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[JackFrost2012]

Okay, so I picked up the Japanese Mario vs. DK today.

Pretty good, not as good as DK '94, but competent and fun. I played through all of World 1 and 2, careful to replay levels to beat the high scores and get stars as I go.

I reach DK in World 2, die once, then fight him again and win. The high score to beat is 23000; I get 24200.

I don't get get a star.

I'm confused. WTF?! Do you not get stars for beating the high score on DK levels? I check World 1 and see that, no, you do get stars on DK stages. Distraught, I fight DK a few more times, getting between 23000-24200 several times and getting no star. Finally, I get 24400. It registers as a new high score .. . but still no star.

I beat Stage 3-1. I get a high score and a star. I exit back to the title screen.

STARS: 16/17

Congratulations, NST, you have managed to miscode:

if (user_score > high_score) {
star_received[world][stage] = TRUE;
total_stars++;
}

So. I'm now permanently locked out of the six secret - and reportedly far better - worlds.
I want Nintendo to recall the game; barring that, I want my money back. And I want NST to go to fucking hell.

I am upset.

Did anything like this ever happen to someone with the U.S. version?

 

[Tritroid]

Wow, that's a major goofup on their part.

 

[human5892]

Ouch. Hopefully it's just a localized bug (no offense to you) or one that affects a small batch of games.

 

[Kobun Heat]

Oof.

Didn't happen to me though, and I imagine the games are practically identical. Maybe you should try starting the game over? I know that sounds painful.

 

[StrikerObi]

When you died did you jump right back into the DK stage? Try playing the mini-mario stage before it. When you beat the MM stage it will automatically start the DK stage. I'll bet you can only get the star if you go through teh MM stage first.

 

[JackFrost2012]

Oof.

Didn't happen to me though, and I imagine the games are practically identical. Maybe you should try starting the game over? I know that sounds painful.

Actually, I'm going to keep playing the game, and if I reach the end and still can't get the secret stages, send it to Nintendo and demand they give me a new copy with the secret stuff unlocked.

I don't want to start the game over ... I'm less than an hour in, I know, but I'm too upset at the sheer shoddiness of the whole affair to start over. Why should I suffer for Nintendo's mistake? I'd be upset at this level of miserable coding and bug-testing in any console game, but in a first-party Nintendo game? "Unacceptable" is the only word that fits.

The fact that I waited a month later and paid $15 more than the U.S. version isn't making me any happier, either....

 

[JackFrost2012]

Okay, I just checked GameFAQs:

Q. How do I get the star, smartass?
A. To get a star for the bosses, you must rescue all six Mini-Marios in the
previous MM level and not take a hit during the boss fight. Note that if you
enter a DK boss level without playing the previous MM level, you'll only start
with four Mini-Marios (four hits) and you won't be able to get the star. This
only applies to the six main bosses, and not the Plus bosses.

While that makes me feel slightly better, now I'm just upset and confused by the totally arbitrary and different requirements for a boss stage. So please disregard what I said about poor coding, and assume I was ranting about absolutely uncued game design goals and poor documentation.

NST can STILL GO TO HELL!

 

[Diomedeskun]

Did you complete the level without taking any damage? Aso, it only takes 9 stars for the first Extra level and 9 more for each. That would only prevent you form getting the last three, since levels 11 and 12 are unlocked by clearing all prior stages.

 

[JackFrost2012]

Did you complete the level without taking any damage? Aso, it only takes 9 stars for the first Extra level and 9 more for each. That would only prevent you form getting the last three, since levels 11 and 12 are unlocked by clearing all prior stages.

Yes, I did. It's just that even if you complete the stage without taking damage and beat the high score ... it doesn't give you a star unless you come straight in from the previous Mini Mario stage. Totally stupid and not communicated to the player in any way, shape, or form.

Amusingly and quite literally, it turns out that this is not a bug ... it's a FEATURE!

 

[Kobun Heat]

Ohhh.

That's funny, I didn't even think it was possible to get a high score on those levels while taking damage.

 

[akascream]

:lol

I SUCK, GO TO HELL!!

 

[JackFrost2012]

Ohhh.

That's funny, I didn't even think it was possible to get a high score on those levels while taking damage.

No, see, that's the thing ... I DIDN'T take any damage. I beat DK without taking damage and beat the high score. Shouldn't that be star-worthy? It's not, and the reason is, you need to do the Mini Mario stage beforehand to start the level with six HP instead of four - this can pump up your final score by nearly 10,000 points.

I was just fractionally beating the high score, though, with a damageless run and beating DK in less than 15 seconds. Maybe they thought that noone would be able to set a high score - starworthy or not - without the extra Mini Marios.

I guess my question is: why isn't the DK stage high score set to match the requirements for a star, like the other stages in the game? Makes no goddamned sense.

I went back and got the star, btw.

 

[Kobun Heat]

What I meant was that I didn't think it was possible to get a star on the levels without all six Mini-Marios, because that last MM gives you 5000 points on its own at the end of the DK level.

So I figured they'd set up the scores so it couldn't be done, which is what happened in my experience - when I saw that you got that 5000 point bonus for the sixth mini-Mario, I never even bothered trying the DK levels without all six.

