正点原子 任天堂_任天堂20年前，任天堂用纸Mario改变了RPG风格

正点原子 任天堂

Paper Mario made its debut in Japan on Aug. 11, 2000, as Mario Story after a whopping four years of development. Here’s how Intelligent Systems made it happen.

经过长达四年的发展，Paper Mario于2000年8月11日在日本首次亮相，名为Mario Story。 这就是智能系统如何实现的。

By K. Thor Jensen

由 K.Thor Jensen

It’s undeniable that Nintendo masters whatever genre it tries. The company essentially invented the platformer both in 2D and 3D, not to mention the action-adventure with Legend of Zelda, the kart racer and more. But for much of its early life, one type of game eluded it.

不可否认，任天堂掌握了它尝试过的所有类型。 该公司实质上是在2D和3D方面发明了平台游戏机，更不用说与《塞尔达传说》，卡丁车赛车手等等的动作冒险了。 但是在游戏的大部分早期，都没有使用过一种游戏。

In Japan, role-playing games like Squaresoft’s Final Fantasy and Enix’s Dragon Quest were culture-defining hits, selling massive amounts and captivating players with deep, long adventures. Those games were such hits that Nintendo published them as first-party titles in the States, but surprisingly never mustered company resources to make its own for the NES.

在日本，Squaresoft的《最终幻想》和Enix的《勇者斗恶龙》等角色扮演游戏是具有文化定义的热门歌曲，销量惊人，并为玩家带来了深远的冒险。 这些游戏大受欢迎，任天堂在美国以第一方游戏的名义发行了这些游戏，但令人惊讶的是，从未将公司的资源用于NES 。

There was one exception-Shigesato Itoi’s quirky Mother, which came out in Japan in 1989 but didn’t hit the US until a Wii Virtual Console release in 2015. But for the most part it looked like the company just didn’t know how to compete in the role-playing market.

唯一的例外是-Shigesato Itoi的古怪母亲，该母亲于1989年在日本上市，但直到2015年Wii虚拟控制台发行后才在美国上市。在角色扮演市场竞争。

In the 16-bit era, Nintendo tried to make inroads with Super Mario RPG, but it’s telling that it didn’t develop that game in-house. Instead, it loaned its franchise to Square and let Shigeru Miyamoto oversee the production. The end result was fantastic, combining the charm and character of the Mushroom Kingdom with Square’s rich narratives, clever mechanics, and hidden secrets.

在16位时代，任天堂曾尝试使用Super Mario RPG进军，但是这表明它不是内部开发该游戏的。 取而代之的是，它将特许经营权借给了Square，让宫本茂监督生产。 最终的结果令人赞叹，将蘑菇王国的魅力和特色与Square丰富的叙述，机灵的技巧和隐藏的秘密结合在一起。

When the time came to make another Mario RPG for the Nintendo 64, Nintendo no longer had Square to kick around. The company had signed an exclusive deal with Sony to bring the next Final Fantasy to the PlayStation. It instead turned to a developer much closer to home.

当为Nintendo 64制作另一个Mario RPG的时候，Nintendo不再需要Square了。 该公司已与索尼签署了独家协议，将下一个《最终幻想》带入PlayStation。 相反，它转向离家更近的开发商。

智慧的迹象 (Signs of Intelligence)

Intelligent Systems has been one of Nintendo’s not-so-secret weapons for decades. The company hired programmer Toro Narihiro in the early 80s as part of the R&D1 team to port Famicom Disk System titles to cartridge format. It quickly realized he had a knack for the NES hardware, and set him up with a team in Nintendo’s Kyoto Research Center. The group, under the supervision of Gunpei Yokoi, incorporated as Intelligent Systems in 1983 and they started taking on more and more work until they were programming entire games, starting with the Famicom Wars and Fire Emblem series.

