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Iwata Laughs: Super Mario Galaxy 2

Are bits like this intentional?
Iwata
So development of Super Mario Galaxy 2 began with using the first game's environments exactly as they were.
Miyamoto
So development of Super Mario Galaxy 2 began with using the first game's environments exactly as they were.
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That was in the Sin & Punishment 2 interview too. :lol
 
I like how it ends with both of them laughed together after a joke, like at the end of a scooby doo episode!
 
Seeing Yoshi talk is realllllllly creepy.

LiK said:
Regulus scares me
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9gd403.jpg


Don't worry, I become a good guy in the end.
 
Miyamoto said:
Unless you're careful, there's a tendency for games like Mario that can be played by children to gradually become childish. Those making the game tend to unconsciously make them that way.

Taking how Mario's line can be scripted as an example, they even propose to write, "Where'd my mommy go?". When someone in their fifties like me hears their player-character speak childishly like that, it doesn't quite sit right. After all, Mario wasn't a game only for children in the first place. As I make a game, I try to keep in mind that guys in their fifties will play it, too.

We go back and forth about other issues, as well. "Can we make Mario speak?" "No, Mario is the player, so he shouldn't talk." Like that. But he does say things like "mamma mia," so someone will be like, "Wait wait... He's talking, isn't he?!" (laughs)

But that's not necessarily a bad thing. When it comes to whether a game should be childish or less childish or Mario should talk or he shouldn't... (IWATA) those things aren't essential (END IWATA)

Exactly. I realized when I talked to Koizumi-san that those things aren't essential. Whether or not the game world resonates with you as you're playing the game is what's most important. For example, when you watch a big-budget movie, you may be amazed by all the pyrotechnics, but at the same time, something isn't quite striking home with you.
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Genius. Miyamoto is a GODDAMN GENIUS.
 
Chatin said:
Are bits like this intentional?


That was in the Sin & Punishment 2 interview too. :lol
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It's a common thing in japanese conversations to repeat what the other person just said verbatim. The Iwata Speaks interviews are really strangely literally translated, so bits like that get left in.
 
Bentendo said:
Genius. Miyamoto is a GODDAMN GENIUS.
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It's funny though, I always noticed this particular trait of design not just with the Mario series of games, but with almost all of Nintendo's franchises. They try hard to keep the "this is for kids" stigma away from the games they make by balancing elements of whimsy and content that (pardon the biting) resonates with their audiences. By doing so, they manage to appeal to the greatest audience possible without alienating folks (unless of course they feel as though games aren't for them.) It's a great strategy for game building (imo) and it's not unlike how Disney used to operate with it's animation history.

Stuff like this is always so fascinating to see put into words, especially from the source.

Nerd tangent: Thanks to that Iwata Asks and their constant use of the word Resonance, I can't stop humming the Soul Eater opening now. :lol
 
I have one beef with the resonance discussion. As it relates to story and script, Miyamoto correctly notes that a cutesy, kiddie script is going to turn off 50 year olds. That's absolutely true. I don't dispute that.

But having cutesy, kiddie sound effects (everything from the energetic happy-go-lucky noises that play when you press A to advance text boxes to the shrieky noises Toads make when they're talking to the almost baby-like sound effects the talking star guys make, yes, Mario's constant wahoo yawahahooo mama mia waaaaaa) isn't really any different, is it?

Note that I'm not necessarily arguing against those audio touches, just that it doesn't seem internally consistent to scrub childish text and leave childish audio. This isn't just true for Galaxy either, it's true for some other Nintendo titles, and I don't see how to reconcile it.

I just make that note because when I reflect on how I personally receive stuff, loud obnoxious voices and sounds have reaaaallly started to grate on me in the years since I turned 20 or so.
 
Stumpokapow said:
I have one beef with the resonance discussion. As it relates to story and script, Miyamoto correctly notes that a cutesy, kiddie script is going to turn off 50 year olds. That's absolutely true. I don't dispute that.

But having cutesy, kiddie sound effects (everything from the energetic happy-go-lucky noises that play when you press A to advance text boxes to the shrieky noises Toads make when they're talking to the almost baby-like sound effects the talking star guys make, yes, Mario's constant wahoo yawahahooo mama mia waaaaaa) isn't really any different, is it?

