Hotel Mario Cutscenes: 1994's FMV Failure Analyzed
Okay, let's talk about Hotel Mario. The CD-i game starring everyone's favorite plumber is infamous, and its notoriously bad full-motion video (FMV) cutscenes are often cited as a primary reason for its spectacular failure. But was it only the cutscenes? This article argues that while the awkward, grainy videos were undoubtedly a significant contributor to the game's poor reception, they were merely one symptom of a larger systemic failure born from a confluence of technological limitations, rushed development, and a disconnect between the game's design and the established Mario brand identity....