As a PC gamer I would never condone such a statement about my console brethren (and sisters), but lol.
The new Super Mario Galaxy Movie is out today – as expected, it is a bare-bones story supported by a cavalcade of Nintendo cameos and bright action scenes. Dubbed “a bland screensaver of a movie” by the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, expect smooth-brained entertainment for Nintendo enjoyers.
Last time I checked Mario Bros was supposed to be happy and fun and simple not an art house intellectual experience.
I wonder if a lot of the reviews are just the bitterness that it’s going to be a 1.5B movie and that ‘real cinema’ movies do pitifully at the box office these days, very rarely to they even make $100mil
i mean a lot of those ‘real cinema’ movies do pitifully at the box office because they’re fucking creepy glimpses into fucking creepy writers’, directors’, and editors’ minds
I disagree on the smooth brained comment. Nintendo first party games (the reason to buy their consoles) are always top-notch.
The ones I’ve bought on Switch 2:
Mario Kart World - wonderful game with excellent driving mechanics. Open world and lots of fun.
DK Bananza - endearing game with a heartfelt story, great music, fun gameplay. Really enjoyed my time 100%ing this game.
pokemon Legends Z-A: good game overall. Nothing groundbreaking but fun.
Pokemon Pokopia - I’m absolutely obsessed. Heartfelt story, hits so many nostalgic beats, tackles a difficult subject of humans destroying the environment. What happens to our Pokes when we humans have to leave them behind? Amazing game with deep breadth, excellent quality of life that builds upon typical sandbox games, and the music is so nice. When I first heard the Pokémon healing melody adapted into one song, or when I reached a destroyed Palette Town and heard all the original Pokémon Red/Blue musical beats embedded in the overarching musical theme, I was so moved. Very touching game, too. One of the best Pokémon spin offs I’ve played, and this game is canon.
Still waiting on more first-party games that are on the horizon - the potential Ocarina of Time remake if the rumors are true, Pokémon Winds/Waves, and the new 3D Mario game.
Any other game I haven’t picked up because I would rather play it on PC.
They literally make games for the lowest common denominator and everything on the Switch 1 and 2 is so much worse than anything they’ve ever made prior to these systems. They look nice, but they are pretty brainless to play, geared toward young children, the elderly, and people who have never ever played a video game before.
“They literally make games for the lowest common denominator and everything on the Switch 1 and 2 is so much worse than anything they’ve ever made prior to these systems. They look nice, but they are pretty brainless to play, geared toward young children, the elderly, and people who have never ever played a video game before.”
Sounds to me like you haven’t played any of the new Nintendo first-party games that are highly revered. Tears of the Kingdom as an example, is a gut-wrenching and dramatic game. I prefer the older Zelda games (having grown up on them starting with SNES), but I would be laughably naive to deny that the latest two Zelda’s have been ground breaking, or claim that they’re “made for people who never played a video game/lowest common denominator”. Mario Odyssey is charming and fun, and one of the best platformers I played (top title goes to Astro Bot on PS5 for me). The Xenoblade games are top tier. DK Bananza is endearing, touching, and incredibly fun. Pokopia, I already commented above - one of the best Pokémon games to have come out (given that GameFreak churns out games so quickly and refuse to innovate). Pokopia was developed by someone else, and boy does that game put the other mainline Pokémon games to shame. Lots of other examples, but I’m tired of typing on mobile.
Edit: I still love Nintendo first party games, but I’m a gamer. I play primarily PC, Nintendo, and then PS5 and Xbox Series for the occasional first party game I can’t get anywhere else - like Astro Bot. I regret the Xbox but man do I love Astro Bot on PS5 - best platformer I’ve ever played (for gameplay, not story).
I think the Nintendo fanboys need to take a step back and look what is actually being said.
They are smooth-brained games for smooth-brained players. As in they are basic, simple, and hand-holdy. There is no challenge. You basically do not need a brain to enjoy Nintendo games.
That isn’t meant to imply they can not be enjoyable. But there was a time when Nintendo made games that were way more complex than anything they have made in the last few years.
Please give an example of a Nintendo game that you consider to not be “smooth-brained”. Because I’d argue that at least since the 90’s their games have had the same level of simplicity and hand holding. If anything, some of that was stripped back in the switch generation. A lot of the “complexity” and “difficulty” of their older games stemmed from developers not knowing how to make a game approachable or easy to understand because the gaming industry was in it’s infancy. And realistically, if you want to talk about complexity, Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom have physics and cooking systems that are far more complex than any of their old games. So what counts as a complex and challenging game for your massive wrinkled brain?
I’d argue that at least since the 90s their games have had the same level of simplicity and hand holding
What games in the 90s had tutorials that were not “here’s every basic obstacle in the game on the first level; figure it out?” One of the best video game tutorials of all time is World 1-1 in Super Mario Bros and it does it without even telling you anything.