Note that I'm not necessarily arguing against those audio touches, just that it doesn't seem internally consistent to scrub childish text and leave childish audio. This isn't just true for Galaxy either, it's true for some other Nintendo titles, and I don't see how to reconcile it.

I just make that note because when I reflect on how I personally receive stuff, loud obnoxious voices and sounds have reaaaallly started to grate on me in the years since I turned 20 or so.
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I dunno, though.
I don't really consider how Toad or Mario sound to be all that childish...
Or at least, they way they sound isn't out of place.
 
Stumpokapow said:
I have one beef with the resonance discussion. As it relates to story and script, Miyamoto correctly notes that a cutesy, kiddie script is going to turn off 50 year olds. That's absolutely true. I don't dispute that.

But having cutesy, kiddie sound effects (everything from the energetic happy-go-lucky noises that play when you press A to advance text boxes to the shrieky noises Toads make when they're talking to the almost baby-like sound effects the talking star guys make, yes, Mario's constant wahoo yawahahooo mama mia waaaaaa) isn't really any different, is it?

Note that I'm not necessarily arguing against those audio touches, just that it doesn't seem internally consistent to scrub childish text and leave childish audio. This isn't just true for Galaxy either, it's true for some other Nintendo titles, and I don't see how to reconcile it.

I just make that note because when I reflect on how I personally receive stuff, loud obnoxious voices and sounds have reaaaallly started to grate on me in the years since I turned 20 or so.
Click to expand...

I think the counter-argument to that is that those sounds aren't actually "cutesy," they're just... cartoony? I mean if you want cutsey sounds, play Yoshi's Story or Dewey's Adventure. I'd argue that Mario's sound effects are more on par with something like Loony Toons, which has a much more universal age appeal.
 
Stumpokapow said:
post
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You know, I never thought of this before... Paradox in the making? Or could it be that they feel the mannerisms and characterizations through sounds are more for "decoration" and as such they make the sounds on par with things like cartoons and the like for a better appeal?

Either way, that'd make a great addendum for this resonance discussion in the future.
 
Stumpokapow said:
I just make that note because when I reflect on how I personally receive stuff, loud obnoxious voices and sounds have reaaaallly started to grate on me in the years since I turned 20 or so.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm just childish, but the silly voices significantly add to the experience for me, even in adulthood. Luigi's "I'm-a back!" continue clip in NSMBW is about the best thing ever. Those voices, Mario's, Yoshi's mannerisms, etc. all really contribute to the feeling of character I get from them.
 
A Twisty Fluken said:
Maybe I'm just childish, but the silly voices significantly add to the experience for me, even in adulthood. Luigi's "I'm-a back!" continue clip in NSMBW is about the best thing ever.
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I'm going to go ahead and guess that you wouldn't be bothered by childish text, either

Tathanen said:
I think the counter-argument to that is that those sounds aren't actually "cutesy," they're just... cartoony? I mean if you want cutsey sounds, play Yoshi's Story or Dewey's Adventure. I'd argue that Mario's sound effects are more on par with something like Loony Toons, which has a much more universal age appeal.
Click to expand...

Well I don't want to get into anecdotes or whatever, but just to sort of internally compare Nintendo products--Think of the Wii's sound effects and music. There's one part elevator muzak, one part sort of soothing, cool music (as on the main channels screen). Sound effects are crisp but not chirpy or shrill.

On the other hand, in Galaxy 2...
Cartoony:
- Coin gathering noises
- Some of Mario's dialog
- Bouncing or landing sound effects
- Star bit noises
- Peach
- Bowser
- Glass shattering when Mario spins.

Childish (spoiler alert from game intro; bowser kidnaps the princess omg spoilt!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni6SgG0a2AA#t=1m24s <-- Listen to the Toads talking noises.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni6SgG0a2AA#t=2m00s <-- about 0.75 seconds after this clip, the user presses "A" to scroll through a text box. That sound effect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni6SgG0a2AA#t=3m58s <-- the "Whee whee" sound effect the two star guys give off when Mario talks to them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmjppNkqszk <-- OoT: HAY LISTEN HAY LISTEN HELLO HAY HAY HAY HAY HAY LISTEN HAY !!!!!
 
Miyamoto Right. We began with the intention of making a game labeled 1.5, but the development staff members were saying things like "It would be fun if we had more environments like this" and "Let's put in more new stuff." It was like "More, more, more!" and new environments started multiplying rapidly. The next thing I knew, more than 90% of the courses were new and I couldn't tell where we had kept anything from the previous game!

