there a few games I dislike in the franchise, such as the bland "Mario Party DS", and the slightly less awful puzzler "Mario & Yoshi", which has nice graphics and sound, but I can't stand the annoying, frustrating gameplay. A SEGA game, "Baku Baku", did the "blocks eating other blocks" thing better (as did a certain Pac-Man themed puzzle game we all know about...)