A lot of “complexity” and “difficultly” of their older games stemmed from developers not knowing how to make a game approachable or easy to understand because gaming was in its infancy
By the time Nintendo started making video games, the video games industry was over 20 years old. Not to mention literally thousands of years of game design in the form of not video games that existed before video games.
Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom have physics and cooking systems that are far more complex than any of their old games.
We’re talking complexity of the challenges in the game; not the complexity of the programming that goes into it here. What would make it more complex and challenging to not be smooth brained is making the physics puzzles more challenging and the cooking system more than just selecting what you want to throw in the pot and getting a little cutscene of it cooking. It’s the difference between making potions in Skyrim vs making potions in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2.
While I’d agree with you that World 1-1 is a great tutorial, the complexity of the game pretty much boils down to “move left or right, jump over obstacles, touch powerups to get some kind of bonus” Its not hard to convey a small amount of gameplay concepts in an approachable level. But with the amount of different things you can do in a lot of games nowadays, its beneficial to have at least a little explanation on what a button or skill does. That’s not to say we need a pokemon style 15 minute cutscene explaining the basic concept. But like a one time 2 second prompt is a good spot in my opinion. Looking at something like Ocarina of Time in the late 90’s, had kind of a hybrid. They gave you a small sandbox and freedom to explore it. There are also signs around that directly tell you how to do something. But people who never read those signs can end up never learning how to do that thing.
Yes you are right that video games existed for decades before Nintendo made them. But any complexity in those games that was more than “move and press 1 button” required reading through an instruction booklet to understand how to do anything. Playing something like Adventure on Atari without an explanation would be a painful experience.
As far as the puzzles or cooking in Zelda goes, its as complex as you want to make it. The freedom and depth allows you to get creative with solutions that don’t necessarily have to be the intended one. And that’s a highly complex thing that weren’t really in older games unless you brute forced or exploited something. Admittedly I have only played KCD and heve not yet played KCD2, so I don’t know if its significantly different or not. But making potions in KCD, while novel and fun in it’s own game, would be a miserable experience in a Zelda game. Only the most hardcore players would ever even do it. KCD pulls it off, because everything about the game is difficult to do and that is part of the fantasy. It’s more of a realistic simulator than an adventure game.
Nintendo games are designed to be approachable by anyone. Not designed for idiots who are too stupid to figure out a more complex game. It can be figured out by a kid, and it lets a hardcore player get more in depth with it if they want to. That’s a difficult thing to pull off and I’d say its a very complex thing to design in a game. Their games also include parts of them that are actually very challenging to a new player, regardless of your gaming experience. Fighting a Lynel for the first time in BOTW, will absolutely kill you. The last few levels of Super Mario Odyssey are excruciating in their difficulty. But you only have to engage with that kind of difficulty of you want to. And most players prefer not to rip their hair out for the entire game.
As a PC gamer I would never condone such a statement about my console brethren (and sisters), but lol.
Is it bad that smooth-brained entertainment for Nintendo enjoyers sounds about exactly what I’m equipped to handle right about now?
Like zoning out to some seriously tepid nostalgia-slop sounds good.
Last time I checked Mario Bros was supposed to be happy and fun and simple not an art house intellectual experience.
I wonder if a lot of the reviews are just the bitterness that it’s going to be a 1.5B movie and that ‘real cinema’ movies do pitifully at the box office these days, very rarely to they even make $100mil
i mean a lot of those ‘real cinema’ movies do pitifully at the box office because they’re fucking creepy glimpses into fucking creepy writers’, directors’, and editors’ minds
Fun being key here, not just a slideshow of colored images.
That sounds like almost an exact description of the first Mario movie.
Nintendo fans are smooth-brained thesedays though. I dont think its console specific, its Nintendo specific.
~ Former Nintendo Game Enjoyer
I disagree on the smooth brained comment. Nintendo first party games (the reason to buy their consoles) are always top-notch.
The ones I’ve bought on Switch 2:
Still waiting on more first-party games that are on the horizon - the potential Ocarina of Time remake if the rumors are true, Pokémon Winds/Waves, and the new 3D Mario game.
Any other game I haven’t picked up because I would rather play it on PC.
lol
They literally make games for the lowest common denominator and everything on the Switch 1 and 2 is so much worse than anything they’ve ever made prior to these systems. They look nice, but they are pretty brainless to play, geared toward young children, the elderly, and people who have never ever played a video game before.
Sounds to me like you haven’t played any of the new Nintendo first-party games that are highly revered. Tears of the Kingdom as an example, is a gut-wrenching and dramatic game. I prefer the older Zelda games (having grown up on them starting with SNES), but I would be laughably naive to deny that the latest two Zelda’s have been ground breaking, or claim that they’re “made for people who never played a video game/lowest common denominator”. Mario Odyssey is charming and fun, and one of the best platformers I played (top title goes to Astro Bot on PS5 for me). The Xenoblade games are top tier. DK Bananza is endearing, touching, and incredibly fun. Pokopia, I already commented above - one of the best Pokémon games to have come out (given that GameFreak churns out games so quickly and refuse to innovate). Pokopia was developed by someone else, and boy does that game put the other mainline Pokémon games to shame. Lots of other examples, but I’m tired of typing on mobile.
