Those of you with good memories might recall that when the original Mario Party launched on the Nintendo 64, the mini-game 'Tug o' War' attracted some rather unwanted attention in the press, with players apparently picking up injuries after furiously spinning the N64's analogue stick using their palms.
Tug o' War sees one player dressed as Bowser going up against the three other players in a game of – you've guessed it – tug of war. The objective is to spin the control stick as fast as possible to pull the other team into the canyon in the middle of the screen.
The issue is that kids were spinning their analogue sticks with such vigour that they were getting burns on their palms. Things got so bad that the New York Attorney General's office had a word and Nintendo eventually offered players protective gloves to avoid any issues.
Guess what? Tug o' War also appears in the upcoming Mario Party Superstars for Switch, and Nintendo has included a warning this time around to prevent history repeating itself.
We'd argue that the ridged design on the N64's analogue stick was to blame for harming palms back in the late '90s, and the Joy-Con stick's rubber topping should prevent any similar issues. However, we dread to think what will happen to the millions of sticks over the world when they have Tug o' War inflicted upon them – if they didn't have Joy-Con drift already, they may well do soon...
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 57
At least the stick isn't solid plastic with grooves now. I am surprised they brought any stick-spinning minigames back.
If you have a pro controller, you should be fine. If this was super mario party, with it requiring joycons, THEN we'd have a problem!
Hey I’ve got my N64 controller coming, palm burns here we come!
Let's see if they end up removing this mini-game in a future update.
Right, looks like this game is set to become a huge success now that it has public outcry attached to it.
What in the…. Why?! 🤦♂️🤦♂️
Hey listen, I’m triggered by the word, having drift problems with every single joycon I purchased (3 pairs so far), I recently bought the oled model which would be my 4th pair… needless to say I’ll be very angry if it starts drifting as well…
Sorry to be off topic but doesn’t Switch Expansion pack launch today? Wonder what time...
I'll be playing handheld if I buy the game so I guess I'll just try my luck with my Joy-Con. They usually end up drifting sooner or later regardless of what I do with them anyway. I'll still avoid being too rough with them though. It's not too hard to rotate the Joy-Con sticks pretty quickly while still being pretty gentle with them.
I mean, you get blisters and bleeding fingers learning to play the guitar...
Can… can we just turn this mini game off? I still remember the blister I got in the center of my hand from the original Tug o’ War (and other similar mini games.) Plus, I don’t want to put that kind of strain on my controllers again. I can’t believe it made it into the final game.
@Hero-of-WiiU It doesn't launch here (Netherlands) until tomorrow, same for the UK, according to the Dutch and UK official Nintendo websites. So I wouldn't expect it to launch for at least 10 more hours, as these things usually launch globally.
Uh geez new lawsuit and gloves?
Edit: this is a one liner joke.
Who would ever even CONSIDER using their palms for Joy Cons? I can understand the N64 Controller because the control stick as honestly garbage and too high to use quickly, but Joy Cons? The one controller that rivals the N64 Controller's durability?
A classic minigame lost in time, revived.
Rotate the Joy Cons with palm hand sounds like Running in The 90's or Deja Vu for me.
uh oh... here we go
I’m kind of surprised they didn’t tweak the controls if it was such an issue in the past. Like they could’ve made it so players have to press A, B, Y, and X in a circular clockwise motion instead or something.
@RupeeClock Then I won't ever update the game.
Well we've known Nintendo to make questionable decisions, but you'd think they would know not to make the same mistake twice. Apparently, to them, the mistake they made was not putting a disclaimer on the instructions screen to legally protect themselves.
@Ryu_Niiyama They can't get sued. The game has a disclaimer warning the players this time.
@Dethmunk The classic 'It's never happened to me so it must not be true'. My joycons were defective right out of the box with the same issue and I immediately sent it to Nintendo for a working pair, just so you know.
@Porky sigh it was a joke.
@Dethmunk
You didn't have any problems which means the other 90 million people that bought a Switch shouldn't have any problems. Good thing your experience is the only one that counts, right?
Removed - disrespecting others; user is banned
@CovidBarbie There are a few problems with this comment.
1. You're assuming that everyone with malfunctioning controllers just have bad hygiene.
2. The classic "It never happened to me, so it must not exist" logical fallacy.
3. You're saying that people with malfunctioning controllers are embarrassing and subhuman.
@Zag_Man I mean, they must have been inspired by this... Surely!! 😂🤣🤣
Ummmm… this is a really surprising and stupid decision to include rotating mini games with the original controls. Even ignoring the entire palm issue, these type of fast motions with an analog stick can put significant wear and tear on your controllers fast, especially if you play the game a lot.
If they really wanted to include these type games, they could have easily just changed the controls for them.
I'm happy to lose this mini game each time
Here come the 90s problems...
Now where was this warning when I was a kid? Surprised they brought that minigame back!
