The Mario Party series has been around for a long time. The first title in the franchise was released in 1998, and since then, numerous Nintendo platforms have seen installments in the Mario Party series. With each of these new games comes a smorgasbord of mini-games for players to sample. While many of these are remembered fondly, others have lived on in infamy.
One of these not-so-great mini-games was “Tug o’ War,” part of the collection of mini-games available in the original Mario Party for the Nintendo 64. The mini-game was a 1v3 competition that pitted one player wearing a Bowser outfit against the other 3 players in a game of tug of war. While the concept for the game seemed harmless, the mini-game game caused physical harm to some that played it. In order to pull the rope towards their side, players had to rotate the control stick on the N64 controller as fast as possible. To find a competitive advantage, many players used the palms of their hands to rotate the control stick, in some cases injuring them.
Recently, it was revealed that Mario Party Superstars, the next installment in the series, was bringing back Tug o’ War. In an October 23 tweet, a Twitter user known as Anthony revealed a screenshot of the mini-game. While fans received a look at the drastically improved visuals, most of the attention was focused on an in-game warning issued by Nintendo. The advisory read, “ To avoid irritation to your skin and/or damage to the control stick, do not rotate it with the palm of your hand.”
This warning from Nintendo is likely in response to the previous issues raised by the mini-game on the Nintendo 64 console. In that case, the situation became so bad that the New York Attorney General’s office filed a complaint against Nintendo regarding Tug o’ War. As a result, the Japanese company started providing gloves to keep players safe while playing the mini-game. It’s nice to know that this time around Nintendo seems to care enough about its players to warn them about the potential dangers of playing Tug o’ War. However, it raises the question of why the company included the infamous game in the first place.
While the addition of these classic mini-games to Mario Party Superstars will be a trip down memory lane for many Nintendo fans, it will be interesting to see how some of these games hold up on the Switch. Furthermore, the violent movements needed to play some of these mini-games could prove a test of the durability of the Joy-Con controllers. Time will tell if this warning from the developers will keep players from potential injuries in the "Tug o’ War" mini-game or if it should have remained a memory.
Mario Party Superstars launches on October 29 for Nintendo Switch.
Source: Kotaku