Topic: Help Feature Confirmed for New Super Mario Bros. Wii

[NWR_pap64]

The initiative hopes to make the game even more accessible to new players.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=18906

 Nintendo has confirmed that their recently unveiled New Super Mario Bros. Wii will feature a help system in which players can let the game take over for them during difficult parts.    

Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed this. "In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, if a player is experiencing an area of difficulty, this will allow them to clear troubled areas and take over when they're ready," said the famed developer.    

This not only broadens the game's appeal towards inexperienced players, it also eliminates the need for cheat codes and strategy guides. Miyamoto also confirmed that this feature will be available in future Wii titles.    

A few months back, a patent for a help feature by Nintendo was discovered. It illustrated a help-and-hint feature in which players would be able to skip a difficult part of the game if they weren't able to pass it. This announcement is the official reveal of that feature.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Stevey's Legend of OO meltdown in 5 4 3 2 1....

[NWR_pap64]

Now for my commentary...

Its very, very, VERY odd that Nintendo chose New Super Mario Bros. Wii to debut this new feature. The DS game was already pretty flexible, forgiving and accessible to players. They gave you a lot of lives to work with.

The only reason I can think of that since NSMB Wii will be 4 player the difficulty has been raised to maintain the challenge core gamers want but not forgetting about the new players who started with NSMB.

I don't know, I just find this weird. I think Galaxy 2 would have been a more fitting game for this feature since 3D Mario is harder to sell towards new players.

[Peachylala]

http://www.torontothumbs.com/2009/06/16/nintendo-gives-us-demo-play-option-and-this-makes-us-feel-uncomfortable/

The ending paragraph made me lawl. Nintendo has never had difficultly settings avalible in a game from the get-go. It's sometimes hidden. (IE Luigi in SMG)

[MegaByte]

Now for my commentary...

Its very, very, VERY odd that Nintendo chose New Super Mario Bros. Wii to debut this new feature. The DS game was already pretty flexible, forgiving and accessible to players. They gave you a lot of lives to work with.

The only reason I can think of that since NSMB Wii will be 4 player the difficulty has been raised to maintain the challenge core gamers want but not forgetting about the new players who started with NSMB.

I don't know, I just find this weird. I think Galaxy 2 would have been a more fitting game for this feature since 3D Mario is harder to sell towards new players.

Well, 2D games would also be easier to program such a feature for rather than 3D games.  Especially given the get-to-the-end nature rather than the explore/collect nature of the game.

[NWR_pap64]

http://www.torontothumbs.com/2009/06/16/nintendo-gives-us-demo-play-option-and-this-makes-us-feel-uncomfortable/

The ending paragraph made me lawl. Nintendo has never had difficultly settings avalible in a game from the get-go. It's sometimes hidden. (IE Luigi in SMG)

True. The first Super Mario Bros. game had the new quest mode that appeared after the game was beaten. Then there was the even harder sequel (the Japanese sequel). The original Zelda also had this feature. Super Mario World had the secret expert levels that you had to find. Ocarina of Time had that alternate quest game disc which had harder dungeons.

You know what? I think that since NSMB is all about Mario nostalgia maybe there will be harder levels and this feature is to help those reach and help them.

Not to mention that Nintendo has always had these types of features, such as the warp zones in Mario Bros. 1 and 2 and the whistle in 3.

Players shouldn't have to worry about this since this is optional.

[LuigiHann]

I'm not ashamed to say that I would probably use this. Some of the boss fights in NSMB were more irritating than fun, for me.

[stevey]

GOD DAMN IT!!!!

GAAAAAHH!!!!!

[Dirk Temporo]

If I hadn't just gotten over crying (long story), I'd be raging like a motherf***er. A game that literally plays itself. Awful.

[Mop it up]

I probably won't ever use the feature, I'd rather get a hint or something and still try to do it myself.

[NWR_insanolord]

As long as it's not mandatory why does anyone care how other people play the game when it doesn't affect them at all?

[Mop it up]

Because if somebody beats the game without it, nobody will believe them?

That's all I can think of...

[NWR_pap64]

Because if somebody beats the game without it, nobody will believe them?

That's all I can think of...

That's how its been for the last 20 years or so...

There was Game Genie, strategy guides, cheat codes, Gamefaqs, forums and many other things that offered hints at how to beat a game. This seems to take it to the next level and have the game itself show you how its done.

People will always question whether you truly beat something or not, except now we can prove it easily by taping the performance or via achievements which can be shown online.

[Mop it up]

Then no, I can't think of any reason why this is a bad thing, or worse how it's destroying gaming.
Though I've noticed nobody has really given a reason as to why this is bad, so I guess such people just like to complain...

[KDR_11k]

While I won't use the feature I think an SMB game is a pretty bad place to start using it. SMB is the kind of game that's perfect for beginners and introduces them to the controller button by button. First you walk to the right with the dpad. Then you encounter an enemy. You have to jump. You learn what A does. You encounter a mushroom, you pick it up. Once you're good enough to avoid losing it again you get a fireflower, now B can shoot fireballs. Later you notice that B also makes your character run and as your skill level increases at some point you start running all the time.

I think teaching new gamers about failure is important too. The game should at least make sure it doesn't encourage using the feature after one or two deaths already. Then again "casual" gamers are very accepting of challenge and will play focussed enough to become good at a game, unlike "hardcore" gamers who jump from game to game like a chimpanzee with ADD and only want to play the game to the credits so they can trade it in at Gamestop to buy their next game...

[that Baby guy]

Now for my commentary...

Its very, very, VERY odd that Nintendo chose New Super Mario Bros. Wii to debut this new feature. The DS game was already pretty flexible, forgiving and accessible to players. They gave you a lot of lives to work with.

