Nintendo says empathy, movements are important for Mario games
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
What is the key to Mario? In Nintendo’s view, empathy is at the top of the list.
Speaking with CNN, Super Mario Odyssey Yoshiaki Koizumi said:
“One thing that has always been constant is this idea of empathy. It’s the idea that anyone can pick up and play the game, and they have an intuitive understanding and feel for how the game works.”
More: interview, Kenta Motokura, top, Yoshiaki Koizumi
Super Mario Odyssey director says there’s a purpose behind having Mario in New Donk City’s realistic environment
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 30 Comments
The very first thing we ever saw from Super Mario Odyssey was New Donk City. And it’s no ordinary city: Mario is running and jumping around with realistic people around him.
The concept of New Donk City may seem strange for a Mario title, but there was a purpose behind it. Director Kenta Motokura explained to Game Informer this month why it made sense for players to be interacting with a more realistic city.
More: interview, Kenta Motokura, Super Mario Odyssey, top
Nintendo explains why Super Mario Odyssey ditches the lives system
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 160 Comments
Super Mario Odyssey makes a major change to a core gameplay element of the series. Lives are now completely gone. When you die in Super Mario Odyssey, you lose coins instead.
This ties in with another element of Super Mario Odyssey. Players can use coins to purchase all sorts of outfits and hats, including a wetsuit, Mario’s look in Mario Maker, and even a golfer’s uniform resembling what he wore in NES Open Tournament Golf.
More: interview, Kenta Motokura, Super Mario Odyssey, top
Mario Odyssey director on having Mario travel the world, says he’s human, considering “many characters”, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 11 Comments
Vice recently spoke with Super Mario Odyssey director Kenta Motokura. Motokura talked about why Mario is traveling the world in this game, noted that Nintendo is considering “many characters” for the game including potentially Luigi, and more. The developer also confirmed that Mario is human even though he may look out of place in New Donk City.
We’ve picked out the notable highlights from Vice’s interview below. For the full discussion, head on over here.
More: interview, Kenta Motokura, Super Mario Odyssey, top
Super Mario Odyssey devs on Captain Toad, changes in kingdoms, elements for Mario 64 players, newcomer help, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 6 Comments
Game Informer went live with a new Super Mario Odyssey interview today. The site spoke with director Kenta Motokura and producer Yoshiaki Koizumi to learn more about the game.
Various topics were discussed, including Captain Toad, how kingdoms change while you play, and help for newcomers. Also teased were elements that will make players who played Super Mario 64 “happy”. Koizumi weighed in on how he’s becoming more of a face for Nintendo lately.
We’ve picked out the interesting excerpts from the interview below. You can read the full discussion here.
Director on Super Mario Odyssey – throwable cap planned from the start, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
This information comes from Super Mario Odyssey director Kenta Motokura…
On how a throwable cap was integral from the start…
“As far as the hat action goes it was included in one of the prototypes the staff had come up with. It was part of the game right from the beginning. We have several different themes that arose from those prototypes, and one of those was focusing on the Joy-Con [motion controls].”
On how it’s not always clear what you can interact with, which is intentional…
“Because throwing the cap is a new action, we want players to feel empowered or encouraged to go ahead and try this action wherever they feel it might work. There are certain topographical hints near areas where you’re going to be looking, and you might say ‘That looks like some place my hat might reach or might attach to.’ So there are some hidden elements like that, that players will start to get used to.”
“The game’s structure isn’t designed so that you have side quests, it’s more that as you’re traveling around the different kingdoms or areas, you’ll find something that attracts your attention and there may be some sort of a quest around that, but it’s all about going and finding and collecting the Power Moons. You need a certain number of Moons to unlock a new kingdom, so some of these what we might consider side quests, are solving some issue within a kingdom, but the real goal of that is to provide you with enough Power Moons to move on with the main storyline.”
More: interview, Kenta Motokura, Super Mario Odyssey, top
Super Mario 3D World devs on game’s creation and more; new concept art
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 0 comments
EDGE has published its full Super Mario 3D World interview/article with directors Koichi Hayashida and Kenta Motokura as well as producer Yoshiaki Koizumi. New concept art from the game is now available as well.
You can find some quotes from the three Super Mario 3D World devs below (with even more on EDGE). The concept art is posted above.
Super Mario 3D World dev open to revisiting The Adventures of Captain Toad gameplay in the future
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 4 Comments
The Adventures of Captain Toad are a unique set of courses in Super Mario 3D World. They only encompass a small portion of the overall game, but they were very well received.
Some had hoped that The Adventures of Captain Toad would return in the future – through DLC, a standalone title with brand new levels, etc. While that’s yet to happen, Super Mario 3D World co-director Koichi Hayashida told EDGE this month that the team would “consider doing something with this feature in the future” if fans continue to show interest.
He said:
“We thought they were a lot of fun, so we’re really glad everyone likes them too. If enough fans express such enthusiasm, we’d consider doing something with this feature in the future.”
Kenta Motokura, Super Mario 3D World’s other co-director, also mentioned that the gameplay of The Adventures of Captain Toad was not at all inspired by smartphone titles:
“They weren’t inspired by smartphone games. The idea was to design a game that would become even more fun as you play through it, and this influenced the pace of the game, effectively increasing the rhythm. We felt that a short challenge with quick results would be a good motivation for players to advance onto the next course.”
Thanks to joclo for the tip.
Super Mario 3D World devs – next Mario title in the works, could use the GamePad more, Double Cherry and Cat Mario origins
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 16 Comments
What’s the team behind Super Mario 3D World working on next? Why, a new Mario game of course!
Nintendo producer Yoshiaki Koizumi wouldn’t say if the new project is for Wii U or 3DS while speaking with EDGE. He did mention, however:
“That’s still a secret! I can tell you, though, that we’ve already started approaching our next challenge.”
“There’s still a lot more room for discovery and invention, and we’ll continue to propose new and exciting game mechanics going into the future.”
Mario 3D World devs on power-ups, free-roaming on the world map, Yoshi, stereoscopic 3D was considered, more
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 5 Comments
IGN has published a new Super Mario 3D World article featuring quotes from Kenta Motokura and Yoshiaki Koizumi. The two talked about free-roaming on the world map, Yoshi’s non-inclusion, stereoscopic 3D, and more.
Head past the break for all of the comments from Motokura and Koizumi. We also suggest checking out IGN’s full piece here.
