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GameCube (Games)

Mario to Shake His Groove Thing 69

Posted by Zonk from the my-childhood-is-crying-out-from-it's-grave dept.
After the news earlier this week that Mario would be shooting hoops in NBA Street, I decided that Nintendo had reached the end of its tie-in rope with Mario. I was wrong. The newest Dance Dance Revolution title for the Gamecube will be called Dance Dance Revolution with Mario. From the article: "As the title suggests, Dance Dance Revolution with Mario is a new installment in Konami's DDR dancing game series, featuring characters from the Mushroom Kingdom. Details on the game haven't been disclosed yet, but from the released images, DDR with Mario seems to play similarly to DDR, with familiar backdrops featured in the 3D installments of the Super Mario series." Ow.
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Mario to Shake His Groove Thing More

Mario to Shake His Groove Thing

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  • No Surprise (Score:4, Funny)

    by Psychor ( 603391 ) on Saturday January 08, 2005 @06:28PM (#11299764) Homepage
    This comes as no surprise to me - I always feel like dancing after I have eaten hallucinagenic mushrooms.
    • Don't forget the (opium)flowers. Fire Power! Just watch out for all the monsters crawling at you when you take these mushrooms and flowers.

  • I dunno... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Trillian_1138 ( 221423 ) <slashdot.fridaythang@com> on Saturday January 08, 2005 @06:30PM (#11299787)
    I'm conflicted. On the one hand, this would seem to be a really dumb use of Mario. People already know what DDR is, and don't need a product tie-in to make the sale. In fact, if I was presented with two versions of DDR, one Mario-filled and one 'normal,' I'd go with the normal one.

    That said, I'm really glad the GameCube is *finally* getting a version of DDR. For the most part I enjoy the games released on GameCube more than those released on PS2 or XBox. But one of the notable exceptions I wish GameCube had has been DDR, and it looks like this opens the door for future releases.

    So, overall, I'm pleased with this announcmenet, because I've been wanting a GC DDR. At the same time, I wish they didn't have to make another Mario tie-in...

    -Trillian

  • Good idea. (Score:5, Funny)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Saturday January 08, 2005 @06:39PM (#11299867) Homepage
    I think this is a great idea. Mario could stand to lose some weight.

    Of course, with all the exercise he gets (Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mario Baseball, Mario Trout Fishing-xTreme), you think he'd be in better shape. Just what IS his diet anyway?

    PS: I like Mario Golf, etc, but this just seems like they are renting Mario out for money. Why not just make Mario Basketball if you want him to play?

    • Re:Good idea. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Gothic_Walrus ( 692125 ) on Saturday January 08, 2005 @06:46PM (#11299918) Journal
      Why not just make Mario Basketball if you want him to play?

      That would require a significant investment of time and money for Nintendo. If they can get a company like EA to agree to use the characters (and possibly pay for the privilege) in an established series, that's worlds better than developing a basketball game of their own.

      Beyond that, if Nintendo really is losing the console race so badly (though I doubt they're doing as badly as has been reported here), they need all the help they can get. If that means licensing out characters to increase sales of GC versions of games, so be it.

      It seems a bit odd that Nintendo is doing this after all of these years (how long has it been since the CD-i debacle?)...but if it's what it takes to keep them around for the next generation of consoles, I'm all for it.

      • Re:Good idea. (Score:3, Interesting)

        by xgamer04 ( 248962 )
        ... if Nintendo really is losing the console race so badly ...

        Actually, it's not as bad as the Slashbots would have you think. The XBox just recently passed the GC in worldwide sales (based on the last sales thingy I read), and I think one of the reasons of that is because the cube doesn't play DVD/CD, which was not really the smartest thing to do.
    • Of course, with all the exercise he gets (Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mario Baseball, Mario Trout Fishing-xTreme), you think he'd be in better shape. Just what IS his diet anyway?

      Yoshi's cookies.

    • Re:Good idea. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by SetupWeasel ( 54062 ) on Saturday January 08, 2005 @10:38PM (#11301245) Homepage
      PS: I like Mario Golf, etc, but this just seems like they are renting Mario out for money. Why not just make Mario Basketball if you want him to play?

      This is how Nintendo is reaching out to third party developers. I think Nintendo is starting to understand that their game making prowess casts a shadow over other companies that want to make money on their system. So they are offering characters (NBA Street 3, DDR, and Soul Caliber) and entire franchises (Starfox to Namco, F-Zero to Sega) in order to share the spotlight and prove that they want others to profit making games on Nintendo consoles.

