Metroid Prime 3: Quarterly Diaries #8

October 26th, 2009

metroid-prime-3-chozo

Areas Covered: Sky Town Spire, Elysia Seed

Discussion Points: Bombing of the Elysia Seed, Helios boss battle

Sky Town Spire

With all of the pieces in place the formal precedings can begin. I never actually clicked previously to what was about to happen here, so when the Aurora Unit explained it to me in plain English, I must confess, I thought it was little convoluted. Let me explain what happens and you can decide for yourself: basically, with all the components assembled the bomb is now primed for launch. Using her ship as a hoist Samus drops the assembled bomb onto the centre-most point of Sky Town. The Aurora Unit then moves Sky Town (yes, the entire network of islands) closer towards the seed and disconnects the centre from the rest of the structure allowing it to free-fall towards the seed. The goal is for the structure to hit shield so that the bomb can explode and power down the force field thereby granting Samus access to the seed. Samus must stay on the structure as it’s falling to prevent any incoming space pirates from diverting the course. Once the bomb is in close proximity Samus can evacuate in an escape pod. The structure hits the shield and the bomb explodes.

This highly scripted premise—which in terms of playable bits consists of defending this free-falling structure armed with explosives only to narrowly escape—seems like something decidedly ripped from an action movie—therefore to a certain extent feels un-Metroid-like. Furthermore it’s questionable whether this set piece was worth the hassle of setting up. Both of these are fair points of criticism and, as with the initial encounter with Ridley, the action feels contrived and forced. That isn’t to take away from the experience, it works quite well and it’s nice to see new ideas applied to the Metroid formula, but it also feels like the creative spark is starting to wear thin.

metroid-prime-3-elysia-bomb

The crux of this sequence is a tough shootout followed by a tense escape. The shootout is probably the trickiest so far as several ships surround the circular playing field at the one time and pirates are dispatched from them at every side. The danger comes in thick and fast which’ll have you reliant on hyper mode. Once you’ve dispatched enough pirates, you’re clear to activate your escape pod but—OH NO!—the pod is faulty. A small morphball hatch opens for you to frantically head downstairs to mend the device with a series of plasma welding mini games as a timer begins countdown. The setback is predictable but works well, you can see what I mean what I say it’s contrived though.

One final point I wish to make is that this sequence actually made me wishing that the Wii was a little more technically able, simply because the illusion of falling would have been much more effective with something more attractive an ugly brown haze. In fact, the actual illusion wasn’t too convincing and could have benefited from the structure bumping around a little. Also, what’s with the gravity? How is Samus not ripped to the top of the ceiling as soon as the structure begins to free-fall?

Elysia Seed

In the Elysia seed you take on Helios, a creature made of flying bats which can shift into two shapes: A ball which haphazardly rolls around the arena or a Gunstar-Heroes-esque humanoid who chases you in circles.After blasting off the outer layer of bats, the creature will float in air with 5 red dots revealing themselves around its outer centre at which point you can attack Helios with your seeker missiles to reduce him to his next form. Once you’ve done this you can start dishing our proper damage and eventually whittle him down to nothing.

metroid-prime-3-helios

The battle comprises of a tonn of blasting, stopgapped by a brief moment for the mandatory use of the latest weapon upgrade and then some more blasting. It’s in this regard that the battle feels rather unfulfilling, the meat of it isn’t entirely engaging. Well, that’s partly a lie. Helios has some clever movement patterns mixing up the confrontation so that it doesn’t feel like spam from the blaster. Afterwards you’re rewarded with the hyper missiles and hence we see a trend emerging.

Additional Reading

An Explanation For Metroid Prime 3’s Pointless “Hyper Mode” – Siliconera

How Super Mario is a Great Crash Course for Games

October 24th, 2009

super-paper-mario

Now to conclude my three part series on Super Paper Mario. There’s actually been a nice progression between articles, so do allow me to once again regurgitate:

How Super Paper Mario Doesn’t Feel Like Work

Super Paper Mario is about utilizing a palette of game modes to reach a certain means. Each of these “modes” is minimalist and presented in a structured way which doesn’t make the game as a whole feel like arduous on the player.

How Super Paper Mario Feels Gamey

Each of these “modes” are influenced by styles and genres from other games, this makes Super Paper Mario feel very game-y. That is, you’re managing a series of gameplay styles derived from other games to win the game of Super Paper Mario, giving Super Paper Mario an inherently game-y vibe to it.

And this time: How Super Mario is a Great Crash Course for Games

This argument will be very short and simple this time as much of my previous discussion has already borderlined on this argument. Super Paper Mario is a fabulous hybrid of different styles taken from different genres of plays. To complete the game, the player must form a mastery of these different styles and co-ordinate them together to solve the fundamental challenges that the game presents. This entails that the player have a thorough understanding of the workings of each play style and what separates them apart, so that they can match them together in a way that smooths the bumps between them. In terms of the theory it teaches, Super Paper Mario acquaints the player with the basics of popular game genre, particularly from traditional games such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and games of the Metroidvania genre. In which case, Super Paper Mario is an ideal crash course on the basics of video games.

In doesn’t just end there though. The lore of the game itself is also very important, and Mario’s universe is one of the industry’s richest and longest-standing. The villagers of Flipside and Flopside (the game’s central hubs) aren’t your typical Nintendo characters though, which, in some respects pokes holes in this argument. Much the same to the antagonists which are all new to the series in this iteration of the sub-franchise.

