Super Mario ReSTART!

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A REAL GAME

be warned, massive info dump incoming!!

Super Mario ReSTART! I guess can be compared to Sonic Boom in the sense that it would be a new series of spinoff games that ‘reimagines’ the Mario world. It would basically be a multiplayer 3D action platformer like Mario 3D World, but with RPG elements (think Paper Mario). It would also follow a new ‘canon’, but still involve the simple and fun adventures that Mario games include. In other words, it’s still designed for fun and accessibility!

This hypothetical game (series?) would be on the 3DS or Wii U. Here are some alterations to the gameplay:

• There’s no ‘small’ or ‘large’ Mario and there is a health meter made of three stars, like the hearts in Super Mario Bros. 3. Getting powerups add stars. Getting hit will cause you to lose a star and lose your powerup. (A Super Mushroom simply adds a star and doesn’t increase your power).
  
• Every character has a unique powerup, their Equip/Weapon. You don’t start with your weapon, and don’t always have access to it. Unlike the other power-ups, you can usually keep your weapon when hit, but it can break from overuse. Mario, Luigi and Peach have single weapons, while Toad keeps a stockpile of Turnips that can be replenished by finding them in the ground and pulling them up. There are a lot of combos one can do while wielding their weapon.
  
• The inventory is known as the Tool Belt and is accessed on the world map, between levels. From here you have a certain number of slots for reserve items. You can take one reserve item with you into a level, as well as your Weapon. These show up as shrunken-down icons on your character (for example, Mario would have his hammer on one side and a Mushroom on the other if a Mushroom is his reserve).
• There are no lives and no game overs. Ok, some may say this might make things too easy, but I feel like there’s no real reason for lives to be around anymore. They’re a holdover from the arcade days. You get as many tries as you want - the challenge comes from the levels and gameplay itself, and in getting to the midpoint or goal. This means that the 1-Up Mushroom no longer exists.
• Power Stars may possibly have some use in the game, so Invincibility Stars no longer exist in order to keep things consistent. Instead, a new invincibility mushroom item could be added that would have the same effect?

There’s also some RPG elements as well as lots of opportunities for multiplayer fun:

• Coins do not cap at 99, but instead at 9999 or some other number. They can now be used as currency, as you can actually buy things at cities and towns dotted across the world map! These locations serve as resting stops for your adventures and may be full of minigames and other fun things, as well as simply enriching the world. (The current idea is for there to be a world map similar to Mario World and SM3DW. There could be branching paths, secret exits, who knows!)
  

• Levels still have plenty of collectibles in them, just like how recent games have things like Star Coins, Green Stars, Stamps for Miiverse, and more. One element that will be added from Paper Mario is badges. Badges are rarely found and can perhaps be bought at shops for high prices, or found in particularly difficult or out of the way places in certain levels. There are limitations; players can only equip one badge at a time, and no badge is too overpowered or makes things too easy.
  

• Despite the rpg gameplay elements, those elements are very non-invasive and are meant to blend seamlessly into the game. There will be little to no unskippable dialogue and cutscenes that interrupt the flow of the game. This will make both single-player and multiplayer a lot more fun! Of course, if you and your friend want to go around and talk to the NPCs and read their funny dialogue, you can.
  

• Multiplayer competition from SM3DW returns! When you beat a level, you will see tons of fun stats such as who got more enemies, who got more collectibles, who got more points, and more! Even the RPG elements can be fun in multiplayer; things like going to towns and buying items and badges are made as decision processes between friends as they work things out. For example, two players playing Luigi and Peach in multiplayer might decide that Luigi should have a Heart badge (a badge that gives one extra base heart for a max of 4) since Luigi’s player is sloppy and runs into enemies a lot, while Peach can have the Cat’s Meow badge (you make cat SFX) just for fun.
  

But what about the plot? Like, what’s the story? The ReSTART! series is meant to be a series of games. As such, each game would have its own plot and with most of the main (non-RPG) Mario games, the plot is very minimal and like I said, non-invasive. The base plots of the game will differ. They will all be fairly simple just as in current Mario games, but they will be of a different ilk from the ‘Princess Peach has to be rescued!’ standard plot. Peach will be an active ally in the story. A plot could be as simple as 'let’s go through a bunch of levels to save the Mushroom Kingdom from these new bad guys!’

The roster of playable characters may depend on the plot of the game, but the main four are Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad. Yoshi would be in the game, of course, with his own redesign. Other characters from the Mario games will be incorporated, such as Wario, Waluigi, Daisy and all the rest. In this new canon, you may see ideas that the mainstream Mario games never touch upon! (I personally wouldn’t make it TOO fanfiction-y, though.)

Super Mario © Nintendo

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