The Journey to Find Spirit
First thing's first, a quick bit of follow up: I noticed that I pondered playing the Switch port of Galaxy in my first letter as well as my most recent. so let's just lock it in now and say I am going to play the 3D All-Stars port. Done.
Today is one of those "bounce around from task to task" aimless sort of days. The sort of day where looking at the clock is painfully slow, but also blink-and-you-miss-the-hours fast. Some of the tasks today involved brief research for the essay. I remembered a slew of essays from Mark Brown over at Game Maker's Toolkit about Nintendo design. I went back and queued up the ones that I thought could pertain to my essay; and that's what I wanted to grab onto—thinking about where information and insight might come from.
I find myself drawn to the lessons learned between Galaxy 2 and Splatoon 3. I'm fighting the urge to play those games front to back, but that doesn't mean I can't glean knowledge from the titles, right? What I found so interesting is that I am exploring concepts and design principles from an established series (Mario) and applying them both to a new IP (Splatoon), but that IP's latest entry. It has been NINE years since Splatoon on the Wii U. 🫠
And that semi-leads me to my other insight gained for the day. I realized I am asking and trying to answer a question without the familiarity of key source material—Splatoon 3. I haven't played it yet. It's hard to focus on the end without knowing the shape of the thing. Am I hurting my process by waiting to play Splatoon 3 last? Should I play it and then trace my steps back? I'm somewhat unsure now.
I feel like there is value in seeing ideas and philosophy develop over time, instead of retroactively seeing inspiration. It has been so long since I played Galaxy games, I barely remember them. It's broad strokes and a banging soundtrack. Even as I write this, I feel like the journey is what will elevate this story from pure research to something a bit more. Anyone can point out similarities between games? I want to find the spirit of these titles. I think that'll take a bit more soul searching, but if I am asking these questions then perhaps I am already on the right path to discovering the essence of it all.
This letter is one block from the newsletter Memory Card by Max Roberts. Thoughts? Send me an email at max@maxfrequency.net.
Max is the writer and producer behind Max Frequency. cultivate and curate curiosity—both for himself and for others—by delighting in the details and growing greatness from small beginnings.
He's written a rich history and dive on the making of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II, celebrated the 15th anniversary of Super Smash Bros. Brawl with the voice behind its hype, and examined how Zelda "stole" Fortnite's best mechanic.
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