In the comments section of Choof’s post about New Super Mario Bros. Wii, I mentioned that I was among those who were skeptical about the game when it was first announced.

It wasn’t necessarily due to the game itself.  I love New Super Mario Bros. for the DS.  I really do.  Hell it’s the damn game that got me to buy a Nintendo DS.

What got me skeptical about this pseudo-sequel for the Wii was the mention of a “demo play” feature that would debut in NSMB Wii.  I wasn’t able to find any articles that showed the correlation of this new “demo play” feature with NSMB Wii when I made my original comments, but I can now.

Seek and you shall find,

Can Wii be of service?
Talk about being user-friendly. Nintendo’s Wii, already the most accessible system, confirmed an unannounced new feature will be built into future titles. Beginning with NewSuper Mario Bros. Wii this fall, players will be able to pause during a difficult level, let the game take over to complete the level, and press a button to resume playing.

Legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto says the feature is tentatively called “demo play.”

“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” Miyamoto says. “And yes, we’re looking into this for future games.”

Disclaimer: I do not make games, nor do I hold experience in any aspect of game design.  I do love gaming and reading a whole bunch about game design,  and am only voicing my opinion on the subject.

I know and understand that Nintendo has taken the necessary actions this generation (with refer to console releases) to expand the video game market beyond the old bread-and-butter demographic of 16-24 year old males with games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit.  I know as a gamer that, getting more people playing games really is a good thing.  I know that it allows me to do such things as: play Boom Blox with Steph, or Wii Sports bowling with my Grandma.

I’m going to withhold final judgement regarding this “demo play” functionality till I see it in action.

But.

I don’t like the idea of a “demo play” feature like this being introduced in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.  I realize that experimenting with this feature on a “Mario” game has the potential to yield the highest amount of  ”test subjects” that will have exposure to this new feature, enabling Nintendo to gauge how well it works and/or obtain a significant amount of critical feedback.

I believe that giving players the opportunity to essentially “skip” particularly difficult parts of a level strips the satisfaction that comes with the successful traversing of difficult areas in Mario games.  In addition,  if Nintendo believes that the inherent “difficulty” of a game (Mario in this case) is enough to warrant the introduction of a feature such as this, they’re just being negligent to what the real problem is.

And that problem, my friends, is the lack of well executed level design.  In my opinion  (and I’m sure there will be some Juicers here that have something to say about this), if a game includes well executed level design to the point that the game introduces players to the game with “easier levels” then ramps up the difficulty at a reasonable pace to levels of a “tougher” difficulty, then the players themselves “learn through doing”.  That still allows players to play a game, as opposed to just watching the AI handle the tougher parts of levels.

What kills me however, is that Mario games tend to be a sterling example of games that have the aforementioned “well executed level design”.  With that said, I really don’t see a good reason why this “demo play” feature is being introduced in a Mario game, other than showing those introduced to video gaming from Wii Fit and Wii Sports a way to play Mario and not get frustrated.  And those are noble intentions, I’m just afraid of what will become of video gaming as a whole if this whole “AI assisted” element takes hold.

Insane 2:30 AM Addition:

Ya know, I completely forgot about Valve’s Left 4 Dead, and the inclusion of AI takeover in that game.  Unlike the “demo play” feature to be included in New Super Mario Bros. Wii,  the  AI takeover in Left 4 Dead in my opinion is more of a courtesy, then a easy escape hatch to bypass tough levels.  I feel this way for one reason really:

• The inclusion of AI take over is really there as a courtesy to those you’re playing with.

Take for example, this situation:

Colin and myself are playing L4D at my apartment and doing the coop single player levels with Beej and Choof at Choof’s place.  I decide to go hit Ye Olde Smigtown, but don’t want to leave my charatcter standing idle.  In Left 4 Dead, you almost always have to be moving forward, lest you delight in seeing your in game character become the main entrée for the living dead.  Plus, the game itself is really designed to have all four people working closely together, possibly more so than any other coop video game I’ve ever played.  So mainly out of courtesy to the rest of the dudes I’m playing L4D with, I enable the AI takeover to hold the fort down on my character while I enjoy caving in to horrible habit.

Mind you, the AI in L4D isn’t exactly the greatest, and by no means is a guarantee you won’t come back to find your character dead.  It’s really there just as a way to allow someone to take a break like I did in the example without ruining the flow of gameplay for all.  That’s different then turning on AI for the sole purpose of getting through a particularly hard part of a level.

But oh fuck, I just realized.  NSMB Wii also comes with coop four player emphasis.  So maybe it’s ok just for multiplayer under the auspice of someone that’s just trying to be considerate of their friends, but I do really believe that including that kind of feature in single player will enable some to use it as a “crutch”.

Ok, end crazy late night rant.

Tags: demo play, super mario bros, video games

This entry was posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Some Pulp. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.