mario papr is not that good

brisa

After seeing this photo, I was thinking the opposite, that it is Nintendo pimping out Mario in order to push a serious hockey game onto the Wii. Then again, maybe they are just pimping each other.

Wonko42

They should've used Paper Mario. ¬_¬
He's so much better.

Gunmetal_Grey

i really was looking forward to playing a hockey game on the wii. but useing mario to sell a hockey is alittle should i say over done i mean people that get hockey games are people that like hockey games and puting mario into the picture just looks tacting

nuttedscentedalien

@Does Not Equal:

Not Marco Polo, buddy :) And not water polo either, but Horse-Riding, Club-Swinging Polo. [www.lakewoodranch.com]

Lazlo

@Green-clad Gamer Dude: Stop spoiling MGS4! I didn't know Liquid Ocelot was Mario...ARGH :P

Northern Cat

Any videos out there showing how this game controls? Sounds like one of those hit or miss opportunities.

subnet6

What's this? Chris Simon has just impaled Mario with a hockey stick! Oh the humanity!

ComixZone

@Does Not Equal: You are confusing the swimming pool game Marco Polo, the sport water polo and regular polo.

Polo is a team sport where people ride horses on a field and hit a ball using long-handled mallets into a goal. Water polo is a team sport that takes place in a swimming pool where players score goals by throwing a ball into a goal.

Velops

Oddly enough, NHL 94 for Genesis was the last hockey game I've played. Was it NHLPA or NHL? I can't remember.

mind in rewind

Approximately 300 feet away, Snake silently set Mario's head in his crosshair...

Green-clad Gamer Dude

@Lazlo: If it's a Mario game why would they ride horses? Players would definitely ride Yoshis.

Velops

@Lazlo: Wouldn't that just entail everyone splashing around with one guy yelling out the first word of the game's title and everyone else responding with the second word?

Does Not Equal

@BigShell: Does Japan like hockey?
I don't think they do...(at least not large scale)

braagh

Has Mario had his own hockey game yet?

BigShell

Oh, I'm still holding my breath for Mario Polo. Just wait til you see what the Chain-Chomp powerup does to the opposing teams horses....Tee hee hee

Lazlo

Mario Hockey would be cool.

Tizlor

As it was the NHL awards, it was no surprise that all in attendance pronounced it "Mair-ee-oh."

Does Not Equal

He must be an imposter, just look at the M on his cap...its about to peel off. The real Mario would never let his clothing get to that state

yashichi8bit

Nintendo seems to be pimping out Mario for all kinds of tricks these days.
Did they promise to buy him a new fur coat, some high heels,or mabye some fishnets?

hk458

Smarmy indeed!

StupidityTries

Sellout

Barbara

We need to see Mario in a hockey game with Mario, ASAP!

RWHC

Hoc...keeee? What is this hockeee?

Gilbert

@RWHC:

They could call it Mario Slappers...
How many times have we all wanted to give Peach a slap-shot? Come on!

OoBaSNoRk

A sign of things to come! Mario Hockey! With a plastic hockey stick pack-in you slide the Wiimote into and flying into televisions everywhere.

And how come Mario's right hand looks like it's backwards? D:

cheesecake000

Take your Hoc-key? crap back to deadspin, please.

YouArnottTheFather

To be fair, NHL 99 and NHL 2001 were both awesome.

Forkball

One day I'll see a sequel to Mutant League Hockey, and there will be many broken enemies upon the ice. That's the Hockey game I'm looking forward to...

Salen

@Salen: So just like regular hockey?

All I know about ice hockey is that Thor meant it to be a bloodbath.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

nhl 2008 on the 360 is regarded as being the best simulation of the sport to date. the game has near perfect physics, controls, and an overall sense of realism. the games realism makes it fun as hell to play, way more so than any of the "major" sports games.

as a fan of 94 i gotta admit that EA did what most of us thought was never gonna happen...actually make a good hockey game again.

still, hockey gets no damn respect. having the best atheletes in the world doesn't matter i guess when they're mostly european and canadian and we know americans like to see their own.

DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin

hockey kicks ass.

I've been hoping for a Wii hockey game since the wii controller was announced. IT could be awesome (or...not)
Still, though nhl 2008 is probably the best nhl since 94 (06 was good too), just imagine physically handling the puck around defencemen and roofing a shot top shelf. Lamps (and arms) will be broken.

As for the question of whether or not they like hockey in Japan - surprisingly, they do. They have a pro league ([en.wikipedia.org]) - though id rank it down around the 25th-30th best pro league in the world. The nhl also recently saw its first Japanese born and trained player get into the league (though he only played a handful of games, goalie fukifuji (sp?) for the LA Kings). Overall I'd say things are looking up for hockey in the orient. Now with Mario as the commish...

underthechestnuttree

has no one yet jumped at a "omg mario in hockey game" or a "wootz a mario bros hockey game!"?

MrBubbuls

@Velops:
@Lazlo:

Christ, guys, it was a joke. "Mario" looks like the name "Marco," see. I was making a play on how similar the names were. I figured that was pretty obvious. Notice how I didn't actually use the title of the game in the comment. I wasn't expecting belly laughs, but I didn't think anyone would actually think I was serious.

So much for subtlety.

Does Not Equal

@Does Not Equal: Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.

Sarcasm and subtley don't translate very well on the internet unless you have pages of text to set it up.

Velops

Phbt. Stupid 2K. Dion Phaneuf is on the cover of NHL 09, and is dating Elisha Cuthbert. And I live in Calgary. NHL 09 = win.

The Magnificen7

I wonder if to americans NHL games are the equivalent of Rugby to me (a canadian)

I see those rugby games and go 'what?'

(this did not imply that americans know rugby. only that hockey might be as alien to you as rugby is unknown to me)

interstate78

@braagh: They tried to release "Mario Hockey" for the Wii, but the test group in Japan thought it was "Mario Broom" and were frustrated when their wiimote sweeping motions failed to win the game.

Nawara_Ven

@interstate78: Are you suggesting that the people of the United States wouldn't understand the National Hockey League? Have... you ever seen an NHL game?

There are currently zero Canadian teams in the playoffs.

Nawara_Ven

@Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.: Yeah, except for the skating zombies and lizards and demons. And the occasional death... or ten. Other than that, yup, just like normal hockey. Seriously, the idea of next-gen hockey-playing zombies fills me with this deep sadness that it might never come out.

Salen

@Salen: EA spitting on money is nothing new, my friend.

CommentatorHatman

@Nawara_Ven: I had a friend from Los Angeles who didn't know who Wayne Gretzky was.

... He played there for years! the greatest player of all time!

No I guess what I'm asking is, do Americans in general know hockey? I saw a survey somewhere which said that in the rankings of favorite sports, hockey was below bowling... and a plethora of others.

In Canada, hockey is a religion. Of course not everyone likes it or can play it because the equipment needed is expensive, but it's by far the most popular sport.

Oh and by the way the playoffs are over and Detroit won the Stanley Cup. I think it was last week.

With only 6 teams out of 30 in Canada, we can't win every year eh!

interstate78

@interstate78: Hockey is obviously not as popular here as in Canada but it definitely has it's share of fans. It's pretty popular in upstate New York (where I live). Practically my whole family are hockey nuts. I, myself have played for 8 years (not professionally of course =p).

Foxdie

@Velops: Next time, I'll pepper it with emoticons and clichés so everyone knows.

Does Not Equal

@Does Not Equal:

That's the spirit. :) <3 LAWLZZ

Lazlo

@Tizlor:

as fun as that would probably be, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BRING BACK MUTANT LEAGUE HOCKEY and more importantly MUTANT LEAGUE FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry got outta hand there for a sec......

freespeech