几十年来，智能系统一直是任天堂的秘密武器之一。 该公司在80年代初期聘请了程序员Toro Narihiro作为R＆D1团队的一员，将Famicom Disk System标题移植为盒带格式。 很快，他意识到自己对NES硬件很精通，并在任天堂的京都研究中心组建了他的团队。 该小组在Gunpei Yokoi的监督下于1983年合并为Intelligent Systems，并且他们开始从事越来越多的工作，直到从Famicom Wars和Fire Emblem系列开始对整个游戏进行编程为止。

The company has been inextricable from Nintendo ever since. Its strategy titles for the Super Nintendo showed that it was capable of producing experiences with a lot of narrative and mechanical depth, so it wasn’t a surprise when the parent company asked Intelligent Systems in 1996 to create a role-playing game for the Nintendo 64.

从那以后，该公司就与任天堂息息相关。 它在《超级任天堂》中的战略标题表明，它能够产生具有丰富叙事和机械深度的体验，因此，当母公司在1996年要求Intelligent Systems为任天堂创建角色扮演游戏时，这不足为奇64。

It was obvious that, with the defection of both Square and Enix, Nintendo was on the back foot. Role-playing games were big in Japan and starting to get big overseas as well, and it didn’t have anything in development that could compete. The console’s cartridge-based storage system was also a problem, preventing it from delivering high-end CGI cutscenes and orchestral music that CD-ROMs could do in their sleep. Less than a dozen RPGs came out for the N64 across the platform’s entire life, and most of them were junk like Quest 64.

显而易见，由于Square和Enix的共同背叛，任天堂步履蹒跚。 角色扮演游戏在日本规模很大，并且在海外也开始流行，并且在开发中没有任何可以竞争的东西。 控制台的基于盒式磁带的存储系统也是一个问题，阻止它提供CD-ROM可以在睡眠中完成的高端CGI过场动画和管弦乐。 在N64平台的整个生命周期中，只有不到12款RPG出现，其中大多数像Quest 64一样是垃圾。

超平 (Superflat)

Nintendo got Intelligent Systems working on a next-generation RPG shortly after the console’s Japanese release. Originally, the game was just going to be Super Mario RPG 2, taking the visual style and fantasy approach that Square deployed for more of the same on the 64DD, the ill-fated disk drive add-on for the N64. But the company struggled with making the transition from 2D sprite-based art to 3D.

任天堂日文版发布不久后，任天堂让Intelligent Systems开发了下一代RPG。 最初，该游戏将是Super Mario RPG 2，采用Square在64DD(N64的命运不佳的磁盘驱动器附件)上部署的视觉风格和幻想方法。 但是该公司在努力实现从基于2D精灵的艺术到3D的过渡。

It’s not certain who came up with the idea for the game’s unique visual hook, where backgrounds are polygonal 3D and characters are flat “paper” sprites. In a Japanese interview, Nintendo producer Hiroyasu Sasano noted “The reason we went this direction is we thought players might be getting tired of the 3D CG look on the Playstation and other consoles. It’s hard to bring out cuteness with characters made from polygons, right?”

不确定谁想到了游戏独特的视觉效果，背景是多边形3D，角色是扁平的“纸”精灵。 任天堂制片人Sasano Hiroyasu Sasano在日本接受采访时指出：“我们朝这个方向发展的原因是，我们认为玩家可能已经厌倦了Playstation和其他游戏机上的3D CG外观。 用多边形制成的文字很难表现出可爱感，对吗？”

This seems like a little bit of a coping answer, but it also fits with Nintendo’s overall aesthetic. The game’s look also hearkens back to Yoshi’s Story for the Super NES, which featured a similar flat storyboard look, as well as Sony’s Parappa the Rapper, the quirky music title that pulled a similar 2D/3D split. That visual approach informed the tone of the whole game-while humor had been an essential part of Mario’s world, now it was foregrounded. Cuteness became the core element of the franchise.

这似乎是一个应付之道，但它也符合任天堂的整体审美观。 游戏的外观还可以追溯到Yoshi's Story for Super NES，它具有类似的扁平情节提要外观，以及Sony的Parappa the Rapper，这是一个古怪的音乐作品，采用了类似的2D / 3D分割。 这种视觉方法传达了整个游戏的基调，而幽默一直是马里奥世界的重要组成部分，现在它已成为人们关注的焦点。 可爱成为专营权的核心要素。

Paper Mario was in development for a whopping four years, going through numerous working titles. By the time it finally came out, the Nintendo 64 was already on its last legs, with the Gamecube nearing release. Finally, Mario Story hit Japanese store shelves on Aug. 11, 2000. The name would be changed for the US release next year.

