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Nintendo Games Technology

Nintendo Legend Miyamoto: Mario Needs To Evolve To Survive (cnet.com) 88

Posted by msmash from the 2016-101 dept.
Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's legendary game designer, and his fellow developers were tinkering with a "one-button control scheme" for Mario, where all a player can do is make Mario jump. This dead simple idea became the crux of the company's new Super Mario Run, one of the most anticipated mobile-app games of the year. CNET adds: "We found a great way to make an accessible Mario game and bring it to iPhone and reach a lot of people," Miyamoto said Thursday through his translator. "That's when we decided to make Super Mario Run." Super Mario Run may become a critical next step for Nintendo, which has struggled for years to maintain its relevance in gaming against Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox, as well as a surge of mobile gaming apps. This year, it garnered some attention from Pokemon Go, though it's only partly involved in that game. Now, two more Nintendo mobile gaming apps -- Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem -- are on the way, which could provide the Japanese company with a big boost.
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Nintendo Legend Miyamoto: Mario Needs To Evolve To Survive More

Nintendo Legend Miyamoto: Mario Needs To Evolve To Survive

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  • a suped up Flappy Bird. I hope it's a good game though.

    • More like CANABALT (Score:3, Insightful)

      by _merlin ( 160982 )

      CANABALT [canabalt.com] is actually a lot of fun, but it's pretty sad if Miyamoto's so out of ideas a CANABALT clone is the best he can come up with.

      • So the innovation isn't so much the game concept. Its the fact that its Mario. Because we all know that Mario is a really person that needs to be poked and prodded into doing games and not just a jumble of code and a collection of sprites. Explains why they haven't made a decent 3d Mario game since galaxy. The old guy probably doesn't have it in him after doing all those handheld games.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Megane ( 129182 )
      They just needed the courage to have a "one-button control scheme" for Mario.
  • So one of the world's oldest and biggest game companies has run out of ideas, and their very survival hinges on a clone of a simple game some Vietnamese guy wrote in a couple of hours. Good luck with that. It was nice knowing you Nintendo.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Are you suggesting that dumbing down is not progress? Because I think we can all name a few major software companies that seem to live by that strategy.

      • Correct. Windows 10 is dumbed down compared to Windows 7. Those with abilities hate it. Those who lack technical prowess love it, as it's right up their alley. It's too bad that "new" users will only experience dumbed-down and remain at that level. So it'll have to be dumbed down even further.

        I forget which Sci-Fi story it was, but eventually society will transform into 2 classes: the tech-savvy sub-class minority that keeps things running, and the vast majority that's completely ignorant of anything "under

    • Re:Flappy birds clone (Score:5, Informative)

      by Piata ( 927858 ) on Friday December 09, 2016 @10:28AM (#53452015)

      Nintendo's survival does not hinge on a $10 mobile game. Not even close. Your post and this article are poorly informed and borderline inflammatory.

      Nintendo's future largely depends on the success of the Switch but even if that goes belly up, Nintendo still has plenty of cash in the bank [attackofthefanboy.com] so stop with the doom and gloom nonsense.

      • Yea, I think Nintendo's ability to adapt is too conservative as well.

        I grew up on Nintendo but I have not purchased anything from them in a long time now. Mainly because I have now sworn off consoles due to the landscape, but even when 360 and ps3 were around I bought those but no Nintendo. Their library is too small and far more games are arriving on the PC compared to the consoles.

        Consoles need to die, they are long past the point of serving their purpose.

        • PS4 sales show you are completely off the mark, but lets not stop the PC gaming circle jerk.

          • The PS4 is now a cut-down PC with a closed operating system, and the vast majority of games that it gets are "remasters" (nudge nudge, wink wink) of older PC titles.

            • Vast majority? How? It gets tons of NEW games each month, and many of those games are simultaneously released new to PC, so they are by definition not "remasters".

              (BTW, I 'just' got a PS4, and purposely buy old games myself, and would rather play old/cheap games.. so I wouldn't care if what you said were true.. but it's not.)

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by aevan ( 903814 )
              That's only fair...looking at the Steam catalog, the majority of new games are ports of smartphone games, with a good amount of RPG Maker and visual novelettes.

        • Re:Flappy birds clone (Score:4, Interesting)

          by RKThoadan ( 89437 ) on Friday December 09, 2016 @12:26PM (#53452707)

          In counterpoint to that I think Nintendo is the most adaptable of the 3 console makers.

