The Nintendo Thread of Jumping, Slashing, and Home Decorating
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It's more fun than it looks!
And it looks fun!
So this morning at work we were talking about Bananza and then the topic ended up switching to the video game have we put the most time into in our lives. Everyone else had answers like Skyrim, Dark Souls, call of Duty, and one even said Fortnite. My answer: Super Mario Bros 2.
I've played that game ever since release day on the NES, followed by the SNES remake as part of Super Mario All-Stars, as Super Mario Advance on the GBA, as part of the Wii, 3DS and Wii U Virtual Consoles, as one of the included games on the NES Classic Mini and the SNES Classic Mini (again the All-Stars version), and as part of the NES and SNES Classics on the Switch and Switch 2.
...and those are only the official ways.
As for why its my #1 most played, I think its just that as a kid the hype up to the release was so massive that I was just all in once we picked it up from Toys R Us. Back in the day, we didn't know that it was a re-skinned Japanese market game, it was just a new Mario game with way better graphics than the first one.
For some reason, the gameplay and level design really resonated with me and I found myself liking it far more than the original Super Mario Bros (and I was much better at it).
While SMB 3 had even more hype (thanks to the movie The Wizard, as well as the return to familiar gameplay), and I did play it a ton, in later years, SMB 2 was the one I always went back to first.
I've played that game ever since release day on the NES, followed by the SNES remake as part of Super Mario All-Stars, as Super Mario Advance on the GBA, as part of the Wii, 3DS and Wii U Virtual Consoles, as one of the included games on the NES Classic Mini and the SNES Classic Mini (again the All-Stars version), and as part of the NES and SNES Classics on the Switch and Switch 2.
...and those are only the official ways.
As for why its my #1 most played, I think its just that as a kid the hype up to the release was so massive that I was just all in once we picked it up from Toys R Us. Back in the day, we didn't know that it was a re-skinned Japanese market game, it was just a new Mario game with way better graphics than the first one.
For some reason, the gameplay and level design really resonated with me and I found myself liking it far more than the original Super Mario Bros (and I was much better at it).
While SMB 3 had even more hype (thanks to the movie The Wizard, as well as the return to familiar gameplay), and I did play it a ton, in later years, SMB 2 was the one I always went back to first.
You know what? This is paycheck day, but it's the paycheck that goes towards mortgage and bills, which is to say I still don't actually have money even though I do.
But you know what? It's also been one of those hug everything to hell weeks. So...hug it. 8 minutes of downloading and I'm going to see what the rage is.
I still haven’t gotten the NSW2 yet, so I’ll have to wait to try it. Reviews are exceptional, and the Odyssey comparisons are strong.
Guess I’ll have to put it “on the list” whenever I get the Switch 2. I’m suspecting it might have to be a fall release, depending on when they get more inventory out there.
Guess I’ll have to put it “on the list” whenever I get the Switch 2. I’m suspecting it might have to be a fall release, depending on when they get more inventory out there.
Inventory is out there. I went to the podunk Wal-Mart near me on Monday and they had around 6 of the Bundles and my brother says everytime he goes to the area GameStops they have them as well.
Okay, so, here's something I've been wanting to discuss for a bit but was hesitant because I don't really want to have a discussion that devolves into a heated argument. But there's a couple things that have been kinda bugging me for a bit.
There seems to be two big things that people are really nailing Nintendo to the wall for that I really want to talk about.
1.$80 is too much to spend on a game.
Look, I wholeheartedly agree with that. $80 is too much for a single game. If not for the fact that you can get it as part of a bundle, I would not have Kart World. I see a game for $80, I am very unlikely to buy that game.
That being said, for one thing, there is that bundle option that makes Kart World effectively $50. So there's that. But the main thing is that games used to be $60 and Nintendo was not the first to start hiking up the prices. I forget who had the first $70 game, but I'm pretty certain that it wasn't Nintendo.
Now that's no excuse for hiking it up even further to $80. And I'm not likely to buy any game with that kind of sticker price any time soon. And I'm also fine with taking them to task for it.
