Why would they make another Sticker Star?

ShyGuyXXL

ShyGuyXXL

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By now we probably all know that a new Paper Mario game called Color Splash has been announced.
But to everyone's dismay it looks like a direct sequel to Sticker Star in terms of gameplay and presentation.
Instead of stickers we now have cards which seem to function very similarly to the stickers, but other than that the battle system seems to be the same. And once again it seems like there's no level up system.
The NPCs are all generic Toads once again, the only new character is a paint bucket, aka Kersti 2.0.
Everything most people (including me) hated about Sticker Star is back once again but in HD.

But the question is: ...Why?

After the backlash they got for Sticker Star why would they make another game that's just like it?
The HUGE vocal majority wants another game in the style of the first two games, they are very clear about that.
So why doesn't Nintendo listen?

Is it because of Miyamoto again?
Did they think Sticker Star was a success?
What could drive them to this decision?
 
Does Bowser have dialogue this time? If so, at least it might have one redeeming quality. But only one. Seriously, bringing back the bland gameplay of Sticker Star is a mistake, and replacing the Wit T. and unique characterizations of each NPC with "a Toad" is similarly inane (and pointless! Why would they intentionally make characters less distinguishable than previous games? They're still Toads, dammit, but at least the old ones were notable!).

And, uh, yeah. Mario Party 10 was kind of an odd decision, considering how the old formula was pretty much universally preferred (I mean, I like Mario Party 9 fine, I just like the old ones better by far). I mean, at least it lends itself well to making Bowser Party work, but still. amiibo Party is not a suitable replacement for Mario Party 1-8. I guess that is a pretty similar case of Nintendo not learning from what was very clearly a big mistake.
 
Sticker Star is the 2nd-best selling game in the series.

... which is likely due to the sales of the system it's on + the initial blowout showing a traditional PM and fan being in denial about how much the game was overhauled until right after release, but there you go.

And, uh, yeah. Mario Party 10 was kind of an odd decision, considering how the old formula was pretty much universally preferred (I mean, I like Mario Party 9 fine, I just like the old ones better by far)
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game journos liked it more
 
I absolutely loved TTYD, it was one of my all time favorite Gamecube games that I had ever owned. I thought it was like the coolest game ever when I played it, and is still my favorite Mario game to this day.

When I was shopping for Wii games, I saw Super Paper Mario on the shelf, for an affordable price. I picked up in excitement, thinking I found a new installment for TTYD. I came home, turned the game on, and was really disappointed : p I felt so bummed out I just never tried a PM game again.

I have not even looked into a Paper Mario game since then : p If I could find the others for an affordable price I would probly pick them up, but Ive heard alot about them, and am sure I wouldnt get into them much : p

It generally seems like Nintendo fans will buy whatever it is that Nintendo makes, and with that Nintendo believes everything they make is gold, which would be bad for the quality of their products : p I dont actually know anything about that, though : p Could be way off : p
 
Glowsquid said:
Sticker Star is the 2nd-best selling game in the series.

... which is likely due to the sales of the system it's on + the initial blowout showing a traditional PM and fan being in denial about how much the game was overhauled until right after release, but there you go.



game journos liked it more
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If that's the case, fair enough but just because a lot of people bought it doesn't mean they enjoyed it when they actually played it. I also bought it, expecting a good game but I was thoroughly disappointed and I'm not going to buy another game that plays and feels like it. And I can tell you, I'm not alone there.

Just look at Paper Jam. It apparently sold really poorly compared to Sticker Star and Dream Team. People are sick of such generic games.
And it's not exactly a secret that the fans didn't like Sticker Star.
Maybe Nintendo just has no idea what people on the internet are saying.
 
Oh, but sales equals quality, don't you know?! Ask Kenny boy, he'll tell you!

...In all seriousness, Ido think Nintendo needs to realize that Sticker Star shouldn't be a template, if what I hear is true.
 
ShyGuyXXL said:
If that's the case, fair enough but just because a lot of people bought it doesn't mean they enjoyed it when they actually played it. I also bought it, expecting a good game but I was thoroughly disappointed and I'm not going to buy another game that plays and feels like it. And I can tell you, I'm not alone there.
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Sticker Star also quickly and depreciated more than usual for a Nintendo game. Best Buy sold it for $10 new before getting rid of it.

funny thing is, the Iwata Asks says the changes to Sticker Star were in part made in reaction to the Club Nintendo survey for Super Paper Mario, but that one is still the best-selling game in the series by a comfortable margin.
 
I once watched a video on Nintendo, the person who made the video claimed that because the majority of games sold on Nintendo consoles are from Nintendo themselves, Nintendo itself has become big headed, and refuses to listen to what its customers want.
 
MonaWare said:
I once watched a video on Nintendo, the person who made the video claimed that because the majority of games sold on Nintendo consoles are from Nintendo themselves, Nintendo itself has become big headed, and refuses to listen to what its customers want.
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that's hardly a shock
 
Glowsquid said:
Club Nintendo survey for Super Paper Mario
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That survey HAD to be really broken.
Like I've said before, they probably asked "What's your favourite part about Super Paper Mario?"
And you could choose Gameplay, Story, Controls, etc.
but because most people liked the gameplay the most they didn't pick the story. But that doesn't mean they didn't like the story at all.
 
