Miyamoto Says He's Solved Co-op Issue In Mario Galaxy

In the fourth volume of the ongoing series of interviews between Nintendo's Iwata and the Mario Galaxy team, design legend Shigeru Miyamoto puts forth the opinion that he thinks he's nailed two-player Mario. That opinion is bolstered by Japanese sales figures, which shows the plumber doing quite well for his umpteenth outing. "Miyamoto: 'For every game I worked on, there were always times when I would keep discussing the issue of two-player simultaneous gameplay, and the staff also became conscious of the challenge, so every development team kept trying hard to solve it too. Though I think that might also have been because they thought if they didn't deal with it first, I'd come in and ask how it was coming along for sure! (laughs).'" Via Kotaku.

Comments

Summary is incorrect

[aichpvee]

Nothing to do with the linked interview, but the summary implies, ridiculously, that the sales number of Mario Galaxy (by all accounts one of the greatest games ever produced) in Japan has a direct relationship to the "co-op" play. I guarantee that it has NOTHING to do with this. Just as many people would be buying this game if it had no co-op whatsoever. Maybe there are a ton of people really enjoying the co-op experience, but there is nothing even to suggest that people are playing it co-op from the sales figures alone, nor that the sales figures are being driven by the feature.

Re:So... what?

[__aaqvdr516]

Go and try to play the original Contra with two players. Then you'll see how poorly a 2 player simultaneous game can be. I know it's not the worst 2 player game, but I think it gets the idea across.

Fav 2 player

[Joker1980]

To this day i still love the 2 player mode in Toejam and Earl

Sounds perfect, not just fun

[Zalminen]

The Mario Galaxy co-op is exactly what I've been hoping for.

This kind of co-op has at least 3 advantages:

1. When I'm playing, my wife can just come, grab the second wiimote and join in. Then if the baby wakes up, she can just leave.
2. Playing the star doesn't require that much skill. Even someone new to gaming can easily be of help.
3. When playing with the star, you can effectively teach & help the other player. This means I have a much greater chance of getting my wife to actually play the game as the first player.

The co-op game might not be for everyone, but for me it turned Mario Galaxy from a probable purchase into a must-have. And I'm probably not alone in this.

Re:Is it really doing well?

[LKM]

250'000 in its first week in Japan alone would be great for any game, but this is a Mario game, so expectations were even higher. Of course, it's only been three actual days of sales; the next few weeks will show whether Galaxy ends up a "Super Mario Sunshine" or a "New Super Mario Bros."

If sales drop in the next week, it's a failure. If they increase, it might end up a success.

It's also important to see how the Wii is doing. It only added about 10'000 to the sales numbers in Japan last week. People expected Galaxy to move more Wiis. Again, it's going to be interesting to see whether the increased sales numbers can be sustained over several weeks, or if they drop again in one or two weeks.

So, to sum it all up: too soon to tell :-)