But Nintendo isn't the first to hike up the prices and I just don't think it's right to dog pile on them like they are.
2. Key cards
Okay, look. Again, I am not about to defend this. And being a big proponent of physical media, I won't be buying anything that comes on a key card.
That said, if anyone thinks that full games are on a majority of PlayStation/X-Box discs, they're out of their minds. At least Nintendo's being upfront about it.
Okay, done venting.
There seems to be two big things that people are really nailing Nintendo to the wall for that I really want to talk about.
1.$80 is too much to spend on a game.
Look, I wholeheartedly agree with that. $80 is too much for a single game. If not for the fact that you can get it as part of a bundle, I would not have Kart World. I see a game for $80, I am very unlikely to buy that game.
That being said, for one thing, there is that bundle option that makes Kart World effectively $50. So there's that. But the main thing is that games used to be $60 and Nintendo was not the first to start hiking up the prices. I forget who had the first $70 game, but I'm pretty certain that it wasn't Nintendo.
Now that's no excuse for hiking it up even further to $80. And I'm not likely to buy any game with that kind of sticker price any time soon. And I'm also fine with taking them to task for it.
But Nintendo isn't the first to hike up the prices and I just don't think it's right to dog pile on them like they are.
2. Key cards
Okay, look. Again, I am not about to defend this. And being a big proponent of physical media, I won't be buying anything that comes on a key card.
That said, if anyone thinks that full games are on a majority of PlayStation/X-Box discs, they're out of their minds. At least Nintendo's being upfront about it.
Okay, done venting.
Well, there actually does seem to be a story there.
Remember pages back when I said they were probably charging $80 for this game because it's probably had development troubles?
The Nintendo Thread of Jumping, Slashing, and Home Decorating
Mario Kart World Direct!
www.allspark.com
The Nintendo Thread of Jumping, Slashing, and Home Decorating
Mario Kart World Direct!
www.allspark.com
Well, it seems like I was more or less right.
Mario Kart World Began Development as a Switch 1 Game - Nintendojo
Come learn about this and more interesting tidbits from behind the scenes of the game's development!
www.nintendojo.com
Ask the Developer Vol. 18: Mario Kart World — Part 1 - News - Nintendo Official Site
This article has been translated from the original Japanese content. This interview was conducted before the game was released. In this 18th volume of Ask the Developer, an interview series in which developers convey in their own words Nintendo's th…
www.nintendo.com
Mario Kart World started development as a Switch 1 game in 2017. They couldn't get it to run they wanted while still keeping all the features in. Then they moved development to the Switch 2, where they could actually get it to run. Mario Kart World has been in development for the better part of a decade.
So, a lot like with Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo is charging more for the game due to the amount of development time it took. Instead of the actual finished product, necessarily. It's less about the content IN the game, and more about how long it took them to make it.
I have...mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I want the creators to be able to get paid, and not have to work themselves to death pushing something out for a deadline. But, on the other hand...this DOES kind of feel like Nintendo is charging us more because they couldn't manage a project properly. If they couldn't get the game they were trying to make to actually run, they should have changed the scale or pivoted to a different idea. But, they seemed to be pretty stubbornly set on the idea they had, no matter how long it took. In some ways, that's admirable, but it's also equally foolish. I don't know if this is behavior to be encouraged or not? If a project clearly isn't working on the hardware you're working on...maybe save that idea for later and do something else? I mean, that sounds easier than it probably is, but as some point these project managers need to learn how to pivot and adapt.
So, it's entirely possible that Mario Kart World will really be the only $80 game that Nintendo itself releases on the Switch 2. No other game may have that long of a development window, to justify the increase in the price. It was just VERY poorly timed, because it's literally the first game on the system, and it sets the tone for the rest of the generation.
I just don't know if I like the idea of charging more for a game just because it took longer to develop. It just feels like that would encourage MORE poor time management, not less. At some point, I'd rather the developer be forced to eat some of those costs, if it's a result of their own mistakes. It encourages them to learn lessons from it, rather than just repeat those same mistakes for projects in the future.
