Nintendo Left Online Out Of Super Mario 3D World To Deliver The "NES" Experience

An easy solution would be voice chat, if they weren't so opposed to it. You can get a very similar experience to the local feeling with that, especially when playing with close friends.

Yeah playing toghter is always better. But optional online play would not spoil the living room experience in any kind. I really loved the Mario Kart Wii multiplayer for example.

HD visuals and a wireless touchscreen are anything but the NES experience.

The NES experience is sprite flicker. Visual Artifacts. Poor design choices. (Cartridge Mechanism).

It could be said they are trying to recreate the Sonic 2 Multiplayer experience. (one person is playing the other person only is a little bit).

Sorry to again be negative, but this is nothing more than spin, something they're getting pretty good without the amount that's been needed recently. Nintendo are clearly struggling with online gaming. Having the option to play online doesn't prevent local multiplayer. If they'd put online in, all those people that love face to face multiplayer it could still do that. There's no drawback to adding it in if you can.

Will Mario Kart 8 not include online play, just to replicate the feeling that players had with Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64?

Shouldn't Nintendo give the gamer the option of how they want to play instead of telling them how to play?

I created just an account to confirm this is the greatest bullpoopoodoodoocacapoople I've read as a gamer for a long time. The real reason is money, of course! No need to buy and maintain servers...

Both experiences would have been the solution for this great game! It's very sad, that Nintendo does not support online gaming that much as others...
_{Please watch the profanity — TBD}

This is the main reason why I'm not interested in buying the game

I have no idea why everyone thinks online would be great on this game. It would be nice for each player to have an independent camera but a laggy version of the chaos of a 4 player game just wouldn't be fun for me. I am glad Nintendo don't crowbar online into every game but the reason they don't is just to save time and money. Online multiplayer probably would have delayed this game into 2014.

I hope they spend the money they save on making MK8 as good for an online Wii U game as MKW was for an online Wii game.

Nintendo, All your games need an online mode, regardless of the game. It's 2014.

I honestly really don't think online would be a great idea at all. I think the multiplayer even though it's fun, can sometimes get very chaotic. And I can already tell it will be and absolute train wreck on online. Why not save it for Mario Kart?

That's okay, Nintendo. Just bring us a top-notch online multiplayer extravaganza with Mario Kart 8. And then, make sure the online modes are great in Super Smash Bro. Wii U. As long as you can pull both of those off, I'll be happy!

Regardless of whether or not online is a good idea, the reason they gave us is total BS.

I don't really see what online multiplayer would've brought to this game? It's simply not always necessary and I think they were right not to waste time & resources on it on this occasion. I have a file for myself, and one for me and my kids to play together and it's great fun. My son will be three in April & he's just finished World 1-1 on his own holding the remote the wrong way lol

My greatest hope for Wii U Zelda is that it is similar to Dark Souls, with other players appearing in your game. They even sort of seemed to be testing this very idea with the StreetPass Shadow Links in A Link Between Worlds. It wouldn't even have to be a malicious thing either, what if a player could come in and help you through a dungeon, or in a boss battle, live?

What I'm saying is that Nintendo needs to find ways to incorporate online functionality into every single one of its games; Miiverse posting doesn't cut it. Mario 3D World is a fine game, but you're fooling yourself if you say that it's local multiplayer is as fun as an online version of the same mode would have been.

Decent enough idea, but soon Nintendo is going to have to step out of the past and embrace the modern gaming market. which enjoys strong online play!

Just bring us a top-notch online multiplayer extravaganza with Mario Kart 8.

Why one and and not the other? Offline experiences for all, just like on the NES!

Imagine if Nintendo DIDN'T include online play for Mario Kart 8 and the new Smash Bros. games? Then gave the exact same reason for doing so as they did here?

Surely it should bet choice how I choose to play games? My wife works different hours to me and we have no kids. Just another reason nintendo are so far behind everyone else.

@Bass_X0 SHHHH, don't give them ideas!

@Peach64 Exactly! Local play is great if you have family and friends who like to play games...Online shouldn't be a problem.

It is completey fine to have local multiplayer in games, in fact I think games that have online multiplayer but not local multiplayer are just stupid.

But, we are now in 2014, decades after online multiplayer was introduced. There is absolutley no excuse not to have online in your games now. How would having online ruin the living room experience? People who just want to play locally can just ignore the online aspects, and it would only please people who play online. I would of gotten a Wii U much earlier if I could play Mario with friends who live hours away, instead of having to wait sometimes months to see them in person.

Nintendo needs to get into the 21st centuary, this is unaccpetable.

