Zero Punctuation: Super Mario Maker

[Johnny Novgorod]

Good review! Didn't expect him to even bother to be honest.

Reviewing Super Mario Maker this week?

Well, better get out my "Yahtzee reviews a Mario game" drinking game checklist:

--Take a shot when he makes fun of Nintendo fans in general
--Take a shot when he says Nintendo rehashes their franchises
--Take a shot when he remarks about the Wii U's hardware being underpowered
--Take a shot when he complains about the Wii U gamepad
---Two shots if the game is 100% compatible with the Wii U Pro controller

Let's see how this goes.

Doesn't this qualify as cruel and unusual punishment? Or attempted suicide?

Considering he did nothing out of those things, that list only qualifies as a waste of time.

 

[Something Amyss]

one thing about Zero Punctuation. I feel like I came in exactly where I left, like nothing has changed. Buuuuut, I was curious as to what the reaction would be to this one, and I got what I was looking for. Now, to see if the comments section has changed.

...huh. Why is it when Yahtzee reviews a game someone likes, they start to lose the sense of exaggeration and decide he needs to address the game with complete and unfaltering accuracy?

Another movie?

*rimshot* That was good. Have an internet.

The original has the mystery mushroom, where they shoved the obligatory amiibo compatibility, no flying powerup at all

I was really hoping the various retro characters would have something different about them.

I'm not entirely sure what nintendo was aiming for with this game, except maybe, as yahtzee says, a way to finally shut down all of the rom hacks out there.

Apparently, it was originally going to be a new Mario Paint.

In my opinion Super Mario Maker is a game that has no right to exist, it seems pointless to spend 60 dollars on something you can do for free with a ROM-hack, which is why Nintendo is using mafia-style tactics to shut down people's content for no good reason.

I mean, sure, you're breaking the law and likely obtained the ROM through more law-breaking, but why afford a legal way?

Before anyone starts, ROM hacks aren't automatically sufficiently transformative for that to be an excuse.

The notion that a well-polished level editor with a global, connected platform is unnecessary because ROM hacks and tribute games exist is also pretty bizarre and nonsensical.

IS this any of those, though? People love it and it looks fun, but a lot of complaints are all the same. That it lacks a lot of functionality, that the "connection" is a farce, etc.

 

[Something Amyss]

Considering he did nothing out of those things, that list only qualifies as a waste of time.

Or an exercise in irony, since it misportrays Yahtzee over him misportraying a game.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Considering he did nothing out of those things, that list only qualifies as a waste of time.

Or an exercise in irony, since it misportrays Yahtzee over him misportraying a game.

That does happen a lot. "What, Yahtzee reviews a Nintendo game? He hates Nintendo! He's only going to make a fun of it!". Never mind that he argues every single one of his criticisms, or that he's a fan of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Luigi's Mansion, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Bayonetta 2 and the Castlevania games in general. God forbid he makes anybody uncomfortable with an opinion.

 

[VintageTorrie]

More like my point was: "Don't act like Nintendo is the only one in the industry that pulls this kind of crap like 90% of the other haters because you think it makes you look good when it doesn't."

You clearly misread him though, as he was stating that his goodwill was eroding for Nintendo, not the industry as a whole. I love how people always bring up other game companies when someone even dares to criticise Nintendo one teensy little bit.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

We all return from whence we came, Yahtzee. We rise out of the aether in a composed form of energy to experience survival, comedy, music and strawberry cheesecake ice-cream, then we fade back into the aether as energy is disbanded and shared to the rest, along with any other compositions of energy we leave behind in this...bubble? The universe will do the same. Now, with Mario, Nintendo has whipped back so fast, the creative responsibility has somehow launched itself into the consumer's face. Too far, Nintendo. Too far.

Edit: In the case of the ROM hacking point, you are under the assumption this product's target demographic is adult, computer-knoweth and owneth gamers. I was under the impression this was more an attempt at their own little big planet, except simplified to Nintendo standard. A lower age than, say, Mario Galaxy 1 and 2. *Sigggh* Good times, they were.

