Monday, October 05, 2009

'Super Guide' will help gamers who suck at New Super Mario Bros. Wii

"Hardcore" gamers have been wringing their hands ever since word started spreading that Nintendo was working on a "helper mode" that would walk players through particularly challenging sections of still-in-development titles.

"So, the games will play themselves?" was a typical response from the gaming world's version of the peanut gallery.

Thankfully, that isn't the case--at least, not entirely.

According to the folks at Kotaku, who recently spent some time with New Super Mario Bros. Wii--the first title that will include the helper mode, now known as "Super Guide"--in-game assistance "will only be available to players using the game's single-player mode who have failed at a level eight times."

At the start of the player's ninth attempt at a level, a floating green box will appear on screen. Hitting it "restart[s] the level in 'Super Guide' mode ... [during which] Mario is replaced with a computer-controlled Luigi, who then proceeds through the level on his own," Kotaku's Stephen Totilo shares in a write-up posted to the site earlier today. 

"What separates 'Super Guide' from traditional video-based playthroughs of game levels," he adds, "is that the player can assume control during the Luigi run. At any moment, the player can press a button and cancel the computer control of Luigi."

For more of Totilo's impressions of "Super Guide," head on over to Kotaku. Totilo also posted a lengthy preview of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which can be found here.

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