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Forums - Gaming Discussion - What was the Greatest Launch Title of all Time?

 

What was the greatest launch title of all time?

Combat 0 0%
 
Super Mario Bros. 20 12.20%
 
Super Mario World 19 11.59%
 
Virtua Fighter (Saturn) 2 1.22%
 
Twisted Metal 2 1.22%
 
Super Mario 64 32 19.51%
 
Halo Combat Evolved 16 9.76%
 
Twilight Princess 3 1.83%
 
Breath of the Wild 64 39.02%
 
Other 6 3.66%
 
Total:164
HoloDust said:
curl-6 said:

It has technological limits due to having to run on the Wii U's CPU, yes.

But let's take the scenario I described; you could fire a bomb arrow during a fight and not only damage an enemy, but set the grass around them on fire thus igniting and degrading their wooden weapons, and causing an apple tree to topple and kill one baddie, and for the apples to roll into the grass fire (which spreads with the strength and direction of the wind) and become roasted apples, then to use the updraft generated as the fire spreads to get airborne and rain more arrows down on the remaining foes. This isn't a scripted sequence, its the dynamic result of the game's various systems interacting.

In the conversation you're joining, this was compared to using a specific power at a predetermined point in Okami to produce a canned reaction, much like bombing a cracked wall in Ocarina of Time. I know you're not a fan of BOTW, and that's totally fine, but surely you can see the two aren't remotely comparable.

It's definitely not scripted sequnce - it's dynamic result of set of mostly scripted "physics" systems. It's better than nothing, of course, but it's not anywhere near consistent and all encompassing physics system.

I think I made this remark in some post, most likely replying to you as well - it's not just CPU limitations, for such approach to physics there needs to be quite different approach to game design from the very beginning.

It's about as encompassing and complex as it possibly can be within the boundaries of its platform, and frankly I see no other games out there doing anything quite like it.

Again though, about the context of the discussion you're quoting; the other side is claiming completely predetermined interactions in Okami akin to bombing a cracked wall in the old Zelda games are comparable; I know you know enough about games to understand that's rubbish.



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The objective answer is Super Mario World.

I also feel that style of gameplay appeals to more people, not just the hardcore gaming audiences.



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curl-6 said:
HoloDust said:

It's definitely not scripted sequnce - it's dynamic result of set of mostly scripted "physics" systems. It's better than nothing, of course, but it's not anywhere near consistent and all encompassing physics system.

I think I made this remark in some post, most likely replying to you as well - it's not just CPU limitations, for such approach to physics there needs to be quite different approach to game design from the very beginning.

It's about as encompassing and complex as it possibly can be within the boundaries of its platform, and frankly I see no other games out there doing anything quite like it.

Again though, about the context of the discussion you're quoting; the other side is claiming completely predetermined interactions in Okami akin to bombing a cracked wall in the old Zelda games are comparable; I know you know enough about games to understand that's rubbish.

I don't think it's really all about boundaries of the platform - for example, there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to chop, set on fire or bomb Bokoblin wooden towers (or any wooden fence while we're at it), yet you can't, and that is design desicion (one of many that makes BotW mechanisms inconsistent).

But, I do agree that set scripted sequences are not comparable to BotW, no matter how much latter has very selective and very often scripted approach to physics.



HoloDust said:
curl-6 said:

It's about as encompassing and complex as it possibly can be within the boundaries of its platform, and frankly I see no other games out there doing anything quite like it.

Again though, about the context of the discussion you're quoting; the other side is claiming completely predetermined interactions in Okami akin to bombing a cracked wall in the old Zelda games are comparable; I know you know enough about games to understand that's rubbish.

I don't think it's really all about boundaries of the platform - for example, there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to chop, set on fire or bomb Bokoblin wooden towers (or any wooden fence while we're at it), yet you can't, and that is design desicion (one of many that makes BotW mechanisms inconsistent).

I dunno, those towers are always where there's a bunch of enemies and the Wii U can struggle in areas with a lot of enemies and physics in play at once, maybe they figured the framerate would become a slideslow if you could break the tower apart in a complex way during an encounter. I doesn't really strike me as a big deal to be honest, it's certainly imperfect but then I can't think of a single game with physics where there isn't some omission or oddity.



curl-6 said:
HoloDust said:

I don't think it's really all about boundaries of the platform - for example, there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to chop, set on fire or bomb Bokoblin wooden towers (or any wooden fence while we're at it), yet you can't, and that is design desicion (one of many that makes BotW mechanisms inconsistent).