The only reason I can think of that since NSMB Wii will be 4 player the difficulty has been raised to maintain the challenge core gamers want but not forgetting about the new players who started with NSMB.

I don't know, I just find this weird. I think Galaxy 2 would have been a more fitting game for this feature since 3D Mario is harder to sell towards new players.

Well, 2D games would also be easier to program such a feature for rather than 3D games.  Especially given the get-to-the-end nature rather than the explore/collect nature of the game.

I disagree, to an extent.  Essentially, I believe Nintendo intends to record every single button-press of someone playing through the game rather quickly and successfully.  The system was defined to essentially have a "chapter" system, and has to be loaded from pre-determined points.  As far as I've seen you can't rotate back-and-forth from demo-mode to human-controlled mode, only being able to go from demo to human once per chapter.

If this is the case, 2D and 3D are of no relevance, at all.  The demo sees "A-button held here, duration 0.148 seconds" in any case.  The scale of complexity is dependent, instead, on how complete and thorough will demo-mode be?  Will it pick up every good item and find every secret, or is it merely a means from point A to point B?  Regardless, that matter doesn't have much to do with 2D and 3D, either, but the linearity and frequency of hidden or alternative things in each individual game.  In Super Mario Bros., would demo-mode grab the hidden 1up before that first pit?  Would it be able to do the first, relatively simple, intentionally programmed sequence break in Super Metroid?

[Dirk Temporo]

As long as it's not mandatory why does anyone care how other people play the game when it doesn't affect them at all?

Because it's a GAME. You should not watch a GAME unless you are spectating a multiplayer match or something. If you watch a GAME it then ceases to be a GAME and becomes a MOVIE.

[NWR_insanolord]

But still, why does it bother you that some people might want to pay $50 to watch the computer play through the game? You're free to play it without any assistance.

[King Bowser Koopa]

I'm wondering if there's a way to put a lock-out on this feature to prevent temptation from less experienced gamers you might happen to be playing with? Like, imagine a friend or sibling that you want to play with. You're already going easy on them and helping them along the way, but the idea is to help them improve (you know, you get better at games by actually playing them) so that when their skill improves you can move on to harder games and not leave them behind. Sure some parts in NSMB were tricky, but there wasn't anything nail-bitingly hard, and nothing that a little practice won't overcome.

All that I said would be meaningless, however, if this feature is part of a pause menu or something. If they made it a simple button press to swap between manual and auto there's no way to tell when other players swap over to cheater cruise control, unless they flash or make a sound effect or something. If they have to pause to turn on the feature, it at least makes it obvious and allows the other players chance to smack them over the head for being a pansy non-player.

[BranDonk Kong]

A long time ago there was an article entitled "New Nintendo Console designed for Stupid Fucking Idiots" (or something very close). The controller had 2 buttons - "Start Game" and"Win Game", soon, this will be a reality. I think it's stupid, using the difficulty system would make more sense to me, at least when you set it to easy, you're still playing the game.

[KDR_11k]

I really don't think you can activate it in coop since the other player's actions are unpredictable and it would need an AI instead of merely following a predefined routine.

Meh, if people want to ruin their fun let them.

[TJ Spyke]

As long as it's not mandatory why does anyone care how other people play the game when it doesn't affect them at all?

Because it's a GAME. You should not watch a GAME unless you are spectating a multiplayer match or something. If you watch a GAME it then ceases to be a GAME and becomes a MOVIE.

But it's nobody's buisness if someone else wants to use it or not. I think anybody bitching about a OPTIONAL feature that won't affect them should STFU. If anything this type of feature will get more people to buy a game since they know they can get help on a section they would normally get stuck on and then quit playing.

[Nick DiMola]

This is pretty genius I must say. Rather than gimping the experience for everyone, Nintendo found a way to make it easier for those who can't hack it.

New Super Mario Bros. (DS) wasn't the hardest of games, but my grandmother would get stuck at certain parts and need my help to progress. With a feature like this, the game could do it for me and she wouldn't even have to rely on me. A lot of times just watching me do something would be enough to inspire her to try again using my tactics so she could beat it herself. She still had a blast playing the parts she could accomplish, so something like this would probably allow her to enjoy it even more.

I don't understand why anyone would begrudge this optional feature. It is in all of our best interest for it to be included. It pretty much ensures that the game will tougher because those who aren't good enough can just throw it on auto pilot.

[Plugabugz]

Now that the utility of gamefaq's has been sucked into the game, can we translate the bitching and continual whining about all life in there too? OH DONT GO THERE YOU WILL DIE FASTA. LOOK WHAT YOU DID. YOU DIED. YOU'RE A TERRIBLE NON-GAMER. NON-GAMERS CAN READ.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Some of you disappoint me because this argument is so retarded.
"OMG!! Oh Noes!! Nintendo is bridging the gap so a non/casual gamer can feel like an accomplished gamer!!! This is gonna ruin gaming!!!"

I mean seriously, a hint system for someone that might get stuck is what is working you up? Nintendo obsoleting the expensive strategy guide and  a trip to GameFAQs is a problem for you? Its not like you hit a button and then sit back and watch the computer play till the credits roll, put the game away and think you finished it like a movie. You ask for help and the game shows you that you should maybe hit this block and jump on this ledge to get by... now you try it.
If Anything this is gonna help the inexperienced player learn how the games puzzles work and help them think like a gamer so they can figure out later levels on their own and maybe feel confident enough to move on to more challenging games in the Wii's library. Nintendo is making gaming more accessible to the casuals in a way that doesn't affect the game in any way for you (because the hints are optional) and some of you have a problem with that? ....so disappointing.