Here's a big reason why:
It's not Nintendo's failure to adapt, and it might be a reason for what's said above, but what Nintendo wants most, is first hand advertising. Reggie wanted people to try the Wii U. And feels once people play it, they're likely to pick one up for their own.
Hence why there was an E3 Best Buy demo, hence why the Wii U has demo stations in every location. From the Walmart, to your Pottery Barn. Hence why they remade Wii Sports.
They got this idea that local multiplayer = more people trying out the Wii U. And the more people who try out the Wii U = More sales.
Adding online multiplayer defeats the purpose of selling more Wii Us, because they fear people would rather go online mode all the time, rather than try to get people to take out some of their time to get people playing Wii U.
And it's not like this method hasn't worked for them before. Mario Kart has always "drove" that through people's mind. Wii Sports was their ultimate success at that "pitch". I wouldn't be surprised for years to come, or at least years Iwata has the big seat, that local multiplayer is their way to sell their consoles.

Why not have both local and online multiplayer? Games can and do have both.

I see both sides on this but there IS a compromise.....2 vs 2 co-op online.....this would give LOCAL team based options to take on the best of the rest. I'm actually one of the few people who thinks 3d world is s real missed opportunity. There should be loads more multiplayer options, vs challenges/battle mode/wave based survival/ timed race levels/Mario Chase spin of to tie in with. Why not more options if the priority was local???

Nintendo, why can't you have BOTH play modes? I think Nintendo is still very afraid to go online with anything that lets kids play with complete strangers. They'll never get out of the "kiddie" console label any time soon.

They're just struggling with online at this point. Delayed games because of it, taking games down, not including online in many games, no voice chat, XY/Christmas server crash... they left it out so the game could be better because it probably was failing to work right.
To deliver the "NES" experience would mean to use new technology in new ways... how is doing this new and innovative I ask you?

What more can be said? They know where they want to put the effort in for online and where they don't. Either way the game is excellent and I don't think Nintendo is remiss or ignorant about online play. Let me repeat that "I" don't think this. I know plenty of folks just think online should be standard for flipping everything, and good for them.

@MAB
Marios game have never been online multiplayer ? Why would you not by 3d world beceause of no online?

Lol

Those dayz are gone, grandma bear, grandpa bear, mama bear, papa bear, sister bear, and brother bear do not live in the same house anymore. Darn I want to play with my sister! :/

hahahaha, no.

Eh, I thought the WiiU was meant to be the new SNES as they said at e3 2012?

They could have easily added in online play along with the local multiplay too. They could even patch it.

Getting very frustrated with Ninty as of late.

The best games used to be for all your mates to come around and play. My group of mates all used to play games like Monkey Ball, Mario Bros, Crash racing, mario kart, worms, Wii sports, Madden, FIFA, and the latest Athletics game of the time. Try getting six mates playing worms in one room and ya in for a funny night. The best nights are gaming nights with such great memories.

Stop making crap f'n excuses and defenses for unnecessarily gimping your games, Nintendo.

You CAN have BOTH offline and online OPTIONS in a game in this day and age you know.

How about giving GAMERS the CHOICE.

@Hyperstar96

"IT'S POSSIBLE TO HAVE BOTH"

END

"IT'S POSSIBLE TO HAVE BOTH"

"NOT EVERYONE CAN PLAY LOCALLY. IT'S POSSIBLE TO HAVE BOTH WITHOUT TAKING AWAY FROM THE EXPERIENCE."

Agree.

This is just out of place. Where living in a society connected 24/7 via mobile phone; we're all the day exchanging videos, music and whatever feeling on our minds. We do not have that much time to meet people everyday, in fact, we meet in family few times in a year. Only you're a father or a mother with childs at home you'll be playing together... and that's why Nintendo is great to them, but not rest of the people.

They abandoned everyone with the DS and the Wii, not continuing the legacy without hardware revisions and continue giving content that the people likes from yours products. The model of 5 years console is obsolete and leaving your 100 hundred million families abandoned is never a good idea. And now they have to deal with the consequences...

I don't get this argument.,.... Of course local multiplayer is always better than online, it always will be better, but that's not an argument for leaving out online play. Adding online play wouldn't have affected the local play one iota.

I do understand why it wasn't in there. Adding online would have pushed out the release date by a few months, and Wii U needed this game before Black Friday. But don't make the argument that it's not in there because adding online would have harmed local multi because that is just silly.

I bought this game for the local multiplayer experience. I love Nintendo's local multiplayer games, it's mainly why I bought a Wii U instead of a PS4.

@Kirk I second this.

