Metathought
Super Mario Sunshine
Posted by Temporal at 2007/02/24 04:17:00 PST
Edited at 2007/02/24 04:17:12 PST
video games

I can just imagine a design meeting at Nintendo...

Designer A: So, we have the successor to Mario 64 -- one of the best games of all time -- and we've managed to live up to the original. But, something is wrong.
Designer B: Yeah! It's just not annoying enough.
A: I agree. What can we do to make it more annoying?
B: Let's make it so that Mario sometimes randomly jumps in a totally different direction than you intended.
A: Yes, that's great! In fact, let's just make the physics totally random in general. Sometimes when you walk off a ledge, you'll grab hold of it. Other times, you'll fall straight down. And yet other times, you get launched off at high speed! And sometimes, when you jump, Mario does a normal jump, but other times he randomly decides to lurch forward. Stuff like that.
B: So, in general, it's just impossible to control your character in a game which is all about precise control! Perfect!
A: Yes, this is good, but it's not Nintendo good. We need something that really highlights the annoyingness.
B: How about this: We have some levels where you have to jump around between blocks suspended in space, where if you make the slightest mistake, you immediately fall and die!
A: Oh YES! That's AWESOME!
B: This is going to be the greatest game EVER!

Some parts of this game were really fun -- like Mario 64 -- but the annoying parts ruin it. And you can't skip annoying shines, like you could with annoying stars in Mario 64. :(

© Copyright 2005-2008 Kenton Varda. This is my personal weblog. The views expressed on these pages are mine alone and not those of my employer.
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