Zero Punctuation: Super Mario Maker

[CaitSeith]

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

Wasn't both sides of the Pacific trying to make danmaku levels? ProtonJon's video history is a pretty sound example for that.

Spoiler: More on that topic...

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

Game Theory? Okay, now you're acting like you're an idiot.

It's NOT a Game Theory video. It's called Culture Shock, and MatPat has nothing to do with it.

 

[Dark Knifer]

I agree about the SOPA thing, but to their credit, they did remove themselves from the list and never publicly supported it. And as for the high prices thing, well... I read this article and couldn't really make much sense of it, so I thought that you might like to take a look at it.
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/11/why-do-videogames-cost-so-much/

Yeah that sounds about right. Its just weird thats its nintendo its most notable. Is usually the only thing stopping me from buying their games. I want wind waker hd, hyrule warriors, the one of ruby or sapphire but I just can't pay full price for games at the moment. To their credit though their consoles are by far the chepest, got my wiiu preowned for $300 with mario kart 8 on it for no extra cost from a regular retailer.

But yeah, happens all the time here. Damn nice beaches tax.

 

[marioandsonic]

Anyway, nintendo is a lot better then most companies but I'd say they definitely are willing to screw over the consumers to make a buck occasionally, just like everyone else.

I can certainly agree with that.

Let me put it this way: I enjoy Nintendo in the same way that I enjoy Disney: Both were huge cornerstones throughout my childhood, and I still enjoy many of their products. At the same time, they both have made plenty of stupid and/or shady business decisions.

I think this is one of the reasons I've never understood company or brand loyalty. It seems that some people try to paint companies as either good guys or bad guys, with little to no middle ground in between. Hence why some people will demonize one company for doing one thing, but then praise another company for doing the exact same thing.

 

[The Harkinator]

I do wonder how much mileage is left in Mario as a franchise that carries a significant burden of Nintendo's big name games roster. It's practically a given that Mario Bros, Mario Kart, and Mario Party will be released whenever Nintendo have a new console out, but there's only so much you can do with the games in between. The Wii had things like Mario Galaxy and the sequel, but the point raised here that there's little more they can do is interesting.

They've already done "This is your premise in space" what's left? "This is your premise on drugs"?

 

[FPLOON]

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.

The Sonic one rolls into a spike ball like in the first Sonic game, the Pac Man one turns into his OG arcade look while running, and the Mega Man one "jumps and shoots"... I don't know what the other ones do, though...

OT: If this game had slopes, then I would be all up in that Maker shit... especially when making NSMB-based levels...

Other than that, only the gonorrhea bit made me laugh... Not sure why, though...

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

I find it hard to believe that Nintendo underestimated demand...

Except that's exactly what happened. They expected the Amiibo to do well. They did NOT expect them to do THAT well i.e. collectors being horrendously rabid (and unfortunately underestimating the douchery of scalpers). It's called getting caught with your pants down, like what happened with the Wii when that exploded far beyond expectations and thus Nintendo was struggling to keep up with demand. Welcome to reality; it's a helluva lot weirder than fiction so learn to live with it.

 

[Super Cyborg]

The first rule of escapist: any time Yahtzee posts a Nintendo video, the salt will begin to flow. Nothing has topped the Other M or Smash Brother video from the Wii era.

If I have one complaint about this video, it's more that most Nintendo videos come down to the same thing, where he talks about how iterative it is, make some potshots at the company and fans at times, and that's about it. He has some good points, but hearing it after so many times makes it less funny, no matter how he tries to dress it. If I could give a suggestion, perhaps he should not review the Nintendo games unless there is nothing else, or there is something different for him to say. He did have the question of the need for a stage maker as a game, but it got muddled in with everything else where any entertainment value was lost. If he was a regular critic, this would've been okay. The problem is he is more an entertainer in some aspects, so it didn't work as well. Then again, that's my opinion and perhaps a majority found it funny.

I found it hysterical, I love it when he rails on Nintendo, because they really have been getting lazy and complacent for a long time, and as someone who once owned a Gamecube, that's a hard thing to admit.

Don't get me wrong, despite still loving their stuff the criticism they get is warranted. It's just like anything with EA, Call of Duty, and other stuff that is constantly brought up anywhere all the time, it gets a bit old after a while. Not saying these problems shouldn't be addressed, just as when it comes to a comedy show it will get stale over time no matter how it's done.

 

[Oldcodger]

I stopped playing Mario games when I stopped playing Donkey Kong in 1982. I can't believe they're still going! Actually, I did get dragged into a Mario Kart game at a party once but I got bored after 30 seconds and stopped. Sod consoles, give me PCs, FPSs and MMORPGs or give me erm... Just gimme them!

