It's not an "excuse" when people start acting like only Universal has misfires. Yes, Disney does lousy things too. Fairly consistently. That's the point. It's a direct response to what was said.
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Nintendo partnering with Universal to make attractions.
- Thread starter Sped2424
- Start date
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
It is an excuse and a tired one that. Very few people saying Universal whiffed are ignoring Disney’s own missteps.
Galaxycake
Member
I had other options. But if you were able to call it, that proves my point, doesn't it?
"No other theme park company misses the mark so consistently, so thoroughly, and so inexcusably as Disney. I really don't get it. We know they are capable of greatness."
When's the last time you saw anyone on this forum say anything remotely like this?
Galaxycake
Member
Look at any post on the News and Rumors section. You’d be hard-pressed to find a post where people don’t talk about all of Disney’s flaws.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Ehh, yes, but if you fall back, you're just as likely to stay in the back as you are to get carried to the front via items. The game adjusts the speed of the computer players so they don't really get too far ahead of you unless you're doing horribly.
This has been my take all along, though! I always thought the "3D World" and "New Super Mario Bros" look was a poor choice to implement into a theme park land, and would have preferred something akin to what you see in the beginning of Super Mario Galaxy before going to space. What I meant by your second comment is, this ride system is more suited for something else other than racing. Hence, we ended up with a shooting at targets dark ride based on a racing franchise.
If Universal didn't want backlash for another screen ride, they should have utilized them more sparingly for experiences where they make sense.
Everyone basically agrees that Rise and Hagrid's are both really good.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Me, earlier today. And yesterday. And the day before yesterday. And the day before that.
Brer Oswald
Well-Known Member
I can agree with that
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
You don't see comments like that because Disney's misses are more along the lines of, "this could have been better in the following ways", not "this is literally the exact opposite of what I wanted and anticipated."
But also yes, Disney fans are very commonly eager to critique, nitpick, or tear apart anything Disney does. Universal fans, either everything is exactly as it should be (with F&F as the one outlier) or you're a Disney fanboy because nobody else would care about your critiques.
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Little Green Men
Well-Known Member
Well the wand strokers certainly love putting down everything disney does and lift Universal up. UO’s own twitter account is making half its post dedicated to trashing anything disney does.
Little Green Men
Well-Known Member
I see that posted like ten times a day here
Fox&Hound
Well-Known Member
I have been thinking a lot about the Mario Kart ride and one thing that I think would help immensely is to adjust the sheer number of drivers/objects/chaos happening on the VR screen. The sheer volume of action in the headset is insane and actually made me feel dizzy just watching it. The sets look neat but you can't even see them. Sometimes less is more- a lesson I wish Universal would learn (except for Yoshi- that is way too less).
I still don't understand why they shoved this into the small corner of the park in Japan. I wish it would have come first to the US and been the anchor at Epic Universe and they could have built it in the proper scale. Imagine a test track sized ride for Mario kart next to shops and restaurant and maybe even a Yoshi ride that had a longer run time (maybe it would help that sad little ride). I just think Mario deserves so much more than to be regulated into this tight closet of a space and then fans are told "well, we worked with what space we had"....
I had such high hopes for this land and was even considering (in an insane kind of way) traveling over to Japan with a friend to check this out. Now? Now sure I'd travel to FL to see this unless I was already going there. Sigh....
I still don't understand why they shoved this into the small corner of the park in Japan. I wish it would have come first to the US and been the anchor at Epic Universe and they could have built it in the proper scale. Imagine a test track sized ride for Mario kart next to shops and restaurant and maybe even a Yoshi ride that had a longer run time (maybe it would help that sad little ride). I just think Mario deserves so much more than to be regulated into this tight closet of a space and then fans are told "well, we worked with what space we had"....
I had such high hopes for this land and was even considering (in an insane kind of way) traveling over to Japan with a friend to check this out. Now? Now sure I'd travel to FL to see this unless I was already going there. Sigh....
