Around 70 percent died to the first Goomba
July 4, 2013 3:09 PM Subscribe
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata: "It may come as a shock to some of you that most gamers today can not finish the original Super Mario Brothers game. We have conducted this test over the past few years to see how difficult we should make our games and have found that the number of people unable to finish the first level is steadily increasing. This year, around 90 percent of the test participants were unable to complete the first level of Super Mario Brothers."
"Many (gamers) did not understand simple concepts like bottomless pits. Around 70 percent died to the first Goomba. Another 50 percent died twice. Many thought the coins were enemies and tried to avoid them. Also, most of them did not use the run button. There were many other depressing things we noted but I can not remember them at the moment.
So, as a stockholder, you should be relieved to know that our games are easier in order to attract a wider audience. As a gamer, you might feel a little sad, and you should be. It is quite sad." [via]
"Many (gamers) did not understand simple concepts like bottomless pits. Around 70 percent died to the first Goomba. Another 50 percent died twice. Many thought the coins were enemies and tried to avoid them. Also, most of them did not use the run button. There were many other depressing things we noted but I can not remember them at the moment.
So, as a stockholder, you should be relieved to know that our games are easier in order to attract a wider audience. As a gamer, you might feel a little sad, and you should be. It is quite sad." [via]
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's request -- restless_nomad
"Shigeru Miyamoto, Super Mario Bros. designer, also added that he originally designed the game so that everyone could beat it. “I failed miserably,” he said at the end of his answer."
This is honestly the most depressing thing I've read all day, and I was just in the metafilter shows its racism thread.
posted by Blasdelb at 3:13 PM on July 4, 2013
This is honestly the most depressing thing I've read all day, and I was just in the metafilter shows its racism thread.
posted by Blasdelb at 3:13 PM on July 4, 2013
FYI, p4gaming.com is a parody site along the lines of the Onion. If anything is quite sad, it's people taking the article seriously when it comes from a site with headlines like "IGN changing review score range from 1-10 to 7-10".
posted by wanderingmind at 3:13 PM on July 4, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by wanderingmind at 3:13 PM on July 4, 2013 [7 favorites]
I'm a gamer, not sad. I could never beat that game either; people get tired of being punished.
posted by Brocktoon at 3:14 PM on July 4, 2013
posted by Brocktoon at 3:14 PM on July 4, 2013
I'd love to know more about their sample population, mostly because I am old enough that it's hard not to think of people identifying the original mario bros. as soon as they see it.
Shigeru Miyamoto, Super Mario Bros. designer, also added that he originally designed the game so that everyone could beat it. “I failed miserably,” he said at the end of his answer.
Ha! Love this quote, and would have agreed with it back then too.
posted by Going To Maine at 3:14 PM on July 4, 2013
Shigeru Miyamoto, Super Mario Bros. designer, also added that he originally designed the game so that everyone could beat it. “I failed miserably,” he said at the end of his answer.
Ha! Love this quote, and would have agreed with it back then too.
posted by Going To Maine at 3:14 PM on July 4, 2013
Yup, satire. Not satire done as well or as artfully-framed as The Onion. But satire nonetheless.
A quick glance at the other stories up on Play4Real confirms this:
Microsoft Unable to Find Anyone Willing to Take Over the Xbox Brand
IGN Changing Review Score Range from 1-10 to 7-10
and so on.
posted by Strange Interlude at 3:14 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
A quick glance at the other stories up on Play4Real confirms this:
Microsoft Unable to Find Anyone Willing to Take Over the Xbox Brand
IGN Changing Review Score Range from 1-10 to 7-10
and so on.
posted by Strange Interlude at 3:14 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh it's a satire? Strange that I can totally buy 70% dying to the first Goomba. Ack
posted by Brocktoon at 3:15 PM on July 4, 2013
posted by Brocktoon at 3:15 PM on July 4, 2013
"Shigeru Miyamoto, Super Mario Bros. designer, also added that he originally designed the game so that everyone could beat it. “I failed miserably,” he said at the end of his answer."
