06.08.07
Tacky
So, I’m sure you folks caught the bit on the Smash Bros. blog about the four control schemes. Yeah. The game will support Wiimote+Nunchuck, Classic Controller, GC Controller (which is apparently the preferred method), and the Wiimote alone, turned on its side Super Paper Mario-style (which is the only frame of reference I have for the positioning). Myself I’m a big fan of the Classic Controller, so I’ll likely be using that; but naturally this means that there’s a new wrinkle into the pseudo-competition… heck, I have enough trouble moving from a controller to an arcade stick or vice-versa when I’m playing Guilty Gear.
While I still think it’s awesome that the controls are going to be more or less universally accessible, I have doubts that anything but the Classic or the GC controller will work well. We shall see, of course, but the fact of the matter is the phrase “tacked-on” is dangerously close to being applied here.
Rob Browning said,
06.08.07 at 2:50 pm
So Nintendo itself is basically admitting that their fancy new controller is a gimmick that is only suited to certain types of games. I expected that to happen, but not so quickly.
Rob
Ismail Saeed said,
06.08.07 at 4:31 pm
I don’t know about company line as such, Rob, but I remember a long time back the director of Brawl (who was also the director of Melee and I believe the first game as well) pretty much stated that they were shooting to use GC controllers for Brawl because the Melee-style gameplay was mature and the remote just didn’t have enough buttons or layout to it to allow for a play style that people who would actually want to BUY Brawl were pretty much entrenched in. He basically admitted that the remote didn’t have the buttons or sticks for what he needed and that he couldn’t think of too many in-game functions (again, to use Melee as an example) that wouldn’t become awkward to be turned into controller motion.
Mind you, these comments were before the unveiling of the classic controller - and I think before the Wii even came out for people to get practical experience trying the remote.
Later, I remember there being chatter that he was considering making the classic controller be what you use. Based on the context, I speculated that the reasons were 1) it has the buttons and sticks and so on (seriously - I challenge anyone to come up with something the GC controller can do that the Classic Controller can’t do just as well, or even more comfortably… but maybe I’m just too entrenched in the NES->DualShock2 branch of the controller family) and 2) it’ll actually be a Wii-branded product and contemporary instead of the sort of user-unfriendliness of someone who JUST owns a Wii needing to buy something that isn’t even technically FOR the Wii.
I’m concerned at the possible control compromise here. Speaking from Melee as a reference point, my concern was that either the controls are universally the same somehow (which would be friendly but would compromise how much you could do on any of the controllers) or that the people NOT willing to use classic controller or GC would have their SKILLS compromised relative to someone using the full deal (sort of like how in the Doom days, you COULD have keyboarding players, but players who used mice as well were GOING to have a precision advantage). Mind you, this is speaking strictly from Melee as a reference point - I’m not creative about controller layouts, and I fully admit that they may be able to adapt Melee’s layout into a Wiimote in some way I have not anticipated. My only frame of reference for “GC to Wii changeup with the same game” is Twilight Princess. I have NOT played the Wii Twilight Princess, but I have read the manuals for both versions and carefully scrutinized the control instructions. At the time I read the Wii instructions, I hadn’t used a Wii yet but I did think that I FAR preferred the GC controls and thought that I’d be windmilling for HOW to do something far less there. I’ve used a Wii now, but at least in this case I still don’t think much of those Wii TP controls (which again, I’ve read but have not tried). Anyway, I’m bringing up TP just to say that the only case I’ve seen so far of them adapting GC controls to the Wii remote looked less than ideal to me.
I was shooting for classic controller personally, perhaps even WITHOUT GC controller, to just come up with and be able to master a given layout.
In the end, I consider this “good news” in that it’s NEWS about the product, and moreover news that they have firmed up some aspect of the game. Considering the very tentative “Maybe I’ll do this” statements of the past… sooner or later the code for what you WILL do has to be written and hopefully factored into the design. I was concerned about delays or about half-assery in the released product if they hadn’t firmed up on HOW they would control before too much longer.
I suppose it depends on the controls the game offers. If the controls are literally the same controls applied across all four situations, then I may very well just use the regular remote (hypothetically) to not needlessly spend money on the others when they aren’t needed. In the context in which I’d ACTUALLY play this game, though (with my nephews) I’ll probably try plugging their GC controllers in and seeing what I think, and then a classic controller in if they’ve bothered to get one at that point (so far, they have not). If I end up preferring one or both of those, it may be the one I use at least from habit if not from control need.
If on the other hand the controls for a Wiimote are compromised, I will DEFINITELY insist on the GC controller or classic.
I’m, uh, done talking.