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LCom

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LCom

128

Forum Posts

726

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8

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 9

One of my favorite systems that I feel like should see more play is pretty much already forgotten about because it's in Sonic Shuffle.

Most instances where dice would be used in traditional (digital) board games is replaced with cards, keeping players from being completely at the whim of RNG for movement and battle. The trick is, even tho each player has their own hand of cards, players can play a card pulled blindly from another player's hand. You can put yourself in the hands of randomness in order to keep power in the form of cards you know the value of, at the same time maybe taking a card an opponent desperately wanted to keep away from them. It's something I would love to see even brought back to physical board games.

One thing this system highlighted was the value of the VMU. A basic design consideration for physical games is known versus hidden knowledge. It's what makes Poker work. At the time it was an impossibility for the shared single-screen console experience. The VMU gave back to players the ability to have information hidden from other people in the same room. It worked for hands of cards, picking football plays, and any other case where you need to pick from an inventory without showing it to everyone. We saw some more of that on the Gamecube via GBA-as-controllers, and again with Pokemon Battle Revolution on the Wii. We thought this would come back with the WiiU, until it became clear that the second-screen experience was going to be limited to one person.

It's all but faded away in favor of full online mulitplayer, players being able to hide information by playing on their own system entirely. But at that point you lose the bluffing aspect of looking a person in their face. Sure, feinting still occurs - mechanical bluffs, but that is a very different experience to trying to read someone's face directly, trying to figure out if you've got their number or if they're gonna do something crazy just to fuck with you.

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LCom

128

Forum Posts

726

Wiki Points

8

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 9

The Star Fox segment specifically said "Once you master the controls..." which feels like a subtle admittance that the controls are something the players are going to have to contend with. Unless you're trying to capture the Steel Battalion spirit, no one wants controls getting between the player and playing. But with a release date out now it's not surprising that they're not going back to rework it.

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