@wonderclassic Hah. I think you are conflating caring about what people think of you with caring for people. This is indeed typical of the times, but you are pointing out so much more about your generation then about his in your statement.
SM64 has extremely boring story and characters. He is right about that.
He is obviously very into the story/characters of a game, so he doesn't like SM64. That's fair. I think he conflates gameplay with story and character though. He doesn't like the story/characters, which indeed is the same old and flat stuff that Nintendo had done many times already. But he then project that flatness onto the gameplay itself, and says it's not novel.
The mechanics of SM64 were very novel. Where other 3d platformers basically did the obvious transformation of 2d mechanics into 3d by creating a sort of track to maneuver through, or smaller 3d versions of maze puzzles, SM64 added exploration and freedom and play on a whole new level.
Many people happen to like sandboxy games like this. Where you can play with skills, doing what the game designer didn't even have in mind, and so on. And SM64 added a lot to this scene. It took me probably 5 years to get all stars in SM64, but I played around with the mechanics, trying impossible wall jumps etc, more than any game before or since. These days I can still watch youtube recordings of the game for hours of people doing crazy things.
Could the game have been better with more story? Perhaps, but it might also have taken something away. I think I projected my own feelings into mario and I still remember how incredibly cool it was when Mario jumped out of that pipe, and then the game giving me this freedom to run around right from the beginning. I felt like I was Mario. Not sure it would have been the same with some contrived story about who Mario is, what his background is, etc.
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Re: Feature: Dave "The Games Animal" Perry On Picking Sega Over Nintendo And Returning To Mario 64
@JayJ I like him too. Feel I gotta say that, before someone conflates a bit of disagreement for hate.
Re: Feature: Dave "The Games Animal" Perry On Picking Sega Over Nintendo And Returning To Mario 64
@wonderclassic Hah. I think you are conflating caring about what people think of you with caring for people. This is indeed typical of the times, but you are pointing out so much more about your generation then about his in your statement.
Re: Feature: Dave "The Games Animal" Perry On Picking Sega Over Nintendo And Returning To Mario 64
SM64 has extremely boring story and characters. He is right about that.
He is obviously very into the story/characters of a game, so he doesn't like SM64. That's fair. I think he conflates gameplay with story and character though. He doesn't like the story/characters, which indeed is the same old and flat stuff that Nintendo had done many times already. But he then project that flatness onto the gameplay itself, and says it's not novel.
The mechanics of SM64 were very novel. Where other 3d platformers basically did the obvious transformation of 2d mechanics into 3d by creating a sort of track to maneuver through, or smaller 3d versions of maze puzzles, SM64 added exploration and freedom and play on a whole new level.
Many people happen to like sandboxy games like this. Where you can play with skills, doing what the game designer didn't even have in mind, and so on. And SM64 added a lot to this scene. It took me probably 5 years to get all stars in SM64, but I played around with the mechanics, trying impossible wall jumps etc, more than any game before or since. These days I can still watch youtube recordings of the game for hours of people doing crazy things.
Could the game have been better with more story? Perhaps, but it might also have taken something away. I think I projected my own feelings into mario and I still remember how incredibly cool it was when Mario jumped out of that pipe, and then the game giving me this freedom to run around right from the beginning. I felt like I was Mario. Not sure it would have been the same with some contrived story about who Mario is, what his background is, etc.