 

[StrikerObi]

Actually, you can take a hit in the boss levels. I have and I've still gotten the score. The thing is that you get a ton of points if you have all 6 hits left after the DK battle, and it's hard to get the star without all those points. But it's certainly do-able if you take one hit.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Actually, you can take a hit in the boss levels. I have and I've still gotten the score. The thing is that you get a ton of points if you have all 6 hits left after the DK battle, and it's hard to get the star without all those points. But it's certainly do-able if you take one hit.

IAWTP. Of course, my frustration with the game boiled over way before I thought of trying to get all of the stars. Battered Super Mario Sunshine player syndrome or something.

 

[drohne]

that "feature" gets really irritating at around level 5.

but it's a brilliant game. probably the best thing with nintendo's name on since advance wars.

 

[levious]

I guess my question is: why isn't the DK stage high score set to match the requirements for a star, like the other stages in the game? Makes no goddamned sense.

I went back and got the star, btw.

shouldn't be hard to understand, your status is linked to the MM stage. It may become more clear when MM stages get harder later on in the game... see what you think then.

 

[drohne]

the problem, as jack mentioned, is that the requirements for a star suddenly change in the dk stages, and the game gives you no indication of the difference. to all apperances, you get a star by beating the stage score, but in the dk stages this is no longer sufficient. i also initially thought i'd encountered a bug.

 

[Kobun Heat]

To me the 'indication' would be that although the high score was beaten, no star was granted. Rather than assume there was a bug in the code, which quite frankly I would never have even considered, I'd have thought about other things I could do to complete the level 'perfectly'.

 

[drohne]

but stars aren't rewarded for beating a stage "perfectly" - they're rewarded for beating the stage score. or in the case of the dk stages, beating the stage score while fulfulling certain other nebulous requirements. the game establishes a method for getting stars, and then pulls it out from under you in the dk stages. the star display and the stage score don't change, so you don't expect their behavior to change; it's just jarring when you beat the high score and don't receive a star. if you encounter something like that and don't at least suspect a bug, you're really very trusting.

this could've been remedied by something as simple as greying out the stage high score if you're somehow ineligible for a star. to be honest i still don't know exactly what's required to get a star in the dk stages, and i've gotten all of the stars in the standard 6 stages.

 

[levious]

I just don't find it hard to figure out... and as Kobun said, I wouldn't assume it's a bug unless I was alone on a desert island and had never heard of the game. People had already gotten all the stars before I touched it.

Is it confusing if you get a high score on a level and yet don't get a star cause you didn't get all the presents? I don't think so.

And it'd be really funny if this is explained in the instructions, which I've admittedly not read, but I would have if I was confused about something.

 

[Swordian]

but stars aren't rewarded for beating a stage "perfectly" - they're rewarded for beating the stage score.

Stars are rewarded for beating a stage "perfectly". According to the manual, you need all 3 presents and the high score.

to be honest i still don't know exactly what's required to get a star in the dk stages, and i've gotten all of the stars in the standard 6 stages.

You have to beat the DK stage with all six mini-marios in addition to beating the high score.

 

[drohne]

i wasn't certain if you needed the six mini marios, if you needed to have come straight in from the mini mario stage, or if you needed both. can you restart in the dk stage and still get the star? you do keep all six mini marios that way.

oh, and i meant that i'd collected the stars in all six worlds, not all six stages.

 

[Swordian]

If you keep all six with a restart, I guess that should work. I've always just played the mini-mario stage over again.

 

[Jonnyboy117]

I can understand the frustration here, but even if this WAS a bug, you wouldn't be missing out on six additional worlds. Those open up when you beat the first quest, regardless of stars. It's the expert levels that are opened with stars, and there are only about a dozen of those, and even if this was a bug, you'd only be locked out of one or two of them.

 

[Kobun Heat]

Stars are rewarded for beating a stage "perfectly". According to the manual, you need all 3 presents and the high score.

Indeed.

 

[Wario64]

MORE NST HATE!!!

 

[JackFrost2012]

I looked through the manual just to make sure I wasn't missing anything, and it didn't mention anything specific to DK stages. It just says "complete a stage without dying and changing the high score to receive a star." Except on DK stages, it seems, where you also need six mini marios - not that the game mentions or communicates this new requirement to you in any way. Absolutely ludicrous, and some of the worst design I've seen in a game post 1993.

 

[Mike Works]

HEY NST

IF YOU DON'T LIKE AMERICA, THEN YOU CAN GITTTT OUT

 

[Son of Godzilla]

What's this nonsense about 6 hits? That means 6 times you can restart the stage after getting hit right? RIGHT?

Because Mario with a health bar is stupid.

 

[Wario64]

Mario always had a health bar, so to speak. It's just that it was shown graphically and with powerups in the first couple games. Small Mario = 1 hit; grown Mario = 2 hits, etc. Then in Mario 64 they actually give you a health bar...so yeah

Anyway, Mario can only survive more than 1 hit in the DK levels. In all other normal levels, 1 hit kills you. And you can restart any level at any time, losing a life each time you restart

 

[Son of Godzilla]

Ah ok. Cuz everything I've read is like "It's similar to 94" and then I read the 6 lives thing and that would be nothing like 94.

 

[Kobun Heat]

Absolutely ludicrous, and some of the worst design I've seen in a game post 1993.

 

[JackFrost2012]

I've never gotten that picture before, but I just did! Heh.

In any case, I left out an important word; I meant to say a NINTENDO game. Well-cued, obvious gameplay and goals is a Nintendo trademark. Secret, uncued requirements changing behind your back is like a THQ Nintendo-licensed platformer.