My Life as a Nintendo Video Game Tester
What's up guys, I'm new to 1up and I'm a Nintendo Video Game Tester. Anyway, my supervisor job recently gave me the permission to talk about some of the things they've been giving me; mostly just experimental ideas for the GC, but I've been getting some REV experimentals too for the last few months.
Before I start I'll fill you in on how the hell I got to be a video game tester for the best video game company in history. Well, I'm 21 years old and am living in Redmond, WA, home of NOA. 3 years ago I went for an interview to be a tester, even after people told me it was almost impossible to get in. Nintendo seem a little more interested in me over others because I grew up playing video games in India and Saudi Arabia. They thought maybe I could represent international gamers when I tested or something. Despite that, I was put on the waiting list. Two years later, I got a letter asking if I was still interested and I gladly took the job. My friends are very envious.
The place I go to work is very nice. It has a Nintendo arcade with no coins needed (I've become quite good at Mario Kart GP), a bunch of Nintendo artifacts from the start of the company, and a nice restaurant called Mario Cafe. There are about 30 testers in all, all different genders and ages; we even have a 76 year old man and a 2 year old with her 24 year old mom. We hardly ever get any games just experimentals, which can be quite fun. I'm not going to go through al of these, I just want to let you guys know about the REV games we've been playing.
The first time I got to use the controller was about a week after it got announced in he form of the first level of Metroid Prime (where you lose all of your power-ups). It was very cool. I spent like thirty minutes just playing around shooting with the controller before I actually started to play the level. It takes a little getting used to because of the sensitivity of it. It will respond to the smallest gesture. I loved it. When I went home that night I popped in the actual game on my Game Cube, and I couldn't do it, it was too bland. Once you try a FPS with the Revolution there's no going back; it's the best way to play.
It was awhile before I got to play with the revolution again. When I did I got to try the same games demoed to IGN and other such game sites at TGS. I don't think I can remember all of them, but there was another Metroid demo, but this time I think it was a whole new level, not a ported version. Probably the most fun was a plane game they presented to us, in a setting that seemed to be Delfino Plaza. I used the controller as it was the plane sideways, so every movement the controller did the plane did too. There where some rings around the setting that I went through. I really hope an full length actual game comes out like this, it was great. Some other game I played that day was a game where you use the pointer shoot simple objects, nothing really special. There was a simple air hockey game which I thought was very creative but got boring after awhile. I used the controller as the handle and swung it at the puck. There was a game with a basketball where I had to roll a ball and flick it into the net by controlling the floor. Yeah, it was kind of weird, I used the A button to shoot a hill out of the floor and one of the trigger to make a pit. There was a Pokemon game where you use the pointer to find Pikachu in the crowd of other Pokemon, reminded me of next-gen WarioWare. The last game I played that day was a strange Rouge Squadron like game where I was a pole instead of a ship. Yeah, a pole. I used the pointer to control where it went; it was alike a mouse, but with more freedom. I went throughout a level in the pole game collecting coins and dodging walls. It was a great idea.
After that big mass of demos I didn't see much of the REV. Until 3 days ago. I played a demo of a racing game a lot like F1-Race. I played the demo three different ways. The first, and the best in my opinion, was accelerating with one of the trigger, and controller the car turning, tilting, and even jumping. The second was a neat add one that plugged into the bottom of the controller, and was basically just 2 handles. I used that as a steering wheel, but didn't like it. The last way I did the demo I can't say due to request of my supervisor; but it's not that great or secretive.
The same day as the F1-Race demo 2 other demos were playable, one which I can't talk about. The first one was a platformer with Mario where I used the analog add-on. It started out with a beginning cut scene where a letter from "Peach" is read (obviously forged Bowser) which invites Mario to the castle. Mario comes in through the same pipe he came in Mario 64 version, and discovers Bowser on the top of the castle's middle tower breathing fire and shooting Bullet Bills. I was very impressed with the graphics of the game, and it played like a final version. I started out running around with the analogue stick figured out I could jump with A or by flicking the controller up. Eventually after playing around with the controls I discovered a wall on the side of the castle conveniently parallel to another and just wide enough for some wall-jumping action. To wall jump all I had to do was flick the controller from one side to another. I did this 3 or 4 times because it was so fun, and discovered I could make Mario wall-jump a lot faster than usual with the Game cube�??s and N64's dinky analog stick. I could go so fast Mario was a blur. I kind of had an urge to throw the controller across the room just to see what Mario would do but my supervisor was watching us like a hawk. Once I got to the castle's roof, Bowser was still too high on the tower; so I talked to a pink bom-omb on the roof hoping for a cannon to pop out some where. Instead, he gave me my trusty wing cap, in which I flew up, grabbed Bowser's tail (after a few tries) and swung him around in the air by twirling my wrist a few times. I didn't know what to aim for so I just let go randomly, and the demo ended. Pretty sweet. I'm pretty sure this demo was to test how 3rd Party platformers will play with the controller, and I'm almost certain that it won't become a Mario game; that's the second demo's job.
The second demo I can't talk about in detail, but I think it is the early stages of the first level of Mario 128. It's really not what I expected at all, but is really cool at the same time. It's very creative, but I know half the Nintendo fans will rant and rave about it just like they did for Super Mario Sunshine. (Let�??s just say they added another new character kind of like FLUDD�?�..) Not everyone�??s going to like it; but I have confidence that it is going to be great. I'll just say what Game Over said at the end of their book: "Never underestimate Nintendo."
