lastrealgameralive
Member
It's time someone started explaining why Super Mario Sunshine has the most advanced camera of a Nintendo game to date. And I will do that.
Some people have problems with Sunshine's camera auto-rotation mechanic when hovering. I don't, but they do.
1. Hovering is designed around the Mario feel in that Mario enters a rigid no turning linear type of movement when jumped (opposed to other games like Jak & Daxter, Maximo, Wario World, Super Mario 3D World, etc.). It would produce discordance if you could whip yourself around in the air easily like in DK64 with Diddy Kong's jetpack. The camera does not move in the direction you are going at a fast speed to prevent jerky camera movement (i.e. SM64's R-cam when turning). Hovering controls are tight to allow for tight landings. That is the design. It's a great design, but just like Sony casuals complaining about not being able to strafe in Resident Evil 4 expertly designed only for Gamecube, these same people pretending to be Nintendo fans can't seem to grasp jet pack controls that don't default to casual design of other games.
2. The camera punishes non-synchronization to Mario's movement. The camera will readjust itself to stay within a range that shows what is straight ahead of Mario that syncs with the FORWARD MOVEMENT DESIGN of the game. Try running sideways in Super Mario Sunshine (excluding athletic courses) and the camera will start to move to be behind Mario so that Mario is forward. So, no, the camera is not going to let you hover backwards to produce forward movement. No the camera is not going to let you hover sideways because that does not produce forward movement. Desyncing leads to awkwardness ala Mario swimming and jumping when moving toward the camera in the pool of water in Tall, Tall Mountain in Super Mario 64 or Flight Mario flying towards the camera in Super Mario Galaxy.
Let's look at Matthewmatosis' Mario Sunshine review which has nearly a quarter million views on youtube who gets cited here frequently for his supposed in-depth analysis:
He understands the camera re-orients itself behind hovering Mario but fails on maneuvering WITH it. On how to handle hovering he says: "This means the player needs to continually change the movements on the left analog stick based on what the camera is doing". Which is completely backwards. Camera movement follows Mario NOT leads him. The player should obviously be changing the camera direction with the camera stick in the direction of Mario's back or simply snap it in place with L-Trigger. It never occurs to him in the video of his review to use the c-stick. So he's complaining about auto-rotation but doesn't use manual controls. The opposite side are reviewers whining about using the c-stick too much. Like having control is a disease. And this is why Nintendo just decided "fuck it. let's make games that play themselves".
The desired direction is forward. To make hovering movement "complicated" requires going against forward movement (acting dysfunctional) in some way, usually in the form of wanting to perform a full 180 degree camera turn. Only real situation that occurs is to get up a really high wall that requires you to activate hover facing away from the wall after a wall jump to perform the 180 degree turn. It's certainly not seen often in the athletic courses (aka secret levels). The whole part on the athletic courses is absurd to listen to on how the hover makes the course harder to control compared to FLUDless Mario.
What isn't said in the review or any other review by these camera detractors is that they are bad players.
Do you even hover?
Next thread: Auto-rotation and level design
Some people have problems with Sunshine's camera auto-rotation mechanic when hovering. I don't, but they do.
1. Hovering is designed around the Mario feel in that Mario enters a rigid no turning linear type of movement when jumped (opposed to other games like Jak & Daxter, Maximo, Wario World, Super Mario 3D World, etc.). It would produce discordance if you could whip yourself around in the air easily like in DK64 with Diddy Kong's jetpack. The camera does not move in the direction you are going at a fast speed to prevent jerky camera movement (i.e. SM64's R-cam when turning). Hovering controls are tight to allow for tight landings. That is the design. It's a great design, but just like Sony casuals complaining about not being able to strafe in Resident Evil 4 expertly designed only for Gamecube, these same people pretending to be Nintendo fans can't seem to grasp jet pack controls that don't default to casual design of other games.
2. The camera punishes non-synchronization to Mario's movement. The camera will readjust itself to stay within a range that shows what is straight ahead of Mario that syncs with the FORWARD MOVEMENT DESIGN of the game. Try running sideways in Super Mario Sunshine (excluding athletic courses) and the camera will start to move to be behind Mario so that Mario is forward. So, no, the camera is not going to let you hover backwards to produce forward movement. No the camera is not going to let you hover sideways because that does not produce forward movement. Desyncing leads to awkwardness ala Mario swimming and jumping when moving toward the camera in the pool of water in Tall, Tall Mountain in Super Mario 64 or Flight Mario flying towards the camera in Super Mario Galaxy.
Let's look at Matthewmatosis' Mario Sunshine review which has nearly a quarter million views on youtube who gets cited here frequently for his supposed in-depth analysis:
He understands the camera re-orients itself behind hovering Mario but fails on maneuvering WITH it. On how to handle hovering he says: "This means the player needs to continually change the movements on the left analog stick based on what the camera is doing". Which is completely backwards. Camera movement follows Mario NOT leads him. The player should obviously be changing the camera direction with the camera stick in the direction of Mario's back or simply snap it in place with L-Trigger. It never occurs to him in the video of his review to use the c-stick. So he's complaining about auto-rotation but doesn't use manual controls. The opposite side are reviewers whining about using the c-stick too much. Like having control is a disease. And this is why Nintendo just decided "fuck it. let's make games that play themselves".
The desired direction is forward. To make hovering movement "complicated" requires going against forward movement (acting dysfunctional) in some way, usually in the form of wanting to perform a full 180 degree camera turn. Only real situation that occurs is to get up a really high wall that requires you to activate hover facing away from the wall after a wall jump to perform the 180 degree turn. It's certainly not seen often in the athletic courses (aka secret levels). The whole part on the athletic courses is absurd to listen to on how the hover makes the course harder to control compared to FLUDless Mario.
What isn't said in the review or any other review by these camera detractors is that they are bad players.
Do you even hover?
Next thread: Auto-rotation and level design
