As one of the longest-running series in video-game history, I think it’s safe to say that most people think they have a generally good idea of what a Mario game is. But as the Super Mario games have evolved over time, they have come to encompass several different styles of play and different approaches to gameplay design.
The “sandbox” term has been used to describe many different games for many years, and Super Mario 64 certainly wasn’t the first, but the definition of “sandbox gameplay” has evolved quite a bit over time, to the point where it can now mean very different things to different people, and also very different things in different games.
As good as the original was, when I first laid hands on the early ROMs of Metroid: Samus Returns, I knew the reimagining was going to be something special. The atmospherics of the environments were gorgeous even early on in development, and they really popped with 3D maxed out—the difference between these haunted caverns and the original b&w backgrounds was profound. But within minutes of landing on the planet and heading into the first subterranean network, I got introduced to an even more startling difference—Samus’s melee counter.
from GoNintendo
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