Super Mario Bros. Wonder devs talk 3D Inspiration, Tsundere and more

As is tradition, Nintendo has released a multiple-part ‘Ask the Developer’ interview for Super Mario Bros. Wonder. It delves behind the scenes of the game with some of the team who worked on it. This instalment features Takashi Tezuka, Shiro Mouri, Koichi Hayashida, Masanobu Sato and Koji Kondo.

Over the four parts, we learn a lot about the game, and even many ideas that didn’t make the cut. First up, we learned that despite the movie being made at the same time as the game, the team didn’t really see it – and wasn’t an influence on it despite the improvements to animation.

In this game, Mario and his friends have richer facial expressions, and each character’s movements are more animated. I can imagine The Super Mario Bros. Movie having had some influence on development. Was that the case?

Sato: We’re often asked about the film’s influence on the game, but we didn’t hear anything about the film’s content during development. I think Tezuka-san and Kondo-san were the only members here who knew the details.

At one point the game was to have a live commentary in either a generic voice, or Tsundere style. Tsundere is a style of commentary that starts off harsh, and eventually gets more affectionate. It was even worked on for six months before being scrapped. Eventually we got the talking flowers out of it.

When you say live commentary, do you mean like in soccer or baseball games? You considered doing that in a Mario game?

Hayashida: We actually spent about six months seriously developing live commentary. We tried adding voices to match the player’s actions. Even though we’d added various voices, questions like, “Who’s doing this commentary?” started to pop up amongst the team. Something about it just didn’t feel right. (Laughs)

The team also spoke about how the 2D games were normally seen as more unforgiving, but the 3D games weren’t. This is why you can now play stages in almost any order in Wonder, so you can see the whole game.

Tezuka: I felt that 2D Mario games often had the reputation of being unforgiving. Compared to 3D Mario games, just one mistimed action can lead to a bigger mistake, since you have fewer options in terms of movement. In this game, we’ve changed that. We’ve designed it so that players can conquer the game with their ideas and use their heads, not just their skills, to progress.

Hayashida: With all that in mind, we felt that a 2D Mario game adapted to the times would be one that you could complete your way. For example, up until now, 2D Mario games have been in a format where players complete each course in sequence. But in this title, players who want a challenge can start with a difficult course, and beginners can start with an easier one. Each course has its difficulty indicated too.

All of the interviews are available to read on Nintendo’s website, it’ll help pass the time until tomorrow.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is out October 20th, check out our review here, and find it cheap here.