Zero Punctuation: Super Mario Maker

[Saltyk]

I've played around with Mario Maker at a friend's house. I liked the idea. Hell, I can imagine some other franchises I would love to see do similar things, like Sonic. However, even in my short time with it, I found some real annoyances.

It lacks a lot of things to make levels more dynamic. For example, there is no way to make a slope. Making a level I wanted to have a slope so Mario could slide down and take out some enemies (and potentially get smashed by a Thwomp if they don't pay attention), but was annoyed to find such things missing. I also found the game lacked certain platforms, like the hanging ones from Mario 3.

All in all, I feel like Mario Maker is a sort of "Baby's First Level Designer" and it's probably the first such game I ever played.

Now, let's watch the Nintendo Defense Force completely forget who Yahtzee is and freak out.

 

[Muspelheim]

Speaking of 'gaminghood', as it where, I wonder where I would fit in. The only Nintendo-product I've ever owned was a Mario-themed pez-dispencer. I've played about half an hour total of Nintendo titles at parties and get-togethers.

Still, Mario-Maker sounded fun on paper. Not something for me, but it could've been a good, fun learning platform for level design.

 

[Silvanus]

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.

Both valid criticisms (if true; I've not experienced much of a problem connecting so far, since you can easily see all made by a creator). I'm only disagreeing with his little dig about ROM hacks rendering a professional level editor unnecessary.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Is there anything Nintendo won't put Mario in now?

Another movie?

Another cartoon series?

The public domain?

Peach?

A comic book series? Seriously, Mega Man and Sonic the Hedgehog are still in comic books currently being published.

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.

Dang, that's really clever.

captcha: which one is math?
But you don't mean in the "Adventure Time" sense of the word.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Is there anything Nintendo won't put Mario in now?

Another movie?

Another cartoon series?

The public domain?

Peach?

A comic book series? Seriously, Mega Man and Sonic the Hedgehog are still in comic books currently being published.

Mario had a Comic Book Series. A kick ass one at that. It's just that they only did it for one year, and then had 2 Wario-related Specials. It's called Super Mario Adventures.

 

[Nazulu]

Really? It doesn't even let you choose backgrounds and certain things need to be unlocked when it should let you do whatever you want? In a full priced game? Fucking hell! Nintendo are so bloody hopeless.

Could you even get rid of that stupid shadow on everything?

 

[Gorrath]

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.

Both valid criticisms (if true; I've not experienced much of a problem connecting so far, since you can easily see all made by a creator). I'm only disagreeing with his little dig about ROM hacks rendering a professional level editor unnecessary.

Well said criticism/dig does stand if said professional level editor offers no great benefit over a ROM editor at a much greater expense, right? A poor quality "professional" level editor that costs 60 bucks but is little or no more useful than the free ROM ones is rendered unnecessary by its free counterparts is it not? That's not to say that having the free ones would render any and all possible professional ones unnecessary, just perhaps this one in particular.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Yahtzee is biased against Nintendo label

He's biased against user-generated content, if anything. With good reason, too. Take a long look at the top rated Mario Maker levels and tell me he doesn't have a point.

But if you want to hear him harp on other companies, look no further than this same exact video, in which he quotes Sony's LittleBigPlanet as an example of the same things for which he's criticizing Mario Maker.

 

[Ryallen]

Jesus Christ. That... a lot of the shit he gave Nintendo seemed to be just unnecessary, and now I'm not entirely convinced that he doesn't just hates Nintendo as a whole. I mean... pedophilia, slaughter and subsequent defiling of said corpse out of literally fucking nowhere. Yeah, he likes a few games, and I know that Nintendo isn't good at dealing with Youtubers as a whole, but... I mean... really? It just seemed excessive this time around. Like, this is the sort of thing that he'd do with EA or Activision or any game company that consistently puts out games that no one likes, least of all Yahtzee. And it seems to me that he is convinced that no one likes Nintendo, despite heavy evidence to the contrary.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

A lot of my problems with Super Mario Maker stem from how bare bones the tools are esp. when compared to some fan made tools.

 

[Silvanus]

Well said criticism/dig does stand if said professional level editor offers no great benefit over a ROM editor at a much greater expense, right? A poor quality "professional" level editor that costs 60 bucks but is little or no more useful than the free ROM ones is rendered unnecessary by its free counterparts is it not? That's not to say that having the free ones would render any and all possible professional ones unnecessary, just perhaps this one in particular.

That would be true, but I don't think he could seriously suggest fan-made ROM hacks offer the same product.

A lot of my problems with Super Mario Maker stem from how bare bones the tools are esp. when compared to some fan made tools.

That's an issue I have with it. Can't see much reason not to include the full casts of enemies from the four styles, for example. Variety is life to this kind of game.

 

[Niccolo]

I have a vague feeling that Yahtzee didn't like Super Mario Maker.

 

[-Dragmire-]

I just want it to have slopes and checkpoints before I buy it.

 

[Gorrath]

Well said criticism/dig does stand if said professional level editor offers no great benefit over a ROM editor at a much greater expense, right? A poor quality "professional" level editor that costs 60 bucks but is little or no more useful than the free ROM ones is rendered unnecessary by its free counterparts is it not? That's not to say that having the free ones would render any and all possible professional ones unnecessary, just perhaps this one in particular.

That would be true, but I don't think he could seriously suggest fan-made ROM hacks offer the same product.

I'm not intimate with said ROM products but I have messed around with Super Mario Maker. I would honestly not be surprised to find a ROM editor that offered me more usability than it. I found Super Mario Maker to be needlessly limited. That doesn't mean that I could find a ROM that would do a better job; I just can't speak to that. I'm merely pointing out that his criticism isn't necessarily an invalid one. I don't think you or I could say he's right or wrong to make that criticism unless we knew to what he was comparing it.

