Super Mario Galaxy is a failure and Nintendo is to blame

[Kenryoku_Maxis]

RolStoppable said:

Kenryoku_Maxis said:

First of all, the first thing that happens right after you start off Mario Galaxy is you are plopped right in front of Peachs Castle (like in Mario 64) and you are allowed to run around and do whatever you want.  Jump around, talk to toads, kick the walls, etc.  Following this, you go watch a VERY short cutscene (nowhere near 15 minutes) and then you are plopped into a short tutorial mode of chasing bunnies (again, that takes like 5-10 minutes).

I will grant you that the intro to Twilight Princess was abysmal, but that game was Nintendo trying to market Zelda more towards those who liked 'story' and 'deep, rich experiences' (aka games like Uncharted and such with long cutscenes).  Mario Galaxy doesn't have this at all.  There's hardly any breaks in the gameplay and only about 4-5 major cutscenes in the whole game aside from 'storytime with Rosalina' (and even those are optional).

And tts pretty bad to claim Mario Galaxy is this horrible game filled with cutscenes when other games are being praised for having cutscenes.  Again, like games like Uncharted 2.  Or how about stuff like Resident Evil.  Or Halo 3.  I mean, why is it so bad for Mario Galaxy to have maybe 15-20 minutes of total cutscenes when other games have hours of cutscenes and are patted on the back for it and people claim they are 'better games' for it?

Galaxy is still different in the beginning, because some of Mario's moves aren't available from the get go. Like attacking by swinging the Wiimote and shooting star bits with the B button. I never said that any cutscene lasts 15 minutes, the issue is that the game starts off very slow and takes control away from the player too often.

It doesn't matter if other games have longer cutscenes than Super Mario Galaxy, that still doesn't justify that Galaxy needs all those cutscenes. I said in the OP that the game gets way better after all those initial cutscenes and I never complained about Rosalina's storybook, because it is optional. Again, the problem of Galaxy is that it makes a bad first impression to players who don't have that much time on their hands, they might start to think that the whole game is like that.

I am saying that Super Mario Galaxy could have sold more copies by now, if it weren't for the "lame" first couple of hours (compared to the quality of the rest of the game). That's why it is bad for Galaxy to have those cutscenes and long tutorials, especially because the 2D Mario platformers avoid that unnecessary stuff, showing that Nintendo can very well make games with very short to no cutscenes at all.

In the OP I pointed out why Galaxy could/should have passed 10m by now (Wii's bigger installed base than previous Nintendo consoles and other sequels having already outsold their predecessors) and I truly believe that the slow start of the game did hurt sales (just like it was also a problem for Sunshine). Of course there are other reasons, but this is something we haven't talked about before on this forum.

And as I have said, the reason Mario Galaxy is praised was its production values and effort put into it.  And part of that is the things you're complaining about.  Its sales weren't deterred by a few cutscenes (which I think you are exaggerating) and a brief tutorial (which as I said only takes 5-10 minutes).  The first two levels are pretty much free roaming levels that allow you to learn the game by playing it.  The only 'tutorial' level is the catching bunnies level in the beginning (again, which takes 5-10 minutes).

I really feel you are exaggerating what you felt was a slow start to the game and making it out to be this drain on the sales of the game on the whole.  In hindsight, its what sets the title apart as a '3D Mario'.