Star Fox Zero adds invincible mode for youngsters

Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U title Star Fox Zero will work hard to ensure that it is accessible to as wide an audience as possible.

Development boss Shigeru Miyamoto told Time that the game will allow players to be invincible, the idea being that this will increase its appeal to kids. At the same time, modes with more challenge will also be available for those who enjoy the fight.

We recognize that there are probably going to be younger kids who are playing a Star Fox game for the first time with Star Fox Zero, and maybe this will be their first action game,” Miyamoto explained. So we feel we’ve designed the game in a way that it will be welcoming to those new users and help introduce them to this style of action genre.

There’ll be a way for them to get an invincible Arwing, so that they can fly through and see the levels. But at the same time, we’re also preparing modes for Star Fox fans looking for an even harder challenge, such as a ship that does more damage, but which also takes more damage.

One thing that I think is a misunderstanding, is that I’m not very supportive of simply making a game easy so that people who don’t play games can play the game themselves. Obviously part of the fun of taking on a challenge is that the challenge has to be a hurdle that you overcome. Simply lowering the hurdle doesn’t necessarily mean that the challenge will be fun. What’s fun is you mastering the skill and having that sense of accomplishment—of achieving something that’s difficult.

So I think that action games like this have to have a certain level of difficulty to achieve that satisfaction. And particularly with Star Fox Zero, if you try to complete this game, I think you’re going to find it to be quite challenging.”

The reaction online has, predictably, been pretty rough for Nintendo. Quite why gamers would be cross about the addition of a gameplay style that is not designed for them, or need to be used by them, is a mystery. One of many.