RedShell Posted October 17, 2017 Posted October 17, 2017 (edited) I remember being quite intrigued by HD Rumble back when the Switch was publicly revealed, it looked like a such fantastic evolution of force feedback technology. Fast forward to actually experiencing the feature on Switch, and well... it wasn't all that exciting. Keep in mind that I haven't played 1-2-Switch (which is supposedly still the best showcase) but its implementation in MK8DX, Arms and Splatoon 2 was pretty underwhelming. Collecting coins in Mario Kart produced an interesting effect, as did the different strength of mini-turbo boosts, but other than that it wasn't particularly impressive. Certainly not individual ice cubes rattling in a glass impressive that is. So yeah, my initial impression of HD Rumble was that of disappointment, and I mostly kept the feature turned off to save battery. However, a couple of games have recently started to change my opinion of the feature quite a bit, they are Thumper and Golf Story. With Thumper it's more to do with how each Joy-Con has its own individual rumble motor, meaning you get clearly defined feedback on both the left and right side (the effect is even more pronounced when using the Joy-Con out of the grip in each hand) but there's also a lot of variation in intensity too, which really adds to the experience. Golf Story overuses rumble quite a bit (literally every speech bubble in the game causes feedback!) but the way in which it subtlety changes to portray the emotion of what's being said is genius. When characters are excited or shouting you get a really strong effect, but when they're sulking or complaining about something you get this kind of drooping effect that perfectly matches the animation of a speech bubble tilting to the side. Similar thing happens when you hit a shot out of bounds, you can kind of feel the ball falling over time, wheeeeeeee.... Anyway, having experienced more of what's possible with the tech I am far more excited about its potential now, and just hope it doesn't end up being neglected in the future. Would really like to see more of Nintendo's own titles making clever use of it though, hopefully Super Mario Odyssey has some nice HD Rumble tricks going on. Well, that's my 2p, how about you guys? And I've not done a poll on the new forum yet, so why not... Edited October 17, 2017 by RedShell 1
nekunando Posted October 17, 2017 Posted October 17, 2017 The first thing I noticed about Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the difference in feel of the rumble compared to the Wii U version! Apart from that, I don't think there have been enough examples of the benefits of HD Rumble in the games I own. I've played 1-2 Switch at my brother's house a couple of times so I'm familiar with the sensation thanks to the most well-known implementation in Ball Count. It's cool but, for me, the entire game is mostly garbage so there's little incentive to ever play it. Like you, I hope there's some interesting uses for HD Rumble in Super Mario Odyssey but I also wonder what could be done in games like Wave Race and Luigi's Mansion Ultimately, I'm a fan of it (as much as I can be with my limited experience so far) but I'm excited to see more! 1
Hero-of-Time Posted October 17, 2017 Posted October 17, 2017 I'm not really fussed about it. I actually turned it off when I first got my Switch and only put it on again due to it being used to find secrets in Mighty Gunvolt Burst. I've kept it on since but it hasn't really blew my mind with the way it has been used in the games that I play. It's just kinda there. 1
Charlie Posted October 17, 2017 Posted October 17, 2017 I voted 'Whats HD rumble?' because I can't differentiate what I've experienced rumble-wise from any other console. Zelda, Mario Kart, Rabbids and Fast RMX there's basically nothing out of the ordinary. 2 1
RedShell Posted October 17, 2017 Author Posted October 17, 2017 49 minutes ago, ArtMediocre said: I will be a fan soon.... Oh man, forgot about that. 16 minutes ago, Charlie said: I voted 'Whats HD rumble?' because I can't differentiate what I've experienced rumble-wise from any other console. Zelda, Mario Kart, Rabbids and Fast RMX there's basically nothing out of the ordinary. Well, you definitely wouldn't be able to notice a difference on Zelda as it doesn't utilise HD Rumble at all unfortunately, supposedly due to its roots as a Wii U title. I think that was actually my first disappointment concerning HD Rumble as I was totally expecting it to be used in that game. But yeah, the effects of HD Rumble are generally pretty subtle and vary a lot by title. If you want another way to differentiate it from conventional rumble though, next time you play MK8, mute the sound of your TV when collecting a coin or boosting and listen closely to the Joy-Con, it kind of makes the corresponding on-screen sound effect just via the rumble motors.