But, honestly? For me, it's less about the $80 price point, and more that it was Nintendo doing it...for a racing game. Frankly, it's a genre that rarely gets my attention in the first place, so that's part of the problem for me personally. But, also, it's Mario Kart. It's a game EVERYONE wants to buy just to play with friends. It's a "party game". I don't know, I just see "party games" in a lower tier than a full-on platformer or adventure game. It "feels" like it should take less "effort", even though it probably doesn't? Plus, it's less about Nintendo doing it this one time, and more that Nintendo doing this gives all the other publishers "permission" to do it, too. For games that might not really "need" it in the same way that a game with a 8 year development cycle would. Nintendo has opened the gates to possible abuse, and I understand why people are worried about it.
Plus, if Nintendo CAN afford to sell World for $50 via the bundle...maybe the game should just be $50? Or at least make the digital version $50? I don't know, again, a lot of this is "optics" and "marketing" stuff that just makes them look bad. And now we'd be getting into a whole argument about how maybe digital games should be priced differently than their physical counterparts, which is a whole other conversation.
I don't like it. I kind of understand it. But, I just don't like it. And, honestly, I'm kind of glad there's been at least a bit of backlash, so Nintendo might think about that for next time. But, World also seems to have sold VERY well, so they probably didn't learn the lesson that I wish they did.
Honestly? Nintendo's actually being the most upfront about this out of any of the major video game companies. Most of the time, video games hide that kind of caveat on the back of the box. But, Nintendo is requiring companies to have this big, ugly symbol right smack dab on the front of the box boldly declaring the full game isn't in here. And I actually applaud them for that. It's very obvious, and it helps inform the consumer about what they're actually buying. The symbol is actually very pro-consumer.
...Normalizing paying full-physical prices for what are essentially digital games, I'm less happy about. The "key card" games really should have a lower price, to balance things out. At least $10 less than a full game.
But, I don't really feel like this part is Nintendo's fault. The entire video game industry (honestly, the entire ENTERTAINMENT industry as a whole) is slowly going more and more digital. Again, I don't like it. But, there's not a lot Nintendo themselves can do. I think Nintendo has actually done it's job fairly well, and made sure the consumer can be informed about what they're buying. I hope Playstation and XBox follow suit and requires larger symbols of their own on their boxes. It makes for ugly box art, but at least you can tell what you're getting in the box.
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There absolutely is. They're in complete control of their platform and can make whatever demands they want, knowing very few third parties will refuse. This isn't even like the streaming-off-a-remote-server nonsense where publishers had a valid reason to say it was that or no game at all. As long as the games don't exceed the maximum capacity of a card, they can zarking well put the whole damn game on the card.
To a degree of fairness, there’s a long standing rumor that Nintendo is FAR more restrictive in regards to game card sizes this time around. Rumor says it was either a really small (aka, game card) or really large (64GB), with nothing in the middle. So if a game is more than 7GB (?), it has to be a game card, or Nintendo gets a big cut from the 3rd party having to get the oversized 64 GB card sizes.
CD Projekt Red CRAMMED that card to get all of Cyberpunk on a physical card. But for someone like Sega, or the tyrannically frugal WB, it might not make sense to buy a 64GB card for a title that might only be 20-30GB.
Which wouldn’t surprise me given the longstanding history of “ego induced fuckery” that typically follows a successful console run.
ICYMI
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Nadia & David Ruin Video Games - Donkey Kong Bananza - PoisonMushroom.Org
Going bananas with Monkey Muscle!
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More that just no one makes Micro Express cards any smaller than 64 gigs. Heck.. Nintendo probably had to pull strings to get them as small as 64 gigs.
Are they using actual MicroExpress cards for their game cards?
Saying they are a "bit faster" is like saying an SSD is a "Bit faster" than a HDD.
Trueth is, these are effectively, Micro express, or really, really tiny SSDs. And Nintendo probably had to go through negotiating hell and high water to even get cards as small as 64 gigs.