      That's the way I see it anyway. Nintendo is in a precarious position. Because they are such a good game maker, they have to make some concessions to 3rd parties if they want others to develop for their systems.
  • Hey Everybody! DO THE MARIO!! Take One Step and Then again!
  • There was already a Disney version of DDR. It was only a matter of time before Nintendo decided to slap Mario on a DDR game. Nintendo seems interested in putting Mario on everything, knowing people will buy it just because of Mario.

    • Re:Eh... Not suprised. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by xenocide2 ( 231786 ) on Saturday January 08, 2005 @07:04PM (#11300067) Homepage
      Well, hey why not? As long as the product is high quality, its not like its eroding the brand. There was an article not too long about about how Nintendo was branding everything in sight, rather than developing new franchises. I used to be a bit miffed over how they put his face everywhere, but really, how many franchises does Nintendo need? They've got a big enough cast that they can actually make a fighting game out of it with 30 characters from like 10 franchises (star fox, metroid, zelda, kirby, pokemon, mario, fire emblem, f zero, earthbound, donkey kong...). Really, some of those franchises don't do as well as the best, so its natural to help trim the bottom line with some extra income from Mario to help offset the less than stellar F Zero GX sales (still an awesome game and a better buy daily).

      Yes, people will buy it because of Mario. Will it be a crappy game because of Mario? Will Mario be crappy because he's in the game? My answers are no and no. Really, whats going on is Nintendo is trying to attract games over to their system, and they're using their own new "seal of approval" to do it. Nintendo gets a popular game on their dominated console (sadly), the game makers get a dose of more sales, and cube owners get more games.

      Mario, by and large, will always be judged by the flagship games that bear his name, rather than the one offs with his face on it.

  • Shoot me now (Score:2, Interesting)

    by bersl2 ( 689221 )
    If I want to play a game with Mario in it, I will load a 1st or 2nd-party game like Super Mario 64 or Super Smash Bros. Dance Dance Revolution has a recognizable look-and-feel, which this abomination will dilute.

    Ugh, why do I even try to rationalize this opinion? I hate this I hate this I hate this.
  • Okay fanboys, repeat after me:

    "Nintendo is the most original and innovative game developer there is!"

    Seriously, I look at this as a corrolary to the article posted yesterday [slashdot.org]. And I think Woody says it best [gucomics.com]: this is nothing but shameless franchise whoring. This isn't the sort of thing that's going to get Gamecube sales up.

    • Re:W-H-O-R-E (Score:3, Insightful)

      by lightspawn ( 155347 )
      Seriously, I look at this as a corrolary to the article posted yesterday. And I think Woody says it best: this is nothing but shameless franchise whoring.

      Not every game has to be innovative. It's DDR for a platform that had no DDR game before. It's still a good game. Kids (and others) will get a kick out of the inclusion of familiar and loved characters.

      Nintendo's happy, Konami's happy, gamers are happy.

      If the game does not appeal to you, it's a pretty good clue you're not the intended audience. Go bac

      • It's DDR for a platform that had no DDR game before.

        Fanboys' excuse until now: If you have a GameCube, a Game Boy Player, and an imported Japanese DDR Game Pak for Game Boy Color (one of the three DDR GB mixes), you have DDR for GameCube.

    • Okay fanboys, repeat after me:

      "Nintendo is the most original and innovative game developer there is!"

      They are, among the currently surviving companies. (For my money, up until the mid 90's Atari Games was more consistently original, but they aren't around any more.) This is simply not arguable, there's too much evidence against it, though admittedly not as much in this generation as past ones. But still, calling people who don't agree with you fanboys detracts from your argument more than anything.
      • You should see the console sales in Japan on a week a Mario Party game comes out. They eat it up there.

        And don't forget about Advance Wars, Golden Sun, and Animal Crossing. When you think about it, Nintendo has an amazing number of franchises. There are a lot of single games that might become franchises too.
        • Advance Wars, Golden Sun, and Animal Crossing

          Yep. I can't begin to tell you how much time we've (that is, me and my friends) put into both Advance Wars and Animal Crossing, it's well into hundreds of hours for each of them. Golden Sun is a bit too by-the-numbers RPG for my tastes, though. Also, technically Advance Wars is the continuation of the ancient Famicom (then Super Famicom and also Gameboy) Wars line, which was Japan-only for years and years.

          Other notable Nintendo standouts, recently, have bee

      • (For my money, up until the mid 90's Atari Games was more consistently original, but they aren't around any more.)