Quinnmac000
Well-Known Member
You do know Nintendo HQ is literally 15 minutes away from USJ which is probably the biggest reason a Japanese IP came to a Japanese Park first.
Brer Oswald
Well-Known Member
53 minutes, but close enough.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Some more thoughts.
Okay, so Nintendo really, really pushed for AR. Fine. What I can't understand is how, at some point in the development of this thing, nobody took a serious look at it and said, "we've got something here, but it's not Mario Kart.", and reworked it into a concept that wouldn't automatically be a letdown. Though even with re-skinning the ride into something Not Mario Kart, it's not good enough to be the land's E-ticket. It's like Galaxy's Edge with only Smuggler's Run.
Second, I agree with @Fox&Hound above. On top of it not being anything like what riders will anticipate, the AR visuals are a cluttered mess. Again, maybe it looks better in person, but the consensus seems to be that it looks "better" but not great. There is too much chaos happening, too much to focus on, and it isn't exactly clear what is happening. The graphics fill your field of vision most of the time. Even the shells you shoot/spam fill your field of vision. It looks very much like a prototype of a better final product, if you ask me. It's also one of Universal's continual shortcomings in ride design - overwhelm the riders with so much chaos that they'll be unable to process all of it, and hopefully walk off under the assumption that it was "good", despite not resonating with them at all. Better ride designs use clever visuals to guide the rider's attention to what's important when a lot is happening.
Now, regarding our Need for Speed and demand for something akin to Test Track/RSR. It's true that RSR also wouldn't accurately convey a Mario Kart race, because the race would be 30 seconds long. However, my thought is that it definitely didn't need to be Test Track's 65 mph or RSR's 40 mph. Even a handful of, say, 15mph segments would have done wonders. That speed, combined with narrow tracks, plus smaller ride vehicles, plus built-in spinning or "drifting" would have done wonders toward feeling like a proper Mario Kart ride and being a family thrill ride. I envision these faster segments divided up by slower show scene segments.
Alternate option - although yes I would prefer to avoid another ride of this style at UOR, the Spider-Man ride system is so perfect for conveying Mario Kart. Screens utilized for the fast parts, physical props and sets for slower parts. For instance, say, during a fast-paced screen segment, a blue shell hits you and knocks you off course. The ride vehicle moves to the next zone - a physical set where piranha plants are attacking you. You escape and use a mushroom to blast back onto the course, and into the next screen/race segment.
I feel that both of these concepts convey Mario Kart much better, and neither necessitate interactivity.
If the plans for Epic Universe eventually still proceed forward, I hope they reconsider. There's enough time now.
Okay, so Nintendo really, really pushed for AR. Fine. What I can't understand is how, at some point in the development of this thing, nobody took a serious look at it and said, "we've got something here, but it's not Mario Kart.", and reworked it into a concept that wouldn't automatically be a letdown. Though even with re-skinning the ride into something Not Mario Kart, it's not good enough to be the land's E-ticket. It's like Galaxy's Edge with only Smuggler's Run.
Second, I agree with @Fox&Hound above. On top of it not being anything like what riders will anticipate, the AR visuals are a cluttered mess. Again, maybe it looks better in person, but the consensus seems to be that it looks "better" but not great. There is too much chaos happening, too much to focus on, and it isn't exactly clear what is happening. The graphics fill your field of vision most of the time. Even the shells you shoot/spam fill your field of vision. It looks very much like a prototype of a better final product, if you ask me. It's also one of Universal's continual shortcomings in ride design - overwhelm the riders with so much chaos that they'll be unable to process all of it, and hopefully walk off under the assumption that it was "good", despite not resonating with them at all. Better ride designs use clever visuals to guide the rider's attention to what's important when a lot is happening.
Now, regarding our Need for Speed and demand for something akin to Test Track/RSR. It's true that RSR also wouldn't accurately convey a Mario Kart race, because the race would be 30 seconds long. However, my thought is that it definitely didn't need to be Test Track's 65 mph or RSR's 40 mph. Even a handful of, say, 15mph segments would have done wonders. That speed, combined with narrow tracks, plus smaller ride vehicles, plus built-in spinning or "drifting" would have done wonders toward feeling like a proper Mario Kart ride and being a family thrill ride. I envision these faster segments divided up by slower show scene segments.