ShyGuyXXL said:
That survey HAD to be really broken.
Like I've said before, they probably asked "What's your favourite part about Super Paper Mario?"
And you could choose Gameplay, Story, Controls, etc.
but because most people liked the gameplay the most they didn't pick the story. But that doesn't mean they didn't like the story at all.
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Yeah, that seems entirely logical. Heck, unless a game is say, a visual novel, it's very unlikely you'd ever see most of the votes go for story in a poll like that.

But if they'd asked 'did you like the original characters in this game?' or the likes, they'd have gotten about 90% of people saying 'yes'.

ShyGuyXXL said:
If that's the case, fair enough but just because a lot of people bought it doesn't mean they enjoyed it when they actually played it. I also bought it, expecting a good game but I was thoroughly disappointed and I'm not going to buy another game that plays and feels like it. And I can tell you, I'm not alone there.

Just look at Paper Jam. It apparently sold really poorly compared to Sticker Star and Dream Team. People are sick of such generic games.
And it's not exactly a secret that the fans didn't like Sticker Star.
Maybe Nintendo just has no idea what people on the internet are saying.
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Well, after Paper Jam, I suspect this new game will fail hard. Bonus because it's on the Wii U, where even good games don't sell too many copies...

Glowsquid said:
Sticker Star is the 2nd-best selling game in the series.

... which is likely due to the sales of the system it's on + the initial blowout showing a traditional PM and fan being in denial about how much the game was overhauled until right after release, but there you go.



game journos liked it more
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Given how little effect game journalism has on a games sales (I remember reading somewhere that word of mouth and recommendations by friends outweigh it's impact by like, 90:1) and how many hated games tend to sell well... Nintendo would be pretty stupid to base their design decisions on the gaming media. Especially now, where the interests of gamers, 12 year old kids and 30 year old sociology dropouts with rainbow coloured hair (gaming journalists) aren't at all aligned with one another.
 
CM30 said:
Given how little effect game journalism has on a games sales (I remember reading somewhere that word of mouth and recommendations by friends outweigh it's impact by like, 90:1) and how many hated games tend to sell well... Nintendo would be pretty stupid to base their design decisions on the gaming media. Especially now, where the interests of gamers, 12 year old kids and 30 year old sociology dropouts with rainbow coloured hair (gaming journalists) aren't at all aligned with one another.
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well beside that, Mario Party 9 was a massive success. Infact it's the most watched Mario game on Youtube.
 
I've watched many Mario Party 9 videos to be honest. Trying to wrap my head around why they thought it was a good idea but

ANYWAY I GOT WILD GUESSES HERE

1.- Good idea horrible implementation.
Super Paper Mario had great gameplay but the story outweighted it by far, making it a weaker game. In turn, Sticker Star tried to do the complete opposite. The lack of a story isn't inherently bad, but the sole focus was on gameplay and context and the game didn't deliver either, so it was shit. Despite that, the sales were pretty good because of the hype, so Nintendo kept it up.

2.- There can only be one.
Two Mario RPGs would be too redundant, so Paper Mario lending itself to meta jokes was more viable to change. They took the series in a completely different direction and made a clear distinction between the Main Mario and Paper Mario. They're two separate characters now. They made it the 'lighter' game both in story n gameplay to match the storybook visual style.

3.- Nintendo is lazy.
Ninty is trying to make the most with as little effort as possible, creativity-wise, hence the reusing of level ideas and character models. This could tie in with the second possibility: Paper Jam wouldn't work with two series that were too similar, so they had to change one wildly to make an interesting mashup. Both series being on the 3DS now, its easier to reuse the assets to make an epic crossover that would sell with the name alone, than really trying to make a new engaging Paper Mario game.

4.- New but not too new
Maybe Sticker Star was intended to be a different game at one point, but they used the Paper Mario name to boost the sales of an otherwise failed project. It kills two birds in one shoot: they keep a beloved franchise alive and they try new things. This limits both the franchise itself and the possible new game given it has to adhere to the rules of an already set series. But people will buy it anyways. (I personally think this could have been the case even since Super Paper Mario, given nothing in the game matches the Paper Mario style except for the main characters themselves).

I was gonna add that maybe they thought the RPG concept was getting old and that they couldn't bring anything new to Paper Mario without changing it completely, but that doesn't explain the hype for Fire Emblem nor why M&L got to keep its gameplay. And I'm talking outta my ass here anyways but I can't find any other excuses as to why would they do this to a perfectly fine series.

Paper Mario had my favourite interpretations of the characters and, as silly as it sounds to talk about Mario lore, I love how it expanded on the world by giving us a variety of characters that were tied to the same species or overall context of the Mushroom Kingdom. Acting now like if the Peach, Bowser and Luigi from the series never really counted because haha paper mario get it sticker jokes is quite disrespectful to be honest, specially when they're giving shallow parodies of the series a better treatment.

if this game sells well im gon cry a lot
 
I have no idea why Nintendo is so damn lazy with their Mario RPGs and platformers anymore. They don't care about crafting an artistic game with an interesting world and characters etc., they just want to churn them out for the money anymore. It's sickening, really. I don't consider myself a big Mario fan anymore, but if they treated the Zelda series like this I would be outraged.
 
Crescent-Moon Villager said:
. I don't consider myself a big Mario fan anymore, but if they treated the Zelda series like this I would be outraged.
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Aww.

And dunno, they are like making HD remakes of every freaking Zelda game atm, is an obvious cash grab. And alot of people were unhappy with SS. It may start to dip in quality as well : /
 
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