Game News Achievements/trophies: why this exception from Nintendo?
Appearing during the seventh generation of consoles with the Xbox 360 and then the PlayStation 3, “achievements” and other “trophies” have established themselves over time as real essentials in the world of video games. From our consoles to our PCs, without forgetting our smartphones, we now find these rewards everywhere, highlighting the feats of arms of the players. However, among the big three contemporary console manufacturers and the main players in the industry, Nintendo is the only one not to have adopted this system. Through this article, we will focus on this singularity of the Kyoto firm.
Summary
- A question of game design philosophy
- In-game successes
- Des « alternatives » made in Nintendo
A question of game design philosophy
During a round table organized during E3 2009, an IGN journalist asked Shigeru Miyamoto about the possible arrival of an “achievements” system on Wii. The opportunity for the creator of the most illustrious Nintendo licenses to give us his opinion on this feature then available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3: “I’m not a big fan of using carrots to motivate people to play. I want people to play because they love to play and want to play more. » Miyamoto puts his finger on the essential point posed by achievements, these are a choice of game design, a way of influencing the way players will play and of motivating them. And we understand that according to Miyamoto, successes are a very artificial source of motivation.
Miyamoto’s vision is generally shared within Nintendo, as evidenced by the interview given by Bill Trinen (head of product marketing for Nintendo of America) to Kotaku in 2011, shortly before the release of the Nintendo 3DS. Trinen, who we know in particular for being the interpreter of Miyamoto, clarifies how the way Nintendo games are designed is not compatible with an achievement system : “When they make their games, they (Nintendo’s game designers) don’t tell you how to play them in order to get a reward. (…) The games are designed for you to explore on your own and feel that sense of discovery. I think when you look at games from EAD (then Nintendo’s main in-house studio) and many other games that Nintendo has developed, you’ll notice that there are things you can do in those games that will result in a kind of unexpected reward or surprise. In my mind, it really encourages a sense of exploration rather than thinking like, “If I do this, I’m going to get some artificial points that will satisfy me temporarily.” » Rightly or not, for Nintendo success in video games is detrimental to free exploration and the pleasure of discovery.
In-game successes
Nintendo may have never implemented a success system on its consoles, but some third-party studios have adapted to integrate them differently. We speak of “in-game” success since they are directly incorporated into the game. A practice that essentially affects multiplatform games and which undoubtedly reflects a desire to offer an experience similar to that offered on other consoles. This is what we find for example in Resident Evil: Revelations on Wii U (and later on Switch) or in Doom Eternal on Switch. More surprisingly, Nintendo exclusives such as Tokyo Mirage Sessions♯FE or Astral Chain also have in-game successes. A strong choice given the restrictions imposed by Nintendo, demonstrating that for these studios, successes can be of interest in terms of game design.
What may seem even more surprising, even contradictory, is that some games developed by Nintendo contain achievements. The coating is a little different from what we know, we do not necessarily realize their presence, but they are there! It all started with Wii Sports Resort, where you unlocked badges by completing challenges in each discipline. Asked by IGN in the interview we quoted above, Miyamoto said that it was not about successes as we used to imagine them. For him, “Wii Sports Resort badges are more of an incentive to play different ways and try to do different things. » If we can see in it a form of wooden language, the words of Miyamoto lays the foundations of what Nintendo intends to do with success in their games, a tool that is above all intended to be fun and inciting. Super Mario Maker 2 is a good illustration of this vision. Players are encouraged to try out different aspects of the game (creating levels, setting time records, obtaining a certain online rank, etc.) through successes rewarding them with costumes to unlock. The Smash Bros. series. is another well-known example of Nintendo games with hits. We remember the figures to unlock in Super Smash Bros. Melee, challenging players to finish solo content with each fighter and complete a bunch of challenges. In the latest installment, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the 124 challenges to be met unlock in-game content (customization elements, music, spirits) in addition to the satisfaction of lining a virtual board with fun photos from the game. In short, we are not going to go around the all the games concerned, but we note in any case that the presence of successes in Nintendo games is much less marginal than one might think at first glance.
Des « alternatives » made in Nintendo
Nintendo does nothing like the others and we can see it in their relationship with successes. Even if rumors have several times made believe in the arrival of a system of success similar to those of the competition, it was not. On the other hand, we had the right to reinterpretations « Nintendoesques » which deserve a closer look. The most recent at the time of this writing is the Switch’s “Missions and Rewards” system. By completing missions related to Nintendo Switch Online (playing online, trying out a trial version, playing games from the retro catalog, etc.), we earn platinum points. We can then exchange these points for exclusive cosmetic items (frames, backgrounds, characters) to customize our profile icon. Even more interesting, we can also exchange them for physical items on the My Nintendo Store, something to delight collectors. “Missions and Rewards” and achievements in Nintendo games share the same philosophy of encouraging players to try new things by rewarding them for doing so.
This philosophy behind “Nintendo-style success” was already present on Wii U via one of the console’s new features. It would be an understatement to say that the Wii U era was not a great success for Nintendo, but this difficult period was still marked by several innovations. We will focus on the Miiverse, the social network of the Wii U, since it introduced a system of near-success. On the Miiverse, each game had its community and players could post messages, drawings and screenshots there. To further personalize our publications, some games also offered to unlock stamps representing characters and imagery from the Nintendo universe. Here are our almost successes! In the vast majority of games, stamps were simply collectibles to be found. There was one hidden in every level of Super Mario 3D World, two to three were buried in the chests of every dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. We are therefore not quite on the same model as the successes/trophies which reward the accomplishment of great deeds. The formula of Mario Kart 8 is closer to this model, the stamps are obtained there by completing grand prizes with each driver and beating the ghosts of the developers in time trials.
To say that Nintendo doesn’t have an achievement system is only half the truth. Indeed, there is no equivalent on Nintendo consoles to what is done with the competition, namely a global system for accumulating points or trophies. But if Nintendo initially showed reluctance to success, mainly in relation to the consequences they imply in terms of game design, the Japanese giant was able to appropriate this feature. This is how the successes found themselves directly implanted in certain Nintendo productions, and that they were even revisited with the Miiverse and the system of “Missions and rewards” of the Switch. Nintendo has adapted the success formula to its philosophy, striving to make it a fun tool that promotes discovery.
Sources :
interview with IGN de Shigeru Miyamoto
et
interview Kotaku de Bill Trinen.