Actually, with this new info about the "Super Guide" that's come to light, I must confess my position on it has softened. However, two things about it still bug me:
1) Though it's been somewhat confirmed that this feature will be in a future Zelda game anyway, I really think that that kind of game is really the only kind that can appropriately use this sort of feature. Will I ever die eight times in a row on a NSMBW level? Probably not, but even if I did, what's to be gained by skipping around? It's not like there's some gripping plot or continuing series of events that's compelling me to get ahead--like most 2-D Mario platformers, progression is its own reward. Besides, going off of "number of times died" may be an easier way to gauge one's difficulty with a certain segment of a game, but it's puzzles and strategy-based stuff that would seem to merit a "Super Guide" more than dexterity-based trials--Metroid Prime 3's hint system irked me, but it was appropriate in context.
...Of couse, maybe I've got this all backwards, and it's actually better to let player's guides and the human brain solve strategic issues, while "demo play" stuff can take care of "I know what to do, I just can't do it" situations in a platformer (I'll admit it, I've been there).
2) It seems Nintendo is primarily targeting their games--including NSMBW, partially--at the people that were playing them during the NES era, so technological advancements had better be the only reason this feature is suddenly needed now and not when SMB came out.
