Mario & Luigi devs on why new remake isn’t on Switch, skipping Partners in Time, Luigi’s role in the series, more
Game Informer recently spoke with the developers behind Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey. The publication caught up with Yoshihiko Maekawa and Akira Otani, the producers at AlphaDream and Nintendo respectively (among others). Maekawa and Otani commented on why the latest 3DS remake isn’t on Switch, why Partners in Time wasn’t revisited, Luigi’s role in the series, and more.
We’ve rounded up some of the more interesting excerpts from the interview below. Find the full discussion here.
On why the new remake isn’t on Switch…
Maekawa: It has to with the timing for it releasing on 3DS as opposed to Switch.
Akira Otani (producer, Nintendo): We did think about Switch, but we wanted to maintain the gameplay using the dual screen of the original. That’s the main reason we decided to port to 3DS.
On whether this is AlphaDream’s last 3DS game…
Maekawa: We still don’t know that yet.
On lack of 3D support…
Maekawa: What we set out to do with this game was maintain the look and feel of the original and also update the visuals, as well. The 3D view of the 3DS didn’t really fit with doing those two things, so that’s why we decided to not use it.
On Luigi’s role in Mario & Luigi…
Maekawa: Definitely looking at Luigi’s role in the Mario & Luigi series, you might get that sense, but it is more the sense of teasing Luigi as opposed to flat out bullying him. There are parts of him, like he might cowardly, or get the short end of the stick, but he is definitely not a loser from our point of view. When we went and looked at this game and looked at Superstar Saga, the original, we definitely thought that, “Yeah, he is getting perhaps teased a bit too much,” but we definitely don’t look at it like we’re bullying him or anything like that.
Otani: You should play the next game in the series, the fourth RPG, Dream Team, and you can see how much love we have for Luigi.
On why Partners in Time was skipped as AlphaDream remakes the Mario & Luigi games…
Otani: The biggest point was that Mario & Luigi 3, Bowser’s Inside Story, was the best received title in the series, so we really wanted to do a remake of that. And we also really liked the idea of portraying Bowser and Bowser Jr. as a parent and child in the new mode, which is similar to the mode we added to the Superstar Saga remake. Also, the character Fawful was received very well overseas, so we wanted to bring him back and we wanted to show the continued saga with him that we started with Bowser’s Minions in the remake of Superstar Saga.
On why AlphaDream’s Tomato Adventure was never released in the west…
Maekawa: [laughs] the reason why is the age group we were targeting was a bit too low and a bit too small. We also had some trouble with the battle system, and it wasn’t received well at the time of release.
