2D Gaming Still Rocks

IGN played Bionic Commando Rearmed's multiplayer modes and said it was great, but it's missing online multiplayer. There's an interesting little nugget in the comment about it:

The original plan was to add online play to this, but it proved too difficult since the gameplay was not built with online lag in mind. Judd did note that online play would be considered in the event of a sequel.

Wow, already talking about a sequel. Could you imagine a brand new 2D Bionic Commando game? I'm excited enough about the update of the classic one.

I like the way things are heading lately in regards to video games. It seems like once 3D games became possible, that's all any game developer wanted to do. 3D has its place, but it shouldn't be considered a replacement for 2D.

Above: 10 Worst 2D to 3D Games

Take Nintendo's old 2D Mario and Zelda games. All they have to do is update the graphics and release them for the Wii (like Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES), and they'd probably sell millions. Of course, they just release them as-is on the Virtual Console, and people still buy them anyway, so what do I know.

Original SMB3

Super Mario All-Stars SMB3

On a related note, Nintendo no longer makes Mario sprites the way they used to. The Mario found in New Super Mario Brothers for the DS looks much different than the one from Super Mario World on the SNES. I found an article on it awhile back, and you can read it here. Basically it amounts to this -- it's easier to make a 3D model than it is to make individual 2D sprites.

Take a look for yourself at the evolution (or de-evolution?):

  

From Left:
Super Mario Bros (1985, NES)
Super Mario Bros 3 (1990, NES)
Super Mario Bros 1 & 3 All-Stars (1993, SNES)
Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2004, GBA)
New Super Mario Bros (2006, DS)

I think I actually prefer the All-Star version.