So many games feel too long to me, but Wind Waker is the rare game that feels too short. I really wish Nintendo had taken the time to get that one right, or added in much more of the cut content when re-releasing the (excellent) HD version. I understand why they didn't - virtually all of it had been used for…

This is part of my problem too - it's hard for me to separate Mario Galaxy from the unhappy place I was in back when it came out. I don't have that for all games from that era, but Super Mario Galaxy for some reason is very much of a time and place for me.

That doesn't sound right - FFXII came out long after Metroid Prime, didn't it?

I wasn't fond of it either, but are you including Super Mario Land. Because that is clearly the worst Mario game, haha.

I think the Isle Delfino thing was a cool decision that turns the game into something of a love it or hate it situation. I didn't care for it, but if I enjoyed Isle Delfino as a place, I probably would have loved it. I'm happy they committed to the idea (much like Dinosaur Land in Super Mario World), even if it didn't…

It's not surprising to me, years later, to discover that I enjoy Twin Peaks, as I've been very keen on the Nintendo narrative philosophy for the better part of a decade now. Canon, continuity, and clear narrative structure can get in the way of telling or showing a unique, impressionistic tale, and I think that's…

I'm much more amenable to the no-narrative approach than most, though I love a good story. Much of it, for me, comes down to what the game is trying to do - in something like a Mario game, or a Donkey Kong game, movement and exploration are the key factors. If narrative comes between the player and those elements,…

I think I would have appreciated Sunshine more if it was my first opportunity to dive into a Mario game. I think I'd played every one released prior to it, with the exception of Super Mario Land 2, and something about it felt off to me. It's a good example of a game not being bad (far from it), but not being what…

I never cared for Super Mario Sunshine, but I have often wondered if it was more me or the game that was the problem. I'd grown up with Mario games, and loved Super Mario 64 like everybody else, but Sunshine felt like it took the series in a direction I wasn't prepared to follow. At the same time, I was at an…

WHAT?! That's an excellent scene - perhaps one of my favorites in the original series run. And that's coming from someone who typically loves Lynch for the surrealist dread.

This makes oodles of sense. I hadn't thought too critically about that whole sequence, but your explanation is as good as any (and better than most!).

Hey, Australia needs national treasures too :)

Yes! It's one of my big beefs with the medium overall, though I feel like we're doing a lot better with it than we were ten years ago.

Those are some interesting comments from the week! I'm sad I missed out on those conversations - really should have looked into the Crash article.

I've heard that FPS and points of reference on screen have a pretty serious impact, with 60 FPS causing less motion sickness (and higher amounts perhaps offering even less) while an aiming reticle in first-person games mitigates the issue. Maybe that's why more recent generations have fewer problems. I keep wondering…

Oh wow, that sucks! I'm fairly sensitive to motion sickness, but didn't get it there - it really seems to vary so much from person to person, eh? I am rather intrigued though: the PS2 and PS3 versions of Okami didn't give me motion sickness, but the Wii version hit me harder than pretty much any other game. What is it…

Good call. Bomberman is my go-to, and I still have some great Wii U titles for multiplayer, so I'm not seeking anything new, but if I do so eventually, it'll be Jackbox 3.

You're right about the boss fights in Dark Moon. They are probably the weakest point of an overall excellent experience, and do kind of make you wonder why the developers felt they needed to include boss fights at all when the core gameplay didn't really lend itself to that (see also Braid).

Ohhh, now I feel like a dummy. Sorry @avclub-b91683b43004775114c06b099964b0b0:disqus!

With regard to the Wii, I was the same way. I think the only games from that generation I ended up loving were Super Mario Galaxy 1+2, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Skyward Sword and Xenoblade. And of those, the motion controls were absent in Xenoblade and only handled superbly in MPT and Skyward Sword; Mario Galaxy would be…