Alternate option - although yes I would prefer to avoid another ride of this style at UOR, the Spider-Man ride system is so perfect for conveying Mario Kart. Screens utilized for the fast parts, physical props and sets for slower parts. For instance, say, during a fast-paced screen segment, a blue shell hits you and knocks you off course. The ride vehicle moves to the next zone - a physical set where piranha plants are attacking you. You escape and use a mushroom to blast back onto the course, and into the next screen/race segment.
I feel that both of these concepts convey Mario Kart much better, and neither necessitate interactivity.
If the plans for Epic Universe eventually still proceed forward, I hope they reconsider. There's enough time now.
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Jimmy Thick
Well-Known Member
Mario Kart is and always has been a racing game since its inception.
The problem is all the "theme park experts" made out the Nintendo World to be far far more than it was ever actually going to be. Just read this thread where people were predicting the Yoshi attraction could be an E-Ticket. NOTHING got edited in Japan no matter what the "insiders" say, this is exactly what Nintendo wanted, an interactive Nintendo area that puts you in a video game come to life.
Universal pulled it off smashingly no matter what peoples opinion based off of other peoples "video experience" expounds upon them.
Until you're actually out there experiencing these attractions first hand I just don't know how anyone can have an actual opinion, its the lowest form of wit.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Using your logic against you, how do you know they pulled it off "smashingly" using only video evidence?
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
You know Jimmy, he ran over and was treated to a soft opening cause -jimmy thick ya know?
Markiewong
Well-Known Member
Okay just jumping in here as a huge Nintendo fan and not a Universal or Disney fan. While Mario Kart is *technically* a racing game (the goal is to reach the finish line as the first one), the racing aspect is not what defines Mario Kart. Mario Kart's identity comes from the items in combination with racing which created chaos. The Mario Kart 8 competitive rules even allow items, unlike Smash Bros which is a similar party take on the fighting genre. And even though there is a 200 cc mode (which was added as paid DLC!), the majority of the players are racing in either 100 or 150cc depending on the skills of the players. The chaos that you see in the video is pure landmark Nintendo design; see for other recent examples Splatoon, 3D World and Arms. Removing that would be removing the brand identity.
To come back to the actual ride. Making the Mario Kart ride without AR would be a huge mistake and speeding up the ride is probably not possible due to a combination of motion sickness and technological restrictions with AR. Is the ride a hit or miss? Not sure would have to see it for real first. Spiderman and Harry Potter translate quite terribly on video. I am well aware that Mario Kart doesn't have the same motion (luckely) as the other two, but AR is not something you can just film with a smartphone camera. If you really wanted a faster darkride ala test track it should be Fast and the Furious, not Mario Kart.
But looking at the land, Nintendo and Universal pulled off gamification way better than Disney did with Galaxy's Edge. There is a deeper integration, there is actual progression and it has Nintendo's clear visual design language stamped all over the land. This is without doubt Universals finest work since Harry Potter.
To come back to the actual ride. Making the Mario Kart ride without AR would be a huge mistake and speeding up the ride is probably not possible due to a combination of motion sickness and technological restrictions with AR. Is the ride a hit or miss? Not sure would have to see it for real first. Spiderman and Harry Potter translate quite terribly on video. I am well aware that Mario Kart doesn't have the same motion (luckely) as the other two, but AR is not something you can just film with a smartphone camera. If you really wanted a faster darkride ala test track it should be Fast and the Furious, not Mario Kart.
But looking at the land, Nintendo and Universal pulled off gamification way better than Disney did with Galaxy's Edge. There is a deeper integration, there is actual progression and it has Nintendo's clear visual design language stamped all over the land. This is without doubt Universals finest work since Harry Potter.
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Bob Harlem
Well-Known Member
Universal Put up signs today for the new large Universal store they are setting up in Citywalk, and this is in there: