What Mario Maker tells us about music discovery-and how we interact with music

More similar than you might think

So, this weekend I was exploring some possible topics, and I ended up doing a couple of things, including checking out the recently released Rhapsody player for Wii U-which, by the way, in addition to a “not-great” search functionality, has a few issues in its UI. While I wasn’t especially pleased with the experience, my dissatisfaction with the application did give me some insight and led me to think about another product that I consider quite good: Mario Maker. Now, Mario Maker has very limited search capabilities as well, but for some reason it gets away with it, and I think that’s because of a few key differences between music and Mario levels.

The first thing is that the mediums are very different. Music is a mostly linear audio product, whereas Mario levels are an interactive experience with audio and video. This affects a number of aspects, most notably the ways in which the items can be browsed. In a musical search, I can basically look for songs based on an artist, genre, track name, or album name, but that’s about it, and if I need to know more about a track (for example, to find if it’s a cover of another track with the same title), I pretty much just have to listen to it. With Mario Maker’s Course World, while there is no text-based searching option, I can scroll through levels to find levels that look good based on a small preview image, completion rate, stars awarded by other players, and more.

Another important distinction is that the way the content is being consumed is different. In Mario Maker, the content is fairly disposable-even if a level is really good, I’m probably not going to play it more than once or twice before moving on. In music, there are really two different consumption modes-one is finding music you know you already like, and the other is finding music that is new or at least new to you. Digital music services have historically done the first case reasonably well, but struggled with the second. Mario Maker is more analogous to the second case, so the question is why does this work there? Well, going back to the browsing aspect, besides the previously mentioned level information, one other aspect that really helps in level discovery is the ability to restrict results to recently created levels. Digital music services will generally have a front page with featured new major releases, but finding anything deeper is very difficult.

Based on this information, it seems like a music search with date filtering and detailed per-track evaluation and interaction would work well, and as you may already be thinking, such a service does exist. YouTube, despite being billed as a destination for visual content, has become the de facto destination for finding music, and it’s easy to see why. In addition to being able to find old and new songs quite easily (tags and description text really help), users can share thoughts on individual tracks (much like leaving comments on a Mario Maker stage). Personally, I love reading what folks have to say about each tune, and it really makes the experience richer in a way that digital services haven’t been able to match.

So, can a music service adopt this style? Sure, it’s just that for the most part, these services are still organized with albums in mind, which also drives their interaction model. Shaking free from that won’t remove all their disadvantages, but I think it will help them compete. We live in an age where consumers expect to be able to share their thoughts on creative works, and it’s not surprising that the service with the best tools has been the most successful.

Missed Pokemon Integration?-Wii U

Would the Wii U be better off it it had some more Pokemon content early in its lifespan?

Transcript:

Hi folks, Steven here. So, this is the second part of our Missed Integration series. And this time, we’re focusing on the Wii U. Now, before we get started, I wanted to point out, as I kind of knew, and one of my viewers pointed out in the comments of the Punch-Out!! episode from a month or so ago, is that Nintendo doesn’t fully own Pokémon. It’s sort of a shared thing that they have. Nintendo sort of owns some of the trademarks, and also co-owns The Pokémon Company, which is also managed by Creatures Inc. and Game Freak. So, it’s not as if Nintendo can do whatever they want with Pokémon, but they obviously do have some leverage, they just have to work with some other people to sometimes make things happen. But, I wanted to get that out of the way before we went forward with this.

But, back to the Wii U. Pokémon on the Wii U so far, there’s been some stuff. Notably, there’s been some Virtual Console. There’s Pinball Ruby, and Sapphire on the Game Boy Advance is on there. And, in Europe, they have the first PokéPark game out there. Now, this is of course a Wii game download, not strictly Virtual Console, but it’s a similar type of thing. And we’ve heard some rumors as of a month or so ago about some upcoming Virtual Console titles. Namely, Blue Rescue Team, one of the first Mystery Dungeon games, and Pokémon Ranger. Not confirmed yet, of course, but we’ll see what happens.

