Fungi Forums
Video Games => Mario Chat => Topic started by: Glowsquid on October 15, 2013, 06:06:14 PM
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I recently came across this interesting piece (http://dromble.com/2013/09/21/nintendos-frustrations-with-3d-mario/) 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.
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Well, they're a company first and foremost, but it's still saddening to read.
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People had a "problem of not knowing where to go and getting lost?" That's half the ding-dang fun right there! It's not like SM64 levels, excluding the last two, were all that massive, either! But my own complaints aside, I suspected this might be the case. I have to admit, I was 100% part of the 3D breakaway faction until Galaxy brought back mostly linear level design. As entertaining as spherical world-hopping was, I couldn't forget how SM64 was more fun to explore. You know, thinking back, one neat thing about SM64 was how its levels usually had some sort of ascent or descent associated with them, a very "king of the hill" approach to fun. SMS often had that, too, although unlike with the caps, it rarely had anything that really shook up methods of movement. I can only remember a few mountain-climbing levels in Galaxy. But anyway...
...Now that I've lost interest in consoles, it's kind of a futile thought exercise in my case.
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Nintendo has this problem where if something doesn't sell well, even if it's something that DID sell well once, they immediately decide to never do it again instead of trying to do it better.
Except Yoshi's Island.
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(https://themushroomkingdom.net/board/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.kym-cdn.com%2Fphotos%2Fimages%2Fnewsfeed%2F000%2F533%2F426%2F6f9.jpg&hash=94538e30fb7089e96667d265afb9c4f0)
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maybe we'll never get a game as good as sunshine ever again
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How about Mario Galaxy 3???
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How about no???
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Yeah. They should have left SMG as a single title. SMG2 was pretty much Yoshi fanservice and didn't improve on anything that I saw: power ups were still time limited, Mario still moved at a slow speed (I had that complaint about the first game too. Not even long jumping speeds him up..), and there was a lot of "you fought this boss in the first game, but here use this one new annoying power up this time".
If SMG2 had been the first entry, I might have liked it more, maybe.
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My biggest disappointment with SMG2 was that it was even more linear. Just give me a big, open, square world to explore.
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So... Minecraft?
I haven't played Galaxy 2, but what I understand is that it's basically more of Galaxy 1, which is always welcome in my living room.
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More like 64 was what I was hoping for.
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There is one thing about Sunshine I think was an improvement over 64. The worlds went through several changes every mission, much more than in 64. In 64 I sometimes feel like "oh bleh, now I have to play THIS level over and over" because, nonlinear as they are, the stars often send you down the same road several times in a row. And the only ones you can pick up on the same trip as any others are the 100-coin ones. It's always a bit demoralizing when you inavertently earn a star halfway through trying to get an entirely different one.
I don't even have the Galaxies in the same group as 64 and Sunshine in my head because it's so much more linear and the galaxies change even more per mission. Galaxies are like the opposites of Banjo-Kazooie, B-K taking nonlinearity to the max, never changing the world, and not even having segregated missions.
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I always wished for a follow-up to Mario 64 that played more like Banjo, e.g. collect any Star you want in any order without leaving the level.
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See also: Toy Story 2.