Multiplayer has been a thing for the Mario series of games since the 90s. Kart racing, four player platformers, party games. Alternative turns does not count, so no on the early NES and SNES games. You would think Nintendo would understand the grasp of playing online with your own friends. That's why playing with randoms for Super Mario Maker 2 has got to be one of the dumbest things they have done.
There is no defending it. For a company who has had a great wealth of games since the 70s and 80s, their incompetence in the last 23 years keeps their potential from being much higher. Personally, I've thought for a long time that a online Mario platformer could work. It has the stuff to do that. LittleBigPlanet did that in 2008, even though it's not always a pure platformer. But Nintendo's unwillingness to take a risk, which they should have tried on the Wii, makes me scratch my head.
To wait that long to do an online platformer, but to still screw it up in some way. I know online isn't Nintendo's strongest footing. I understand that. However, this isn't the 90s where people can always get together and play on one TV screen. I'm not advocating for offline multiplayer to die off, but to have both online and offline is a treat to people. And playing with friends online is something that makes a night good.
Maybe Nintendo will understand the issues, but I have serious doubt their Japanese staff will. When the 64 was around, they understood how big of a deal multiplayer is. Now they need to figure out online multiplayer fast because they are missing out on huge potential to get more people and an even bigger new generation of fans
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