Topic: Nintendo is Lazy and Doesn't Care?

but the screen shots kinda do do it justice.... compared to the DS version at least

as you mentioned in motion New SMB Wii is even more impressive.

ah IGN, always reading too far into it. who cares if you play as peach or toad, whether its getting recycled or not. do you really think that it matters anyway, the guys arent sitting on their butts eating chips, their actually working on other aspects of the game that matters more

PS3 and XboX games NEVER get recycled do they IGN? They are so depressed it make me sick. Enjoy your gaming ffs other wise what's the point?

The article states: Shigeru Miyamoto was asked why Peach wasn't a playable character, and he says that her physique doesn't match Mario's as closely as Toad 1 + Toad 2 (though to be honest, why not Toadette at least), and then joked they'd have to put in some special programming to dictate how the skirt is handled in gameplay. The key word is gameplay.

Matt then extrapolates that Peach wasn't included because Nintendo were too lazy to programme a character with a different physique, and I suspect he misses the point completely.

Whoever here has played Super Mario Bros. 2 on the NES should know that Princess Peach's character is a little more than a sprite change. I believe her floating ability (whether by skirt, or by parasol) would have had to be to included (for this game to be canonically corrrect, that is), and would have made her an unbalanced character.

That was the first two paragraphs.

His second point praises Nintendo's cost cutting design, and then derides its incapability to play in High Definition Sound and Video. I chose the Wii, partly because the price was right, partly because I feel I have a natural affinity to Nintendo (having owned a NES, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance SP, N64, Two Gamecubes, a DS (which I gave to my Mum after I got...), a DSi and a Wii), partly because I actually enjoy the majority of games I choose to buy on the system, but mainly because I respect their value of creating a system that is geared towards gaming, rather than the buffet that Sony and Microsoft offers with their Blue-Rays, their music storage and their video playback.

However, I'm more of a fan of my DSi than my Wii (I'm quicker to buy a DSi game at the moment than a Wii game - that should change next year), but If you ask me, I'm not dissapointed with Nintendo's strategy at all. After all, it's widening Nintendo's appeal to a greater audience that can enjoy their games.

Peach has appeared in her own game, in fact, and If I remember correctly, she had a brief stint as heroine in Paper Mario - Thousand Year Door

Although I think that Toad should have only been one of the characters isn't having the same body shape as Mario necessary so all the characters play the same?

This is the laughable part of the article " We celebrate its monthly sales victories and then we re-play Super Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, and Smash Bros. while we sift through Nintendo's cash-ins on the way to its next big thing."
Its kind of true when you think about it.

Edhe, I know she has escaped the role before. She has done this much earlier than both your examples. But I meant permanently. The whole ditzy blonde, helpless woman thing is old. If Nintendo really wants the game to be accessible to all demographics, why exclude a possible female character for its female customers to play as? Surely they can come up with some other sad excuse for a plot to get the game going, as if they need one at all.

But as for Peach floating, I don't see that as an excuse at all. Luigi is known in more games than Peach to have unique physics. Toad is playable and with unique characteristics in at least one game, Mario 2. Of course, it's hard to know if Toad is a unique character or a generic one since his name is the same as the name of an entire race of weird mushroom people, but Luigi is still different regardless. They don't have to make her float.

It's such a minor complaint that I don't there is justification in the overreaction it's garnered, but I do think it's a valid complaint if not used as fuel for "Nintendo's lazy" arguments. Peach and Daisy would have been perfect for players three and four. Many female players and Phoenix Sage would have liked it. People with nothing better to do than complain about player four being another Toad would have liked it. Everyone wins.

Edit: @ The Great Leon, not really. I mostly play New Super Mario Brothers, which is new (the proof is in the title) and lately I've had something from the Nintendo Download to look forward to almost every week. It's been a slow year, but it's turning around. Better late than never.

Edit: @ The Great Adam,maybe. I have lots of games to look forward to as well
and im SATISFIED of how things are going on with nintendo. But i would be lying
if i said i LOVED how things are with nintendo i mean lets face it nintendo has been lazy a
few times.But the wii is still my favorite console.

His argument is fine, but some of the examples to substantiate it were weak.

Take, for example, him banging on about the weakness of the Wii hardware. It's not that they were LAZY, it's that they had to make a BUSINESS decision. They were headed downhill and needed to revise their strategy; they weren't some evil corporation trying to suck the money out of idiotic consumers, they were trying to stay alive and maintain market share. And really, that turned out to be a good thing. With Nintendo out, our three-way oligopoly would have turned into a Sony vs. Microsoft brawl, with less competition and less creative thinking.

I have no qualms with bashing Nintendo, but I think this column just didn't do it very well.

I'm going back into the IGN territory to gather material for my video reponse. Wish me luck and hope I survive.

Edit: Holy crap, the thread has over 800 posts, most of which are focused on bashing Nintendo.

I haven't played NSMBW yet but in every screen shot I've seen, every model has looked terrible.

It also keeps the same uninteresting aesthetic from the original NSMB.
The older SMB games (and SMW) had much better aesthetics.

you know... one of my favorite parts of his article was when he was talking about new play control being a lazy cheap cop-out. uhm.... let's think about what Sony is releasing at the moment.... can someone say, "God of War Collection?" this is 2 old PS2 games with added: motion control? nope. content? nope. graphical power? nope. it's just 2 old PS2 games. and yet this is TOTALLY acceptable... and even a "phenomenal deal", whereas others like the incredible Metroid Prime Trilogy are stamped as "lazy"..... am i the only one not getting how this makes sense???