As far as other actual stuff, of course there’s Pokémon Rumble U-the Wii U installment of the series. And then, of course, Pokémon is in Smash Bros. But, let’s take it back a little bit further. You may remember a little game called Nintendo Land. That came out when the Wii U launched. And it was designed to show off the GamePad controller. And basically consisted of a series of minigames based on Nintendo franchises. To me, and to a lot of other people, it felt like the Wii U equivalent of Wii Sports, but it definitely did not resonate nearly as much. One of the criticisms, which I kind of have to agree with, is that it’s a bit light on content. But, given that, you may think maybe they should have pulled from a few more franchises.

And that brings up the question, where’s Pokémon? There’s already some touch-based ideas from the DS games. They could reuse those or expand on them. And they could always try to come up with some new ideas as well that use the GamePad. Now, one possibility that they might have been saving those up for a PokéPark game, maybe a third one on the Wii U, but there’s really not one on the horizon. We haven’t seen anything, or I haven’t even heard a rumor of there being one. So, there’s probably some reason for it out there, but I kind of wanted to point that out as a semi-obvious gap.

The second Wii U related topic I’d like to bring up is Pokémon TV. Now, if you’re not familiar with this, this is service Pokémon provides, which has a rotating selection of episodes and movies from different generations. And, it’s available on a variety of devices. There’s an iOS client, an Android client, a Kindle Fire, Roku, Chromecast- and if you have a 3DS, there isn’t really one. There’s something called Pokémon TV that’s part of Nintendo Zone if you go to one of those locations. Not quite the same thing though.

But, most of all, and relevant to this video, is there’s no native client for Wii U. Now, it is technically possible to watch Pokémon TV via the Pokémon website using the Wii U’s internal browser, but it’s not an ideal experience. There’s a couple oddities, you might say, in there that make it not ideal.

And, of course, I have to mention that the Pokémon anime is also available, at least parts of it, via some of the native apps that already exist for the Wii U. Namely, Netflix and Hulu here in North America. Of course, availability varies by region. All the same, I think having a Pokémon TV client for Wii U would have been nice, and I’ll explain a little bit about that.

Now, I’m not sure how Pokémon chooses which devices it’s going to support. Install base, I’m sure is a consideration. And, being where the Wii U is now is not particularly helpful. But you think they might have been able to get something done at launch. And even if the install base were an issue, Nintendo probably could fund the development of such a thing if the Pokémon company itself couldn’t spare the money for it. Now, if this were coming out at launch, I suppose it would have to be outsourced, because Nintendo’s teams-you know that very slow pace they had at the beginning. They were having trouble developing Wii U games, and they probably would have had to give this to some other developer.

But still, if they had at launch, they could put it on the box, “Hey, buy this and you can watch free Pokémon episodes on it.” They could have used that to attract buyers. I’m not going to say that would have saved the Wii U, nor would having Pokémon in Nintendo Land, but I do think if had they been able, the earlier increased sales and game sales would probably have offset the development cost. It would have been a money making decision there.

But overall, what are your thoughts? Do you think these would have been good ideas, things they should have done? Are there other things, besides of course, the upcoming Pokken Tournament you’d like to see on Wii U? Give us some comments, always good to hear some feedback. Alright, folks. Thanks.

Transcript by GetTranscribed.com

Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow for 3DS Virtual Console-Is Stadium for Wii U next?

Could having Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow on 3DS Virtual Console pave the way for Stadium on Wii U? Maybe, but it's not without some roadblocks.

Transcript:

Hi, folks. Steven here. So, at a Nintendo Direct a few days ago, it was announced that the original Pokemon games, Red, Blue and Yellow are going to be coming to 3DS Virtual Console. In case you missed the actual announcement, the date is February 27th, 2016, which is the 20 year anniversary of when the games originally came out in Japan. So, that’s why they chose that.

But, in any case, I was wondering if this could pave the way for getting Pokémon Stadium on the Wii U Virtual Console. If you’re unfamiliar with that game, it was an N64 game that essentially was there to allow you to battle Pokémon on your TV in 3D. It’s similar to what was done later with Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon Battle Revolution.