        Tengen and its coinop arm Atari Games are still around as part of Midway. But does Midway still make games that live up to the same standard?

        • Tengen was not the same thing as Atari Games.

          Tengen, I think, was a part of the Atari that sold home computers and consoles, while Atari Games was pretty much solely an arcade company (later, around the N64 era, one that worked on its own home ports). I tended to like the arcade Atari a bit more than the other one.

          • Tengen, I think, was a part of the Atari that sold home computers and consoles, while Atari Games was pretty much solely an arcade company

            Then why was Atari Games v. Nintendo [harvard.edu] about Tengen's "Rabbit" modchip? And why was Klax published by Atari Games (arcade), Tengen (early home versions), and Midway (more recent GBC port)? It appears you have it backwards. Tengen was the brand that AG used for console ports of AG's arcade titles because the other "Atari" was taken by the consumer division, which was s

            • Then why was Atari Games v. Nintendo about Tengen's "Rabbit" modchip? And why was Klax published by Atari Games (arcade), Tengen (early home versions), and Midway (more recent GBC port)? It appears you have it backwards.

              Ah, you may be correct then -- but note that I did express some doubt as to whether I was accurate about the Tengen/Atari (computer) connection.

              Atari Games, however, remains one of the more original companies to have produced games, I don't see how anyone can argue with that. (And it wo

      • I disagree about quite a few of those games. Mario Party 6 is far superior to 5. My wife loves it. Also, Mario Tennis is supposedly great. Quite a few of my friends love it.

        I think the real issue is that Mario/others don't have the pull they once had as a franchise, so Nintendo is spreading them out while they still can. They will need to find a new franchise character, or more likely, find a franchise game like the PS2 has with GTA games.

        They still have a good chance at a franchise person in Link.

        • I disagree about quite a few of those games. Mario Party 6 is far superior to 5. My wife loves it. Also, Mario Tennis is supposedly great. Quite a few of my friends love it.

          It may be superior to 5, but it remains that it's still the sixth game, and the one before it was the fifth, in a series that hasn't really changed all that much since the original. Sure there may be new kinds of spaces and an inventory and weird extra rules, but it's difficult to justify Nintendo's milking this particular cow so much
    • Yeah, it is whoring, but personally, I think it's at least amusing whoring. I may take a look at this.
  • People act like this is a new thing.

    Mario has been featured in a wide variety of titles as far back as the NES. He was the Ref in both the Nintendo published Tennis and Punch Out games.

    People buy Mario games, more Mario games get made. I would have thought this is some sort of basic rule of business.

  • Actually, I think this is kinda cool... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...mainly because I really don't like most of the DDR music (I mean, I KINDA do, but not really, and I bet a lot of people feel similarly), but if I get to dance to the Mario music, I'd bet I could probably really get into it. Which would you rather dance to? Drop the Bomb? Its a Small World After All? Or the Mario theme?
  • They have put mario into just about everything EXCEPT a true sequal to Super Mario 64...
    • That's the problem with Nintendo. Once they knew Mario worked, they abuse it by putting him in every game.

      They are not creating new and better gameplay. They're not even creating sequels here. They are just trying to market the same damn thing again and again. And see who's stupid enough to keep paying.

      • What are you talking about? They're not just selling the same thing repeatedly. (Well, some older games are getting ported to their handhelds, but that's different). They're just taking a character(and his related world/universe) and placing him in unsual games, and seeing how it affects gameplay. And a lot of it turns out being pretty darn cool.

        I think it's a pretty fascinating way to come up with new gameplay. Mario brings with him a whole bunch of cool stuff. His famous abilities, yoshi, parahnia plants
        • I think I'll expand on your point for you.

          For many of these games, any character would do, but Nintendo has no reason to introduce a new star character for each new game series they make. If you take Mario out of Mario Kart, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mario Party, and anything else, you'll end up with games that still need to have some character associated with them. Why would they want to introduce new heroes and heroines for games without storylines?

          The fact is, these games that everyone is complaining a
    • Umm, they've already announced a game being called 'Mario 128' is being made for gamecube right now.
  • over that other lame dance music any day.

  • Hmmm... (Score:3, Funny)

    by SunFan ( 845761 ) on Saturday January 08, 2005 @11:51PM (#11301651)

    Do they feature the Princess shaking her booty in a latex mini-skirt?
  • I'm sorry, we're supposed to care about your 'childhood'? Who are you again? Why not try reporting news like the grown-ups?

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