Author Topic: Miyamoto Hates Stories (Read 32589 times)

Trainman · « **Reply #90 on:** August 23, 2009, 11:18:30 PM »

Either way, it'll be fun and be another epic game.

Also, with Galaxy being the best thing since 3D sliced bread (aka. Mario 64), it's an epic milestone for Nintendo to be breaking their trend of "One Mario adventure/platform per console generation." I'm glad that they're doing it with a very good game. 3 would be pushing it if they were to do the Galaxy theme again, so after this one we should give them time to let them think on a new Mario game for the next console.

However, they'll have 3-4 years before the next wave of consoles will probably be coming out, so they should have plenty of time to have another Mario game ready when the console launches or at least within 6 months of the console launching. Actually, I think that in this current age, releasing an epic system with an equally epic game would kinda be a sensory overload and the game would soon be overlooked, so I say release the next Nintendo console, then have the Mario game come out within 6 months of it launching so everyone can get a feel for how awesome the next console is first. Right as they're coming off that high, the next Mario will launch and punch them right in the face and it'll be the best bloody nose they'll ever have.

Reading · « **Reply #91 on:** August 26, 2009, 08:09:22 PM »

Quote from: Trainman on August 20, 2009, 01:04:36 AM

I'm probably the biggest advocate for more story in Mario, character development within the game, and, dare I say, a slightly "darker" Mario...

I thought I was. Well! Good to see someone else who shares these opinions. I pretty much agree with that entire post (what you said about the Lumas and the Storybook).

I'm ecstatic about Galaxy 2, with my only real concerns being the story (obviously) and Yoshi (I never really liked him). The style and environment Super Mario Galaxy 1 created is really fun and expandable; there are endless possibilities. They could probably make five Mario Galaxies before I'd even begin to get tired of it.

Trainman · « **Reply #92 on:** August 27, 2009, 12:43:21 AM »

Well, I hope they can at least sneak something in, like Galaxy, or more than Galaxy.

However, if it's the same story caliber as New Super Mario Bros..... I'm gonna freak out. Not that I'm bashing NSMB because its storyline wasn't deep, nah, a simple Mario platformer kinda shouldn't be (it was just a comparison)... but what I'm saying is both Galaxies are/will be the pinnacle of the Wii and are/will be epic, so the storyline must be equally epic to keep everything in balance. If the game is "Ah, crap, Bowser Jr. jacked the Princess" then there's cutscenes in the galaxy select screen showing him dragging her to the next hideout (a la NSMB)... and that's it, yes, I'm gonna trip.

"Help!"

J.J. McCullough · « **Reply #93 on:** August 27, 2009, 05:35:42 AM »

If there is to be no character development or significant continunity in the Mario games, fine.
But what gets me is when you have games like Partners in Time, in which the plot has to basically contort itself in wild and strange ways precisely to avoid the former.

So in any other RPG, traveling back in time to encounter a younger version of the protagonist would reveal all sorts of new and interesting information about his background, upbringing, etc. But not in Partners in Time! Baby Mario, Baby Peach, and Baby Luigi are just sort of... there. Sitting there like props in the Mushroom Kingdom, forever and ever and ever.

I remember in this annotated Calvin and Hobbes treasury, Bill Watterson mentioned how he regretted giving Calvin an extended family, because it became awkward for him to have uncles and aunts who couldn't refer to Calvin's parents by their first names, and keeping Calvin's parents nameless was one of Watterson's most cherished rules of the C&H universe. As the Mario series gets more epic due to new technology, and as the Mario RPG series continues to thrive, Miyamito's "no story" rules become very difficult to enforce in practice.

Imposing no plot on a game that needs one to remain coherent can be enormously counter-productive, if the intent is to keep the franchise dynamic and interesting. There's a reason why we'll never see "Space Invaders Tennis," for instance.

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #94 on:** August 27, 2009, 08:00:05 AM »

I just realized how bizarrely ironic it is that SMG2 will apparently not have a decent plot, while Mario Power Tennis's introduction weaved a complicated backstory with virtually no dialogue.

The Chef · « **Reply #95 on:** August 27, 2009, 11:05:29 AM »

I guess that's what happens when development teams that aren't headed by Miyamoto make a Mario game. Then again, sometimes it doesn't work out so well (see Hudson's treatment of the Mario series in Mario Party for instance).

CrossEyed7 · « **Reply #96 on:** August 27, 2009, 01:33:36 PM »

I just realized that JJ posted for the first time since like forever.

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #97 on:** August 27, 2009, 01:46:13 PM »

Yes, as did I (with the appropriate level of amazement), but I didn't say anything because I figured he'd posted something about it on the appropriate thread.

Weegee · « **Reply #98 on:** August 27, 2009, 01:55:59 PM »

21 posts in nearly a decade. I'm internally debating whether that's dismal or impressive.

Toad · « **Reply #99 on:** August 27, 2009, 02:44:37 PM »

Quote from: The Chef on August 27, 2009, 11:05:29 AM

(see Hudson's treatment of the Mario series in Mario Party for instance).

I thought they did ok the first 4 or 5 times. They made good use of characters such as Lakitu fishing for items from other players or Magikoopa mixing up the items.

At least it's not like the Sonic series, where a character is introduced once, then never seen again.

CrossEyed7 · « **Reply #100 on:** August 27, 2009, 03:07:23 PM »

That only happens to the good characters. Everyone else gets shoehorned into every game at the expense of coherence. Although I do like Blaze.

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #101 on:** August 27, 2009, 04:23:04 PM »

What's wrong with the Mario Party games?

coolkid · « **Reply #102 on:** August 27, 2009, 04:34:31 PM »

You know, I don't think that the Mario games need THAT much story. I think the Zelda games do, (get teh spiritual stonez, save hyrule, save zelda, OMG THAT IS SUCH A GREAT PLOT) because they're adventure games, and adventure games generally tend to have more story than most platformers, and lots of story wouldn't work so well in Mario's happy-go-lucky universe anyway.

Trainman · « **Reply #103 on:** August 27, 2009, 11:51:14 PM »

Holy crap, I know it's been said, but friggin' JJ. I remember him doing mailbags then he fell off the face of the earth.

Anyway, coolkid, I'd have to disagree. Mario is an adventure/platformer. It should have some story because we've been treated to almost zero story forever. Galaxy was good at being discreet about it; now, they should flesh it out a bit more and start intertwining a lot of Mario games.

I absolutely *love* shoutouts and references to past games.

ShadowBrain · « **Reply #104 on:** August 28, 2009, 11:12:13 AM »

I'm thinking that the more Mario games that are made, the more important a plot will be. I mean, Mario games are always fun and generally innovative, but the fact of the matter is that still boils down to "run, jump, A-to-B, get [number] [something--probably stars] to [repeat], fight Bowser". Sometimes a plot needs to be there if only because we need to be distracted from the fact that's it's still pretty much the same gameplay setup as last time.