I dunno, those towers are always where there's a bunch of enemies and the Wii U can struggle in areas with a lot of enemies and physics in play at once, maybe they figured the framerate would become a slideslow if you could break the tower apart in a complex way during an encounter. I doesn't really strike me as a big deal to be honest, it's certainly imperfect but then I can't think of a single game with physics where there isn't some omission or oddity.

Well, if you replace physics with certain set of rules that always apply, I could certainly name a few, especially from immersive sim branch of game design, but yeah, most of games that have physics also have omissions and oddities.



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You can't destroy the houses with bombs but I don't see anyone complaining about that. At some point you have to put a limit on how destructible the environment is, not every game can have a completely destructible environment and that's not a knock against games that don't. BotW's interactions are far more complex than simply making your weapons destroy whatever they touch like in some games. Certain objects in the world are set pieces, the enemy camps are one of those objects. If you could destroy them, why couldn't you destroy the houses in the towns? That would be a pretty sad Zelda game. If you could destroy the houses, why couldn't you destroy the Great Deku Tree? That'd be even sadder. I write these things off not as lack of attention to detail, but as certain objects just being too sturdy to damage with your sword. I'm not upset that I can't damage the Great Deku Tree, if anything I'd be pissed off if you could. It'd be like Skyrim where you have to be careful not to unsheathe your weapons at the wrong time, but a thousand times worse because you could irreparably damage plot critical characters and places.



I'm trying to figure out how Wii Sports isn't on this list......

Wii Sports completely set the tone for the Wii's success. The game was so well balanced with what consumers wanted out of the system that it created the issue that many Wii owners never bought another game. You really can't have a more successful launch game than that.



      

      

      

Greatness Awaits

PSN:Forevercloud (looking for Soul Sacrifice Partners!!!)

forevercloud3000 said:
I'm trying to figure out how Wii Sports isn't on this list......

Wii Sports completely set the tone for the Wii's success. The game was so well balanced with what consumers wanted out of the system that it created the issue that many Wii owners never bought another game. You really can't have a more successful launch game than that.

Someone called it a tech demo in this thread, but I feel that's a bit unfair. Tech demos don't get sequels. And that was a pretty full fledged game. From the "best objective game" perspective, it definitely doesn't win, not that it isn't good, just that it isn't Mario-Zelda level. But from the perspective of which games defined the console they were on and propelled it to the level of success it had, Wii Sports is the unquestionable winner. More so than Mario 64 for the 64, more so than Halo for the original Xbox, more so than Super Mario World for the SNES, Wii Sports' success was practically inseparable from the Wii's, and not just because it was bundled.



HylianSwordsman said:
forevercloud3000 said:
I'm trying to figure out how Wii Sports isn't on this list......

Wii Sports completely set the tone for the Wii's success. The game was so well balanced with what consumers wanted out of the system that it created the issue that many Wii owners never bought another game. You really can't have a more successful launch game than that.

Someone called it a tech demo in this thread, but I feel that's a bit unfair. Tech demos don't get sequels. And that was a pretty full fledged game. From the "best objective game" perspective, it definitely doesn't win, not that it isn't good, just that it isn't Mario-Zelda level. But from the perspective of which games defined the console they were on and propelled it to the level of success it had, Wii Sports is the unquestionable winner. More so than Mario 64 for the 64, more so than Halo for the original Xbox, more so than Super Mario World for the SNES, Wii Sports' success was practically inseparable from the Wii's, and not just because it was bundled.

I mean the Title of this thread asks us to choose the best "Launch Title" I take that as not asking which is the defacto better game but the game that was best to help launch a system and get it into consumer hands. Sheer quality of game isn't as important as to how convincing was the title to it's intended user base. 

That winner is just Wii Sports in my book. I'm not a huge Wii fan....but I played the heck out of Wii Sports. Halo or Mario would be a distant but extremely strong second.

And agreed, I don't know what to say to someone who doesn't think Wii Sports is a full game. It is as about as much full game as any mini game collection title is. Mario Party, Hasbro collections, Sports Champions, etc. And "Demo" be damned, it was the most consumer convincing Demo  that ever was.



      

      

      

Greatness Awaits

PSN:Forevercloud (looking for Soul Sacrifice Partners!!!)

Wii Sports, it practically drove the sales by itself. Analysts called it lightning in a bottle. Not to say it was a great game, just a really great launch title.