Super Mario Bros. Wonder devs on Mario Maker 2 motivation and new engine

The team behind Super Mario Bros. Wonder has discussed being motivated by the reception to Super Mario Maker 2 as well as making a brand new engine for the game.

In an official Nintendo interview today, producer Takashi Tezuka noted how some felt that Mario Maker 2 “had eliminated the need for another 2D Mario game.” He added that “those kinds of sentiments may have been what motivated me to come up with ideas for this game.”

Right after that in the interview, Koichi Hayashida – who worked on game design – mentioned how director Shiro Mouri pushed for “a new game engine that would serve as a foundation for future 2D Mario games.” This was in part possible because the team wasn’t forced to rush for a deadline.

Here’s the full excerpt:

Where did you get the idea for this new game, which has been a long time coming?

Tezuka: I was already thinking about what kind of Mario game we should make next when we were developing Super Mario Maker 2. At the time, some journalists and players were saying that Super Mario Maker had eliminated the need for another 2D Mario game. But I kept saying that the next Mario game would be completely different from Super Mario Maker, so there was no need to worry. In hindsight, those kinds of sentiments may have been what motivated me to come up with ideas for this game.

So during Super Mario Maker 2’s development, you were already confident that you could create something completely fresh.

Tezuka: Well, yes.

Hayashida: No, no, I wasn’t! (Laughs) Players have created so many different courses in Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Maker 2 that I was worried about whether we could do anything new that would go beyond that. …But apparently, Tezuka-san thought it would be fine. (Laughs)

Tezuka: I’m an optimist. (Laughs)

Hayashida: Yes, I remember Mouri-san saying during the early stages of development that we shouldn’t use the same game engine as in the New Super Mario Bros. series but rather create a new game engine that would serve as a foundation for future 2D Mario games. Thankfully, Tezuka-san also told us to prioritize content over schedule.

Tezuka: We wanted to create a game with much more to offer than ever before, so this time, we didn’t set a fixed time period for development, which is usually decided before we kick off. To create something truly enjoyable, we decided to take our time and dedicate ample budget for development without having to worry about the production schedule. So at first, we only had a small group working on the development.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder launches for Switch on October 20, 2023.