Wii autopilot feature for DS too?

By Robert Purchese Published 8 July, 2009

And titles other than NSMB Wii.

Nintendo may offer the Wii autopilot mechanic Demo Play on DS, as well as titles other than New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun ran the story (translated by IGN), claiming Nintendo is exploring "compatibility for its portable platforms" with regards to the level-skip-like mechanic.

Demo Play grants AI full-control of your character so you can be guided through tricky or confusing sections and not get frustrated. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is reported to be the first game with the feature.

That game, incidentally, was hailed as Game of E3 2009 by Eurogamer. Head over to our event awards to find out why.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • schnide #1 3 years ago

    Nintendo, can you implement a feature that will turn the console on for me? I find that such a ballache. If it could start playing the game for me as well without having to press Start that'd be great, then the autopilot can take me through the game and complete it on my behalf.

    Once "I've" got straight through it though, how am I going to get it back to the shop for a second hand trade in without actually going myself? Nintendo?

  • NOSAVIOUR #2 3 years ago

    I hope you can disable it from the start of a game as I'm worried I will be too tempted at times and just say f*ck it...

  • viper_h #3 3 years ago

    I haven't found a Nintendo game a challenge since SMB3 in 1991. I'll never use this feature.

  • NOSAVIOUR #4 3 years ago

    Its not that they are challenging but for example zelda game dungeons can sometimes be a chore...

  • rhubarbandcustard #5 3 years ago

    You gotta love Nintendo. Not only are their games gleefully shit but now you don't even have to play the damn things yourself.

    Everything about that company irritates me as a gamer.

    World, please, stop buying their product.

  • dr_zoidthrob #6 3 years ago

    Far be it for a game to be a 'challenge'. You might as well just watch a run through on YouTube, it'll be cheaper.

    I'm all for getting more people to play games, but this is going a little too far. I wonder if they'll impliment it on Wii Fit?

  • consignia #7 3 years ago

    This takes active time events to their logical conclusion.... games which play themselves.

    I know tough bits of games can be frustrating at times, but this removes any incentive to get better at them.

  • DFawkes #8 3 years ago

    I'm not going to stop buying Nintendo stuff becuase of this, as long as I still enjoy the games. As long as it's just an option, that I can ignore and stick my tongue out at, I'm fine with it. I'd rather new casual gamers just getting into platformers could see the whole game anyway, I'm sure the developers will enjoy the fact everyone has the chance to see all their lovingly created levels.

  • schnide #9 3 years ago

    If a level is boring to play, it shouldn't be in there. This feature is ridiculous and clearly for the Wii demographic.

  • Nabokov #10 3 years ago

    I think this is brilliant. There was one very frustrating section in LBP, I wish it had had this option. But yeah, Mario games lately haven't been too challening. But there is no harm.

  • electrolite #11 3 years ago

    Good idea this. Not is it actually a good idea but it seems to wind people up. So that's a bonus.

  • shotgun44 #12 3 years ago

    why do people moan about things like this!? There are many games I can't be arsed to play through again because of some pointlessly hard/boring bit that I remember from the first playthrough. I doubt I'd use this feature much but it doesn't hurt anyone by having it there.

  • shotgun44 #13 3 years ago

    I always remember Mario games getting insanely hard towards the end, though? I've barely played any of the 3D Mario games but Mario 3 gets ridiculously hard come world 7/8!

  • Daryoon #14 3 years ago

    I don't see the problem with the feature. You're not being FORCED TO USE IT. It's an option. It's there for the people who DON'T want to spend half an hour trying to beat a level. SHOCKINGLY not everyone HAS THE TIME. EVEN MORE AMAZING is that some people who play games DON'T TREAT THEM AS SERIOUS BUSINESS!

    "Hardcore" gamers are becoming such a bunch of twats these days. I imagine they expect people playing, for example, pool in a pub to take it DEADLY SERIOUSLY and PLAY BY STRICT RULES and NEVER DARE TO JUST HAVE FUN.

