This better not mean that Nintendo is going back on Miyamoto-san's statement that MG2 will have more of a challenge than the previous game.

When I read the headline, I thought "The US is getting shorted on something good." but it actually seems like something I'm not interested in anyway.

Maybe Nemo, but it would be a nice collector's disc.

Despite having lived here this long, I still don't quite understand why Japanese gamers don't play 3D Mario games....

I really don't know what to make of this.  Does Nintendo now suddenly just have no confidence whatsoever in their ability to make overbearing, intrusive, and condescending tutorials?  :confused;    Hopefully this means they've relegated all that nonsense now to supplementary materials and are leaving it out of their games.

Judging from their need to create this DVD, I think that they're also at a loss to explain it.

Because 3D platformers have a track record of controlling like crap. Mario isn't much better in many ways.

I just don't think it's "their thing".  I'm not sure that the Japanese are fond of 3D action games period.  They don't like first-person shooters, they don't like 3D platformers, it's just not their bag.  It seems that they like 3D, but in slower game genres like stealth, RPG, etc.

I know that's a blanket statement, but you can't help but make it after years of watching them pretty much ignore certain game genres that are really popular in the West.

This DVD is the super guide to their Super Guide.

http://i44.tinypic.com/oub04j.jpg

Chapter 1: What is a "remote"?

To me this is another example of Nintendo being too conservative and being too scared of offending people or confusing them.  Just make a great game and if people are too damn stupid to figure out your non-at-all complicated game then it's their loss.  I don't want Nintendo to be concerned with customers that are this fickle and close-minded.  It will just keep them too conservative.  All that should matter is that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a success and it will be, just like the first game.  If Japan doesn't get it, WHO CARES.  America does and America is bigger.  If you make good money with an appreciative audience why spend so much time focusing on who doesn't like your product?

There is a large market for this game and don't risk pissing that market away as you focus on a market that is choosing to not give a fuck.

But this DVD isn't for America and you can't expect Nintendo to just ignore and forget about their massive new audience just because some of the extras they put out don't cater directly to you.

Japan is their HOME country and the last thing they want to do is lose their home audience. If they have to try a little harder to get the Japanese 2D loving audience to give 3D Mario a shot, then so be it, but it's not like they spent $10Million, 6 months development time and half of the dev team that was working on Kirby Wii, Wave Race, Zelda, Earthbound and Mario Tennis/Golf to make this tutorial DVD. So give it a rest already.

It is almost like the Japanese love archaic design. Just look at the Dragon Quest series.

The DVD is nothing really.  I'm just noting that Nintendo seems so concerned with who isn't playing their games.  To focus too much on that is to risk losing who IS playing your games.  There is a give and take between trying to attract new customers and alienating your existing ones.  It might just be that the two groups are incompatible and you can't please both with the same product.

Besides this isn't the new audience, this is Japan.  Mario has been 3D for over ten years.  The vibe I get, and I don't mean anything racist in saying this, is that Japan is too trend-focused.  It's like everybody likes something or nobody does and the culture is not as supportive of individuality as Western culture is.  It really seems like a couple years ago Japan decided to reject all videogames that aren't incredibly simplistic or based on very old gameplay design.  If it comes to a point where you either cut Japan or cut America I think it makes much more sense to cut Japan because they're smaller and they seem like a fickle market that will hang you out to dry if you suddenly aren't cool anymore.

Hell, Nintendo has a Mario game that is a big success in Japan with NSMB.  So if Super Mario Galaxy is just big in the West, why does that really matter?  A DVD is no big deal but if they start compromising 3D Mario in eyes of the Western audience to try to attract the Japanese audience, that sucks.  Why should the existing fans have something they like get compromised for someone who doesn't care?  Super Mario Galaxy is a beloved and successful game.  There is really nothing wrong with it.  Therefore is someone doesn't like it then they don't deserve to have it changed so that they do.  Either like what's there or go find something else.

If Nintendo had to choose between pleasing Japan and pleasing the west, they would undoubtedly choose Japan.

The thing is they didn't.  According to all the early reviews and impressions, Galaxy 2 is actually MUCH HARDER then Galaxy 1.  Hell according to people who've read the recent Game Informer review, they actually docked the game points because it was too hard.

I understand the concern about Nintendo maybe messing with the 3D Mario to please Japan, but in the case of Galaxy 2 it didn't happen.  Everyone who's getting worked up over what this DVD means is getting themselves worked up over nothing.  The gameplay in Galaxy 2 wasn't compromised in anyway to please the Japanese audience, since if anything, it'll probably turn them off more because of its increased difficulty.

It's funny, because the stereotype is that the Japanese are really good at making the most difficult maneuvers appear ridiculously easy.

3D Mario is just way different from 2D Mario. It's not about getting lost, it's about getting no consistent gameplay (look! now it's 2D! Now you're rolling a ball through a maze! Now you're collecting bits before the ground disappears!) and not playing like 2D Mario (in 2D Mario your goal is just to move past obstacles, in 3D Mario you get all kinds of sub-challenges and puzzles). Hell, you don't even get powerups in 3D Mario, just even more altered physics in some levels. In 2D Mario if you get a fireflower you keep it until you get hit, in 3D Mario "powerups" are timed, confined to a level and pretty much exist only to solve this level's puzzles/unique physics.