And, there were a variety of modes that had different rule sets and all that kind of stuff. There’s also a number of mini games that were included. And, actually, whenever I go to events that have the stadium game there, that’s usually what people are doing with it. But really, the main feature was, there was this thing that came with it called the Transfer Pak. And, you would put your Pokémon cartridge in there and plug it into the N64 controller, and what you could do is you could transfer your team from your Game Boy game to your N64 Pokémon Stadium.

And, in addition to just being able to transfer your Pokémon, battle them there, you could also play the actual Game Boy game within Pokémon Stadium. And, it had this neat little feature you could unlock where you could play at double, or even triple speed. So, those were some pretty nice features, but in a way, they may have kept the game from showing up on the original Wii Virtual Console, because there wasn’t anything to mimic that.

So, the question is, now that these games are coming-the Game Boy games are coming to the 3DS Virtual Console, the question is, does that make it possible or likely that Stadium would be a viable idea? Well, there are some things in favor and some things against it.

We’ll start with the good points. As with the original Game Boy games coming out in a couple months, it would seem the timing is right. It would also give them an opportunity to sort of cross promote Wii U and 3DS. It’s probably easier on the Wii U version to go ahead and do the 2x and 3x mode in Pokemon Stadium than, maybe the 3DS can’t run a Game Boy game that quickly.

Now, of course, there are some obstacles. First of all, going back to the original game, it was a problem then and a problem now is that there’s kind of limited value to Stadium unless you can do that sort of linkage. The Stadium game included what are called “Rental Pokémon” that you could use in order to play things if you didn’t have a Game Boy cartridge to work off of. But, they tended to be weaker than the ones you could make in your own game. So, that was sort of a limitation there.

The other thing, from a technical perspective, they would have to implement something similar to the Transfer Pak to sort of get your save data from the 3DS Virtual Console version to the Wii U. I’m sure it’s possible, but it’s definitely an extra step that would complicate things.

The other thing that is possibly getting in the way is maybe there’s not really an interest in it. What I mean by that is there was Stadium, there was a Gold and Silver version, there was Colosseum, and then there was Battle Revolution. But, for generation 5 and generation 6, nothing has been released and nothing seems on the horizon. So, maybe they’ve kind of lost interest in this type of game.

There’s also not a ton of examples of 3DS to Wii U connectivity out there. The biggest thing, I would think, is the ability to use your 3DS as a controller for the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros. Aside from that, there’s been a few things where you buy the game on one of the systems, you get a code for the other. But, that’s kind of about it.

So, I wanted to enter this as a possibility. Maybe they should sort of give it away. What I mean by that is they could either A, give it away to Wii U owners sort of to entice them, if they have a 3DS, to pick up the Virtual Console games there. Or, they could possibly set up some sort of bundle with either the 3DS Virtual Console games, sorta similar to the DLC packs for Super Smash Bros. 4 that have codes for both versions of the game. The other option, of course, would be, releasing early next year, Pokken Tournament. They could use that and sort of bundle in a code for Stadium in there if they wanted to.

But really, I want to get your ideas here. What do you think? Is this something that could happen? If so, what do you think? Alright, folks. Thanks.

Transcript by GetTranscribed.com

Best Buy Smashfest, By the Numbers

At a recent Smash Bros "Smashfest" event at a Best Buy in Madison, WI, I collected some data regarding character selection, stage selection, and wins for a portion of the matches. There are several relevant pieces of information about this data:

-Data was recorded for 68 of the matches (I'd estimate there were between 80-100 total that day) during the afternoon of 6/14/2014. Each match included four players, and each set of four players played two matches, each lasting two minutes.
-Unlike locations in larger markets, the line at this store was short enough that players could get back in line and play another match if they wanted, which several players did.
-The data does not include the matches I played in.

As such, I am not claiming that the data is unbiased or universally applicable, however I still think that some conclusions can be drawn.

