Gaming Local multiplayer. 2nd cartridge required?

thorasgar · Jan 21, 2017

Although I have had Nintendo Handhelds in the house for many years I personally do not like the small screens and controls and don't have more than a half a dozen hours on them. So I am not very familiar with the mechanics of the games themselves.

Some of the DS games required each player to have the cart and some allowed multiplayer with only one system having the actual game cart. I think it was called download play? I can't remember because I quickly discovered the AceKard and it became a non-issue for my kids.

Has anybody seen how the Switch will work? I am only buying one for now but let's face it Nintendo has already knocked down one of the "3 pillars" and the other will start crumbling if the Switch takes off. Not looking forward to buying two of the same title for portable play.

EthanObi · Jan 21, 2017

if memory serves the local multiplayer for MK8D requires 8 systems and 8 games, was mentioned in a video on NoA's youtube.

thorasgar · Jan 21, 2017

I figured as much given the size of the games now would make it very difficult to share game content even if Nintendo or the developers wanted to allow it.

Back to the good old days of the kids fighting over carts.

osaka35 · Jan 21, 2017

thorasgar said:
Although I have had Nintendo Handhelds in the house for many years I personally do not like the small screens and controls and don't have more than a half a dozen hours on them. So I am not very familiar with the mechanics of the games themselves.

Some of the DS games required each player to have the cart and some allowed multiplayer with only one system having the actual game cart. I think it was called download play? I can't remember because I quickly discovered the AceKard and it became a non-issue for my kids.

Has anybody seen how the Switch will work? I am only buying one for now but let's face it Nintendo has already knocked down one of the "3 pillars" and the other will start crumbling if the Switch takes off. Not looking forward to buying two of the same title for portable play.

i'd wager for downloadplay to be possible, the files needing to be shared would have to be tiny (not too many MB). I suppose it's possible for them to stream the gameplay rather than have each individual switch crunch the data...but that seems more unlikely with the amount of horsepower that'd require of the original console (and the lag that'd introduce).

while that's out (unless there are some indie games that may try something similar), It'll be interesting to see if they have something akin to streetpassing.

Sonic Angel Knight · Jan 21, 2017

Download play?

Well is maybe, i guess cause you know, 3DS had it... But i dunno.

xile6 · Jan 21, 2017

think home system.
Each person will need a copy of the game in order to place either local wifi or online.
I doubt there will be any download play unless the game is small and you download it from the demo from the eshop first.

Ryccardo · Jan 21, 2017

Easy solution: release free or $1 "lite versions" that can only join local multiplayer games...

...like they should have done for SSB4 years ago?

spotanjo3 · Jan 21, 2017

thorasgar said:
Although I have had Nintendo Handhelds in the house for many years I personally do not like the small screens and controls and don't have more than a half a dozen hours on them. So I am not very familiar with the mechanics of the games themselves.

Some of the DS games required each player to have the cart and some allowed multiplayer with only one system having the actual game cart. I think it was called download play? I can't remember because I quickly discovered the AceKard and it became a non-issue for my kids.

Has anybody seen how the Switch will work? I am only buying one for now but let's face it Nintendo has already knocked down one of the "3 pillars" and the other will start crumbling if the Switch takes off. Not looking forward to buying two of the same title for portable play.

It doesn't matter to me. I am not into multiplayers. Just depending. Whatever game that I really like so much to have a multiplayers might change my mind. Right now, I do not care about it.

SonicMC · Jan 21, 2017

on the 3ds nintendo released mario party star rush with both download play, which was limited. But your friends could download the guest edition of the games and as long as one person had the official cart. Everyone with the guest edition join in with full multiplayer experience. The switch could do that.

thorasgar · Jan 21, 2017

Ryccardo said:
Easy solution: release free or $1 "lite versions" that can only join local multiplayer games...

...like they should have done for SSB4 years ago?

Something like that would go a long way to selling more systems. I certainly would be more inclined to buying a second one. However I don't think Nintendo thinks like that these days, they just want to make the maximum return on the few systems and games they are able to sell.

Saiyan Lusitano · Jan 22, 2017

Kyouhei said:
if memory serves the local multiplayer for MK8D requires 8 systems and 8 games, was mentioned in a video on NoA's youtube.

This. Nintendo is going to somewhat gamers have that old experience they did back in the days, except now they'll each have to buy their own system than just connect a controller to it.

Futurdreamz · Jan 22, 2017

SSB 3DS didn't have download play for multiplayer, neither did any pokemon. I suspect it depends on the game.

Saiyan Lusitano · Jan 22, 2017

Futurdreamz said:
SSB 3DS didn't have download play for multiplayer, neither did any pokemon. I suspect it depends on the game.

Yep. Nintendo made a special 2-pack bundle of two Smash 3DS game copies so yeah.. that's what Nintendo is doing now.

TehCupcakes · Jan 22, 2017

Ryccardo said:
Easy solution: release free or $1 "lite versions" that can only join local multiplayer games...

...like they should have done for SSB4 years ago?

That doesn't sound very profitable... Especially for games where multiplayer is their biggest appeal (like SSB), who would buy the full game? SSB4 helped Wii U sales, and although it might have been able to shift more if it was cheaper, it wouldn't have been worth it for the loss of money on the game. (Huge budget games need a fairly high price tag to recoup costs.)

There's also the fact that they'll be charging for online now, so I think your suggested business model would be even less practical.