It seems like Ninty thinks families are still 'Daddy goes to work Mon to Fri, Mammy stays home with the kids and they all play video games for an hour together at the weekend.' This is not the case,for at least 10 years.

My experience is, as a 32 year old gay man, none of my friends are interested in Games, let alone like Mario, let alone play games on their phones even, so I have no one to play video games with except my nephew who is 4 years old, on his Wii, which wouldnt be that often as he doesnt understand physics just yet. My brother wouldnt have a clue about video games as he was never into them and my dad is 78....

My point? I could REALLY use online play in a lot of Ninty games in this day and age. I was around in the NES era, why would I want to go back nearly 30 years to play Mario. For a game that is between €50-€60 I EXPECT online play and a whole host of other mini games included on this one disc, but no, we dont get that cause Ninty dont want to pay for the servers or delay with extra work, people will wait if you include these things.

And I know I am not the only person who enjoys Ninty games that is in the same situation on the planet.

Why wont they listen to their customers? Join the rest of us Nintendo.

rolls eyes, shrugs shoulders, shakes fist at cloud.

@KYUSS it has nothing to do with buying servers. Throwing up 3 or 4 dedicated servers is cheap.

They left online out because of the schedule. The Wii U needed this game before Black Friday and adding online to this would have increased the development time as they tested a hundred of levels online in a variety of different orders.

@WYLD-WOO Yes, that's the best way to play games by far. Maybe younger people just don't know how much fun it can be. Sad really that they are missing out

Honestly, I think you'll get more out playing locally in titles such as this as opposed to online but even so, Nintendo should still provide the option for gamers to play with others around the world.

There are people who won't be able to play under one room for many reasons so having the option to go online would be great for them.

Awful.

This would be all kinds of fun playing with people from around the world at 1 frame per second... Just like Wii Sports Tennis

Maybe they couldn't make it work without game breaking lag.

I personally don't care much about online in any of my videogames, but that's an incredibly lame excuse for Nintendo to use. The NES experience? Really? I thought that's what the virtual console service was for. Nostalgia isn't an excuse for failing to evolve.

I don't really care either way. As long as Mario was still a yellow cat, I'd be ok with it.

They had online in the GameCube era? Anyways SSB and ESPECIALLY Mario kart needs online. Online was very addictive for MK!

Mario is not really a multiplayer game. The only reason playing with friends in the couch is so fun is because we know each other and want to have fun with each other. Otherwise it would be a simple matter of speedrunning through everything. And that's certainly only a tiny bit of the fun.

^ Mario can be a great multiplayer game, there is so much potential that I have went on to explain on previous articles and won't be getting into now, but nonetheless, Nintendo still care about certain values, which I appreciate greatly. Online would have been disastrous imo. for a game like this, considering a lot of values have gone lost in the more recent years, what with all the rage, aggressiveness and accessibility of mature content to minors, warping their fresh little minds, and thus Nintendo try to restore some of these lost values and maintain a balance of sorts.

I like local play better, but this game should have online play. To me, any game that's more than 1 player should have online play.

I'll be the first to say that online play in SM3DW is not something I thought about trying, or thought would be fun. It COULD be fun, but I think it's a great on-the-couch game, so I don't necessarily miss the online play.

However, Pikmin 3 is another story. This is a game that screams for online play, and yet we only have "couch play". I am as big a Nintendo fan as the next guy on this site, but I wont hesitate to bash Nintendo on this point: Get with the times, and make multiplayer options where they make sense.

@Damo: No, you've totally and utterly missed the analogy in my comment. I was insinuating that embracing connectivity is a key advancement in parallel with the physical aspects of a console.

It makes no sense coercing people to "relive the NES experience" on a console with all the bells and whistles of today. Online multiplayer is no less optional than local multiplayer; it is the player's prerogative to determine how they want to play.

Thanks a freaking lot, Nintendo. Now we've got more pansy, nit picky fan boys complaining about SM3DW online. You can't always get what you want in life, guys/girls. The world doesn't naturally form around what you want or you, the world forms itself.

I grew up with the "NES Experience" (countless multiplayer hours with my cousins playing MK64 and GoldenEye007) but nowadays, I need online play if I'm going to have any sort of multiplayer experience.

what i find the most stupid thing of all is how wii u is suppose to be about playing with everyone and even miiverse is that example yet when it actually comes down to fan/costumers/gamers what ever they dont give us that option to game with the other players online -_- just give us both options and there jeez if advertised right it would increase ppl to play or get their attention VS pissing ppl off like you doing now...

The game is amazing as a single player title but they have been pushing 4 players so hard with this game it doesnt make sense not to have online. Why not just have different modes or stages around competitive multiplayer for online?

