Nintendo's Bland New HUDs and UIs

[Koopaul]

I'm starting to notice a trend with Nintendo that I'm not fond of. It started when I saw the menus and icons on the Nintendo Switch itself. Very flat, no colors, no music... Barebones and basic. I figured "Oh well, they'll probably have themes you can download later."

Then I played Breath of the Wild and saw how flat, basic, and minimal the menus were. The title sceen has no music. The file select is flat black boxes. Okay look at this:

This is the Wind Waker's file select. Very stylistic.


Here's Twilight Princess... very elegant.


I was used to seeing stuff like this from Nintendo. Why did Breath of the Wild get rid of that? So I thought maybe it was just Breath of the Wild. After all it's just one game. But then I saw footage of Super Mario Odyssey and saw something shocking!

This is the HUD in Galaxy 2...



This is the HUD in Odyssey...




This is what a speech bubble looks like in Galaxy 2...



This is what a speech bubble looks like in Odyssey...




And finally this is what it looks like when you get a Star...



And this is what it looks like when you get a Moon...



Yeesh! What happened? Why did Nintendo decide to go bland, flat, and minimalistic with UI and HUD?

Is this a new thing with them? Will the next Donkey Kong game have menus and icons as basic as these? What do you think?

[Goemar]

When I read the title of this I thought you meant the console's UI. Which you don't - but anyway.

The Switch's UI is very bland. But the Wii U's was an awful mess of hatred for convenience.

As for speach bubbles and save game loading menus - I really don't care. They are there for a function.

Don't really know enough about the new Mario's HUD but as that game looks crazy stylish - I mean, I don't know - I kinda 'hate' Nintendo and even I think that game is the big change Mario needs (and looks pretty awesome).

It's like having the perfect meal but complaining the menu font was a bit boring or something...

[Zero Kirby]

I like a combination of simplicity and style, which I think Mario Odyssey has. Its HUD is honestly more appealing to me than Galaxy's.

I also didn't know Breath of the Wild had a file select, but I also didn't really have a problem with that game's menu, either.

[Kosheh]

Yeah. Odyssey's UI is no-nonsense, and I think that's what I like about it. It's clean, concise, minimalistic and relatively non-intrusive.



i'm alright with this. it's like Nintendo is finally understanding what 21st-century UI design is all about

[Gors]

I think you should rename this thread Nintendo's Terrible Old HUDs and UIs

the old UIs look extremely tacky and even intrusive for use, Mario Odyssey's HUD and UI is perfect for the pace of the game. Those extra flourishes in design can get in the way and make it a terrible mess when analyzed in a game point of view. It might be cool at first glance but after playing it a lot, you either start ignoring those extra visual cues, or become bored with it.

[Kosheh]

I came back to visit the thread just to see what was posted and then I noticed at the very bottom

Will the next Donkey Kong game have menus and icons as basic as these?

it's not a Koopaul Topic© without Donkey Kong™

[DioShiba]

Honestly, I like the new huds for odyssey. Maybe it's because I'm more apt to favor simplicity when it comes to that function of a video game and it reminds me a little of how the hud was handled in Super Mario World in that one regard.

Maybe not in it's entirety but it's enough to say that it's likeable.

---

it's not a Koopaul Topic© without Donkey Kong™

Well... you're not wrong. The only thing that is missing is the seal of approval.

Which, happens to be Koopaul's old avatar which costed him 20 bananas at Swanky Kong's Bonus Bonanza.

[Gors]

But ofc Nintendo's only relevant IP is Expand Dong, in fact they should of rename themselves dk Corp

[Koopaul]

I forgot to edit that DK part out when I reposted this from the DKVine.

But I'm not a fan of minimalism. It lacks personality. None of the text or icons say "Mario" they could be placed in any video game. They could atleast made the "You Got a Moon!" in Mario font.

I remember in the past pointing out how much I loved how scene transitions in Nintendo games do cool iris-out effect. Or some unique loading screen that wasn't just blank with the words "Loading".

Do these help the gameplay? No. But they give the game more polish and personality.

I can't imagine Banjo-Kazooie with a file select that was silent still and had flat colored boxes on a black background. That stuff was charming. So yeah I'm a fan of these little sounds, effects, colorful icons, and menus.

[Jermungandr]

Well I think the changes to the main HUD you see during gameplay was more about minimizing the amount of space it takes up on the overall screen. Just look at how much space the HUD elements take up in Galaxy image you posted. Simple one-color objects work better at smaller scales because it's easier to make out what they are even at small size, while smaller stylish images can become tougher to identify. So if they plan for the HUD to be present on the screen at all times, that makes perfect sense to me.

i have to agree with the lack of style and polish on the "Moon Get" text, however. That doesn't even look like an actual screenshot from a video game. It looks like someone online lazily pasted some text onto a screenshot. It really doesn't impress on me the feeling of "fun" nor excitement that I accomplished something. It really deserves SOME level of stylishness, at minimum I'd accept just a change of font to something less bland.

On a side note I feel that putting the date of your accomplishment on screen during your victory kind of pulls you out of the immersion a bit.

[Koopaul]

Yeah I don't understand why you need a date there. It's okay to see a date if the player is looking at a log book of all the moons they collected, but right at the moment?

[Goemar]

Trophies or something maybe?

[Kendotlibero]

as for huds, i enjoy two types:
1. minimalistic, you notice it only when something important is happening
2. hyperstylistic and flashy: look at persona 5 as an exeample.
as for mario odyseey, i don't really see the problem, and I never liked the galaxy's hub, looks so childish

[Sengir]

looks go in and out of style. the design of a pepsi can when twilight princess came out was different than the design of a pepsi can today

itll come back dw

[Koopaul]

I guess my problem is that it doesn't look like Mario icons or font. If you want it to be flat and minimalistic that's fine. But atleast use these...

http://www.dafont.com/super-mario-256.font

Also I don't understand why they underline the icons in the HUD.