Editception: Did Nintendo not add any of their home made levels for the game? A mini campaign like little big planet? Stephen Fry? Hugh Laurie??
At least a randomise level create option?
Something?
...

 

[Hades]

What is it with Yahtzee and not reviewing Nintendo games? With Kid Icarus he spend half the video reviewing Nintendo and only making a few token jabs at the game that could be brought down very easily(By Yahtzee himself immediately after even).

Now With Mario Maker he's again spending most of the video reviewing Nintendo and only making a few token jabs at the game that can be brought down very easily.

I'm not coming to Yahtzee to hear positive things about the game but to see him tear them to shreds. So why does he have the habit of...not doing so when Nintendo is concerned. With EA and Ubi he talks about the games and makes some jabs at the companies but with Nintendo he often does the opposite.

 

[Carbo]

Pretty poor review, even when you ignore some of the factual mistakes such as the styles not inhibiting explicit differences. It's one thing to find 3D Land / World a lesser game than Galaxy and another to use it as a springboard to downplay whatever dwindling sense of "creativity" or such of the Mario series that you perceive. Super Mario Maker being predominantly put out as a 30th Anniversary Celebration is hardly as cynical as you like to think it is considering the brevity and adaptability of the game's content is something wholly different. Not to mention, taking umbrage to the idea of this game when rom hacks exist is making a pretty large disservice to the game when Super Mario Maker's unique "twists" on the making is something that is creatively removed from the rom hacking community. In it's own merits, it's something wholly unique that provides things no rom hack would have been capable of doing.

Yeah, good levels in Super Mario Maker are few and far between a lot of the time but that is more of a problem with it's user base as opposed to the game. The same thing goes for rom hacks. Can't expect everyone to get into the tedious process of rom hacking regardless if it's just a matter of living up to some creative and simple ideas.

I usually appreciate the cynicism in ZP but the episodes still tend to be masked with a mostly fair undercurrent. It felt completely absent here and as a result the cynicism felt pretty forced in this episode. Even if Yahtzee has insisted that he doesn't dislike Nintendo (and even liked games like Splatoon) I feel like if it's getting to a point that he keeps having to convince people that it's the case, the way these games are reviewed need to be evaluated a little. This review feels like the ultimate example of the reviews having gotten to a point where it's more about whatever perceived opinion you have about a company as opposed to what the game actually is.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I don't get why you're automatically attributing every bloody thing Nintendo does with Mario to desperation. His games sell by the truckload every time, so where the hell does desperation come into this? Miyamoto simply said "I wanna do a level editor", so he made a level editor.
Or is the desperation stuff an ironic inversion, in that you've completely run out of jokes to make about Mario so now you're desperate for material? The fact that you reached for the pedophilia joke at the very start of the video certainly makes it seem so.

I believe he means creatively desperate. They appear to be running out of ideas lately. Original ideas at least. Disclaimer: I could be wrong.

 

[Muspelheim]

In brief, more of a Mario-themed playset than a Mario editor.

If it were a model train set, it'd be something like this, I imagine.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Brio_toy_train_track.JPG

But then again, you have to start somewhere. If and when the tools become too limiting, the enthusiasts can always move on to Game Maker or something. Make their own games about little fat European men hopping around, if they want.

 

[1981]

I've really never understood the charge that releasing a level editor is lazy. It's such a nonsensical accusation; level editors are some of the most appreciated and versatile platforms for interacting with a franchise, and Nintendo have more than proven they're willing and capable of making their own fun & functional levels in large numbers.

I've only heard the accusation a couple of times, and it was aimed at indie games that have mediocre content. Maybe it's incompetence rather than laziness. If the devs don't have the skill to design good puzzles and/or platforming sequences, it's unlikely the community has. But people are more invested in established franchises, so it could work.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

I fail to see how i'm a "snob" just cause i'm sick of Nintendo's bullshit and i'm not blindly sucking them off like most fanboys are.

