Is New Super Mario Bros. Wii Nintendo’s reaction to Sony’s LittleBigPlanet?
Ever since New Super Mario Bros. Wii has been announced at E3 I wondered why Nintendo is making this game. A mainline Super Mario game has already been released in the form of Galaxy and the sequel is already in the works and going to be launched in 2010. Why does the Wii need yet another Mario game?
Then it hit me: This might be Nintendo’s answer to the widely successful LittleBigPlanet which Sony released in the holiday season 2008. There are just too many similarities between these two games. Don’t believe me?
“But, but… the bottom picture has Yoshis!”
Fanboys, listen up. Nintendo has been notorious for copying Sony in the past, the most recent example I can think of is Animal Crossing: City Folk which was launched in response to Sony’s Home. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a strikingly similar case as it is once again a glorified port of a DS game.
Ever since Sony entered the hardware side of the video game business with the PlayStation, Nintendo had trouble to keep up with the trends. Be it the use of optical media, the dual analog controller or motion controlled games which Sony already introduced on the PS2 with the EyeToy (Sony talking about the future of gaming, article from 2003). The cockiest example would be Nintendo ripping off the Dualshock controller and releasing it as their Classic Controller for the Wii.
“No, that’s not a rip off! Look at the shoulder buttons!”
It’s time to face the cold, hard truth. It’s pretty clear who has been the industry leader and who has been the follower in the past decade. But I don’t want to get too much sidetracked here, so let’s get back to the main issue.
Both games, LBP and NSMB Wii, offer accessible fun for any kind of gamer and cooperative gameplay for up to four players. Both are flagship titles of their respective companies. And once again Nintendo is entirely riding in Sony’s slipstream. Sony laid the groundwork for a 2D platformer to succeed on a home console and Nintendo is jumping on the bandwagon.
I really miss the days when Nintendo would introduce powerful hardware instead of a Gamecube 2.0 with a waggle controller. The Super NES era was when Nintendo was in its hey days. Mode 7 allowed amazing pseudo 3D titles to be made (F-Zero, Pilotwings, Super Mario Kart) which would not only look great for their time, but also play fantasticly, thanks to the brilliant controller.
Nowadays Nintendo is only a former shadow of themselves. Sure, they are back at the top of the industry, but it hurts my heart to see why they are there. Not because they made awesome games like they used to, but because of software which supposedly improves your mind or fitness, Nintendogs and “great” third party exclusives like Carnival Games and Game Party.
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