Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 6 Comments

Nintendo and McDonald’s have worked together many times before when it comes to Happy Meal toys. Various regions have seen offerings involving Mario, and that trend is continuing once again.

The latest set of Mario toys will be available at McDonald’s locations across Japan starting on January 8. Two different Mario toys, Luigi, Bowser, and more will be distributed. You can see everything that will be available in the image above.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 7 Comments

Well over 20 years ago, Dayvv Brooks worked at Nintendo as a product analyst. One early assignment he had was to take poorly translated Japanese text and making it sound better.

Speaking with Kotaku, Brooks explained how he came up with the names of the different Koopalings, including how Lemmy was inspired by Motörhead rock band founder Lemmy Kilmister.

He said:

“Music has always been a big part of my life. I’ve been a DJ for years and have been a music collector for even longer. When I first saw the group of seven Koopalings, music was on my mind.

The hairstyle on one of them reminded me of Ludwig von Beethoven for some reason and Ludwig von Koopa was born. Next was the one with the glasses—that has to be Roy Koopa in homage to Roy Orbison, who almost always wore glasses. Then Wendy O. Koopa (Wendy O. Williams) [and] Iggy Koopa (Iggy Pop). One looked like a loudmouth, so he was Morton Koopa Jr. from [the] loud-mouthed talk show host Morton Downey Jr. And then there was Larry. There’s no real-world equivalent—he’s not Larry Mullen Jr. from U2 or Larry King—he just looked like a Larry.

That brings us to Lemmy. In addition to being a great name, it’s perfect for a video game character. This Koopaling struck me as being the kind of character who would do his own thing, no matter what anyone else thought. I think it was those crazy eyes. Lemmy Koopa was in the crew.”

Kotaku says that Nintendo had to approve Brooks’ translation ideas, all of which were signed off by the company.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Random, Videos | 20 Comments

Here’s an off-beat (but nice!) video from Nintendo that has Mario surprising people with gifts:

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 0 comments

Mercedes-Benz has gone live with a new video featuring Mario to promote its latest collaboration with Nintendo. Give it a look below.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 1 Comment

Late last month, Nintendo UK brought out the “Super Mario Box” – a limited edition package made up of various Mario goodies. You can get a closer look at it in the video below.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 9 Comments

The Mario Hot Wheels we heard about previously are coming to store shelves soon. According to Nintendo’s Facebook page, they’ll be available this month.

A few different toys are planned for release. We’ll be seeing Hot Wheels based on the various Super Mario Bros. games, Mario Kart, and Dr. Mario.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 16 Comments

Last month’s issue of GamesMaster contains an interview with well-known Nintendo developer Takashi Tezuka. There were a few interesting topics that we wanted to highlight.

First, here’s what Tezuka said when asked about why Mario resonates so well with people and the key to his longtime success:

“Personally, I think that even before people come to like Mario as a character, it’s the gameplay of Super Mario that really resonates with them. We created Super Mario Bros paying close attention to intuitive feelings – things that anyone in the world can relate to – which users feel through the gameplay; running is fun, jumping high is something you want to do, falling is scary and spikes hurt you if you touch them, etc.

I think it all started with how the gameplay resonated with players. From there it’s been how we’ve continued to make Mario games for so long, and all the work we have put into making sure that Mario is never used in an inappropriate way, that has allowed him to slowly become such a well-loved character.”

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

This month’s issue of GamesTM has an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. The two developers talked about all things Mario, including the evolution of the character’s design.

Tezuka shared the following when asked about Mario’s appearance and how Nintendo has resisted the urge to modernize him:

“I do think it’s changed a bit… For example, in Mario 3 we made him a little cuter. And perhaps with the Tanooki tail and the cape we definitely added items and features so that there’s more variety in Mario’s actions.”

Miyamoto shared a few words on the subject of evolving Mario as well. He also stated that Nintendo keeps Mario close to the vest, and doesn’t allow other teams to develop the core titles since the company wants to be control of the character and his abilities.

“In terms of the 3D Mario performance, it has evolved, but we have always been consistent in trying to be cautious in terms of when you do a B-dash, how far he can jump or how many blocks he can break. We have made it a little bit simpler for players as it’s evolved, because there are more complicated things that we’re asking the players to do. In the original Mario when you’re stopped he can’t do B-dash, but you can do it now with more recent games. So we have made it a little bit simpler and tweaked it throughout the years. In terms of Mario games we definitely don’t have other teams develop it, because we do want to control it and manage those features.”

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Videos | 7 Comments

Who would play Link in a live action movie based on The Legend of Zelda? What about the casting for a new Super Mario Bros. film? Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka were asked about these questions in an interview with MTV.

As for feature length films in general, Miyamoto once again expressed openness to the idea. After discussing the Pikmin short movies that can be seen on both Wii U and 3DS, he said: “A feature length film? It’s definitely a secret! I can’t make any comments right now but we’ll see.”

Check out the full interview with Miyamoto and Tezuka below.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments

USA Today has published a new interview with Takashi Tezuka. Tezuka spoke all about Super Mario Bros., including the original game’s origins, the series’ legacy, and why it’s been able to maintain such longevity.

You can find a roundup of Tezuka’s comments below. A couple of additional questions and answers are on USA Today here.

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