  • Stompy #15 3 years ago

    Yes, it is silly to play games that play themselves for you. Someone dropping the cash bomb to buy a game to not play it would be unbelievably stupid.

    However, this feature does not quite do that. AFAIK it shows you how to do something but disables saves after, so it's like training wheels that you then take off.

    Many 'core' gamers who hate this thing love FFVII. Which is a game that practically played itself for you as long as you kept pressing circle, so unbelievably easy and repetitive it was (for the main storyline at least, the optional stuff was definitely more challenging and enjoyable). And when you call for more story in games... well, it's going to make them more linear and probably more obvious, therefore games will on the whole become easier.

  • smelly #16 3 years ago

    I take it none of you guys have ever used a cheat code then?


    >I haven't found a Nintendo game a challenge since SMB3 in 1991.


    Try getting all 100 stars in SMG - that's the definition of "hardcore"

  • smelly #17 3 years ago

    Most modern games are so easy they pretty much play themselves anyhow.

    Case in point.. How many people have completed all the SMG levels? How many people managed to beat SM3? etc etc.

    How many of you beat (any of the) halo games in a couple of days?

    Modern "hardcore" gamers LIKE games to be easy. The most popular games, ARE easy. If a game doesnt have a quicksave/quickload feature, then it wont sell. Some of the biggest games of the last few years - cod4, bioshock, etc - all were easy as hell and can be completed in days without much effort. Hell bioshock doesnt even punish you for dying!!!! Now compare that to a REAL hardcore game like Dead Rising - where you DONT have your hand held all the time - that sold REALLY well didnt it?

    Gamers (even "hardcore" ones) dont like hard games. I can gaurantee that whever faced with a challenging game 90% of you "hardcore" lot start looking on gamefaqs for a walkthrough or cheat.

    All this is doing is bypassing the need to cheat/use a walkthrough - but not rewarding you if you do..

    I'd say that's a good thing!

  • smelly #18 3 years ago

    (triple post combo!)

    "If a level is boring to play, it shouldn't be in there. "

    Agreed. But we're talking about a mario game here. Its VERY unlikely that it'll have "boring" levels. This ISNT for "boring" levels. Its for the sections of levels people find too hard.. hard isnt boring. Easy is boring.. but try telling that to most (actually i'll stop there as that'll get me a negative score) - but you know who you are (hint - see above)

  • scouserfuller9 #19 3 years ago

    I think the main reason Nintendo are adding this feature is so if people reach a point where they are completely stuck they can have it done for them keeping them in the game rather than take the game down the road and exchange it.
    It will work well for people new to games like Zelda. I remember when I first played it on the SNES I found it too hard at first and was thinking it wasn't the game for me but unlike most people I carried on until I knew what to do and fell in love with the game! People who give in too easy will find this feature useful as they'll learn from what they see and continue playing not only that one game but future titles in the series as well.

  • smelly #20 3 years ago

    If this feature wasnt wanted - then people wouldnt have bought all those action replay cards years ago.

    Or people wouldnt know what "iddqd" did.

  • NeonStorm #21 3 years ago

    Fair enough people won't be 'forced' to use it, but for those that do it eliminates the sense of achievement for clearing a particularly challenging section. Nintendo should be helping casual gamers adapt to a challenge rather than holding their hands through the entire game.

  • mal #22 2 years ago

    I don't think I've ever completed a Mario game. Got close on Super Mario 2 and NSMB DS, but gave up near the end. Got to 100 stars in Mario 64, but didn't bother once the clock level got too hard. Gave up on SMS after only a handful of stars as I recall. And I'm never going to complete these games - I've got newer, more shiny games to play - but I wouldn't be offended by being able to see the ending that's in the game I paid for.

    Mind you, I don't even use continues in games that have them, so perhaps I wouldn't use this feature anyway.