...However, to sell something like 1-2 Switch for $50 is pretty absurd. But there's this odd continuum they try to balance between value and perception of quality. E.g. If you charge more for something, people are more likely to look at it with respect. This is especially important with the release of something like a game system because they want every piece of content on it to feel novel and new. Selling a cheap $20 party game could come off as a cash-grab, and people talk down on the "crap games" saying there are no "real" games on the system. On the other end of the spectrum, charge too much for a game and people will say it's overpriced, thus reducing the number of sales (for both hardware and software).

I think pretty much everyone consumer agrees that they made a mistake by not packing a game, and 1-2 Switch seemed like it would have been a really good fit. However, I think even selling it for $30-$40 would have been more reasonable and encouraged people to try it out. Unfortunately, I'm afraid they priced it a little too high for what it is, and it has to be EXCEPTIONAL for it to really sell units. When I look at buying a console, I look at the cost of games, and that has always been my biggest gripe with Nintendo.

Saiyan Lusitano · Jan 22, 2017

TehCupcakes said:
However, to sell something like 1-2 Switch for $50 is pretty absurd.

In the European Amazon websites and retailers, 1-2 Switch is the 'cheapest' Nintendo Switch game and based on that some people think it's actually a good deal. Had they actually tried the tech-demos that 1-2 Switch offers they wouldn't be saying.

Milk a virtual cow? Oh, come on!
Crack a safe? Totally not boring, yup.
How many balls can you feel in your hand? Somewhat fun for like 2 minutes.
Imitate the other player's pose? You might as well just use a mirror.

This tech-demo makes Wii Sports and Nintendo Land look like masterpieces.

xile6 · Jan 22, 2017

Saiyan Lusitano said:
In the European Amazon websites and retailers, 1-2 Switch is the 'cheapest' Nintendo Switch game and based on that some people think it's actually a good deal. Had they actually tried the tech-demos that 1-2 Switch offers they wouldn't be saying.

Milk a virtual cow? Oh, come on!
Crack a safe? Totally not boring, yup.
How many balls can you feel in your hand? Somewhat fun for like 2 minutes.
Imitate the other player's pose? You might as well just use a mirror.

This tech-demo makes Wii Sports and Nintendo Land look like masterpieces.

So on point.
The game is over priced and feels like its just a tech demo. $49.99
It really should of came with the system like wii sports or nintedo land. Or a price drop to $29.99 would do.

And in the US no more hearo is the cheapest at $19.99 which i feel is high price for the cellphone like game.

Ryccardo · Jan 22, 2017

TehCupcakes said:
Especially for games where multiplayer is their biggest appeal (like SSB), who would buy the full game?

Mario Kart 7 was far from a commercial failure, but had every single track playable via download play (and is in many other details superior to later, non-rushed, 3DS games - like the ability to "pause" it to go to Home and change brightness even during multiplayer)

This "free version" would simply be an alternative to download play where the application is too big to transfer and install (on internal storage)

Free* local multiplayer with 1 copy of the game is already possible in the WiiU version of SSB4, so it wouldn't have really been counterproductive

* = based on the assumption everyone and their parents own a wiimote

TehCupcakes · Jan 25, 2017

Ryccardo said:
Mario Kart 7 was far from a commercial failure, but had every single track playable via download play (and is in many other details superior to later, non-rushed, 3DS games - like the ability to "pause" it to go to Home and change brightness even during multiplayer)

This "free version" would simply be an alternative to download play where the application is too big to transfer and install (on internal storage)

Free* local multiplayer with 1 copy of the game is already possible in the WiiU version of SSB4, so it wouldn't have really been counterproductive

* = based on the assumption everyone and their parents own a wiimote

Ah, I missed the word local in there. That changes everything.

Yes, I agree, local multiplayer is something easy and practical on a console, and I think a mobile platform should make strides to do the same. However, the nature of a mobile platform is that playing on a single copy isn't always practical, if only because the screen is too small. System-to-system communication is more complicated, time-consuming to develop for, and just generally more nuanced than playing on a single system. As such, it isn't surprisingly that many games do require multiple copies. I would love to see improvement in this area in the future, though. Here's to hoping Switch does something about it, although I have to say I'm not really counting on it.

Maximilious · Jan 26, 2017

osaka35 said:
i'd wager for downloadplay to be possible, the files needing to be shared would have to be tiny (not too many MB).

What would be really nice for download play though is if you could go to eShop and download local game files needed for download play to work on a per game basis. Then the actual download play portion would just be the sharing system sharing a license file or files needed to finish the sharing experience. Probably won't happen though and is just wishful thinking.

xile6 · Jan 26, 2017

Maximilious said:
What would be really nice for download play though is if you could go to eShop and download local game files needed for download play to work on a per game basis. Then the actual download play portion would just be the sharing system sharing a license file or files needed to finish the sharing experience. Probably won't happen though and is just wishful thinking.

They did do that with the mario party star rush. You could download the guest ver which only let you into multiplayer as a guest and not a host.
It could be a smart move. The downside is they would lose some money.
They end up selling only 1 copy when they could of sold 2 copies.
No one would buy Smash Bros if there friends had the game. So thats 4 people and only 1 person buys the game.
They could do a trial however, a very limited download where you can only pick 1 or 2 things just to test the game. That would make more people buy it if they like the trial but we will see.
I think from a company stand point its best to have everyone buy there own copy of the game.

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