From A to Wii – Tilt ‘n Tumble

T – Tilt N’ Tumble

Having the ability to interact with games in new and unusual ways is not something that’s being pioneered by the Wii. Nintendo itself has made many games where the shackles of traditional gameplay have been broken. That being said, let’s look at some of the more poignant titles in this list and conjecture what the Wii could do for this class of genre defying games.

Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble was one of the first games to successfully present the idea of interacting with the environment as apposed to the lead character directly. Instead of using the Gameboy Color’s directional pad to tell kirby where to go, the player would instead use the cartridge’s built in sensor to tilt the Gameboy in the direction they wanted the pink puff ball to roll. Sure it may have been a simple implementation of the technology, but it was still motion sensitivity which is a big aspect of the Wii. Even with this pretty straight forward use of it, Tilt ‘n’ Tumble seemed to be a pretty fun game due to its motion sensing capabilities.

In reading reviews for the game, I came across a really good quote about it that I think is very relevant to the upcoming Wii. Gamespot’s review addresses the gimmicky nature of motion sensing technology in games:

“Yes, Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble is a gimmicky game, but it’s a gimmicky game done well.”

Maybe it doesn’t matter if a game has a gimmick. Maybe it just matters if it works or not.

A feudal Japan real time strategy pinball game. Okay…

Odama was… unique. I remember my initial eagerness for this game when I heard about it during E3 2005. I mean, it was a game of Yoot Saito’s design for one thing, but even more so, it was a crazy concept with a crazy feature: microphone control. In addition to using the Gamecube controller to flick the Odama across the battlefield, a microphone was present for the player to give orders to their troops. I remember shouting things such as “press forward!” and “rally!” into the microphone as my parents would walk by the door to my room and give me a quizzical look. “No mom, it’s a game. I’m not on the phone. Close the door please.”

So maybe the gameplay didn’t work out well, but I loved the idea of the microphone. I thought that being able to give simple commands through speech made really good use of an extra asset that wasn’t usually used when playing games. I sincerely hope that even though it didn’t do very well at retail, Odama will be recognized sometime down the line as one of the games that was brave enough to pioneer the use of microphone technology as an added element of gameplay.

To me, Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat is a definite classic of the current generation. The visualizations are awesome and full of style, the story is NES-ly simplistic (you know what I mean), and the animations had me laughing out loud the whole time I played. In the end though, probably the biggest shining point of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is its gameplay. It’s simple: beat the right bongo to run right, beat the left bongo to run left, beat both to jump, and clapping is like the action button. That’s four methods of input so there’s no mixing up what you’re supposed to do. However, using those simple tools of command one could execute insane chains of combos that could last the majority of a level if they have enough skill.

Some people think having a lot of buttons means having a lot of opportunities for fun. I think that keeping things simple and clean and just making good use of only what you need can make for the most enjoyable playing experience.

There are so many special games out there that defy all traditional genres and I’m sure there are better examples out there than just these three. The point of this quick list, however, was just to provide examples of ways that things could be done differently. Understanding what lies beyond the traditional experiences is important because when it comes down to it, the Wii is different. With this new system we may come to expect the abnormal to become normal. Game designers who ask themselves “What can and can’t we do?” when making a game may find that their choices have greatly expanded.

And so you, our lovely readers, full of splendid minds and wonderfully abstract thoughts, what do you think would be a good and dramatically new way to experience games that the Wii could provide?