Just a few days ago I played SM3DW from start to beating Bowser with a friend & it made the game infinitely more fun than when I went from start to beating Bowser by myself. Really wish we had time to complete the game but now I've reached Champion's Road I think it'd be near impossible for us to beat together haha.

I don't think online would work too well for SM3DW. I have a slow internet connection & lag would definitely ruin the game. For a Super Mario game that's a definite no-no.

So Super Mario 3D World doesn't have online because Nintendo thought it would reduce the experience, rather than the fact that lag can throw a huge monkey wrench in collision detection-based platforming games? While I get why Nintendo would want to emphasize couch gaming, removing an additional option wouldn't invalidate the couch multiplayer the game has. If Nintendo's ideology is the only reason why Super Mario 3D World doesn't have online multiplayer, I simply can't agree with that train of thought.

I think it was a bad idea not to include online play for reasons others here have already stated and, like many others here, I believe it was a decision taken in order to minimise development time/ cut costs. I really don't like this idea:
"especially when you've got an obnoxious kid on the other end of the headset bellowing insults in your general direction." Of course this happens sometimes, particularly with certain games, but I have also had so many wonderful experiences playing games online with strangers. In my experience gamers, and perhaps Nintendo gamers in particular, are a pretty decent bunch and I imagine puzzling over green star locations with strangers, with voice chat could have been a lot of fun.

I think the experience would've been much better with online multiplayer, given that none of my friends own a Wii U.

C'mon Nintendo, get with the times!

@Damo: Opinion is neither here nor there, Damien. The only reason provided for their decision that does not amount to speculation is here in this very news piece.

As far as we can objectively tell, Nintendo eliminated online play merely to promote local multiplayer. We both know that Nintendo had a host of other options to promote the suggested method of play (for Mario, no less), yet they chose to enact this by actively restricting the player from connectivity. That is hardly sensible in this generation.

It is not the lack of online play that is frustrating; it's the reasoning behind it. Removing a feature that is widely optional to begin with does not, in any form or manner, impact a game's potential for the better. It can only be seen as an aversion of marketing in this instance.

You know, this game was set to be released for Xmas season. Online MP would have delayed it and Nintendo couldn't afford that.

If a game doesn't have online multiplayer, I wouldn't be able to play with anyone -at all-. I have no friends here that plays games and my family certainly doesn't play games, so local multiplayer is a definite no-go for me.

Nintendo is still stuck in the olden times. There's absolutely no reason why they can't do local AND online multiplayer.

To people saying that we should suck it up or that we don't always get what we want- yes, that's technically true. But that does NOT invalidate any criticisms we may have with the game because of this lack of online play.

I know precisely zero people locally that'd be willing to play Mario with me. My oldest brother hasn't played Mario in years, my older brother dislikes multiplayer Mario, and good luck getting my parents near a game that isn't Solitare or Bejeweled. And yet, I know at least two other people online who I regular chat with that have the game AND want to play multiplayer, but we can't because they're in another state and country. So you're telling me I need to go buy a plane ticket just to play some multiplayer Mario? That's just plain nuts, man.

@readyletsgo

Indeed.

@Peach64

Struggling with online gaming? Maybe struggling with the benefits of online gaming for certain types of games. This was clearly a business decision. Would it benefit the game's sales if it had online co-op? Would it outweigh the development cost and server cost? Those are the questions they asked. Nintendo seems to want to keep with their local-play-family-fun brand identity, which is only a benefit of what was a business decision.

I'm not telling anyone to suck it up, but it's one of those things that it is what it is. Given the development time for this game and how crisp the gameplay is, Nintendo made the right decision in making this local only. Nothing is more infuriating than playing an online game with someone and the person in the other end has lag. Especially a game like this one, where it's style doesn't lend itself to Online play paticularly.

I'm wary of Nintendo's "I can, I just don't want to" attitude with online gaming. I've played online Wii Tennis and the lag is as bad as it is on Brawl. Nintendo will go out of business before it gets Online right.

I don't see why everyone wants online so bad for this. Just because this hasn't got online multiplayer doesn't mean MK8 won't. It fits with MK8. In my opinion, having online wouldn't make this as great a game as it is. So many things are so annoyingly online, I'd just hate it. My uncle got a PS4 and Killzone, and something that takes away from it for us is that there's no splitscreen multiplayer. I know not everyone's gonna think this, but I'd rather play games like Mario Kart and SM3DW locally, and I'd rather play games meant as singleplayer without online, unless with online there is local.