One last point: The game’s fantastic writing draws a great deal of influence from not just the world of Mario but also from other Nintendo properties and the wider nerd and gamer culture as well. Their integration is often very subtle, but very clever as well. You can find a list of such references here under Similarities and References to Other Games. Furthermore the video below provides a classic example of the cultural integration of video games into the writing and dialogue. It’s a spoof off of Japanese dating sims, by the way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wApWFddgvoY

I guess what I’m trying to say through all this is to get your kids onto Super Paper Mario as it’d be a good way to jump start their interest in the medium.

How Super Paper Mario Feels Gamey

October 22nd, 2009

super-paper-mario-wedding

As we know from last time:

This time my argument is simply that:

Each of these “modes” pull from a melting pot of different styles and genres of other games. If we pool this and the above idea together, I mean to say: you’re managing a series of gameplay styles derived from other games to win the game of Super Paper Mario, giving Super Paper Mario an inherently game-y vibe to it.

Super Paper Mario is a rich tapestry of different rule sets plucked from a broad range of games. So let’s talk directly about said influences and how their qualities are pertained in Super Paper Mario.

Super Mario Bros (2D Platforming)

You can derive this much from the game’s title alone. Super Paper Mario is an obvious throwback to the original Super Mario Bros. in its primary design as a 2D platformer. Even some of the initial stages mimic the original’s level design with a nod and a wink.

Super Paper Mario runs at a slower pace though, and fits neatly into the exploration style of Mario platformers such as Yoshi’s Island. Characters don’t really sprint or gain much momentum, jumps are always short and usually offer little platforming challenge. The divergences from the original are a result of equalizing the game with the RPG and puzzle elements. Much of the puzzling and exploration comes from the dimension flipping, yet flipping dimensions in a fast paced Mario platformer would only act to slow the game down and interrupt the flow.

The 3D platforming sections are generally quite barren and slow to walk around in, so the majority of the player’s time is spent playing the game as a traditional platformer. Mushroom power-ups, the Wii-mote’s layout similarities with the NES pad, world-stage (ie.8-1) level division and a player score also makes for good comparison.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (Context)

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is, as much as the original Super Mario Bros., imperative to Super Paper Mario‘s design. It’s a significantly contextual influence and to a lesser extent mechanical. Many of the assets are directly taken or heavily derived from Thousand Year Door, as well as the quirky humour of the narrative and general vibe of the game.

Crash Bandicoot (Forward running 3D Platforming)

On it’s side Super Paper Mario bears a crazy resemblance to the Crash Bandicoot series. It’s kind of ironic when you consider that once Super Mario 64 was released, Crash received major criticism for not being a “proper” 3D platformer. Mario kinda waltzed in and crashed the Playstation party—at least until people finished Super Mario 64 and wondered what else they could play—and now Mario is totally ripping on Crash’s style. Don’t Nintendo have any dignity?

The forward running in Super Paper Mario is a stifle bit weird simply because Mario must be seen flat on the screen, therefore when he runs forward (as by the perspective) he kind of runs to his left (as by his flat character model). Whereas in Crash Bandicoot, Crash always faced forwards and ran away from the screen, which made a lot more sense. Both of them suffer from the same problem of not being able to clearly judge the distance of gaps.

Echochrome (Puzzling)

By referencing Echochrome what I mean to say is that some of the puzzles require you to manipulate perspective to open and close pathways which you can travel across. For example: switching into 3D to cross a bridge which isn’t foregrounded in 2D or switching into 3D to enter an area infront of the character. Both games require the player to think beyond the visual illusion or to create their own.

Wonder Boy (RPG)

Structurally Super Paper Mario is similar to the Wonder Boy series in that they are both My First Metroidvania kinds of games, with lite RPG elements sprinkled over a platforming base. Characters have a health system and must make their way through a rather simplistic world.

Zelda (RPG)

The pixl ability system is akin to the Zelda inventory system where new items are gained and then integrated into the game’s progression design. The earlier stages play to this structure well, but eventually Super Paper Mario doesn’t do as much to tutorialize the new abilities within the environment. Carrie and Fleep in particular are underutilized and aren’t very well integrated into the game.

Others?

As you can see Super Paper Mario internalise many design ideas from other games to create it’s own. Some of them are crucial to the game’s identity such as Super Mario Bros., others are more coincidental similarities such as Wonder Boy or Echochrome. Super Paper Mario requires the player to master the skills of these different games and then co-ordinate the different styles together to ultimately complete the game. For example, the player must switch between Super Mario Bros. and Crash Bandicoot style of play to solve a perspective problem which is very Echochrome-like in nature. It’s this overaching design which link the various styles together that gives Super Paper Mario an unmistakably game-y vibe to it. The previous games were very much a celebration of the Super Mario phenomena, in which case Super Paper Mario casts its net wider as a celebration of many different game styles and genres.

I’m sure there are other titles which I’ve missed out on here, do any come to mind? Please let me know in the comments.

Next Up: How Super Mario is a Great Crash Course for Video Games

Additional Readings

Mario & Luigi Interview: Bihldorff’s Inside Story – Retronauts

(Good insight into Treehouse’s localisation process)

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