Innovation Vs Gimmick

[Alienblue]

Um, guys...a message from the OLD man here. The NES D-pad was NOT an original idea. The D-pad first appeard on Nintendo GAME&WATCH handhelds in the early 80's, before the NES was made. Innovation? More like necessity. For a tiny, flat LCD game Nintendo COULDN'T put a "normal" joystick on the unit. Also, many other early, tiny LCD watch games had to use d-pad configuration buttons. The D-pad isn't much different then the cursor keys on a keyboard or the Intellivision Disc (though obviously much improved over the latter)... so, the D-pad was a slow EVOLUTION not a REVOLUTION. Ok kids, that videogame history 101 for today. For homework, what was Mario's original name in Donkey kong?

[ZetaX1]

[QUOTE=Alienblue]Um, guys...a message from the OLD man here. The NES D-pad was NOT an original idea. The D-pad first appeard on Nintendo GAME&WATCH handhelds in the early 80's, before the NES was made. Innovation? More like necessity. For a tiny, flat LCD game Nintendo COULDN'T put a "normal" joystick on the unit. Also, many other early, tiny LCD watch games had to use d-pad configuration buttons. The D-pad isn't much different then the cursor keys on a keyboard or the Intellivision Disc (though obviously much improved over the latter)... so, the D-pad was a slow EVOLUTION not a REVOLUTION. Ok kids, that videogame history 101 for today. For homework, what was Mario's original name in Donkey kong? [/QUOTE]

 

I think he was just called 'the jumpman'.  If I'm right, do I win a prize?

 

- Mark

[Alienblue]

Mark(ZetaX).. That is CORRECT! Before Nintendo got around to naming Mario after their Landlord and Pauline after "Perils of", he was indeed known officialy as "Jumpman", which I think is where the JUMPMAN computer games got their name (I say "officialy because people often had their own names for game characters back then...one article refered to him as "Fatman"-not nice!)

Yes, you win a valuable NO-PRIZE which will immidiately be shipped via space shuttle to your non-address! Congrats!

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Alienblue]Um, guys...a message from the OLD man here. The NES D-pad was NOT an original idea. The D-pad first appeard on Nintendo GAME&WATCH handhelds in the early 80's, before the NES was made. Innovation? More like necessity. For a tiny, flat LCD game Nintendo COULDN'T put a "normal" joystick on the unit. Also, many other early, tiny LCD watch games had to use d-pad configuration buttons. The D-pad isn't much different then the cursor keys on a keyboard or the Intellivision Disc (though obviously much improved over the latter)... so, the D-pad was a slow EVOLUTION not a REVOLUTION. Ok kids, that videogame history 101 for today. For homework, what was Mario's original name in Donkey kong? [/QUOTE]

Hmmm... I played handheld games since way back, especially self-contained ones, and having a small joystick was not a problem for some models.  I don't remember their names, but I definitely remember them.  I think the D-Pad was definitely an innovation, even if it were on a handheld.

 

I remember getting so used to playing Super Mario Bros. in the arcade using a joystick and when I got the NES with its D-Pads I was so disappointed, but over time, I got to where I was far more precise on that than I ever was previously on a joystick.  To bad the game wasn't as good as the arcade version

[Alienblue]

Mozart- small Tabletop games like Coleco's had tiny joysticks, yes. But when reduced to watch size...listen, when the first PAC MAN watch came out, it had a tiny button with a hole in it and came with four TEEENY blue plastic "joysticks" that looked like peg people from the LIFE boardgame, which of course my 7 year old nephew lost in 3 days!...after that you had to use your finger to press the "button" up, down, left, right! Not suprisingly, when CASIO came out with a watch pac man it had four buttons- just like a pad. Really, a "+" pad is just a joystick without the stick, you are pressing the spots directly with your finger (you can even open up an Atari joystick and do this!)...hence why I said it was not "new" with the NES, really, even though I admit I myself thought so at the time and thought those "[+ o o]" pads were cool, you can't compare it to a Wii - mote or touch screen!

[Steeforth]

O.K, you guys are running a little dry on hardware inovatioins/gimmicks, how  'bout some software ones?

 

Big innovation - 3-d camera on Mario 64. Sure, it ain't perfect, but it layed out a hell of a blueprint for every 3-d game that followed.

 

Big innovation - Goldeneye controls on N64. I am not a big shooter fan, but that game rocked on so many levels. Great level design, and how many control options did Rare give us for that game? I loved 1.2 the best, but they even had a mode where you could use 2 controllers at once and have dual analog sticks. Rare worked their butts off on that game, and how many people were dissapointed buying the EA Bond games, trying in vain to recapture that magic?

 

Big gimmic - blowing into the mic to inflate ballons on Mario Kart DS battle mode. It is a pain in the butt and does not fit at all. How stupid. Too many DS games tack on stupid meaniless features like that, the stylus/mic are awesome on games like Nintendogs, Brain Age, etc, but just pathetic when forced to do something differently and worse. But Nintendo really puts the screws to people to incorporate that crap, and so they do.

[Paul Campbell]

[QUOTE=Steeforth]

 

Big gimmic - blowing into the mic to inflate ballons on Mario Kart DS battle mode. It is a pain in the butt and does not fit at all.

[/QUOTE]

I agree that it sucks, but i don't think that it qualifies as a gimmick.  i didn't buy that game or have interest because of that.  It just seems more like an idea or experiement that didn't work.

[Steerforth]

No PC, I think you are wrong, it is a BIG gimmic. Does it ruin the whole game? Of course not. But it is a completely useless feature tacked on to say, "Hey, we used the mic on Mario Kart!"

[a1]

[QUOTE=Paul Campbell][QUOTE=Steeforth]

 

Big gimmic - blowing into the mic to inflate ballons on Mario Kart DS battle mode. It is a pain in the butt and does not fit at all.

[/QUOTE]

I agree that it sucks, but i don't think that it qualifies as a gimmick.  i didn't buy that game or have interest because of that.  It just seems more like an idea or experiement that didn't work.

[/QUOTE]

You do realize you don't have to play battle mode right Paul? There are 32 tracks in that game (16 past tracks) and a great new challenge mode that require no blowing on the mic. And if you have a DS Lite blowing in the mic is really easy, so it doesn't actually hurt battle mode. In fact, while I don't like blowing into the mic, I do like the strategy that being able to decide how many balloons you have at once brings, so it has its benefits, too.

[Paul Campbell]

[QUOTE=a][QUOTE=Paul Campbell][QUOTE=Steeforth]

 

Big gimmic - blowing into the mic to inflate ballons on Mario Kart DS battle mode. It is a pain in the butt and does not fit at all.

[/QUOTE]

I agree that it sucks, but i don't think that it qualifies as a gimmick.  i didn't buy that game or have interest because of that.  It just seems more like an idea or experiement that didn't work.

[/QUOTE]

You do realize you don't have to play battle mode right Paul? There are 32 tracks in that game (16 past tracks) and a great new challenge mode that require no blowing on the mic. And if you have a DS Lite blowing in the mic is really easy, so it doesn't actually hurt battle mode. In fact, while I don't like blowing into the mic, I do like the strategy that being able to decide how many balloons you have at once brings, so it has its benefits, too.

[/QUOTE]

Wasn't that supposed to be directed at Steeforth?   I'm not complaining about the game.  I'm just saying that blowing into the mic is not a gimmick.  I've only played battle mode like once on that game.