I said it already, but I don't have anyone, friends or family, nearby that'll play Mario with me. Usually if we're playing locally we go with Smash Bros or Call of Duty. That's why I want online. And, the thing is, this wouldn't be as bad if they hadn't basically said "we can do it, but we won't." At least give us an excuse that makes some sense. Did they run into serious lag? That would be understandable. Did they actually rush the game out for release? Slightly less so, but still something I can get.

@MJKOP for one it would allow me to play with my nieces since they have the game as well. I'm not complaining with the basis that local play is just amazing, and loud lol.... But they don't live with me and my kids so they go home, and it would be nice on some weekends to send them a text and say " hey you bored? Want to play some Mario online and chat (although knowing nintendo it would be text) " boom we hop on and play and laugh, obviously with our iPads. So there's lag, guess what sometimes I want to jump and my daughter grabs me as she starts her run, that's just as infuriating or entertaining.

Local play is best IMHO.. But give me a chance to supplement that experience with an online one that would only allow me to play even more. Geeesh how complicated is that....?

Now granted before it's mentioned with regards to extended development time and all that jazz, I understand the argument, but for a company that tends to not even look into multiplayer 90% of the time that will only hurt you when you do try. Look I really can't get behind a company taking away swapnote, voice chat, and other functionality because they are trying to save the children that's not your job it's mine as a father/parent to know what my kids are up to. I let my 10 year old daughter play cod and other shooters and I play with her, guess what sometimes you play with great people and the conversations/strategies are amazing, then there's times where kids/adults just want to be ignorant baboons, that's why I have mute option.

Anyway I ranting now but in all honesty if they would have planned for multiplayer from beginning I think they could have maybe made there release anyway but what do I know, let go back and play some Mario by myself since kids are at school

I wish they would just be honest for once and say something like the cost to implement online would not make this game any more profitable then without it.

Horrible excuse, Nintendo. You could of have it both ways, and you know it. The real reason that you didn't put online multiplayer in is because of laziness and refusing to evolve with the times.

Nintendo only thinks of the kids because kids are much more likely to have free time than adults when it comes to local multiplayer games.

It's an effing shame too, because 3D World is a phenomenal game even in single player. But I would like the option to play multiplayer since I have no people around me locally who are interested in even touching this game. Online multiplayer wouldn't have affected local multiplayer in the slightest.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Smash Bros. 4 has laggy online multiplayer in the Wii U version and no online multiplayer in the 3DS version. Nintendo doesn't know or want to know how to embrace online.

@Kyloctopus I don't want to sound rude, but that makes no sense, I'm just missing your point I guess. I buy Mario online and play it, and let's just assume for the moment that gameplay is doable 6-7 matches out of 10 ( lag and disconnects and all that jazz) so here I am with 3 complete strangers having a blast, 1-2 leave and I keep playing, then the last player leaves and here I am still playing ala Dead Island, since I have no friends with me locally I'm playground as single player which is a current option anyway.

Now I invite some friends over and we have the situation you describe "word of mouth" except that in your case they have to keep coming to my house to play the game, you expect them to get that tickle when they leave that they just can't live without it and will go out and by one themselves. Dunno I would think in that scenario online would give me the same if not bigger tickle knowing I can play online as well.

Just as most people are saying its 2014, unlike splinter cell where levels are built around co-op this is just Mario, an online component could be just copy and pasted (if they have been doing online since forever which they have not).

Will they ever tire of using this same, poopoodoodoodoggiepooedoople excuse?
_{Please watch the profanity — TBD}

great to see that the mood of the community is changing. Really Nintendo, you just are giving us LESS than any other console maker. And now we realise it. I do, and i am (yet) a big fan of Nintendo.

Also, i don't have friends NEARBY that can play with me. If they are here we do other things than playing video games. I see them like three timms a year. Like many others online mode would give me the opportunity to actually play multiplayer.
Argh, Nintendo stop chjasing the family gamer crowd. That may have existed in the Wii days, but they are gone. They have smartphone now. They won't come back. But you know what: I think Nintendo knows they can't compete or deliver online experiences like SONY or MS. The Holiday fallout points in this direction.

@Nntndo_1986 you're absolutely right, I was being selfish and only thinking of myself and the no online multiplayer doesn't affect me but not everyone is like that. The only thing is, they say they have tested it, maybe it wasn't working as well as we would imagine and they decided not to go for it? Or more likely it woulda delayed the release? We all know Wii U needed that game OUT, I bought mine the day 3D World was released. Anyway I take your point, everyone is in different situations and choice should be with us, the punters

This upset me back in October 2012 or whenever it was when they first announced their "reasoning" for local only and now for it to come up again with this lame excuse just re-lit the fire in me again. Ok, like @Bass_X0 said, it's completely hypocritical to offer online for those games and sit back and say "we wanted to offer the NES experience for 3D World". And yes, I get it, it's a different class in it's own as a Mario platforming title. But if the times aren't an indicator to push the envelope a bit, I don't know what the hell is.