          Last Christmas we agreed that it was time for a new console in our house. I initially assumed it would be a PS4 or XBone, but as I looked into the games available everything I was interested in on PS4 or XBone will also be released for PC. The PS4 and XBone are so similar to a PC that I saw no point in them. I went with the Wii U and am quite happy with it. I doubt I'll be getting a Switch next year, but I can envision getting one at some point. I can't envision getting a console that's mostly indistinguishable from a PC and Nintendo is the only console maker that seems to offer anything else.

          • Re:Flappy birds clone (Score:4, Interesting)

            by scubamage ( 727538 ) on Friday December 09, 2016 @12:55PM (#53452923)
            We picked up a Wii-U because my wife likes Nintendo games, and honestly with a kid on the way they are more appropriate to all audiences. The console itself is excellent - the fact that wii mode allows the running of homebrew software lets you leverage the extremely large library of homebrew that is out there for the wii, some of which has been re-hacked to be compatible with the wii u pro controller. So, my Wii U runs games from turbo grafix 16, NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, Gamecube, Wii, and of course, the wii U. I have nearly limitless access to gaming through that thing. Could I do it on a PC? Sure, maybe if I was by myself. But it's hard to sit down at a single PC with 4 people and play a game together. I can sit 4 people on my couch and play a game together with controllers without a problem using the Wii U. Which brings up another important point...

            The nintendo catalog tends to be focused on couch co-op. The PS4 and Xbox tend to cater to more mature audiences, and they tend to almost always focus on online multiplayer. While online multiplayer is still playing with other people, it's really you, sitting by yourself in a room, talking over some tubes to other people. It's just not the same as sitting down together and playing a game.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        >Nintendo's survival does not hinge on a $10 mobile game

        You're right, the actual game is not The Savior. The article is really about Nintento's ability to grow with the times. This game is merely an effect of that.

        Remember, Nintendo began as a card game company. CARD GAMES! So to even be participating in mobile anything is commendable.

    • Nintendo seems to survive all predictions of biting the bullet.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      There are plenty of "one-button" games that are better than Flappy Bird.

      Jetpack Joyride is one of them, as is the recently updated Tiny Wings (after a couple of years ...).

      Both of which I paid the 99 cents for because they were highly enjoyable and fun. And yes, I bought Jetpack Joyride before it became free. And it still remains one of the better Freemium games where payment is not required at all (except for a couple of specific characters). But you don't need to pay to win and grinding to get the stuff i

  • Tell that to to Sega, and Sonic. They couldn't figure out how to make a fun 3-D version, and Nintendo won.

    Mario is doing just fine in both 2-D and 3-D.

    You'd have to be an idiot to think that people want the world's most recognized platforming hero (even at the end of the Rio Olympics), to change drastically at the core.

    • What Mario really needs, is more focus on co-op Mario Bros.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Piata ( 927858 )
        Can you elaborate? Just about every Mario Bros game for the past 5 years has had co-op.

        • Mario Galaxy?

          What people really want... is the Mario 64 series... with co-op. (Mario 64, Galaxy, etc.) It's the best Mario series--other than maybe Super Mario World to some--because it has the best level designs and stories.

          They tried to half-ass multiplayer with that "every level is isometric and square" one, Super Mario 3D World. But it... it didn't have the charm and fun of the level design. Forcing everyone onto one screen forced the perspective into a less personal one, and much less ambitious and int

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by drakaan ( 688386 )
            I'd pay $60 for either Super Mario Universe or Super Mario Sunshine 2
          • Game design-wise, co-op 3D is a different beast. 2D allows multiple players to share the same screen, therefore "share the experience". In a full 3D game, you have to do split screen. Which is possible and has been done -- but it's very hard to make those games foster the same feeling of cooperation. You pay more attention to your own side/corner of your screen, instead of the big picture. Everyone's free to wonder off and do their own thing -- and so, they do. The only way 3D co-op is done well if wh

      • New Super Mario Brothers for the Wii was big on multiplayer both co-op or in my case usually one good player and a bunch of others flailing about. If you watch some of the in-game videos you can see great examples of co-op working out with Yoshi's passing a player around and some pretty amazing feats pulled off.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Sega had other issues.

      If you go and play those old games from the 8- and 16-bit eras, give Sega's first-party titles a quick comparison to Nintendo's. Not on the merits of hardware specs or any of those fanboi-style "wars", but on the merits of which games are more appealing, more functional, and more polished.

