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The Sakurai Checklist™

RawkHawk2010

RawkHawk2010

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One of my favorite Sakurai gaming conventions is the checklist (or "prize wall", if you will), that rewards awesome collectibles based on doing certain things in the game. These things can range from the inevitable (playing a certain number of hours) to the incredibly specific (destroying a certain Air Ride machine with another Air Ride machine or killing a boss with a certain weapon). And then some are just fucking hard! (Looking at you, Intense Boss Rush!) It's always a good feeling to hear that "ding!" during gameplay (well, only Air Ride does this, but I would like it to spread elsewhere), which prompts the player to wonder what kind of song/level/character he/she just unlocked.

It's stratospheric, dudes!

So GAF, do you like these things? Any boxes you remember being so difficult they made you want to do something really, really rash? (Like throw a grocery bag across the room?)

Discuss!
 
I absolutely love the prize walls. Spoilers be damned -- there are THREE of them in Kid Icarus Uprising, spanning over 300 in-game achievements, and each ultimately revealing an epic picture underneath. And these in-game achievements often have actual prizes attached, making them not a complete waste of time like the trophies on my PS3 or the achievement on my Steam!
 
I love how much Sakurai packs into each of his games, even though it means him delaying the shit out of them each time.
 
Spent so much time as a kid unlocking all the stuff in Air Ride. When me and my brother saw the wall in Brawl, we both said "well, let's do it all again".

Haven't picked up Uprising yet, didn't realize it had this feature. Guess I'm in for a nostalgic ride
 
I want MORE MORE MORE.

The only thing I missed in KI was the lack of instant notification of the achievement, whether by an audible intonation or a pop-up graphic of some kind or whatever. It can be a bit frustrating waiting until you've finished a chapter to find out if you accomplished what you set out to do.
 
I love it. It's one of the ways you know you're playing a Sakurai game. The man crams so much content into his games. Must be nice to have the budget and manpower. :P
 
I love the way he implements them but I wish they were system wide achievements like how ps3/360 does them. When they're limited and tracked to just 1 game I tend to not really care about getting them all.
 
The slamming sound effect that normally happens when something gets added to the prize wall is the most satisfying sound in gaming ever. EVER.
 
Derrick01 said:
I love the way he implements them but I wish they were system wide achievements like how ps3/360 does them. When they're limited and tracked to just 1 game I tend to not really care about getting them all.
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A system wide prize wall sounds pretty damn cool honestly.
 
Derrick01 said:
I love the way he implements them but I wish they were system wide achievements like how ps3/360 does them. When they're limited and tracked to just 1 game I tend to not really care about getting them all.
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I have to admit, I kinda feel this way too. I'd definitely put in more effort towards getting more achievements if they were system wide, as you say.
 
I love sakurai and I love his achievement systems.

absolutely awesome. the only way to do achievements as far as I'm concerned.

in game content rewards = awesome

pointless, arbitrary gamerscore, trophy collection, or "accomplishment" rewards = meh
 
Derrick01 said:
I love the way he implements them but I wish they were system wide achievements like how ps3/360 does them. When they're limited and tracked to just 1 game I tend to not really care about getting them all.
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Or at the very least let me compare them to what my friends have unlocked. That said these are my favorite types of achievements.
 
Absolutely love the Sakurai checklist. I feel like it's the right way to do achievements because it forces you to play more of the game, encourages exploration, and usually rewards you with something that you can actually use like a new weapon, vehicle or character.

I feel like if Wii U's Accomplishments integrated with something like Sakurai's Checklist, Nintendo would have the best achievement system on any platform.
 
Brawl's prize wall ended up being more annoying than fun since so many of them were just beating different modes with every character. Sure there were golden hammers, but still

All three of Uprising's on the other hand were mostly awesome. Forcing you to beat certain levels with different types of weapons were so fun and frustrating at the same time; the one that made you use a club on 9.0 was one of the most brutal gaming challenges I've ever even attempted
 
VICI0US said:
I love sakurai and I love his achievement systems.

absolutely awesome. the only way to do achievements as far as I'm concerned.

in game content rewards = awesome

pointless, arbitrary gamerscore, trophy collection, or "accomplishment" rewards = meh
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You can have both though. That's what I was meaning to say in my last comment. He doesn't have to change how he does it at all, just make them count on your overall account somehow (doesn't have to be a point system) and let your friends be able to look at it from the dashboard. That requires Nintendo implementing a system wide achievement system like the other consoles though.

And at the same time in the specific game he can keep having them unlock in game stuff too.
 
The Sakurai prizewall/grid specifically is grand, and honestly I don't care if they're online or not because it's not about showing off - they give rewards in-game.

Having said that, in the future I do think achievement systems would best be served as a combination of the prizewall w/ in-game rewards and the PSN trophy system, where ranks of trophies mean something more explicit than an arbitrary gamerscore number that has no meaning across various games.
 
I'd like to see something more like the Kid Icarus puzzle walls in the next Smash Bros.
Basically I want some smooth looking art to look at when it's all said and done. The real reward.
 
