Bonus Rooms Shouldn't Be Bonuses (And How Precedent Shapes Games)

Comments · 243

• ID

  @idk01123 · 8 months ago (edited)

  tbh I really like that the Kong letters are what unlocks the extra levels. While the puzzle pieces are usually hidden but easy to collect if you know where they are, the Kong letters are usually easy to find but require some extra tricky platforming to get. It makes sense that the collectible that requires you to perform trickier platforming rewards you with the tricky platforming levels while the collectible that requires you to pay careful attention to observing the world rewards you with more art of that world.<br><br>If you’re a player who’s only here for the platforming challenges, you shouldn’t have to engage with secret finding to get the extra platforming challenges.

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• TH

  @thatmarioguytmg369 · 8 months ago (edited)

  I remember reading a developer interview from some of the Devs who worked on DKCR and DKCTF, and they basically said that in DKCR, they wanted to do more with the bonus rooms, but due to tight deadlines and crunch time, they had to scale them back. Then, with DKCTF, the deadlines were even tighter, and the game even had to be delayed to meet quality standards, so the bonus rooms had to be simplified even further from DKCR to buy them more time to polish the levels. While I am sad to hear about crunch time, I&apos;m glad the games turned out so well in the end.

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• KI

  @kimi1522 · 8 months ago (edited)

  While I agree bonus rooms with worthwhile rewards are awesome, I do also love the genre of stupidly hidden rooms that are just pure bonus rooms<br><br>Like, in pretty much every Kirby game, there&apos;s hidden rooms you&apos;d never think to enter, usually just containing a bunch of point stars (Kirby equivalent to coins).<br>You don&apos;t feel ripped off from it being overly obscured since it can&apos;t lock you out of full game completion, and when you know of its existence it&apos;s fun to enter it every time you play the stage casually.<br>They&apos;re also all unique, so they don&apos;t get tiring even if all of them are just glorified treasure hoards.<br><br>Though this only really applies if the room is hidden to a degree where the majority of players wouldn&apos;t be able to find it. If it&apos;s actually hidden to a reasonable degree then I&apos;d prefer for that to be part of the 100% completion process

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• HA

  @hallowlitten1018 · 8 months ago

  I remember playing Tropical Freeze and thinking that there was way too many bonus rooms, like 2 or 3 a level it felt like<br>Like “oh boy another bonus room yipeeee…” it just felt boring when they probably could’ve put something unique there instead

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• CR

  @croncrete · 8 months ago

  While I do love the bonus room gameplay loop of dkc2 and 3, I personally think the way the returns games handle the collectables is much more elegant. It rewards the players who collect the kong letters (collectables not particularly difficult to find, but often requiring risky or clever maneuvers to obtain) with challenge stages, and it rewards players who collect the puzzle pieces (collectables sprinkled through levels requiring combing through the densely detailed environments to find) with concept art, both of these rewards fitting well with the challenges that lock them. If anything I think the bonus rooms are only really in the returns games for series tradition, and they probably could have been mostly replaced with free standing puzzle pieces just fine.

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• LU

  @LudosusGames · 8 months ago

  Although it was briefly mentioned a couple of times in this video, I must emphasize the whole concept of having two different endings to a game: one for casually playing through the game, and a second &quot;true/secret ending&quot; for hardcore gamers who end up collecting everything. The casual player still feels like they&apos;ve beat the game since they beat the last boss and saw the credits roll, and the hardcore gamer is further rewarded by beating the true last boss and seeing the true/secret ending. It&apos;s really the perfect formula to handling collectibles; of rewarding those who collect everything with a few more levels (which ramp up the difficultly), an even harder last boss, and an even better ending to the game, while still allowing the casual player (who doesn&apos;t get all of the collectibles) to feel accomplished by beating the last boss and seeing the credits roll.

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• DE

  @De_an · 8 months ago

  Intro appearing 5 minutes into the video is kinda crazy.

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• GR

  @GreenGuyGrandish · 8 months ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKf60eMxb44&amp;t=8">0:08</a> &quot;break open, add, and subtract&quot;<br>I see what you did there, very clever.

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• IV

  @ivanzoneBR · 8 months ago (edited)

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKf60eMxb44&amp;t=482">8:02</a> Nintendo recently adding Dixie to DKCR HD is the exact definition of bonus as you shown. I wish more people realize that.

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• LY

  @lysuudu8604 · 8 months ago

  man, I remember watching your old mario sunshine videos what felt like ages ago. it&apos;s awesome to see you&apos;re still uploading, and great quality content at that. keep it up!

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• ZE

  @ZeoLightning · 8 months ago

  another important thing that DKC 2 did that i feel is important was introduce types of bonus area&apos;s. that was extremely important in making each and every one feel unique, even when they reused assets, you can look at any bonus room, see the type then see the aethetic and probably know which bonus it is and what level it was in. and that compliments the level&apos;s identity. <br><br>a stage like krack shot croc becomes instantly more memorable when you gain the ability to play as krosshair, whom you have been avoiding and dodging for the entire level for a unique spin on a established type of bonus area. same for most of the green banana challenges too.

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• RA

  @rasput1n6 · 8 months ago

  I love that your intro is always at the middle of the video xD ^^

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