Messages

46

Mario Chat / Nintendo's frustration with 3D Mario

« on: October 15, 2013, 06:06:14 PM »

I recently came across this interesting piece and I figure I might as well share it. It's about Nintendo's perception that SM64 "split" the fanbase and how Sunshine's underperformance pushed Nintendo to shift to the more linear design of Galaxy and (more overtly) the 3D __ series. I was vaguely aware Nintendo considered past 3D Marios "too complex" to an extent, but I didn't think it ran that far back.

The Register spoke to Satoru Iwata [in 2003] and reported the following: “Iwata blamed falling games sales on overly complex titles that are too tough for newcomers and casual gamers. They’re also bad for the business, [Iwata] added – gamers can spend months playing them, and while they’re doing so, they’re not buying other titles. Those who find they can’t win get so fed up with the experience, they don’t feel inclined to buy an alternative title. Nintendo’s message to the industry seems to be: forget about discs jam packed with ever more complex levels and involving gameplay, and give the punters something they can complete quicky – and get out to buy more of the stuff.  Iwata wants Nintendo to focus on games that have a broader appeal.”

More importantly though, it's a perhaps uncomfortable reminder that Nintendo make games for consumers, not fanboys.

47

Mario Chat / Re: Too Hard for 'Murica

« on: October 09, 2013, 06:23:36 PM »

Somes sites credit the book Game Over (for example) for that bit of trivia, but I've got a copy of the 1999 edition and it doesn't actually have anything about SMB 2.

48

Site Discussion / Re: I want The Chef banned! :(

« on: September 11, 2013, 03:18:06 PM »

are there any other Mario message boards besides this one.

No.

This is bad comedy.

Best read in Leonard Nimoy's voice.

49

Mario Chat / Re: Will there ever be a new Super Mario cartoon?

« on: August 30, 2013, 11:23:26 AM »

Didn't they delay Pikmin 3 to make an anime for it?

Oh right, I forgot that (though Miyamoto has contradicted himself on wheter it is a series of shorts to promote the game in theaters or a full-blown series) though I don't think they ever delayed the game because of it.

Thus, Nintendo won't ever make another Mario cartoon or movie simply because they don't need one.

Yeah, that too.

50

Mario Chat / Re: Will there ever be a new Super Mario cartoon?

« on: August 30, 2013, 06:10:06 AM »

bull[dukar] speculation: The DIC cartoons were produced at a time where Nintendo's western subsidiaries had more independance (and thus, more opportunities to whore out the franchise) and Mario, while very popular, wasn't quite the revered staple it is now; thus, there were far less worries of devaluing the franchise with low-quality derivative material. Nodaway, Nintendo is very protective of the image of its bigger series (Bowser's brief appearance in Wreck-It-Ralph was tightly monitored by Nintendo), and NOJ probably thinks those Super Mario-kun mangos are the most cost-effective way to promote new releases. The failure of the F-Zero anime (and I don't think Kirby did all that hot either, though I'm not as sure) probably compounded that.

Real answer: SMW cartoon was a TOUGH act to follow.

51

Mario Chat / Re: (Video) Interview with Super Mario Kart Sound Composer Taro Bando

« on: August 19, 2013, 07:58:02 PM »

I do love me some obscure vidcon memorabilia. Thank you for going through the trouble of uploading this.

52

Video Game Chat / Re: The Struggles of Marketing GameCube

« on: August 18, 2013, 08:08:04 PM »

Interesting read. Some odd statements from the interviewed (" No one, not a single soul, could believe that Nintendo was capable of being unseated as Number 1, even while it was happening right in front of them.” You mean unlike the N64?). Feels like a typical NES article in that it lacks the extra work and rigueur needed to be a great piece rather than a merely interesting one, someone on NeoGaf made a great post explaining the problems with it;

Emily clearly has a passion for this stuff and her heart is in the right place. It's very interesting to read an interview with someone who worked for NOA, which in and of itself is a very rare thing.

That being said, the guy's narrative has him in a room full of obvious idiots, the lone voice standing up for what is clearly true--and then he follows it up with a second stroke of genius. Especially with the lurid detail on Reggie's expressions. It's the kind of blustery story that someone tells. I have no doubt that this guy had a role to play in Nintendo, and quite possibly that he made those suggestions to Reggie. And certainly the allegations of myopia and blindness register true based on the external evidence we have. But the story reads like one guy's boasting.