THIS is how you do satire, folks.
posted by bpm140 at 3:15 PM on July 4, 2013
THIS is how you do satire, folks.
posted by bpm140 at 3:15 PM on July 4, 2013
Woop! I got took. I blame the website for making its satire too hard.
posted by Going To Maine at 3:16 PM on July 4, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 3:16 PM on July 4, 2013 [2 favorites]
Of course we can believe that most people today would die quickly and often in the first Mario game. I'm pretty sure most people then did, too. I certainly never finished the whole thing, although it certainly didn't stop me from playing.
posted by Sequence at 3:18 PM on July 4, 2013
posted by Sequence at 3:18 PM on July 4, 2013
1) this is satire
2) the idea that video games should be a series of escalating challenges instead of an explorable and manipulatable ruleset has shackled game design for twenty years
3) I fucking beat Super Mario Bros so there
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:19 PM on July 4, 2013 [2 favorites]
2) the idea that video games should be a series of escalating challenges instead of an explorable and manipulatable ruleset has shackled game design for twenty years
3) I fucking beat Super Mario Bros so there
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:19 PM on July 4, 2013 [2 favorites]
Well delete this shit immediately. I didn't read the rest of the site, and it wasn't like this was unbelievable. Fuck me I guess.
posted by cashman at 3:23 PM on July 4, 2013
posted by cashman at 3:23 PM on July 4, 2013
Strange that I can totally buy 70% dying to the first Goomba.
Dying used to be the tutorial. Try some random button taps, see what happens, die, repeat until you start finding tricks that work. Didn't everybody die a few times before getting the idea of a new game?
The best games would teach you how to play them through level design. Metroid begins by having the player head right and run directly into a dead end. Confusion leads to experimentation, and the player soon discovers that unlike Mario you can move left or right, and upon finding a needed power up off to the left they will realize that Metroid's level design is nonlinear. Next an up/down shaft, and the discovery that moving down won't kill you. It efficiently teaches the player that this game is about navigating a maze.
In a well designed game, discovering the rules for yourself was a game in itself.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 3:23 PM on July 4, 2013 [2 favorites]
Dying used to be the tutorial. Try some random button taps, see what happens, die, repeat until you start finding tricks that work. Didn't everybody die a few times before getting the idea of a new game?
The best games would teach you how to play them through level design. Metroid begins by having the player head right and run directly into a dead end. Confusion leads to experimentation, and the player soon discovers that unlike Mario you can move left or right, and upon finding a needed power up off to the left they will realize that Metroid's level design is nonlinear. Next an up/down shaft, and the discovery that moving down won't kill you. It efficiently teaches the player that this game is about navigating a maze.
In a well designed game, discovering the rules for yourself was a game in itself.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 3:23 PM on July 4, 2013 [2 favorites]
Satire or not, early video games could be absolutely brutal in terms of game mechanics, UI and gameplay. Not sure exactly why they were designed that way either; maybe they upped the difficulty because games lacked in everything else back then?
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:25 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:25 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Ahh the old games are too easy now meme.
Super Mario Brothers just rewards repetition, trial and error and memory, not skill. How else can you find all the secret boxes, hidden vines and warps.
Since I was an only child and didn't have to share my NES, Super Mario Brothers is very easy for me.I will hook up my NES and beat it right now. Warp or no warp? I won't even use glitches to get 99 lives.
It is the only Game I'm good at.
posted by Ad hominem at 3:27 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Super Mario Brothers just rewards repetition, trial and error and memory, not skill. How else can you find all the secret boxes, hidden vines and warps.
Since I was an only child and didn't have to share my NES, Super Mario Brothers is very easy for me.I will hook up my NES and beat it right now. Warp or no warp? I won't even use glitches to get 99 lives.
It is the only Game I'm good at.
posted by Ad hominem at 3:27 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Not sure exactly why they were designed that way either; maybe they upped the difficulty because games lacked in everything else back then?
I think it had to do with play time. You can't fit that much data onto a Nintendo cartridge, so in order to give a sufficiently long play experience, you had to force replaying the same content.
posted by GrumpyDan at 3:29 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think it had to do with play time. You can't fit that much data onto a Nintendo cartridge, so in order to give a sufficiently long play experience, you had to force replaying the same content.
posted by GrumpyDan at 3:29 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
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EDIT: ah, it's a parody site. Never mind, then!
posted by AlienGrace at 3:13 PM on July 4, 2013