You're a struggling developer, Nintendo - there's certainly no hiding it now. Take a risk, try new things, see what happens. What do they do? Nintendo just goes by the book of what they know. And when I constantly see things pointing in the direction of the company of not listening to their fans, more and more I'm seeing it as a big middle finger to us all as to say "no, you'll enjoy what we put out, and be happy about it." I love Nintendo, but the messages they send out sometimes really makes me wonder where their priorities are.

As to agree with others here, just be honest with us, if it took too much resource or money, or simply wasn't working, I'd be fine with hearing that. Not this crap of "you'll play it this way, so deal with it".

To end the rant, I've been thinking lately, I sorta feel bad for the game developers themselves, because they're doing a phenomenal job. It's the PR, advertising and heads of the company saying, "don't include online there, don't allow for voice chat, only advertise this much", etc. and they seem to be the ones pissing us all off, and thus dragging the developers down with them. Anybody else kinda have that sense?

I couldn't disagree more with Nintendo's logic. Sorry, it's 2014. Excuses for laziness if you ask me.

Online play wouldn't ruin the experience, Ninty. Get off your fat butts and start making more online first party games!

IDIOTS! They should include online regardless of the backward "NES" thinking. Lone Wolves like me are at a disadvantage without online multiplayer. It is for this reason that I couldn't 100% complete SM3DW, because I couldn't be bothered redoing each level with each character on my own.

I seriously hope online features in future Mario games, it's long overdue.

I understand that the lack of online play can be very inconvenient for some people, but I personally like the local-only approach because I find that playing a game with another person who is physically there in the same room is a lot more fun than playing with someone online, even with voice/video chat, and because I doubt that more than a handful of people would bother to play local multiplayer if online multiplayer was an option, even if they felt it was inferior to local multiplayer, because online multiplayer is so much more convenient. I feel that part of the fun of local multiplayer has to do with not being able to get together to play the game on a moment's notice, so the experience doesn't get old very quickly. Nintendo wants to make sure players can experience what it (Nintendo) feels is the best the game has to offer; in this case, that's local multiplayer, and including online multiplayer would make that unlikely.

So more visually demanding titles like COD can run online battles on consoles with 12-16 people with no issues, but Nintendo can't incorporate 2-4 player online action in a simple platformer?

I'm no longer a child/teenager, so I'm severely limited in my opportunities to play video games with friends side by side on the couch. Online with voice chat would have been a welcome addition.

@KYUSS

Nice name!

This is total bs, once I graduated most of my friends and I went our own ways and so local co op with friends or even family is possible on a few occasions. I know not having online is not the end of the world, but the reason they gave us is complete garbage. This is as big as big as a disappointment as Starfox 64 3D's multiplayer. Why have the face cam for someone who's literally in the same room as you when I could just as easily look up at them? SMH Nintendo

@GalacticMario28 I think everyone here would prefer local multiplayer, if you have friends and family for that. This past Christmas was awesome because I had a lot of family, nieces, nephews, and cousins over. It was amazing to hear the yelling playing Mario 3D and some new super Mario/luigi. Not only that but adults that normally don't play, after some drinks got into it as well.
BUT... It's not Christmas anymore and we don't have days off like that for another year (summer vaca for some of you) and I wouldn't mind playing with my nieces who have a Wii u as well. I mean in the end why not?

I guess there is that one department that does those surveys to find out the threshold where online functionality would or wouldn't be worth it... It just sucks for those that would use it primarily or on occasion.

This is the same thing going on with 3rd parties to some extent. I can spend resources to make a game, but how many Nintendo fans would actually buy our games, so why bother... So we scream and yell then maybe they give us a half baked version and no one buys it ala Madden, Black Ops2 (read dlc) or they give us full functionality ala AC3 with all it's DLC yet noon e still buys it.

I guess it's messed up either way you look at it. I wouldn't mind seeing all features possible this day and age, but in the end money drives it all

I have to agree. Online multiplayer has become a plague. Dont get menwrong, ive enjoyed many online muktiplayer sessions in different games. Yet the costs are high. The REAL aspect of yhe game, as in the single player campaign usuakky takes a hit, the focus goes to empty online experiences rather tha meaningful experiences. Look at cod one of the best selling franchises, the same thing over and over with nothing but ahooting and online. I dont want to sound backwarda but online multiplayer doesnt even get close to actual local multiplayer and local mumti gets dropped over and over in favour of online. Just look at how well this game was reviewed without online. Its not necessary to shove it into every game.