Character Selections

Character	Selections	Wins
Bowser	5	1
Donkey Kong	2	1
Fox	6	2
Greninja	28	10
Kirby	12	1
Link	18	4
Little Mac	28	4
Mario	10	0
Marth	13	7
Mega Man	28	8
Olimar	5	0
Pikachu	11	2
Pit	4	2
Random*	6	1
Rosalina and Luma	25	5
Samus	7	3
Sonic	6	2
Villager	19	6
Wii Fit Trainer	19	3
Zelda	9	2
Zero Suit Samus	11	4

*Of the six times the random option was chosen, Donkey Kong, Greninja, Little Mac, Olimar, Pit, and Villager each came up once. Greninja was the randomly selected character that won a match.

It's clear from the data above that the new characters were selected the most often, and presumably also the ones players were most interested in. Despite there being more than twice as many returning characters available, more than half (55.26%) the directly selected characters were the new ones. The only returning character that came close to being selected as often as the newcomers was Link, one selection behind Villager and Wii Fit Trainer. It is worth noting, however, that new characters were approximately as successful as returners-discounting randoms, 26.05% of returning characters that were selected won, versus 24.49% for new characters.

Stage Selections

Stage	Selections
Battlefield	10
Mushroom Kingdom U	6
Skyloft	4
Pilotwings	8
Wily Castle	7
Boxing Ring	5
Town and City	6
Coliseum	4
Random	18

Stages were selected more evenly than characters, suggesting a more even preference (or lack thereof).

Anime Central 2014: Super Smash Bros. Melee Tournament Winner

Christopher “Toast” Woodson

The following is an interview with Christopher “Toast” Woodson, winner of a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament at Anime Central 2014.

Where are you from? 
I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee.

How did you get into competitive Smash Bros.? 
Well, I’ve always been a fan of Super Smash Bros., and one day when I was looking up YouTube videos of Melee, I saw some players doing things I’d never seen before like Wavedashing (a special way of moving following a dodge). It looked really amazing and I wanted to be able to do that too. That’s when I got into competitive play.

What were the rules for the tournament?
This tournament went by the standard rule setup-all items off, four stock, eight-minute time limit, double elimination (winners and losers bracket) and Stage Strike (1) unless players agreed on a stage. I don’t remember if wobbling (an Ice Climbers technique) was or wasn’t allowed though.

What made you choose Falco for this tournament? 
Falco has always been my main character since Melee came out. I feel that if one can win a tourney with such a technical character, that person really earned the win. I play other characters competitively as well, but Falco will always be my prime choice for tournaments.

In the finals, your opponent used Fox, a similar character to Falco. How are the two characters different? 
Well, without getting too technical, Fox and Falco are different mainly because of the way they combo. Fox is stronger with up smashes while Falco is stronger with forward smashes. Fox is also faster overall and falls more quickly than Falco. Additionally, simple things like Fox’s shine spike (used to prevent players from getting back to the stage) making a character go downward and Falco’s shine making them go up makes them very different characters to play with.

The finals were a best-of-five match, and at one point you were down 0-2. What did you do to turn it around?
When I played the first game, my hands weren’t really doing what I wanted and I even killed myself once. This upset me, and because of that I started playing more angrily than normal, and by the next match I was a wreck. My opponent even noticed this and said, “Your Falco is too salty. You need to calm down.” That was the turning point. I took a few deep breaths, relaxed a bit (it is a game after all) and played much smarter and better than I had the previous two rounds.

Of what you’ve seen so far of Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, what are you most excited about?
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what the new Smash Bros. brings to the table and I’m really excited about seeing how awesome Mega Man is. I’ve been a huge fan of that character since I first played his games on the Super Nintendo and watched the show on TV.

What else did you do at the convention?
I spent a great deal of my time in the game room and in the dealer’s room. I did walk around for a bit and wanted to cosplay, but my cold kept me from doing too much of that. Between the arcade room, the game room, and the dealer’s room, I was pretty much set and had a great weekend. I can’t wait for next year.