Like when the junior staffer of the political campaign quits and writes a book about how close he was and all the meetings he was in on and all the great ideas he has and then the candidate and the actual inner circle say "Who? Oh yeah, that guy. He seemed okay, I guess?". I'm not saying that these events did not occur... it's possible they occurred exactly how he said them... but typically when presenting one person's personal narrative, especially one that self-elevates, it's important to be critical and skeptical of it. Maybe there were multiple meetings. Maybe the marketing idiots weren't quite so uniform as they expected. Maybe multiple people had suggestions.

That's also why journalists typically don't run single-source interviews as history or descriptive pieces. If you keep it in interview format, you're saying "that is what he said". If you make it the basis for your story--which this clearly is, given that it has a history piece preceding it--you're endorsing it. Obviously it is labeled as an interview, so there is that, but still I think distance is a good thing. Typically a journalist gets a second source to confirm, corroborate, extend, or refute the first source in order to construct a more holistic picture. I'm sure any of the journalists on GAF would be happy to tell what industry best practices are for handling single-source information like this.

And basically everything post-his departure is just "asking a guy what he thinks". Which is common for interviews, but not super productive. There are a lot more people who want to play inside baseball than those who are actually on the inside ;)

I do love the quote section, though.

53

Latest News / Re: New Super Luigi U coin challenge issued by game director

« on: August 02, 2013, 08:12:37 PM »

Why? Mario is Missing was more than satisfactory.

54

Game Blog / Re: Mario Kart 8 Producer: "Double-Dash" mode was considered

« on: July 17, 2013, 08:47:46 PM »

I have a lot of time to kill so I've started to translate the full Gamekult interview. Google translate is surprisingly comprehensible here, but something more... presentable? is better, I guess.

Let's begin with an easy one: How did you decide to implement inverted gravity in Mario Kart 8?

Yosuke Yabuki :We decided on it for many reasons.The first is that I was already the director for Mario Kart 7 and we ahd to gratly reduce the number of polygons to make it run on a portable console. This time, we have far less to worry about and we can get really polished visuals. Next, nNntendo games like F-Zero and Super Mario Galaxy already featured anti-gravity. We thus pondered how we could rework the idea to make it work for Mario Kart, and we decided we needed to start from scratch. The main reason, however, is that Mr. Konno pushes us to alway think of new and interesting concepts for our upcoming games, so we have a lot of pressure. (laugh)

Hideki Konno : In Mario Kart 7, we added flight and underwater driving. What else could we add after that? (laugh)

Then, why didn't you developed a brand new game or a new F-Zero, considering how much fans request it?

HK : [see OP]

KY : I also think you'll agree that the Mario Kart universe is well-suited to the track reversals and twists associated with anti-gravity racing.

Is the game developed entirely internally, or do you have help from external studios, like with Retro Studio on Mk7 ? Since the game bears some similarities to Sonic All-Star Racing and that you sometime work with Sega, was there any collaboration ? [translator note: What kind of asinine balderdash is this?]

HK : Ah, no. The entire game is handled by EAD Tokyo.

Did you face additional challenges by developing for the Wii U, compared to the 3DS? What changed the most?

HK : We face difficulties every time we develop a new game, including this time, but it's also fun. The one aspect we focused on the most si the switch from SD to HD, difficult but educative.

KY : The change in definition brought in a greater number of graphic artists to improve the visuals, but this happen to every videogame company.

In the playable floor demo, we can't say that the GamePad integration is very elaborate. Do you plan on adding more functionalities, or do we have to settle with the horn and the map?

HK : [see OP]

In that case could you explain how Mario Kart TV works? We don't know if we can share full videos or if we'll have to settle with short segments...

HK : We have yet to decide this in a definite way,, but we're leaning toward showing only the "Best Of" of the race in a short loop. In the E3 demo, the races only last two laps, but there will be three in the final version and we wonder if players will really have fun watching the entire race. We alkway think about fun while making this kind of adjustment

Mario Kart : Double Dash introduced a fun gimmick by having two characters by kart and pairing it with the GamePad could be interesting. Did you consider bringing back tag team-bbased racing for the next sequel?

HK :  [see OP]

Ever since bikes have been introduced, I wonder why the series is still called "Mario Kart". Did you think about changing it, or is it non-negotiable despite the appreance of other vehicles?

HK : As you know, Mario Kart is a very popular brand and we're proud of it. For the moment, we focus on making good games. But if you have a better idea than "Mario Bike", don't hesitate to share it ! (laugh)

In the very first Mario Kart, tracks were a lot narrower and making a turn required more skills. Since then, the tracks have become increasingly wide and I wonder where that come from ?