I agree that this is just spin, an excuse to not put what by now should be basic functionality.
Same room multiplayer is almost always better, but that's not a reason to deny online capabilities.

I really, really wish Nintendo would stop using this excuse. People WILL enjoy playing a multiplayer game locally, whether you include online functionality or not. But for those who don't (or barely) have the ability to have people over to play these games with, they'll always be forced to play the games solo while online multiplayer could easily fix that.

It's a very great game, don't get me wrong. I love it, and have completed it 100% by playing solo. But this kind of excuse really shouldn't be used these days. If people want the NES experience, they can easily just either buy a used NES, or download NES titles. Simple as that. Here's hoping the next 3D Mario WILL include online multiplayer.

'We didnt put a Bluray drive in the Wii-U because most people still watch movies on VHS' - Iwata San

For me, it would have been nice to play online with people who are actually good at the game. I play the game solo most of the time because, even though I live with three siblings, I can't seem to put together a group of three other people who are both willing to play and at least half-way decent at the game. Still, SM3DW works phenomenally well as a single-player game too. I'm pretty much satisfied with it.

This is absolutely idiotic. We buy the Wii U for the Wii U experience. If I want the NES experience, I'll play my NES.

I want the Wii U experience, Ninty, and I still haven't really got it. I've had the NES experience plenty of times.

if you play online you play people who already have the system, if you play local you try to find others to play with who may not have the system.

ghost runs and miiverse are all the online experience this game needs. anything further would be a waste of resource. Shortly we'll have MK8 and SSB which are truly designed to take full advantage of the online experience. No need to force it on SM3DW.

Well it'd still be nice to have the option.

would be nice to play with someone online that you know who lives far away but i want dlc for this game like new super mario bros u had.

Oh all you funny little people. What's with the nonsensical "it's 2014 so every game should have online as a standard option"?
That's the single most greatest piece of BS that I have ever heard. Online has only seriously been a part of gaming since the last generation, since it was mostly the original Xbox offering online on part of their games and the GameCube and PS2 hardly offered any online at all.
I have been gaming since Pong machines, so you could imagine how small of a percentage online gaming has been of my gaming history. What the fuzz is wrong with offline gaming? And personally, although I like to play some games online with friends, especially co-op, I HATE gaming online with strangers, especially in some types of games where you will only find immature tools, making an enjoyable online experience next to impossible. The excuse of it being more simple may have some merit, but there's a flip side that weighs more heavily: if you're not in the room, it's also easier for people to leave, so you will still be left alone and server/connection stability, even in this day and age, is NOT guaranteed, especially if you are playing with people from other countries or regions where the internet isn't as fast. Happens a lot outside the big cities...
Not to mention that people would also be all over Nintendo, pissing and moaning if there was online, but the experience wasn't to their liking or some issues would arise...
When people take the effort of coming to your house, or you are going to them, then a full game session IS guaranteed.
And it is indeed true that you cannot duplicate the local multiplayer feeling online, it can be fun with friends, but it is not and will never be the same experience. Don't any of you remember looking at your friends in victorious glee or being punched in the arm for cheating a bit or cutting someone off the track in a racing game? And the laughs looking at each other when strange things/glitches happen in-game. Those are local only experiences, and they are golden. Through a headset the fun is only a garbled mess of sounds of people screaming and cackling into each others ears that is in no way equal to a physical experience, because it's less easy to respond to certain signals and of course you'll miss body language...
I can definitely imagine some Nintendo games benefiting from online (someone mentioned Pikmin and of course Mario Kart is a given) but a platformer and especially Mario? Nah, Nintendo is absolutely right although I do agree that they should be more open about their reasoning, and that should be done in general, not only here because lately some of their reasoning concerning their games and plans for the future has a decidedly "off" feeling...

@MAB: If that's the reason you aren't buying the game, then I truly pity you. You are missing out, big-time.

To be honest, I just think some games don't really need online multiplayer - this would be one of them. Besides, online games are usually packed with random buttholes, people who hack the leaderboards to claim top spot (which is truly pathetic - if you do that, you're just saying you don't even have the ability to work for a decent score/best time), etc. I know if I play a game with my friends or sister, we can call each other names and that - it's all in good fun, because we know we're just messing around. It sure isn't fun to be playing online with some random nine-year-old who calls me obscenities because he thinks he's cool (much like an incident on this site a few months ago), when he's really just being annoying. We don't need those said nine-year-olds doing this in a Mario platformer, of all things.