Iwata So in the end, it became 2 rather than 1.5.
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The difference between 2 and 1.5? 90%.
 
Any spoilers in there? I really want to read it but I'm terrified of spoilers because I've already had so much spoiled :(
 
AzureJericho said:
It's funny though, I always noticed this particular trait of design not just with the Mario series of games, but with almost all of Nintendo's franchises. They try hard to keep the "this is for kids" stigma away from the games they make by balancing elements of whimsy and content that (pardon the biting) resonates with their audiences. By doing so, they manage to appeal to the greatest audience possible without alienating folks (unless of course they feel as though games aren't for them.) It's a great strategy for game building (imo) and it's not unlike how Disney used to operate with it's animation history.

Stuff like this is always so fascinating to see put into words, especially from the source.
Click to expand...
It's pretty smart of them to strike that balance... I remember when Nintendo moved into 3D multimedia on the N64 and Gamecube.. all of a sudden these simple, iconic Nintendo games started moving and talking like cartoons, and for awhile a lot of us wondered: "Are these kids games? Were they ALWAYS kids games?"

Thankfully, especially as we've moved into the Wii generation, the answer is NO. They are all-ages games with an eternal sense of whimsy.
 
Hopefully the influence on Miyamoto of him and Koizumi's four hour long chat about story in games will impact his input into Zelda Wii.
 
<3 Koizumi.

Empty said:
Hopefully the influence on Miyamoto of Koizumi's four hour long chat about story in games will rub off on his input in Zelda Wii.
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That's what I hope too.
 
Chatin said:
Are bits like this intentional?


That was in the Sin & Punishment 2 interview too. :lol
Click to expand...
I bet they said something far more simple, repeated one after another, in Japanese... but then they translated it into English, and made it more clear what they were referring to, all of a sudden it seemed like an extremely unlikely thing for someone to repeat :D
 
maniac-kun said:
the game has barely no story so nothing to spoil
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Don't know if serious but -

Many people consider just the sight enemies, levels and new gameplay features spoilers because once you see it, it takes away a lot of the oomph and newness when you actually play the game yourself for the first time. It's the same with the music as well.

I've seen enough and I want to keep my cherry as un-popped as possible.
 
-WindYoshi- said:
Don't know if serious but -

Many people consider just the sight enemies, levels and new gameplay features spoilers because once you see it, it takes away a lot of the oomph and newness when you actually play the game yourself for the first time. It's the same with the music as well.

I've seen enough and I want to keep my cherry as un-popped as possible.
Click to expand...
I respect this but I don't share it at all.

Someone could talk the hell out of gameplay mechanics, and it wouldn't have any bearing on how fun it is to actually play them IMO.

Scripted events and storyline can be spoiled... but this is Mario. It doesn't have those.
 
Stumpokapow said:
I have one beef with the resonance discussion. As it relates to story and script, Miyamoto correctly notes that a cutesy, kiddie script is going to turn off 50 year olds. That's absolutely true. I don't dispute that.

But having cutesy, kiddie sound effects (everything from the energetic happy-go-lucky noises that play when you press A to advance text boxes to the shrieky noises Toads make when they're talking to the almost baby-like sound effects the talking star guys make, yes, Mario's constant wahoo yawahahooo mama mia waaaaaa) isn't really any different, is it?

Note that I'm not necessarily arguing against those audio touches, just that it doesn't seem internally consistent to scrub childish text and leave childish audio. This isn't just true for Galaxy either, it's true for some other Nintendo titles, and I don't see how to reconcile it.

I just make that note because when I reflect on how I personally receive stuff, loud obnoxious voices and sounds have reaaaallly started to grate on me in the years since I turned 20 or so.
Click to expand...
Yeah, and most notably is Mario's voice in GALAXY. It's really high pitched and childish, which guarantees a cringe from me every time I hear "SUPER MARRRIOOOOO GAAAAALAAAXYYY" at start up. The voice from Super Mario 64 was much better, IMO.
 
Also before this thread gets more replies, my only point is that I don't get sanitizing text but not sanitizing audio. If you don't think the audio needs sanitizing, if you don't find it annoying, if you don't think it's childish--great, but I just don't see how that's consistent with feeling that text like "Where'd my mommy go?" is enough to scare users off.
 
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