Malstrom,
Hello from one Master to another. I hope all is well with you. I was looking through some old game magazines as I was looking for some cheat codes when I stumbled upon some hilarious bits. I wanted to start off with a brief note about the Nintendo 64 version of GoldenEye 007. The January 1999 issue of GamePro I found had NPD sales data from September 1998 showing GoldenEye 007 as the fourth highest selling game that month (the three above it were PlayStation entries). GoldenEye 007 was released in August of 1997! Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, and Star Fox 64 were nowhere to be found. In regards to the 5 PC games you still play, I guess I can say this is one of the games pre-2000 I still play. I know I spent any gaming time I wasn’t in the arcades on this back in the late 1990’s.
The second bit of news comes from the November 2002 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. The magazine polled the gamers to see which of the two upcoming Metroid games they were more excited for. 78% of the respondents favored Metroid Prime while a paltry 22% favored Metroid Fusion. I just thought I’d throw that in there.
Now, to the real comedy. In the same issue of November 2002 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, the magazine’s media folks held an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto and Yoshiaki Koizumi. The interview centered around Super Mario Sunshine. Get a load of these gems:
<Interview starts here>
EGM: You want [Super Mario] Sunshine to bring a lot of people back to gaming?
Miyamoto: I want people who have not played any video games for the past ten years to try Sunshine. The video game industry has changed a lot, and people who try a video game fo the first time in ten years won’t have a clue about what’s happened in the interim.
People who have been away from gaming may have trouble understanding Sunshine the first day they play it; however, on the second day, they will start to understand its charm. Even though you might feel like stopping on day one, please don’t. If you play Sunshine for three days, you’ll make the re-entry into video game culture [laughs]. I am not saying that it’s an easy game, but that most people will understand its charm instantaneously.
<My response to this>
People understood the charm of Super Mario Brothers 1, 2, 3, and 4 (World) immediately. If it takes people more than one day to understand what any video game is about, then the game is a failure. I grew up in the arcades. The games had to be good within seconds, or I (as well as other arcade gamers) would just walk to the next machine. Wait, there’s more…
<Interview continues>
Yoshiaki Koizumi on the origin of F. L. U. D. D. in Super Mario Sunshine:
What I really wanted to reproduce with this new game were the feelings we had in our childhoods when we were playing. I wanted players to engage in mischief, such as watering other characters or playing with mud. I wanted to simulate child’s play. That was the first priority. The water pistol idea came from this effort. When I was pushing the R button, the stiffness reminded me of a water pistol I used to play with. I thought, ‘What if Mario sprayed water around with it?'”
<My response to this>
If Koizumi had come to me saying :”simulating child’s play with a water pistol like gizmo in a mario game is first priority”, I would have replied with, “You’re fired”. Shouldn’t the first priority be expanding the content of the Mushroom Kingdom in a Mario game? Oh wait, we’re dealing with insane manchildren…(currenlly thinks of Nintendo Land on the Wii U).
Finally, the Great Miyamoto predicts the future with the funniest bit in the entire interview…
<Interview continues>
Shigeru Miyamoto on the GameCube Controller in the same interview about Super Mario Sunshine:
I’d like to add one more thing. Not everyone has used the GameCube controller. So, those who play GC for the first time may feel a bit uneasy initially. Of course, we, the developers, have been playing exclusively with the GC controller so we can’t play [games] with any other controller. I had some confidence with the N64 controller, too. However, when I compare the two, I can tell the GC controller is better designed for gameplay. What I really want to say is: ‘Get accustomed to the GC controller because, ten years from now, this controller will be the standard’.
<End of interview bits and my response>
PFFFT…BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Wait…I’m not done…HA HA HA HA HA! Okay, I’m done. Where do I start? First off, GAMERS determine the standard for controllers, and it seemed to me the pick-up-and-play control options were established with the likes of the Arcades and the NES since the hardware is supposed to be enslaved by the games! Furthermore, I personally thought these developers couldn’t play games, period. I remember reading about how Aonuma never finished Super Mario Brothers or The Legend of Zelda and how Sakamoto never played the Metroid Primes (because they don’t exist according to him, yet somehow many of us own them…how odd). I also seem to recall everyone trying to imitate the Wii once everyone figured out what a success it turned out to be (Move, Kinect, Wii Sports ripoffs, etc.). I’m glad I have a good old fashioned arcade stick and buttons I can use for some Wii games. I’ll take that every time over a GameCube
controller. Heck, I take the arcade stick and buttons over every other controller by default anyway.
I have two final bits of good news for those of us in the Old School crowd. First, a retailer I frequent (Hastings) has Super Mario Galaxy 2 for $30. New Super Mario Brothers Wii is still $50. An even better one is a gaming blowout Best Buy is holding. Their ad mentioned Metroid: Other M…for FIVE DOLLARS! Long live the old school. Enjoy these blasts from the pasts and present. Have a good day.
Get used to the Gamecube controller since it will be standard for ten years? Hahahaha! Great find. Thanks.