 

[Logience]

It's NOT a Game Theory video. It's called Culture Shock, and MatPat has nothing to do with it.

It's made by the Game Theory people, and posted on the Game Theory channel. It's a Game Theory video.

 

[SecondPrize]

When you attempt to redefine what copyrights mean and tear down the rights Nintendo holds for their products, you're attempting to destroy my copyrights as well, Yahtzee. Any of the rights we hold are only as strong for us as they are for any other person. The only difference between Nintendo and I is they have the resources to defend their copyrighted materials from those attempting to monetize them without permission. I can't do much against the people who use my work without payment or even permission. So good on Nintendo for defending our rights. And you, you can piss off for trying to weaken them.

 

[dragoongfa]

Ouch, Yatzee must really hate this one.

 

[el_emmens]

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. The accusation itself is lazy.

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. You may as well say any professionally-made game is unnecessary because we can make inferior versions ourselves.

There wasn't really much focus on the functionality or... well, the game itself, here. These were mostly just shots at the concept.

The stigma probably comes from the same place that the reasoning of "why play guitar hero when you could learn to play a real guitar?" came from

Also I was worried for a while I thought Yahtzee had been fired or died.

 

[omega 616]

Have to love some of these comments, Yahtzee has never been a reviewer, just a critic. He has always generalized and not gone into the nitty gritty, such as saying all the games are just cosmetic, he knows they aren't but the difference is so negligible that he just glosses over it.

Personally I like the ways he goes about talking about games in his videos. None of this "this is like this, except in these ways that don't really matter", it's just nice and simple "this is like this" with none of caveats.

 

[baba44713]

When I heard of Super Mario Maker I thought it was the most idiotic idea ever. Instead of a new Mario game, God forbid one which would actually try something new instead of regurgitate old material with a new paint job they plan to release... a level editor? Seriously?

But you know what? They pulled it off. I personally think Super Mario Maker turned out great. It's easy to be cynical about it.. but Nintendo know their stuff when it comes to game design. Bottom line... it's fun. Actually it's more fun than it deserves to be, being an (ugh) a mere level editor. My guess - most people who diss it right away didn't bother to give it a fair chance.

On the other hand - autoMario fad is pure BS. Why so many people get crazy about glorified Rube Goldberg's machines is beyond me. I can appreciate a good audio sync project when I see one, but these things do not have an audio track to provide some sort of auditory context to the nonsense you are watching - it's just Mario being propelled through various jumble on screen until he reaches the exit. I see automario fans as "gamers" who have regressed so much that not only do they not want challenge in their games, they are back at the infancy stage where all they want is something colorful to move around in front of them, preferably accompanied with jingly whoopsy sounds. Do you people really need an actual computer game for that? Isn't Youtube enough?

 

[simple64]

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.

What are you talking about? He did quite a few of these numerous times. The first thing he did was poke fun at Nintendo fans, he went on and on about Mario being a rehash, and made a quick shot about the Gamepad despite this being a perfect game for the controller.

 

[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.

What are you talking about? He did quite a few of these numerous times. The first thing he did was poke fun at Nintendo fans, he went on and on about Mario being a rehash, and made a quick shot about the Gamepad despite this being a perfect game for the controller.

He didn't poke fun at Nintendo fans, he poked fun at Nintendo for forcing them to ditch fan-made levels and pay for something that's been by and large free for quite a while now; he never said Mario is a rehash but rather has devolved along the lines of the first game, and the only thing he said about the Wii U controller was that he hadn't used it in a while.

 

[simple64]

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.

What are you talking about? He did quite a few of these numerous times. The first thing he did was poke fun at Nintendo fans, he went on and on about Mario being a rehash, and made a quick shot about the Gamepad despite this being a perfect game for the controller.

He didn't poke fun at Nintendo fans, he poked fun at Nintendo for forcing them to ditch fan-made levels and pay for something that's been by and large free for quite a while now; he never said Mario is a rehash but rather has devolved along the lines of the first game, and the only thing he said about the Wii U controller was that he hadn't used it in a while.

He compared the fans to children, "devolved along the lines of their first game" (which he went on more than that) is a shot at it being a rehash, and your right about the gamepad thing. He may have not directly stated Mario was a rehash (and of of ideas), but he said Mario is a rehash (and out of ideas).

Frankly, I'm not too pissed, I knew what I was getting when I saw a Mario game for review, but I would have liked it if he spent more time telling me about the game and less on his views on Nintendo. Add the fact that he was factually wrong on a few points, and you'll get a pretty shabby critique.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

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

Well that is at least something. I do like nintendo, their first party games are always great. Though i do Hope they're using all their creativity on the next Zelda.