I loved that wall of gold in Kirby Air Ride.
Totally made me feel like I achieved something... wait a second...
 
Derrick01 said:
I love the way he implements them but I wish they were system wide achievements like how ps3/360 does them. When they're limited and tracked to just 1 game I tend to not really care about getting them all.
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Having any kind of standard for these types if rewards generally leads to them feeling shoehorned into games where they don't fit. That's why there's so many games that have 15-20 filler "chapter clear" trophies/achievements. I'd rather there be in-game rewards for certain actions without any way to track such achievements outside the game than to have some intangible (even by video game standards), meaningless number for all of it.
 
jooey said:
love the message, hate the method.
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Agreed. The shit you have to do to unlock everything is ridiculous. It forces a player to do things they hate for rewards they love. I am personally not a masochist, so have never 100% a single Sakurai game. I find his experiences fun but bloated.
 
Terrell said:
Agreed. The shit you have to do to unlock everything is ridiculous. It forces a player to do things they hate for rewards they love. I am personally not a masochist, so have never 100% a single Sakurai game. I find his experiences fun but bloated.
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None of the important stuff is ever hard to unlock.
 
In Smash, we should be able to have a ID/ profile, which we can put our favorite smash trophies.

Trophies should become really rare and valuable, also tradable.
 
Achievements should ALWAYS be connected with rewards.
People shit on Uplay most of the time, but as far as I know every game that supports (read: forces) being logged into Uplay also has rewards for various achievements.

Every Sakurai game since Kirby Air Ride does it right, so far.
Xenoblade did it okay by giving you some EXP after every unlocked achievement.

Actual in-game rewards are so much better than gamerscore or trophies, both of which do absolutely nothing.
Back then it was kind of a novelty getting an achievement and some points, because it was a new kind of system used in all 360 games.
Shortly thereafter you knew that Gamerscore points do nothing and that's it.

In Smash Bros. Brawl or Kid Icarus Uprising you play not only to win, but to gain. You WANT do beat that fucking stupid Chapter 19 on Difficulty 9.0 because of that sweet stuff you may or may not get from the treasure wall.
You WANT to play 50.000 VS matches because of that sweet or not so sweet stuff that's behind that one square at the prize wall.

Seriously, it is so much more satisfying actually getting a reward than to just get a message that reads "Oh yeah, 20 points to you because, gee well, you're a stupid nerd and have nothing better to do than playing the game for 500 hours so yeah, spend your points wisely (note: these points are useless)".



I really hope that Wii U's accomplishments turn out to be actual in-game rewards.
 
I...I should probably play Kid Icarus.

Always loved this concept in Smash, it'd be cool to see other games shamelessly copy it. The Krypts in the Mortal Kombat games have been great for a while also.
 
I love this. I have every trophy in Brawl. Damn that Intense Boss Rush was hard... but I DID IT.

Fuck getting all of the stickers, though.
 
Final Fantasy Dissidia did this (both of them), as did Phantasy Star Portable 1 and 2. All four of those games also had unlockable in-game items tied to the achievements, too. It really is the best way to go regarding achievements.
 
I honestly could take it or leave it, but it is a pretty neat feature.

Everyone mentioning the Wii U made me think of this...

Imagine if each Wii U game with achievements had 1 or more pictures or pieces of art. The art would be covered by tiles, each tile representing an achievement. Big achievements have bigger tiles. Unlocking achievements would, one piece at a time, uncover the picture. You can see your friends' progress on their pictures.

Basically, a mix of Kid Icarus and the 3DS Mii Plaza's Puzzle Swap.
 
The three or so boxes I never unlocked in Brawl haunt me to this very day.

It's definitely a great idea. I never really understood the appear of achievements unless they give you something of value, even within the confines of the game.
 
Derrick01 said:
I love the way he implements them but I wish they were system wide achievements like how ps3/360 does them. When they're limited and tracked to just 1 game I tend to not really care about getting them all.
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Except in PS3/360 only a few games actually unlock stuff via achievement.

Really sad if you think about it, you'd think achievements would inspire devs to use them as a means to put neat unlockables and bonuses.
 
And Menu Design! Man, you could show me a sakurai game i've never seen before and i could tell you it's a sakurai game by the menu designe alone.
 
I loved it in Brawl and I can't wait to get started on KI:U. As others have said, it's SO much better when you get an actual in-game reward instead of just a message. It would be awesome if they managed to implement KI's system console wide for Wii U.
 
Sakurai games have the menu equivalent of the Gamecube controller. The "PLAY NOW!" button is always fucking huge, just like the big fat A button.
 
I get excited when I unlock things from them, but I never really go out of my way to do so unless the prize is something significant to the gameplay like a character, stage, weapon, or something.

I think it's awesome that he gives players the option to do all that stuff, but it also makes me sad that I never truly 100% his games.
 
I love it so much. Currently fighting my way through the Kid Icarus ones. Would certainly add some longevity/difficulty to Nintendo games. Imagine one for 3D Land!
 
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