This is almost nothing, though. The secret areas are a handful of coins, or an extra power-up, or a magic whistle. Three sections of a water level or a wall of ice in one world is not a puzzle nor an “alternate path” in a meaningful way. E-reader? The niche peripheral adds a tiny bit of extra content for the GBA release of the NES game and that’s among your best arguments?

SMB3 is very good for what it is and a technical achievement but ranking it above World is pure nostalgia.

Sunshine had some cool ideas and introduced Bowser Jr. but I wouldn’t put it over Galaxy or Odyssey as a 3D platformer.

I realize it’s comparing apples to oranges but Paper Mario and Odyssey have to be in the discussion.

You hold the “run” button, exactly the same as in 3.

They’re interesting but aren’t used in novel ways. Leaf is great and Cape expands on it. Frog is entirely optional, Tanooki and Hammer are nice upgrades to Leaf and Fire Flower but don’t meaningfully change how you approach the game, the Shoe exists for a single level gimmick, and the map items are all little shortcuts to play less of the game. SMB3 does not use its unique tools to build new kinds of puzzles or present alternate paths through a level they just make the challenges a little easier.

Cape, P-Balloon, and Yoshi are much better utilized.

You should read “Harrison Bergeron”.

Movies “can be” made accessible to everyone but that would mean shaving off any theme or imagery that might trigger a trauma or phobia, cutting all content that may be inappropriate to children, avoiding any topic that could offend someone’s beliefs. Why are these unreasonable expectations but all video games have to pander to someone with poor reflexes or insufficient free time to learn the nuances of a mechanical system?

“People disagree with me and that makes them unfeeling sociopaths.”

Yeah. The human experience is not, cannot be, and should not be homogeneous.

Settle down Mitch Hedberg.

Proudly “fluoride free” too, which makes me immediately doubt the veracity of their dental health claims.

Don’t give the military ideas like that.

We have a pretty good idea how things work during development, it’s tricking those cells into the same process as a fully-formed organism that’s hard. Isolating and distributing the hormones in the right way. I think you’re underselling the complexity and scale of biology. We can’t just put a tiny camera and chemo-sensor inside a neuron and see what’s going on in real time and synthesize up a hundred thousand copies.

Sure, it’s what makes them powerfully immersive. I’m asking why being interactive means they have to be the most accessible form of art.

Why is interactivity a special trait for this discussion?

actually be able to talk to their more hardcore friends about the game that their friend recommended!

The journey is often as important to the experience. It would be like your friend telling you about a great hike but then driving to the top just to talk about the view.

“I’m allergic to wheat and they don’t carry gluten-free bread for the banh mi!”

Yeah bud, the world be like that sometimes. Eat somewhere else.

It’s like making music and experimenting with discordant harmonies and unusual rhythms. Art can be challenging, it can require engagement and time and study to fully experience. It can make people uncomfortable and it can appeal to only a small audience and still be good.

Mastering a game and falling into a good flow is unwinding for me. Something easy doesn’t release any tension nor give me accomplishment-dopamine.

And not everything needs to be made for the widest possible audience.

Rescue dogs and bomb dogs are cool, traffic stop K-9 units are an affront to civil rights.