KY : [see OP]

HK : In Double Dash, the tracks were relatively tight but there were only eight racers and thus more breathing room. However, Wii featured twelve racers : thus we needed to widen the track to prevent players from being bunched in and to make overtaking easier. The Wii Wheel was also an influence, considering we tend to do exxagerated movements with motion controls. We wanted to make an accessible game and narrow circuits would have frustrated players

What comes first in creating a new Mario Kart, tracks or characters and objects ?

KY :There's not really an order, we build the game little by little, with successive waves of characters, track and objects, "the Japanese way" you could say (laugh). It's maybe not the most efficient method, but looking at the results, we're convinced it's the best.

HK : We experiment a lot with prototypes : if it works well, we go through, but if it's not engaging, we do not hesitate to go back to start back on good bases..

When did you begin to work on Mario Kart 8 ?

HK : After Mario Kart 7, the team was dissolved and everyone went to work on other projects, but we rebuild the team little by little in order to make the episode. I'd say development started seriously a little bit more than a year ago.

It's been several games and yet one character has yet to drive a kart despite being the first enemy of Super Mario Bros. : the Goomba .Why?

HK : Mmmh, because he has no arms?

Boo neither, I think ?

HK : (laugh) That's right, he only has small arms ! But since he's a ghost, he can use supernatural powers.

Granted! The next question will be for Mr. Konno, since they are about retro subjects. In our last interview, you mentioned Stunt Race FX and I would like to know if that game influenced the evolution of the series. Did you try to make the jump to 3D on the Super Nintendo ?

HK :As you know, the game was made under supervision de Nintendo by the same developer [Argonaut Games, e.d. than the first StarFox, but Mr.r Miyamoto was the producre ; I had no involvement with that project. It's also a game with different type of vehicles, going from the buggy to a 18-Wheeler. Neverthless, I was part of the same division and I remember being open to the idea that circulated internally. When Miyamoto worked on Stunt Race FX,he asked how we could go beyond the traditional looping tracks that end in three turns. It's an idea that stuck in my mind and that I try to applicate; without necessarily making a more open racing game like we've seen before. In Mario Kart 7 for example,the Cheep-Cheep lagoon track features multiple shortcuts to reach the finish line quicker ; this is the kind of thing that could be expanded upon. But it's true that I don't often talk about that kind of design with the development team.

KY : I confirm. This is even the first time I hear that story about Stun Race FX!

Today, developers are used to making 3D racing games, but in indsight, what was the most difficult aspect of adding a new dimension ?

HK :The jump to 3D eased things, in a way. Instead of having to simulate a feeling of depth - no stereoscopy, real volumes - with  2D [sic], we could finally model everything with polygons. Mr. Yabuki may not be concious of that since he's part of the 3D generation,, mais those like me who began on the Famicom or Super Famicom, attempting to make 3D games created too many problems to list.

In that case, could Mr. Yabuki talk about his beginning at Nintendo, his path and the games he worked on?

KY :It must be eight years since I've been Nintendo, but I'm at the point where I've been with the company for such a long time that I forgot exactly how much... (rires). My first game was  Zelda : Twilight Princess...

HK :Yes, that's right, you were in charge of the planning. After that, there was Mario Kart Wii, Nintendogs + Cats, Mario Kart 7 and finally, Mario Kart 8.

Among the race tracks in Mario Kart, which is your favourite? This goes for you both!

HK: This is a question I get every interview and each time, I manage to say : "This is th one I like the best". But there's one that will be forever imprinted in my mind, and that's the first Mario Circuit of Super Mario Kart.It's wih it that we demoed the game and it's thanks to it that we saw the potential of Mario Kart.

KY : That's true, everything complements itself in that rack : the lenght, the turns, the music, the objects ... But presently, my favourite track is this one (he points toward a poster on the wall), the Möbius strip in Mario Kart 8.At one time, it would have been impossible to make a track like this..

Since we're back to Mario Kart 8, have you considred adding more cuztomisation options ? It's not a core part of the series, but many racing games offer this kind of option since many years...

KY : Like Mario Kart 7  we will allow one to change the wheel type, or the type of glider with a little more choice.

HK :The problem is, if we want to offer much more customization options,it would require that peoples in charge of the track design take care of it, and track design is one of our main priority.It's a vital part of the game that requires a lot of time and effort considering how much iterations each circuit go through.Perhap in the future, we'll have enough ressources to have more customization options while keeping the same standards for tracks, but they're an higher priority for now. It's a focused method that has shown its worth, though I am curious to see what we could do with more ressources and a more open mind toward what we can do with Karts

I think  Miiverse integration would be suited to creation options, for players or by players, as much the vehicles as the tracks with an editor. But perhap this kind of thing is too complicated to be implemented in Mario Kart ?