 

[Something Amyss]

Both valid criticisms (if true; I've not experienced much of a problem connecting so far, since you can easily see all made by a creator). I'm only disagreeing with his little dig about ROM hacks rendering a professional level editor unnecessary.

Yeah, fair enough. I would like to have this game. I think it's probably worth it. I just wish it was a bit more robust.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Jesus Christ. That... a lot of the shit he gave Nintendo seemed to be just unnecessary, and now I'm not entirely convinced that he doesn't just hates Nintendo as a whole. I mean... pedophilia, slaughter and subsequent defiling of said corpse out of literally fucking nowhere. Yeah, he likes a few games, and I know that Nintendo isn't good at dealing with Youtubers as a whole, but... I mean... really? It just seemed excessive this time around. Like, this is the sort of thing that he'd do with EA or Activision or any game company that consistently puts out games that no one likes, least of all Yahtzee. And it seems to me that he is convinced that no one likes Nintendo, despite heavy evidence to the contrary.

Which is why I've stopped watching Yahtzee's Nintendo reviews. Because, above all else, they got boring years ago. I've just never understood the vitriol against Nintendo. Any criticism I've seen leveled at them is peanuts compared what literally every other publisher does. I mean, jeez, at least aim the anger at the right targets.

 

[CaitSeith]

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?
...

They added something called the "10 Mario challenge". It's to beat 8 of the levels included in the game by using 10 lives or less (I don't remember the total of levels that it has, but I think they are about 50). Every level you beat is added to your editor, so you can use them to create your levels.

EDIT: And every time a new tool is unlocked, you can play an example of it. It does it 8 times.

EDIT 2: And they brought back the Fly Swatter Gnat Attack/Coffee Break mini-game from Mario Paint

 

[CaitSeith]

Oh my god, this has got to be the slowest year in video game history.

Just for shits and giggles, does anyone have a video showing those aforementioned autoscroll novelty levels?

Spoiler: Here you are

Well, the first one isn't it.

The funny thing is that kind of levels aren't much of a novelty in Japan. While in the West the Super Mario ROM-hacks were used for making hardcore and unfair levels, the Japanese used them to create autoscroll levels that played songs with the games' sound effects.

Spoiler: More on that topic...

2:40 That part of Youtube... now with Super Mario RPG music!

 

[Ryallen]

Jesus Christ. That... a lot of the shit he gave Nintendo seemed to be just unnecessary, and now I'm not entirely convinced that he doesn't just hates Nintendo as a whole. I mean... pedophilia, slaughter and subsequent defiling of said corpse out of literally fucking nowhere. Yeah, he likes a few games, and I know that Nintendo isn't good at dealing with Youtubers as a whole, but... I mean... really? It just seemed excessive this time around. Like, this is the sort of thing that he'd do with EA or Activision or any game company that consistently puts out games that no one likes, least of all Yahtzee. And it seems to me that he is convinced that no one likes Nintendo, despite heavy evidence to the contrary.

Didn't seem excessive at all to me, i'm personally getting tired of fanboys blindly defending Nintendo all the time no matter how anti-consumer they get.

Nintendo has never been anti-consumer. Anti-Youtuber, yeah. But Nintendo has always been one of the best examples of pro-consumer in modern day AAA gaming. Free DLC for a lot of their games, Bayonetta 2 came with a free port of Bayonetta 1, Fire Emblem Fates gives you a massive discount on a digital copy of the second game when you buy one of the versions, which differs vastly from each other, mind you, reducing the price of the 3DS by $100, and so many more examples that I can't even name. Yeah, they have made mistakes in the past. The Amiibos were a disaster, and I understand completely why people hate Nintendo's practices towards LPers. But they have never been anti-consumer.

 

[KenAri]

Jesus Christ. That... a lot of the shit he gave Nintendo seemed to be just unnecessary, and now I'm not entirely convinced that he doesn't just hates Nintendo as a whole. I mean... pedophilia, slaughter and subsequent defiling of said corpse out of literally fucking nowhere. Yeah, he likes a few games, and I know that Nintendo isn't good at dealing with Youtubers as a whole, but... I mean... really? It just seemed excessive this time around. Like, this is the sort of thing that he'd do with EA or Activision or any game company that consistently puts out games that no one likes, least of all Yahtzee. And it seems to me that he is convinced that no one likes Nintendo, despite heavy evidence to the contrary.

Didn't seem excessive at all to me, i'm personally getting tired of fanboys blindly defending Nintendo all the time no matter how anti-consumer they get.

Nintendo has never been anti-consumer. Anti-Youtuber, yeah. But Nintendo has always been one of the best examples of pro-consumer in modern day AAA gaming. Free DLC for a lot of their games, Bayonetta 2 came with a free port of Bayonetta 1, Fire Emblem Fates gives you a massive discount on a digital copy of the second game when you buy one of the versions, which differs vastly from each other, mind you, reducing the price of the 3DS by $100, and so many more examples that I can't even name. Yeah, they have made mistakes in the past. The Amiibos were a disaster, and I understand completely why people hate Nintendo's practices towards LPers. But they have never been anti-consumer.

Well there was that thing with Nintendo supporting SOPA, which shows a certain disdain for the general gamer population, and could be argued to be proof of their non-consumerism. And the Fire Emblem thing is debatable too; is it an act of goodwill that the second comes as a discount, or is there some quasi-Stockholm Syndrome going on? I've not measured the filesizes, but I'd wager that the two games could've been on the same cartridge, and been, y'know. One game. This may turn out to be one of the biggest forms of 'day-one DLC' that gaming's ever seen.

(And do note at no point did I claim that MS or Sony are any better/different, before the fanboys start waving their flaccid wangs in my direction)