Thursday, August 27, 2015

Illusion of Length: An Analysis of the Pacing of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga


              A few days ago I spent some time watching a speed runner I enjoy watching play Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for the first time. He speed runs Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, yet has never played a Mario & Luigi game. So it was fascinating seeing his unique perspective on the series with his background, but I noticed some things during his playthrough that got me thinking.

You see, a lot of the reactions he had to the game and its events mirrored my own, and those particular reactions are ones that I rarely get from video games and stories in general. For example, he mentioned that the game feels quite long, a similar feeling I got despite its short length, hm. He also noted that there were a few times in the game in which he thought he was at the end of it, only to find that there’s more to come, and again, this is a strong feeling I got from the game. And I wondered, why is that, and do those ideas connect?