Paper Mario经历了长达四年的发展，经历了许多工作头衔。 直到它最终问世时，任天堂64才已经走到最后一站， Gamecube即将发布。 最终，《马里奥物语》(Mario Story)于2000年8月11日登陆日本商店的货架。该名称将于明年在美国发行。

中折 (In the Fold)

Much like other late-cycle Nintendo smashes like Donkey Kong Country, Paper Mario breathed a little life back into the flagging system. The game sold well in Japan and abroad, with gamers responding to the clever dialogue, exciting timing-based battle system and familiar characters.

就像其他大循环的任天堂一样，《大金刚国家》(Donkey Kong Country)也是如此，Paper Mario为标志系统注入了一点生命。 这款游戏在日本和国外都很畅销，玩家们对巧妙的对话，激动人心的定时战斗系统和熟悉的角色做出了回应。

The battle system was one of the biggest changes from a traditional RPG. Those games typically featured players choosing attacks from a text-based menu, then waiting as opponents took their turn. Outside of boss fights, they typically didn’t require a lot of attention. Intelligent Systems took the timing-based attacks of Super Mario RPG, where button presses could inflict more damage, and made it the core of battles. Now a well-timed tap could help you both attack and defend, with different controller inputs for your allies as well. It turned combat, often the most boring part of the genre, into something that required your constant attention.

战斗系统是传统RPG的最大变化之一。 这些游戏通常以玩家从基于文本的菜单中选择攻击为特色，然后在对手轮到自己时等待。 除了老板打架之外，他们通常不需要太多关注。 Intelligent Systems采取了基于Super Mario RPG的定时攻击，按一下按钮可能造成更大的伤害，并使其成为战斗的核心。 现在，适时的点击可以为盟友提供不同的控制器输入，从而帮助您进行进攻和防御。 这使战斗(通常是该类型中最无聊的部分)变成需要您不断关注的事物。

What really made Paper Mario such a success, though, was its casualness. By this point, the role-playing genre had earned a reputation for being something players needed to immerse themselves in, memorizing and internalizing reams of information, or consulting thick strategy guides on the monsters, weapons, and secrets hidden in their worlds. In contrast, Paper Mario was remarkably transparent and simple. Instead of massive four-digit health bars, attacks did damage in the single digits. Mario didn’t have to juggle equipment upgrades and manage D&D-derived stats.

但是，真正使Paper Mario如此成功的真正原因是它的偶然性。 至此，角色扮演类型已经赢得了声誉，因为它是玩家沉浸其中，记忆和内部化大量信息，或咨询有关隐藏在其世界中的怪物，武器和秘密的详尽策略指南的东西。 相反，Paper Mario非常透明和简单。 攻击并没有造成巨大的四位数健康危害，而是造成了一位数的损失。 Mario不必费心进行设备升级和管理D＆D衍生的统计数据。

More than any game before it, Paper Mario really pushed the message that role-playing wasn’t just for hardcore grognards. Anybody could enjoy the adventure and master the battle system. It’s a short line from that franchise to Pokemon and other RPG hybrids that helped the genre evolve into one that all audiences could enjoy.

Paper Mario比以前的任何游戏都更能传达出这样的信息：角色扮演不仅仅针对顽固的怪胎。 任何人都可以享受冒险并掌握战斗系统。 从专营权到Pokemon和其他RPG混合动力车，这条路很短，从而帮助该类型游戏发展成为所有观众都可以享受的游戏。

Originally published at https://www.pcmag.com.

最初发布在 https://www.pcmag.com 。

翻译自: https://medium.com/pcmag-access/20-years-ago-nintendo-transformed-the-rpg-genre-with-paper-mario-473c6c58980b

正点原子 任天堂