I'm not saying all games shouldn't have multiplayer online - after all, I've played Left 4 Dead 2, Saints Row 3 and 4, and a couple other games online and had fun, but something more tame like a Mario platformer just doesn't really need it. It'd be nice as an option, but it ain't needed.

Ah Nintendo, ever compromising game quality to make sure all the boxes such as online-multi are checked off so later they can pitch it to gamers that the game also does everything every other game is ever doing.... Oh, wait..

Okay... Why are people being so ridiculous here? Mario Kart 7 had online multiplayer, so obviously it'll be included in Mario Kart 8.

Super Mario 3D World would be RUINED with online multiplayer. It's hard enough to play with my brother (super fun though) without him tossing me off the edge. I'd rather pal around and mess with a friend in the living room than have to shout at some idiot who thinks it's funny to toss our lives down the drain.

Online multiplayer in this game would just be awful. No one would stay together, stars would be missed, some fool would run for the flag and leave everyone in the dust to get that stupid crown, some kid would be a know-it-all and take away your own enjoyment, some jerk would constantly switch characters if they weren't all taken... It'd be a mess.

All of that annoying stuff is fine locally because when your brother or friend gets out of hand, you can pop them in the arm or something, have a good laugh, and be done with it.

Online multiplayer doesn't have to be shoehorned into every game in existence.

And while I'm on the subject, what's the deal with games that don't have local multiplayer, but have online multiplayer? What kind of crap is that??

ANYWAY, TL;DR, this game is fine with local multiplayer. Online would absolutely kill it.

I don't understand how having an online option takes away from also being able to play on the couch. The best mode of Mario kart Wii was the online.

Sounds like doggiepoopie to me. They just didn't care about online and this is the spin.

My friends that are into Nintendo live no where near me... so online play in this game would have been very welcome.

_{Watch the language}

@unrandomsam You underestimate the conception of American gaming.

Nintendo's biggest flaw. Most of the people who played Nintendo back then grew out of Nintendo and so the newcomers know nothing about the original experience. So this would be kinda useless... Come on! It's 2014! It's the time of technology! You're the most popular game company, it's not time for remembering, it's time for now.
Plus, tell me now, how you can deliver an NES experience with a 48" TV, HD graphics, a wireless touch screen controller, and 3D (realistic) graphics? It's just illogical.

I personally would get the most fun out of Super Mario 3D World by playing co-op locally so I can understand their reasoning. There is just something about playing Super Mario/Mario Kart side by side with friends and family that really heightens the experience. I would like more options to play with other people though since not everyone has other people to play with locally.

I will take local multiplayer over online any day, but is there a reason we can't have both?

@kyuubikid213 Online wouldn't kill it. How do you know that every gamer either has another sibling or friend? And if they do, if they're even interested in games? No, it doesn't HAVE TO be implemented in every game in the universe, but it doesn't mean they wouldn't benifit from it. You wouldn't have to use the online play if you don't want to, but the rest of us would.

Theres no reason they couldn't have implemented both online and offline multiplayer, besides that they didn't want to. Same goes for just about every game with just an online mode. It wouldn't hurt to give people the option, they're just trying to force people to pick the 'right' one.

The problem with this sort of spin is while they think they're making themselves look like enlightened visionaries, it also makes them look delusional and out of touch to those who don't buy into it.

Excuse.

personally i think the choice was the wrong one. give me online play!

@Damo They could have added it and waited until they had it perfect as well. (And at least put in a harder set of levels for afterwards). You seem to like the experience of inferior. (Nintendo has not managed to do online properly yet at all).

never thought I'd hear Nintendo give out a lame excuse as to why there isn't Online for this game.

@Damo For certain things it is for me. If it supported 4 gamepad's (Everyone same controls - can go off the screen without it using split screen or what it does which makes it like the best player is playing the game the rest are like Tails in Sonic 2) Or even 4 consoles. (Need most of the same work as online). shmups / beat em ups or stuff where it is always on one screen. (Sonic 2 special stages are much better in 2 player locally might as well do something else though the rest of the time). Also need to have players at a similar level.

Figured that, and that is perfect. Just the way Mario should be IMO.

Meanwhile Sony is releasing Playstation Now, so gamers can play PS1, PS2, and PS3 games on a TV, tablet, phone, etc. without even having to buy a console.

NIntendo is a joke in so many areas..... I have my Wii U but its a toy compared to the other 2.

Well this is obviously crap.
I'm hoping the real reason is that they didn't want the game to miss it's christmas release.
Otherwise it just means they're still completely incompetent about online gaming. Something even Sega managed to get right 14 years ago with dial-up modems.