Are you talking about the blind guy with the Wolverine claws?  If so, I find that funny, because I am stuck at something that happens just a few minutes later in that game.  The only difference between us is that I haven't touched RE4 in at least a year.  Maybe I'll give it another shot when I finish the games I am playing now.

Someone else in this thread said something like this, and I will ask you the same question I asked them.  How exactly to you impliment difficulty levels in a platformer?  You can't just add or subtract health from the enemies like some other genres.  Even the number of enemies is rarely the issue for platformers like Mario.

If I get his replies correctly, he's basically saying exactly what you are, that it's simply not the solution Nintendo is looking for as it won't yeild any different results. There's no true harm in trying, but it is possible noname's scenario has some truth to it. It's a matter of finding the feature that assists the expanded audience into building their own skills, as opposed to witnessing someone else perform theirs. This is essentially the equivalent of watching your friend play to gain experience in a game, and I don't recall that ever having a profound effect on getting a bored or uninterested potential customer base more interested in gaming.

I think the real problem is the game this is feature is having it's test drive on. If this were Zelda it would probably be a bit more beneficial. How does one improve their platforming skills, or even have any fun watching Mario jump around and clobber enemies as 3 others are sitting down actually playing? This is a title purposely created to have multiple players actually playing it and with so many potential real life helpers assisting you in the game already, was this really the right game to try this out on? I mean it would make more sense just to have bot helpers jump in as players 2-4 if you happen to be playing be yourself, because at least you're still playing the game.

Well at least it's a reason as to why it might have not happened. I mean the game was screaming for online multiplayer and Nintendo has already implemented it in it's two other most obvious multiplayer choices, Mario Kart and Smash Bros. I just hope this doesn't become a deterrent for Nintendo to give online MP another shot.

Just a quick question also to the general populace. How would this work in a more open ended game like Pokemon or Animal Crossing?

It can't become a problem because, like you said "between the lines" (or at least what I thought you said) and if Nintendo are smart enough, they'll turn this option off in any multiplayer mode.

As for you other question, well... I have no idea. Maybe they'll include options like "Level up my Pokémon" or "Do sidequests", or for Animal Crossing maybe options like "Do jobs for neighbors" or "Rearrange the house with good feng shui." These options sound like cheat codes though...

The way I see it, if this feature works as intended, great!  If it doesn't, then the end result is the same as if it wasn't there in the first place.

I think that's basically what noname is saying also, in just many more words. It's not going to bring about the apocalypse and crush Nintendo's infrastructure if it doesn't work, but he and I feel this isn't going to give any better results than just doing nothing at all. I think Nintendo is probably going to have to come up with a different solution to the problem, if they would like some assistance feature to have any profound effect on bringing in an even more confused and overwhelmed audience that sees even motion controls and tutorials to be too daunting to get the hang of.

Well it could become a problem if Nintendo isn't smart enough to shut that off for online multiplayer. That's what my comment consisted of. Nintendo isn't exactly cutting edge in the online department. If they were going to screw up horribly somewhere, I'd put my money in that sector.

Like you said, those are basically cheat codes, and wouldn't be able to be turned on simply by demoing the game. I think this feature can't realistically be placed anywhere, and should be saved for those games that really need a helping hand in such a way.

Why would it be bad for online multiplayer?

Left 4 Dead allows you to sit out and watch the action.

It sounded to me like he thought it would cause more people to quit than if it wasn't there, thereby having a net negative effect on gaming.

Maybe I should just wait until he comes back, so he can clear this up.