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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.
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.
The Farewell Tour II
Its not out yet, but I remember when I was beating Mario Sunshine people liked to just sit and watch. Now they are a bit more involved in a pretty mindless and easy capacity. Doesn't hurt me in hard levels, and makes it a bit more fun for a wingmate who wants to watch. Sounds good to me.
As an Asian, I would just like to note that that is so Asian...
-Rob
Biblical fiscal responsibility
Didn't Gauntlet have four-way cooperative playing a looong time ago?
(To this day, I still sometimes catch myself thinking: "Wizard needs food -- badly.")
Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
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.
Incorrect. By default it DOES in fact let someone else pick up a second wiimote and jump right in while someone else is playing, no special configuration required and no special levels. For super jumps the cursor has to be pointed right at Mario to super jump, and right at an enemy to freeze it (when the camera moves, player 2 has to follow the enemy or it becomes unfrozen). Sorry, but unless you have three hands nobody is going to be cheating on this one. And some enemies, such as thwomps and bosses, can't be frozen, so it's a gimmick of limited utility anyway. The real power players will be doing perfect 90 degree turn side jumps, crazy long jumps that take them across the level, and avoiding or killing every enemy regardless. Expect to see some crazy speedrun videos on YouTube.
I bought it the day it came out here in Japan and have played through about 100 stars so far. About half of those were with a friend in the room assisting. It works so well because the assist doesn't make it game-breakingly easy and it's never necessary to have the assists, but it still makes a big difference to have someone helping out on some of the levels. The purple coin challenge for one later level comes to mind, where cannonballs are being shot out at Mario while he's standing on a moving platform and trying to collect special coins. Player 2 can freeze the cannonballs as they come out-- when done correctly it makes the level a bit easier but still very challenging, but if the projectiles are frozen at the wrong time it actually makes the level HARDER. What I do like about it is how I can invite people over to play who may not be very good at 3D platformers, and make the game a little bit easier for them (and thus a bit more fun). I think it also offsets the anxiety of having other people watch you play, and laughing at your screw-ups. That's really intimidating for many people.
What I think Miyamoto was saying was that his team developed a form of co-op that doesn't change the core mechanics of the game. You don't have two players running around the screen, fighting over the camera and interfering with each other, but they're still working together and playing the same game. That deserves quite a bit of praise, because in practice it really works quite well.
To this day i still love the 2 player mode in Toejam and Earl
Well, Bart, your uncle Arthur used to have a saying: "Shoot 'em all and let God sort 'em out."
what kind of crack are you smoking?!
The original Contra is one of the definitive two-player co-op games!
While they expanded on it and made it a lot better in later Contra games (Contra III: The Alien Wars and Contra: Shattered Soldier being good examples), Contra 1 was still the one that started it all.
The only potential issue was the waterfall level where you had to make sure you didn't scroll-off your partner, but that was really just one level where it was a problem. The game was designed to be two-player. One player gets spread and keeps the screen clear of little enemies, and the other gets laser and goes straight for the main goals. When you get the teamwork down, the game flows amazingly smooth.
Ce n'est pas une signature automatique.
Players one and two
We think you will like to play
With your two players
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
of games have successful 2-Player Cooperative modes. Contra, Double Dragon, Toejam & Earl, Gauntlet, Final Fight...the upcoming game Army of 2 is specifically designed to be played ONLY as a co-op game, and if you don't have a buddy to play with it throws a bot in there to duke it out with you. The whole game is designed so that 2 players are required to make it through the levels.
This kind of co-op has at least 3 advantages:
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.
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