Londragon Posted October 17, 2017 Posted October 17, 2017 I voted YES, but with caveats. Golf Story's use is by far the best I've felt so far. All the other uses have been far too subtle. And I've noticed a difference between the HD rumble in the Joy-Cons and the Pro-Controller. With the Joy-Cons it's easier to feel those subtle changes, especially when split in each hand. The pro-contoller struggles to pick up all those subtle variations and differentiations. Good, but I need more proof of its versatility. 1
ShavenWolf Posted October 17, 2017 Posted October 17, 2017 (edited) I know @RedShell covers it perfectly in the OP, but until Golf Story, I'd only really noticed it in really specific examples in games (collecting coins in MK8, rolling through pipes in Mario + Rabbids) - but Golf Story's implementation is the first time I've thought "Ok, this is definitely a big step in rumble!" The golf swing on the title screen is a great example, but my favourite use of HD rumble on the Switch so far is how well it adds to the dialogue in Golf Story - it's used to great effect to convey emotion and tone of voice for each character. It really does add a lot to how Golf Story tells it's story. Also, the noise it makes when you hit a ball off the screen is really cool: Edited October 17, 2017 by ShavenWolf 1
Kav Posted October 17, 2017 Posted October 17, 2017 I’m yet to see anything that shows HD Rumble is worth it... or the IR Pointer for that matter (specifically on Switch, on the Wii it was amazing).
ShavenWolf Posted October 17, 2017 Posted October 17, 2017 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Kav said: I’m yet to see anything that shows HD Rumble is worth it... or the IR Pointer for that matter (specifically on Switch, on the Wii it was amazing). You mean it wasn't worth all the research and development that went into it just to eat virtual sandwiches? Edited October 17, 2017 by ShavenWolf 2
Grazza Posted October 17, 2017 Posted October 17, 2017 I like rumble and thought I was going to love HD Rumble, but however far we are down the line from Switch's launch, I've turned it off. Now I'm sure there have been instances where I was impressed with it (probably Breath Of The Wild or simply the console's UI - because I haven't really played anything else "big"), but most of the time it just feels like an overly intense rumble. The Switch vibrates like crazy! I'm not really sure why developers are misjudging it so much, and I love the fact that Nintendo was trying to make games more immersive in this way, but maybe it needs another stage of evolution. At the moment I make it the exception to turn it on, rather than the exception to turn it off. 1
killthenet Posted October 17, 2017 Posted October 17, 2017 I'm a fan of it and definitely think it's a step up from traditional rumble but it depends on how developers use it. In Fast RMX for example I think it works really well when playing with the pro controller or the joy cons separated from the console but it makes far too much noise when playing in handheld mode so I turn it off in that instance. But in MK8 it works really well no matter what set up you're using so I guess Shin'en just need to dial it down a little bit.
Dcubed Posted October 17, 2017 Posted October 17, 2017 HD Rumble is awesome when it actually gets utilised. 1,2,Switch is the obvious forebearer with Ball Count (which is every bit as amazing as the initial ice cube teaser), but there are some other games that use them in small and subtle-but-nice ways; like Project Octopath Traveller’s demo (the door open-close effect is subtle, but amazing!), FAST RMX’s tornado HD Rumble effect, Tumbleseed, Golf Story and Thumper. You do also have Splatoon 2, MK8DX and ARMS that use HD Rumble in subtle ways, but otherwise it’s just normal Rumble across the board for the most part. Switch is still lacking in really stand-out games that really make heavy use of it right now. Thankfully Super Mario Odyssey has some pretty great use of it though, so hopefully it’ll change some minds round here, because HD Rumble is amazing when developers put the effort in! 2
Glen-i Posted October 19, 2017 Posted October 19, 2017 Pretty much agree with @Dcubed on that part. Which is why I voted Yes. Pokemon won't use it though. Calling it now. PMD will though! Yes, the 3DS games still have me salty 1
Sméagol Posted October 19, 2017 Posted October 19, 2017 I never "experienced" HD Rumble, or at least that I know of. Everything felt like normal rumble to me. Of course, I'll never play 1-2 Switch, which still seems to have best example of this elusive HD rumble. That said, I also mostly use the pro controller. I'll have a quick look in the Octopath demo now DCubed mentions it, using the joy-cons. 1
Dcubed Posted October 20, 2017 Posted October 20, 2017 20 hours ago, Sméagol said: I never "experienced" HD Rumble, or at least that I know of. Everything felt like normal rumble to me. Of course, I'll never play 1-2 Switch, which still seems to have best example of this elusive HD rumble. That said, I also mostly use the pro controller. I'll have a quick look in the Octopath demo now DCubed mentions it, using the joy-cons. They only really use it for when you open and close doors in the demo, but it's a great effect! (and yes, it does feel different when you open as opposed to close a door. Get a feel for it!)
RedShell Posted March 16, 2018 Author Posted March 16, 2018 Looks like there's a great use of HD rumble in the new Kirby game: Spoiler And obviously the way Labo is going to utilise it looks awesome as well. Great stuff. 3
RedShell Posted April 26, 2018 Author Posted April 26, 2018 (edited) We have a new contender for best HD Rumble now, it is of course LABO!: Some fantastic examples in the discover section, and you get to mess with the variations yourself in the Toy-Con RC Car control panel. Spoiler Edited April 26, 2018 by RedShell 1 2
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