New Super Mario Bros. U director on the popularity of 2D Mario compared to the 3D Mario games

2D Mario games tend to sell better than the 3D entries. New Super Mario Bros. Wii outperformed both Galaxy titles combined, and New Super Mario Bros. 2 is quickly catching up to Super Mario 3D Land despite having been released nearly a year later.

New Super Mario Bros. U director Masataka Takemoto was asked for his thoughts as to why he believes 2D Mario games are more popular than the 3D ones in this month’s issue of GamesTM. Takemoto responded by noting that some players may not be as comfortable with 3D controls, and “maybe a wider range of people were more accepting of the New Super Mario Bros. series, which may have seemed simpler to them.”

Takemoto’s comments in full:

“I don’t think it’s because one game is better than the other. It’s just that compared to 2D, there seems to be more people who are not as comfortable with 3D controls. And maybe a wider range of people were more accepting of the New Super Mario Bros. series, which may have seemed simpler to them.”

Thanks to joclo for the tip.