Right, they thought Prime Trilogy was so lazy that they awarded it a 9.5 and Editor's Choice. Good thinking.

Also, God of War Collection is different. Most PS3's can't play PS2 games already while all Wiis can play all Gamecube games, so there was less reason to release them. The NPCs also came out at a time when Nintendo wasn't releasing many first-party games for a long period of time. God of War Collection comes at what most think to be the PS3's finest hour, so it's obviously not being used as an excuse not to release new games.

People like collections. It offers convenience in having multiple games on one disc, and all your games playable on one system. Prime Trilogy was appreciated for the same reason. It's games were already Wii-ready, but having them all on one disc is definitely nice.

And God of War Collection is only one example, while Nintendo released a lot of NPCs, especially in Japan. It's really a terribly weak comparison. I'm not agreeing with the article necessarily, I don't think IGN is worth reading, but if I were to disagree with them, Prime Trilogy Vs. God of War Collection would not be why.

i didn't say ign as a whole thought it was lazy. just this columnist, as he specifically cited the revamped versions of MP and MP2:E

and yes. i agree, collections are nice. i love them. but to call one lazy and another not... i merely question his double standard.

I think Matt misunderstood what Miyamoto meant by the Toads being "similar" to Mario and Luigi. I think his intention was to just have 4 identical characters, rather than each having there own gameplay traits that might give some players advantages over the others. Having a floaty Peach for example, would give that player a huge advantage over the others in sky stages and thus making those segments less rewarding for the other players. Having unique characters traits might make things interesting for skilled players but for casuals I could see that being a huge turn off, definately.

Also, am I the only one tired of hearing Matt, and other narrow minded "people in the know" complain about the Wii's lack of power? WE KNOW! Let it go. The Wii has clearly proven it doesn't have be able to compete on that level and I would argue that the systems simple yet efficient design is part of why it has appealed to so many people and found the major success that it has. I can understand where Matt is coming from, being a fairly technical savvy guy myself, but his argument that there are enough people like him to justify Nintendo taking the same route as there competators is absurd. Sure, Call of Duty sold nearly 5 mil in one month but what about AFTER the holidays? These games don't have the legs that Nintendo's do. We still see people gobbling up Mario Kart Wii on a consistant basis, month after month and I'm sure New Super Mario Bros. Wii will accomplish the same type of success.

If this article has done anything it's shown how close minded people in the game reviews and news industry can be. Matt goes on to say, multiple times, that "yeah, fun is what matters" but completely looses his credibility by following up those statements with "but some higher res textures and bloom lighting would make these experiences better." That just shows you right there how clueless this guy is. I'm sorry Matt, you use to be a solid reporter but you've lost what made you great in recent years, your ability to appriciate what makes games fun.

Peach does not have to be floaty. Toad and Luigi have both been in games with unique characteristics, and lo and behold, in this game they play exactly like Mario. I'm sure whatever magic Nintendo used to make them play like Mario would work on Peach, too.

They tell me about lack of power that the Wii possesses, then I play games like Muramasa, Little Kings Story, and New Super Mario Bros. and think, "Man this is nice looking"!
I play Wiiware titles such as Nyx Quest and Swords-n-Soldiers and think the same thing about how nice they look.

NOTE TO IGN:

If it was all about who could produce the most powerful machine each gen war, then I guess the PS3 would be on top. I'm guessing here that it has to do with more than just raw power and more with enjoyment. One more point: Rehashed games? Try telling me about how Nintendo rehashed games when every time another rehashed GTA game comes out each year you guys get a tingle running down your legs and think it's the best ever.

@BroDragons
Did he say GoW Collection wasn't lazy? I only skimmed over it but saw no mention of the title. I did read the part where he mentioned Prime though, and he only includes it as evidence of a trend. He doesn't claim it is specifically bad. The idea is that the vast majority of games Nintendo has released lately have already been released (NPCs), are partial upgrades (Wii Fit+), or look and play very much like recent games on inferior hardware (i.e. NSMB and Animal Crossing).

Anyway, I assumed since he doesn't mention GoW that you were referring to the whole site, not just the writer. But then you said the opposite. It seems like you are holding him responsible for everything the site publishes when it goes against your position (GoWC), but not when it agrees with you (MPT).

EDIT: I just checked, and Matt actually wrote the MPT review, so yea, you're misunderstanding his article. Of course, I don't hold that against you because he is a bad writer, but that doesn't change the fact that he isn't bashing MPT or saying GoWC is somehow better (though maybe he does elsewhere on the site, I only checked the review of each).

That's what I mean. Most of the screenshots really are poor. And they do show some of the most dull scenes in the game... seriously poor choice. When I first saw the game in the E3 video (actually now that I think about it, I'm not a big fan of the first world at least - visually) I have to admit I thought they were being lazy. I mean, the game certainly isn't visually stunning or anything (I've got Muramasa for that!). But there's nothing really wrong with it either. Once you start playing, you realise it's actually pretty fitting. Clean, simple and uncluttered. Just like the earlier games, but often vibrant and exciting. However you don't really see this side at all from the screenshots.

Yea, the videos and screenshots of the game don't do it justice. I was worried this was going to be even worse than the DS one, which I didn't like much, but it's in fact one of the best Mario games there is, if not the best. The graphics look fine after world one or two, which are pretty empty and dull in comparison with the rest of the game. I'd of course have preferred 2D sprites, but we can't have everything.