Sony doesn't fucking attack Let's Players like their criminals like Nintendo does, I can easily ignore microtransactions and DLC that I don't care about, but when you start fucking with people who only want to share their enjoyment of your games and you try and sue someone for copyright over bullshit reasons, then you've crossed a fucking line, people like you are what's wrong with the gaming industry, blindly defending Nintendo's bullshit practices. If anyone's "not fit to be called a gamer", it's YOU, you're exactly the kind of blindly defensive Nintendo fanboy that Yahtzee has been criticizing for all these years.

Sony also doesn't repay people whose credit card accounts are hacked and barely makes jack all in terms of 1st party exclusives. And the ones they DO make are shameless pandering.

Oh my God! Nintendo would NEVER pander to their fans when they make first party titles, not EVER... except that they do. That's ALL they do anymore. Nintendo is no more or less void of problems than anyone else. Once again, the Standard Nintendo Fan side-steps legitimate criticisms of Nintendo by pointing out what other companies are doing as if we don't already fucking complain about them. It's like Tom Cruise getting upset over South Park making fun of him one week when they're just going to move on and make fun of someone else next week.

The logic behind that kind of defense is like if you were at your job and you screwed something up and your boss came over to talk to you about your performance, but having seen Beth do something wrong last week, you immediately try to throw her under the bus to get out of being criticized. Just because you never grew past Nintendo doesn't make you more or less of a gamer than anyone else.

OT: I thought that the idea of this game would be a fun novelty, but it's a shame that so much got left out. I was looking forward to making Bloopers fly across the screen of vertically made levels all Medusa Head style. They could just as easily include a mode that gives you more control over things like that, although it's hard to tell what goes through Nintendo's head when they're making a game. About the only Mario games I play these days are the Mario & Luigi titles.

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

But then again, you have to start somewhere. If and when the tools become too limiting, the enthusiasts can always move on to Game Maker or something. Make their own games about little fat European men hopping around, if they want.

I wonder if this was a reference to Mario or to Yahtzee's Poacher.

 

[Muspelheim]

But then again, you have to start somewhere. If and when the tools become too limiting, the enthusiasts can always move on to Game Maker or something. Make their own games about little fat European men hopping around, if they want.

I wonder if this was a reference to Mario or to Yahtzee's Poacher.

Both, you can get a lot of mileage from little fat European men!

I'd love to see a whole ensemble of them, sometime. Über-Heinrich, Maurice the Magnifique, Wonder-Juan, Sven the Strong, Indefatigable Ivan...

 

[Gorrath]

Oh this was glorious! In my opinion Super Mario Maker is a game that has no right to exist, it seems pointless to spend 60 dollars on something you can do for free with a ROM-hack, which is why Nintendo is using mafia-style tactics to shut down people's content for no good reason.

I'm surprised Yahtzee didn't attack Nintendo for that bullshit Pokemon lawsuit, Nintendo is slowly but surely eroding any remaining goodwill I have for them at this point.

That's because you're a gaming snob and a taint on the industry. Read the rest of the comments. ROM hacks are not only, not official, they're unreliable and not very user friendly to most people. Plus 90% are no better than the novelty levels Yahtzee was complaining about in the video.

I love how it's Nintendo who's eroding your goodwill and not Sony for having bullshit customer service or the numerous 3rd parties shoving microtransactions and day 1 DLC onto their products amongst other scumbag tactics instead. You aren't fit to be called a gamer. Period.

You know, calling someone else a pretentious snob and then claiming they aren't fit to be called a gamer does much more to paint you in a bad light than them. As far as the "why Yahtzee is labeled as a Nintendo hater," that would be because Nintendo fans do what so many other fans do when he makes fun of something they like, take it all way too damned seriously. He makes fun of every game company and every game he reviews and somehow it's all a joke until he gives that treatment to something you like, then it's all serious business! He gets the Nintendo hater label because so many Nintendo fans are wound up so tight with frothing rage that they can't seem to see the forest for the trees. It's hardly a state of mind exclusive to them but it does seem to come rushing forth, tsunami-like, when a bad word is uttered about the big N.

 

[VintageTorrie]

barely makes jack all in terms of 1st party exclusives

I fail to see how this is a bad thing since console exclusives are terrible from a consumer point of view.