Tyler's Take: I want more 2D for consoles!

The other day I picked up Super Mario Galaxy 2 and began playing it, and I was blown away by how good the game was. The levels in it are awesome and the music is freaking wonderful. The game was hard to put down because I was having so much fun. After playing it for a while I thought to myself that I should play New Super Mario Bros Wii (NSMB) for a different perspective on the game. For those of you who have not played either game the "Galaxy" title is 3D while "New" is a traditional 2D platformer. The great thing that came out of this, I enjoyed both games equally because they offered different experiences, but it was still Mario.

This got me to thinking about other games that began as 2D and made the leap to 3D: Zelda; Metroid; Sonic; Castlevania; Final Fantasy. Here you have mixed results as the Zelda, Metroid and Final Fantasy series are widely praised for it's 3D offerings, but other classics like Castlevania and Sonic never found the same success in the 3D world.

The funny thing about this is that companies, like Konami, were having success bringing new 2D titles to the handheld market. You see, the long perceived idea is that 2D games could only sell on handheld systems and no one was interested in playing them on home consoles. For many adults, and I throw that term around loosely, we don't have little handhelds for a majority of different reasons. So now that NSMB Wii has sold over 10 million copies worldwide, I believe that we can have other franchises make the console leap back to 2D.

We have a new Metroid title coming out on the Wii that is a hybrid of both 3D and 2D which is fine, but I want a New Super Mario Bros Wii quality sequel to Super Metroid. While we're at it, let's get a nice 2D Castlevania on the 360! With 2D games like Shadow Complex and Mega Man 9 selling great on Xbox Live Arcade I'd hope the floodgates would open. Instead we have Konami taking another stab at a 3D Castlevania that looks impressive right now, but I've been burned so many times before.

And while we have Mega Man 9 on the table let me say this to developers: The fact you made Mega Man is awesome, but you don't have to rely on the "classic" graphics and mechanics to sell the game. I think NSMB proves you don't have to rely solely on nostalgia to put out a great game.

With both of the new Mario games doing so well on the same console I hope it shows companies you don't have to re-invent the box to sell us games. A glimmer of hope for everyone is SEGA releasing a true sequel to Sonic called "Sonic the Hedgehog 4", we can only hope this is a sign of things to come.