"do not rotate with the palm of your hand"
HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO WIN?? /jk
Forget joycon drift, the new phenomenon will be snapped joycons!
I never had drift issues until this year but I got free replacements quickly so whatever. But when this mini game comes up I'll just be happy to lose.
Anyone think this might get discounted in November/Holidays? Might hold out if I can...
Its weird, Mario Party 2 reused some minigames from 1, and the few that used stick rotation substituted vigorously tapping the A or B button, so why bring back the stick rotation here, when the same kind of control scheme could easily be a perfect substitute here as well?
I just assumed they wouldn't be reviving Tug of War ever again. Weird that they decided to.
I was one of the palm-burnt victims back in the day that figured out that the palm of the hand was the most efficient way to win. It's not fun. It's not worth winning. It won't land you in the hospital, or anything, but it's not fun. Don't do it, kids!
Also, while the rubber tips might protect your palms, nothing protects those rubber tips. I can imagine the palm-twirling yanking those things off the stick, and I speak from experience when I say they do not go back on willingly.
Isn't the Joy-Con Drift caused by dust/dirt getting into the Joystick through that completely stupid rubber flap that covers a hole right inside?
Unless I'm mistaken there, this minigame might wreck the sticks in it's own right, but shouldn't really be a higher risk for Joy-Con drift (at least the sort that the entire internet constantly talks about)
@Friscobay have you ever tried repairing them yourself? I recall getting pairs of replacements joysticks and the tools to open the joycon(and screw it back together) for like... less than 20$CAD(I think it was even 12$CAD before shipping so i'm probably overestimating the costs).
I was surprised by how easy the joystick was to replace compared to like... anything else electronic i've had to do before in the past(I recall having had to remove a laptop's motherboard -just- to replace the fan).
And unlike the pro controller's joystick, no soldering is required.
All the minigames from the series to choose from and they used one with this sort of history. Obviously not all the minigames in Mario Party are created equal, and some have been mechanically impractical. I guess it figures that some of the lesser ones would find their way into this game, which begs the question as to whether, for the first time in the series' history, there may be DLC with additional boards and/or minigames. And if Nintendo does that, perhaps they could add a filter by which players could select which minigames they don't like and exclude them from their games.
Just update it to quickly tap A. What were the designers thinking?
I'm pretty sure the Great Rubber Glove Giveaway is fresh enough in Nintendo's corporate mind for them to have made the number of stick spins to win this something a human thumb could actually accomplish. I wouldn't worry too much.
If they're bringing this back, are they also bringing back the viciousness of the original games? Example being, rolling a 30 with a gold mushroom and visiting the boo at least four times to steal everybody's stuff this round.
> Don't fix the drift
> Release tug o war
> Have more joycons break
> Sell more joycons
> Profit
Remember, they're still gonna rotate with the palms. It isn't an N64 controller anymore.
im not even worried about the drift, but the fact that i dont trust joycons to withstand hard spinning. they look like they could snap right off
@Ludovsky doesn’t work for me. I should also remind you that regional Nintendo does not accept any opened up joycon. So they actually insist no to try fix it at home… I do understand that we live in f* up economy where it is not a luxury to pay over thousand for a mobile phone, but 89€ for a pair of joycon is still a premium price for the design flawed accessory that lasts 4 months top. It has been 5 years, yet no official design revision or refund program, they could at least sell the left con for a smaller price since it is the one that drifts the most. Not Nintendo I fell in love with years ago.
@Friscobay i assume you handle them wrong just kidding!
@sportvater stupid hands !
This is what I was afraid of. You think they would have learned their lesson when some of the returning games from Mario Party made it to Mario Party 2 they replaced the controller and palm destroying stick play into rapidly tapping the A and B buttons instead. Why not just keep that method? It would satisfy the same endurance without risk of injuring players or messing up their admittedly poorly constructed joysticks.
Its a good thing i dont use joy cons then only then normal controlers
That new Bowser suit model looks hideous, it almost looks like a pair of boobies on top of Daisy's head... why not stick to the original idea of having the character's heads on Bowser's body, it was way funnier that way, how disappointing.
#Bowsette Cameo Confirmed
Well let's face it. Isn't this injury caused by the players themselves? Honestly, i understand that some people playing this game are extremely competitive, but it's not like nintendo forces them to burn the skin off their fingers. I think it's ridiculous that nintendo was sued so many years ago just because of this. Could i, for example, also sue capcom for not being able to slay a magnamalo in monster hunter rise and therefore breaking my switch out of frustration?
Mario Party, destroyer of controllers
"it's not like nintendo forces them to burn the skin off their fingers"
Clearly you do not want to win badly enough.
Naw i gotta win lol just like back then.. didn't care about no blisters. Those were just battle scars i wore so proudly ! Already have drift on pro and joycons so what's the worst that can happen ~
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