1. “Stage Strike” is a system by which players alternate removing stages from a list until there is only one left, which is the stage the match is played on.

The Nintendo Experience-Greenfield, WI

On Saturday, June 15^th, I got a chance to head over to the Best Buy in Greenfield, WI for the “Nintendo Experience” event. Attendees at this event got a chance to try one of the following games: 

-Super Mario 3D World
-Zelda Wind Waker HD
-Mario Kart 8
-Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

I arrived at the store at around 11:15 am, at which point there were a handful of people already waiting in line. This Best Buy featured Nintendo Zone Wireless, so while waiting I was able to watch an episode of Pokémon: Rival Destinies and browse the 3DS eShop. I also talked about some of the games with people who had been there on Wednesday. The Nintendo representatives (there appeared to be three-two male, one female) set up the console, as well as some 3DS systems with previously released games.

Since I was only able to play one game (Super Mario 3D World), most of my comments will be based on observing other players. To give some context, here is a list of how many sessions (counting my own) were run for each game while I was present:

Super Mario 3D World: 3
Zelda Wind Waker HD: 6
Mario Kart 8: 9
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: 2

It should be noted that the number of players also varies by demo. 3D World used four players, Mario Kart and Donkey Kong each used two, and Zelda only used one. Adjusting for that:

Zelda Wind Waker HD

Author’s note-I did not play the original game on GameCube, so my familiarity with that version is quite limited.

There were two options for demos of this game. Players could choose to either play a tutorial from early in the game, or fight the boss battle against Helmaroc King. The tutorial shows off excellent lighting effects, with sunlight coming in through windows and a wonderful haze effect over the ocean. The boss fight showed off the ability to have a large number of feathers on screen simultaneously, much like in the original. In both demos, controls appeared to be easily understood by the players.

Mario Kart 8

This demo consisted of the first two tracks from a GP race. Players were allowed to select from twelve available characters (notable returning characters include Waluigi and Toadette), and each race contained twelve participants and two laps. As shown in the trailer, players could race on the walls or upside down, depending on the layout of the track. Lighting and coloring were both very good (the exhaust from a boost was particularly well done). Most of the standard power-ups were present, but I did not see lightning or the blue shell, though those may still be in the final game. One notable change is that when a player fell off the course, they were placed back on without a fade to black (similar to the original SNES game).

Super Mario 3D World

For this game, participants were allowed to sample two levels from a selection of five. The first level I played featured a number of rotating cylinders, as well as the Cat Mario power-up, which I found intuitive to use. Unlike in the New Super Mario Bros games, where the power-ups pop out all at once, in this game each hit on the block generates a power-up. Additional power-ups can be stored reserve that players can access by pressing a button on the controller.

The second level I played used the clear pipe mechanic where players can guide their character . At one point we entered a "Coin Heaven" area in which I encountered a potted sleeping Piranha Plant. I picked it up (somewhat unintentionally), and as I carried it along it ate additional plants and eventually a green star (similar to the Star Coins in other Mario games) at the end of the area.

Other notes:

-Starmen are now "infectious", in that if an invincible player touches another player, that player will also become invincible.

-One of the isometric bonus areas had a baseball that could be picked up and thrown.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

This demo was played using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. There were four levels to choose from (both sessions I observed played the same level). As shown in the trailer, players are required at times to pull objects out of the ground (the players I observed seemed to be unaware of this mechanic). In the case of the level I saw, it was used to manipulate the field so that some platforms would come down. The level also featured a water segment and a portion traveling through trees via a series of barrels. At the end of the level, there was a barrel that cycled between various items. When it was hit, the level was completed and the player received the bonus shown.

Other notes on the event:

-The staff was well-trained and very knowledgeable (the female seemed to have actually met Reggie from NOA).

-Following the demo, players were allowed to pick either a foam Luigi hat or a Luigi coin as a gift.

-All four games looked considerably better than their video versions on the eShop (probably a result of the constraints put on internet video-it's also likely the TV at the store is better than the one I have at home).