Edit: I still love Nintendo first party games, but I’m a gamer. I play primarily PC, Nintendo, and then PS5 and Xbox Series for the occasional first party game I can’t get anywhere else - like Astro Bot. I regret the Xbox but man do I love Astro Bot on PS5 - best platformer I’ve ever played (for gameplay, not story).
I think the Nintendo fanboys need to take a step back and look what is actually being said.
They are smooth-brained games for smooth-brained players. As in they are basic, simple, and hand-holdy. There is no challenge. You basically do not need a brain to enjoy Nintendo games.
That isn’t meant to imply they can not be enjoyable. But there was a time when Nintendo made games that were way more complex than anything they have made in the last few years.
Please give an example of a Nintendo game that you consider to not be “smooth-brained”. Because I’d argue that at least since the 90’s their games have had the same level of simplicity and hand holding. If anything, some of that was stripped back in the switch generation. A lot of the “complexity” and “difficulty” of their older games stemmed from developers not knowing how to make a game approachable or easy to understand because the gaming industry was in it’s infancy. And realistically, if you want to talk about complexity, Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom have physics and cooking systems that are far more complex than any of their old games. So what counts as a complex and challenging game for your massive wrinkled brain?
What games in the 90s had tutorials that were not “here’s every basic obstacle in the game on the first level; figure it out?” One of the best video game tutorials of all time is World 1-1 in Super Mario Bros and it does it without even telling you anything.
By the time Nintendo started making video games, the video games industry was over 20 years old. Not to mention literally thousands of years of game design in the form of not video games that existed before video games.
We’re talking complexity of the challenges in the game; not the complexity of the programming that goes into it here. What would make it more complex and challenging to not be smooth brained is making the physics puzzles more challenging and the cooking system more than just selecting what you want to throw in the pot and getting a little cutscene of it cooking. It’s the difference between making potions in Skyrim vs making potions in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2.
While I’d agree with you that World 1-1 is a great tutorial, the complexity of the game pretty much boils down to “move left or right, jump over obstacles, touch powerups to get some kind of bonus” Its not hard to convey a small amount of gameplay concepts in an approachable level. But with the amount of different things you can do in a lot of games nowadays, its beneficial to have at least a little explanation on what a button or skill does. That’s not to say we need a pokemon style 15 minute cutscene explaining the basic concept. But like a one time 2 second prompt is a good spot in my opinion. Looking at something like Ocarina of Time in the late 90’s, had kind of a hybrid. They gave you a small sandbox and freedom to explore it. There are also signs around that directly tell you how to do something. But people who never read those signs can end up never learning how to do that thing.
Yes you are right that video games existed for decades before Nintendo made them. But any complexity in those games that was more than “move and press 1 button” required reading through an instruction booklet to understand how to do anything. Playing something like Adventure on Atari without an explanation would be a painful experience.
As far as the puzzles or cooking in Zelda goes, its as complex as you want to make it. The freedom and depth allows you to get creative with solutions that don’t necessarily have to be the intended one. And that’s a highly complex thing that weren’t really in older games unless you brute forced or exploited something. Admittedly I have only played KCD and heve not yet played KCD2, so I don’t know if its significantly different or not. But making potions in KCD, while novel and fun in it’s own game, would be a miserable experience in a Zelda game. Only the most hardcore players would ever even do it. KCD pulls it off, because everything about the game is difficult to do and that is part of the fantasy. It’s more of a realistic simulator than an adventure game.
Nintendo games are designed to be approachable by anyone. Not designed for idiots who are too stupid to figure out a more complex game. It can be figured out by a kid, and it lets a hardcore player get more in depth with it if they want to. That’s a difficult thing to pull off and I’d say its a very complex thing to design in a game. Their games also include parts of them that are actually very challenging to a new player, regardless of your gaming experience. Fighting a Lynel for the first time in BOTW, will absolutely kill you. The last few levels of Super Mario Odyssey are excruciating in their difficulty. But you only have to engage with that kind of difficulty of you want to. And most players prefer not to rip their hair out for the entire game.
I literally said the exact opposite of the last panel.
Brainless fun is still brainless, regardless of being fun. The fun part was never in question.
The smooth brained entertainment comment was just referring to the Mario Galaxy movie.
This looks to me like the person commenting suggests that Nintendo fans in general are smooth-brained.
Oops, I missed that and thought it was replying to the comment above it.
Man, I remember when the DS was the thinking person’s console of choice. Oh the art you could draw on it and send to others. Oh the traces of goatee.