With Super Mario Bros. Wonder releasing nearer to the end of this week, Nintendo has made Super Mario Bros. Wonder the latest game to get the “Ask the Developer” interview treatment. Across the interview’s multiple instalments, we got to hear from the likes of Takashi Tezuka and other developers all involved in Mario’s latest 2D outing.
During the interview, we heard from the devs behind Super Mario Bros. Wonder, as they spoke about how they feel Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a game a whole family can enjoy and opens up a path for a brighter future for the series:
Mario Devs on Wonder’s Fun for all the Family:
Shiro Mouri: I’d love to see everyone playing this game together with their family as well. I hope newcomers try joining in as Yoshi or Nabbit, who don’t take damage. If you play in local co-op, lives are shared among the group, so you can play the game with a sense of togetherness to help one another. Even if one person makes a mistake, your group won’t lose a life immediately as long as somebody comes to their rescue by the count of five, during which they appear as a ghost. I think it’s become easier to play with others.
Takashi Tezuka: Looking at the team members playing this game, everyone was having fun and shouting with excitement, even more so than I’ve seen in previous multiplayer games, and this filled me with confidence that this feature can be highly recommended.
Shiro Mouri: If you’re playing in local co-op, discussing and choosing a badge together adds to the fun. You can ramp up the challenge with badges like Invisibility or Jet Run. Conversely, it can also be fun to discuss with everybody the most effective badge to take on a challenging course. Being able to choose any course on the world map may be another exciting element. I also recommend being bold and picking a challenging course or a badge that ups the difficultly for multiplayer and enjoying the chaos that ensues.
Koji Kondo: This new Mario title has so much new gameplay, and I think we accomplished Tezuka-san’s goal of creating a foundation for future 2D Mario games. From a sound perspective, there’s a badge called Rhythm Jump where you jump on every fourth beat. This feels satisfying in any course, so I hope everyone will try it out. And lastly, I think the casual connection during online play is the most significant innovation we’ve made for this title. I have a Nintendo Switch Online membership, but I’m no good at competing, so I’ve mainly been playing NES games that don’t involve online matches… (Laughs) But with this casual connection, I feel more comfortable stepping into the world of online this time.
Masanobu Sato: We’ve made each character’s facial expressions, including Mario’s, much richer to convey their charm. If you look closely, I’m sure you’ll keep discovering new things, like, “Oh, they move like that too?”. And the adventure takes place in the all-new location of the Flower Kingdom, so I hope everyone will enjoy a fresh 2D Mario experience. I hope you’ll pay attention to those details as well, and it would be great if you got more interested in 2D Mario games and the Mario characters as a result.
Koichi Hayashida: In the same year that Nintendo Switch launched, the 3D Mario title Super Mario Odyssey was released, and I’m sure for some, that game was their first Mario experience. I hope this game will be a good opportunity for those players to discover the fun of 2D Mario games. Personally, I think we’ve created a game where the surprises keep on coming and the fun never stops – and one which will satisfy even those with happy memories of playing 3D Mario games. Also, the world map for this game is in 3D, and it’s open for exploration. Some team members were also involved in the development of 3D Mario games, and we worked on the map together. So I hope everyone will spend some time exploring it. What’s more, there’s a hidden character who appears in some of the recent 3D Mario games, so please try looking for them.
Shiro Mouri: Above all, I really hope everyone will play this game their way. Whether you play solo, in local co-op, or online, how you play is entirely up to you. You’re free to choose any course and whether or not you activate the Wonder effect during the course. And, naturally, it’s up to you which badge to equip. If you find it too difficult, try picking Yoshi or Nabbit, who don’t take any damage, or you could go online, where I’m sure you’ll find other players who’ll help you out since it’s only possible for them to do things that benefit you. Please give it a go and try to clear the game.
Takashi Tezuka: As for the online play, there’s a free 7-day trial of the Nintendo Switch Online Individual Membership for new customers, so I hope you will experience it for yourself. We’ve talked about 2D Mario versus 3D Mario, but I hope people will ditch any preconceptions they may have and give it a go. We will continue to create Mario gameplay, regardless of whether it’s 2D or 3D, so I hope everyone will continue to enjoy it. And also, we were talking about my tendency to ask the impossible (laughs), but as Kondo-san mentioned, in order to create fun gameplay within the limitations of the hardware, it takes great creativity and ingenuity to go beyond those constraints. I believe fun gameplay is what comes out of such an environment. I hope to continue creating games while building a good relationship with other team members so that my “impossible” suggestions don’t end up as such, but rather create opportunities for everyone to pitch in with their own solutions. Well, that last comment was directed at the development team members. (Laughs)
For the full interview, why not click here to check out Ask the Developer Vol. 11, Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Chapter 4.
Ask the Developer | Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Participating Developers)
- Takashi Tezuka | Executive Officer Senior Officer, Entertainment Planning & Development Division
- Shiro Mouri | Entertainment Planning & Development Department Production Group No. 10
- Koichi Hayashida | Entertainment Planning & Development Department Production Group No. 10
- Masanobu Sato | Entertainment Planning & Development Department Production Group No. 10
- Koji Kondo | Senior Officer, Entertainment Planning & Development Department
