Shiro Mouri, the programming director for Super Mario Bros. Wonder, confessed that while Mario games were unique and had great ideas in the beginning, “those things have somehow become ordinary.” The concepts he mentioned are now staples of the series, and not innovative anymore. According to a recent interview, he wanted to give Mario the same wonder it had a long time ago.
In an Ask the Developer interview at Nintendo, Mouri explained that the original concepts, “Coins would come out when you hit the blocks, and your body would grow bigger with Super Mushrooms,” are no longer special. This formula, which was once great, is now expected. He explained “Back then, everything was new and packed with unexpected delights. However, now that the Super Mario games have been enjoyed by players for many years.”
The thing is that even with new Mario games, those kinds of things haven’t changed or become better. It seems like Mario is just being moved to new worlds and getting maybe one or two new things. Mouri explained that Takashi Tezuka, the producer for Super Mario Bros. Wonder, wanted the game to “create moments that even modern players would find unexpected and wondrous.”
That’s a tall order, Nintendo does innovate, but the things it does are not spectacular. Even Tears of the Kingdom’s building is only innovative to Nintendo games, not games in general. Games such as Little Big Planet and Banjo Kazooie challenged platform capabilities and pushed creation to new heights, and that sounds like what Nintendo wants. The original Super Mario Bros. game impressed gamers around the world, not just Nintendo fans. Super Mario Bros. Wonder wants to do the same thing.
The team went all out, going even far enough to change the expression on Goombas. They even considered adding live commentary and decided to feature a concept from the Dark Souls series.
We covered how the development had 2,000 new ideas already thanks to the new movie. but this is why. The developers want Mario to be impressive again, just like when the series was new. You should look at our countdown to find out when it’s releasing for your time zone because it sounds like Mario is going to come down hard on the industry like the giant it is.
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