      Nintendo's games will slaughter Sega's games in that comparison, hands down, almost every time. Sonic had that "Nintendo" polish. Nearly everything else Sega ever made lacked it. Sure, some of Sega's

  • Duh (Score:4, Funny)

    by operagost ( 62405 ) on Friday December 09, 2016 @10:11AM (#53451913) Homepage Journal

    One button is all you need. Great idea.

    - Steve Jobs

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gomoku ( 745800 )
      apple would innovate on this idea by removing all buttons and controls that way you don't even need to play you can just watch. Mario comes in 3 shades pink, gold, or space gray. The console will need several dongles, sold separately.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by darkain ( 749283 )

        Oh, that sounds like my most favorite MMO of all time: Progress Quest! :D http://progressquest.com/ [progressquest.com]

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Merk42 ( 1906718 )

        apple would innovate on this idea by removing all buttons and controls that way you don't even need to play you can just watch.

        Something Awful innovated that years ago with the birth of Let's Plays.

  • I can't seem to get enough stardust or candy however hard I try. When I looked up what he evolves into it just appears to be a lawsuit.

  • Pokémon Go showed something last summer.

    That is there is money to be made selling software and services. Who makes money with console hardware these days?

    If I were Nintendo I would make my tools available for Sony and MS and a lite mobile version in a licensing agreement. I would use my games ported as leverage to convince a sharing with Sony and Microsoft to sell Nintendo APIs on their stores and tools.

    Who here would buy MarioKart for their ps4 or phone if it were available?

    • Who here would buy MarioKart for their...

      ...phone if it were available?

      That sounds like the worst version of Mario Kart ever. I cannot fathom a worse version of Mario Kart.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Mario kart for ps4? Count me out. I can already play it on my Wii U without any monthly fees. Nothing better than a 12 player online Mario kart race without having to worry about paying an online access fee. Plus Mario maker, smash bros.

      At this point there is no denying that the Wii U is a failed console. Nintendo has already discontinued it. I still love mine, and understand why ps4 and xbone owners want these games, they really are the best. The marketing failed hard (is it an add on to the Wii?) but the

  • In the name of diversity he should evolve into a girl.
    Also he should change his name into Giana.
    And get a sister.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Clsid ( 564627 )

      if that is how things are going to be I want my edition of Mario Amigos, with Mario wearing a Mexican poncho.

    • He needs to be a black lesbian blind girl with Aids if we're really doing this right.

      If he's a blind girl of course it makes the game cheaper because they don't need to do any graphics.

    • That's what princess Peachy was supposed to do. A Mexican princesa would have been more effective, though.

  • Online only DRM though (Score:3)

    by HalAtWork ( 926717 ) on Friday December 09, 2016 @12:13PM (#53452619)

    That won't work for the kids, who use a tablet that's not allowed to access the internet

    • Totally offtopic, but presumably you allow the tablet to connect sometimes (e.g. to download other apps). How do you manage that? Are there apps that you allow to them to use over the internet, maybe with supervision? I'm curious because a lot of child-focused apps seem to assume that there is an internet connection for updates, etc.

      • I've got a ton of apps from Babybus, Toca Boca, Russpups, Rovio, PBS, and many others that work just fine offline, there's about 80 games on the tablet that work great and I am constantly finding more. I have updates set to manual and only download updates if something is broken. If a game doesn't work due to lack of connectivity, I delete it. I always preview the apps first so no disappointments.

        I have NoRoot Firewall to block access to individual apps so when I do go online to get games, individual apps s

        • BTW no I don't allow browser or youtube or anything online. They really have no need to go online and I have some of their favorite movies/shows loaded on the tablet anyway and switch them out for new ones regularly (charlie & lola, mr rogers, sesame street, etc)

          There are no games with any interesting online functionality so far anyway, but we haven't gotten into Minecraft yet. I got that on PS3 from the bargain bin though and I assume that works fine offline. If the kids want to play with friends we in

  • This has got to be this year's biggest understatement. I wonder if in the original Japanese it was quote so muted.

    it garnered some attention from Pokemon Go
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • To me it's more that everyone is running to low-input stuff. Puzzles? Complex control sequences on simple control schemes? No, running and jumping and controlling your movement is too much for today's tiny brains; learn from the Wistar rat: put one button in front of a signalling stimulus, and train them to press it at the appropriate moment to receive a reward.

  • Before the NES/Famicom was released in the US, Nintendo games (proper Nintendo games, not just crappy 3rd party titles that licensed thr Mario/Zelda characters) could be had on many different home computers and gaming consoles. Looks like they are returning to doing that.

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