HK : That's right, a simple editor like Excitebike's would be an interesting addition.

KY : To be honest, we're focusing on how to use the anti-gravity system, which was almost build from scratch eand which is quite a bit different from what you can do with a mere editor.

HK : Yeah, we don't want to get players to get too hyped about the prospect of having an editor, so I don't think  we should talk about it too much.  (laugh)

About reverse gravity, I noticed that it stayed the same when the player is hanging from one side or the other, but that it changed with the player when driving toward the bottom. Will it alway be the case or are there times where we'll be able to truly drive in reverse?

HK : There are alway compromises that need to be made made while making a game.It would be easy to make the camera not follow the player while driving, but it would make driving much more difficult and our goal is to make a very accessible game, easy to get into and with the most pratical view when the player is driving downward.

KY : Mario Kart was alway an easy game to learn, but with a lot of depth. I feel we're respecting this tradition by adding the anti-gravity without making it too frustrating for the player.

Last one: The feather in Super Mario Kart was a very interesting item with a lot of uses, but it pratically dissapeared afer that, and that's terrible. Why not reintroduce it?

KY :If we had to bring back that item now, it would cause a lot of problems, but we take your suggestions into account!

55

Video Game Chat / Re: Wii U

« on: June 18, 2013, 08:15:17 AM »

The Wii U has been out for seven months.

The WiiU has consistently missed Nintendo's sales forecast (even after revision)  and, after a very front-loaded launch, is currently below the PS3's - a console launched at 599$ for the most common SKU and which, unlike the Wii U, had no risk of its 3rd-party support being jeopardized by upcoming, disproportionately more powerful systems. I've also read that the Wii U's been doing below both the 360 and PS3 worst ever weeks, but I'm having trouble finding an up-to-date archive of monthly NPD numbers.

Of course, it's possible Nintendo turns things around (and not in a "DROP GAMEPAD CUT PRICE TO 150 BUNDLE SMASH BROS THERE I SAVED YOU NINTENDO"-kind of way), when first-party games finally hit but it's pretty safe to say that the Wii U is plainly not doing satisfactorily at this point of time.

Third-party publishers who either had Wii U games come out recently or who have upcoming games:

There's support and then there's support, though. Sqeenix, for example, may have released a quick and dirty up-rezed port of a Wii game in one region, but is it really substantial support when they've announced two blockbuster releases for competing systems and basically nothing else for the Wii U?

I attribute it to this: Nintendo makes so innovative consoles that no other company besides themselves can figure out what to do with them.

As opposed to a combination of poor branding, featuring a quirky proprietary architecture while competitors are moving to more standard x86-based systems, extended first-party software drought caused by the chronic delay of "launch window" games (and that despite Nintendo basically abandoning its predecessor for the two preceding years, which should've guarranteed some time to get accustomed to HD development), mediocre launch lineup.. etc?

If the WiiU did well, the third-parties would make games for it, quirky control method be [darn]ed. Look at the DS.

56

Video Game Chat / Re: Super Smash Bros. 4 Wii U and 3DS

« on: June 18, 2013, 08:12:36 AM »

To the lowest common denominator of society, yes.

"The name is going to make it a tough sell",

"The brand name alone is going to make it sell".

"Yeah... to the widest audience."

???

57

Video Game Chat / Re: Personal Bests on non-Mario titles

« on: May 23, 2013, 07:22:43 PM »

I'm apparently #52 on the worldwide Lair leaderboard. Of course the game's poor commercial and critical performance limits potential competition quite a bit, but still, niiiiice.

58

Video Game Chat / Re: The Metroid Series

« on: May 18, 2013, 06:58:42 AM »

As much as I laughed at "why can't metroid crawl", it reminded me of when I had a physical copy of Super Metroid when I was 7-years old, and got rid of it because I couldn't get past the noob bridge...

59

Mario Chat / Re: Armor art for Super Mario RPG?

« on: February 05, 2013, 06:03:20 PM »

thank God for Supper Mario Broth.

60

Video Game Chat / Re: The "Wiimake" Epidemic

« on: January 30, 2013, 06:38:49 PM »

I'm generally fine with "remakes" or rereleases as long as it's not skipping on features that could be supported or were in the original version (Like how Wii Mario Tennis inexplicably doesn't support any controllers beside the Wiimote) and the port/emulation quality isn't noticeably bad. With high-quality amateur emulators abundant, there's no reason for a professional release to sound like this.

I was thinking maybe he meant "same game except the graphics are 3D".

As R-Type Dimensions and the aborted Bonk sequel/remake (?) proves, that's generally not a good idea either.