New Super Mario Bros. Wii Attempts To Bridge Casual/Hardcore Divide 119
When Nintendo returns to its roots next month by releasing a new, 2-D, side-scrolling Super Mario Bros. game for the Wii, it's trying to do more than simply hop on the retro bandwagon many publishers have ridden in recent months. Speaking at a roundtable discussion in New York this week, Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto talked about how they're trying to satisfy fans of the series who want challenging gameplay in addition to attracting new or casual players just looking for an entertaining platformer. Quoting:
"... you can play the story mode single-player all the way through from beginning to end, and at any point along the way, you can add players from the world map and have up to four players cooperate to complete the levels. And beyond that, there are two dedicated multiplayer modes, one of which is free-for-all, which lets you select the stages from story mode ... so you can easily find the stage you like. And then there’s also a coin battle mode which is a competitive multiplayer mode, in which you’re actually competing for points and you’re getting ranked based on how many points you’ve collected. The free-for-all mode has kind of a similar feel to something like Mario Kart where you just happen to have four people over and you want to sit down and play a quick match in your favorite level."
The good old days (Score:2, Interesting)
I remember once leaving my NES on for a week straight trying to get to the end of the original super mario bros when I was a kid without using any warps, good times.
I'm glad however that the wii one is getting a multiplayer, and I look forward to the level designs, I may actually have to buy a wii now instead of just fixing them for friends!
The "Hardcore/Casual" divide is bullshit anyway (Score:5, Interesting)
If you've ever seen a so-called "casual" gamer get into a game you'll notice they really devote a LOT of attention to it and tend to deal even with the harshest challenges. What you need to make one of them play your game isn't low difficulty, it's a beginning that convinces them the game is worth their time and many "hardcore" games botch that badly with overly long intro cinematics followed by boring as hell tutorials which are necessitated by overly complex game design. Complex here doesn't mean deep, many games that use the whole controller are just "shoot anything that moves", it's that they have a crapload of minor functions thrown in there that you'll rarely need but still have to memorize and camera views geared for "immersion" rather than understanding WTF is going on.
You could probably implement a modern FPS with Contra's gameplay without really sacrificing the fun. Contra was something recently made gamers enjoyed on the NES. It didn't waste your time, it was about action and offered the joy of playing cooperatively. And if it's too hard, up up down down left right left right B A.
Define casual (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not sure what casual means. I think the different types of player are:
- Social, the ones who come not for the game per se, but for the community and companionship
- Recreational, the ones who come for a quick, easy, romp in fantasy-land
- Hard-core, the ones who want to beat the game or their fellow players, and who will invest time in understanding and mastering its mechanics.
I think the problem with casual, is that it tries to cover social and recreational, and ends up meaning... idiot... which alienates the hard-cores.
WoW is kinda covering all bases, with guilds, lots of solo and easy ("normal") content, and heroic raids + pvp rankings for the hardcores. I think their issue at the moment is that
- lowering the "maintenance" effort (grinding, farming) for the players to make the game more accessible to casuals is making the game boring for hard cores: there is not much to do outside of raiding, and raids are very easy and short these days. Achievements farming only does so much, especially since not much skill is required, just time.
- having hard-core content that is not very different from the casual one (you're no longer killing a very exclusive boss, only the same as everyone, but in hard mode) is kinda a let-down
On the other hand, I've tried EVE, and found the game not very accessible (I had trouble understanding how to complete a few very early quest), and quite overwhelming for the new player.
Re:hmmm... (Score:3, Interesting)
I dunno, those things are what makes Mario Kart Mario Kart. It can be irritating, yes, but it also lends an element of unpredictability and hilarity.
On the other hand, playing that game gives me nasty hand cramps, because of the way I have to hold the DS.
Re:If I just happen to have 4 people over? (Score:3, Interesting)
For me, it's every time I go visit my family. Mario Kart's actually more second-tier though - Ravin Rabbids, Wii Play, and Wii Sports are the faves for group play. Super Monkey Ball and Chicken Shoot also see moderate use. Oddly enough, the one game I picked up specifically for group/family play - Mario Party 8 - was a total flop. Too long between turns, people kept getting distracted and losing focus/interest. Meh, you win some, you lose some.
Generally, games where people can basically just pick up the controller and get going with minimal training seem to be more popular - at family get-togethers we're only going to play for an hour or two max, so spending 15 minutes per person training them on complex moves just isn't a viable option. Simultaneous co-op play also seems to be a big plus - if someone sucks at first they can still have fun since the experienced people can pick up the slack and keep the game moving forwards.
So do you play group games on another system? That'd be fair enough - XBox and Playstation both have multi-player titles that aren't on the Wii. (Or do you not play group games on any system, in which case I don't get your point - maybe that the Wii failed to capture your group's attention when nothing else did either?)
None of my friends happens to own an XBox - most have PS3s, only a couple others have a Wii, and there's a random assortment of older systems. But I know that the XBox 360 outsells the PS3, and I thought that in the U.S. it's actually not all that far behind the Wii (despite lagging by a wide margin in worldwide sales). So rather than pondering who Microsoft is making games for, I just shrug and accept that there's clearly a demographic that's buying XBox 360 consoles and games...just happens that me and my circle of friends aren't part of that demographic. Apparently my group is rather atypical - if I went with my own direct experience, I'd think that the PS3 was tops, the Wii second-place, and the 360 a total loser, and I'd be wrong in all cases.