i know, but at least the teeniest, tiniest bit extra would be fun.

i cant agree.

to me, story is just a bonus to contextualize fun gameplay.

of course stories are great, but gameplay matters the most.

if you have a good story but bad gameplay, nobodys gonna care about the story anyway. just look at sonic and the secret rings, good plot but nobody cares about it cuz theyre too busy being mad that the controls are bad and the missions are annoying.

its not that the story even needs to be super detailed or complex. just anything thats even 0.00001% more than "bowser kidnaps peach" would be perfectly fine. thats what super mario odyssey and paper mario 1 did, and everyone loves those games.

no game really "needs" story, mario or otherwise.

but it's just nice to have, isn't it?