Tezuka on his goal with Super Mario Maker, Nintendo wants to make “in sync with the times”, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 8 Comments
Earlier today, Bloomberg published a new article featuring brief statements from Nintendo developer Takashi Tezuka.
First, Tezuka noted the following about modernizing Mario:
“We thought he should be a character that’s free to do anything. Mario has to keep up with the times.”
Tezuka also reflected on creating Mario levels way back in the day:
“We were just having a lot of fun. It was all about seeing who can come up with something that surprises your colleagues and makes them laugh.”
More: interview, Takashi Tezuka, top
Super Mario Maker devs found it a bit tough to implement Yoshi
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 14 Comments
Yoshi’s inclusion in Super Mario Maker partially came about thanks to the involvement of producer Takashi Tezuka. In a recent issue of Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream, Tezuka and director Yosuke Oshino spoke about his appearance in the game:
Oshino: We decided to put in characteristic actions like Raccoon Mario, Caped Mario and Propeller Mario during the first phases of development. But Yoshi had much controversy…
Tezuka: I was a bit pushy in requesting to have Yoshi. There were reasons like being responsible for the Wii U game Yoshi’s Woolly World, wanting to use the Yoshi amiibo, and wanting to have some kind of collaboration as it is also Yoshi’s 25th anniversary.
Oshino: But adding Yoshi was complicated, so we discussed what should we do.
Yoshi’s Woolly World devs on the different Yoshi designs and Pokemon, lack of Baby Mario, more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 75 Comments
Game Informer has published a new interview with Yoshi’s Woolly World designer Emi Watanabe and producer Takashi Tezuka. During the discussion, the two touched on the different Yoshi designs (and how the Pokemon amiibo unlock a generic skin), the lack of Baby Mario in the game, and more.
Read on below for some excerpts from the interview. You can read the full Q&A here.
More: Emi Watanabe, Good Feel, interview, Takashi Tezuka, top
Super Mario Maker staff on development, worldwide appeal, costumes, updates
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 2 Comments
Polygon has put up a new Super Mario Maker piece, which contains some comments from producer Takashi Tezuka and senior director Yoshikazu Yamashita. The two spoke about the game’s development process, wanting the game to appeal to all players worldwide, costumes, and updates.
We’ve rounded up the information after the break. We also encourage you to check out Polygon’s full article here.
Mario Maker devs on the new update, checkpoints came from user feedback, possibility of other “Maker” projects
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 15 Comments
USGamer recently caught up with Super Mario Maker producer Takashi Tezuka and co-directors Yosuke Oshino and Yoshikazu Yamashita. Much of the discussion focused on the game’s brand new update. Topics include how the checkpoint system came about, whether or not we’ll see other updates in the future, and the possibility of extending the “Maker” idea to other series/concepts.
Head past the break for a roundup of these interview excerpts. You can also read up on the full talk here.
Super Mario Maker – origins of costumes, cursors, and a message to fans
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 5 Comments
Last month’s interview of Nintendo Dream contains an extensive Super Mario Maker developer interview. Producer Takashi Tezuka, director Yosuke Oshino, and senior director Yoshikazu Yamashita participated in the discussion.
Several interesting topics came up during the interview, and we’re excited to share a few excerpts with you all. The three team members spoke about how the idea for costumes came together, the different cursors (including some abandoned, an yet strange ideas), and a message for fans regarding the series’ future.
Head past the break for our complete translation.
Video: Super Mario Maker – Course design tips with Takashi Tezuka & Shigeru Miyamoto
Posted on 9 years ago by Matt(@OnePunchMaz) in Videos, Wii U | 0 comments
At Japan Expo in Paris this Summer, both Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka were present at a panel / stage show and talked a bit about their creations during their time at Nintendo. Mario was an especially big topic, given the series 30th anniversary this year. The video below is a small excerpt from the show. Among other things, Tezuka and Miyamoto talk about level design in Super Mario Maker and give tips on how to build a great level.
Takashi Tezuka on the hard Super Mario Maker levels made by players
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 37 Comments
We’ve seen a wide array of Super Mario Maker since its launch last month. Quite a few of the user-made levels have proven to be particularly difficult.
Takashi Tezuka, a well-known developer of the Super Mario Bros. series, told EDGE this month that he isn’t surprised that many tough courses are being made. He also mentioned that these creators don’t truly realize how difficult they are for other players since they are already aware of the design and how things will play out.
He said:
“When you design levels for a product, you need to take into consideration a wide range of users. This limits the amount of extremely difficult courses to only a fairly small part of the whole game. I expected that the users who wanted to play more of the hard courses would be attracted to Super Mario Maker, so it’s not surprising to see that a lot of difficult courses are being made.”
“There is a tendency for the courses people make to be a little harder than they think they are. The creator already knows the design, where they have placed their traps, and the best route to take. So it would generally be easier for them to play through than someone trying it for the first time. As a result, the course ends up being more difficult than the creator meant it to be.”
Tezuka also noted the following when asked if any levels have caught his eye thus far:
“I’ve been watching lots of different courses on YouTube. It was quite a surprise how much fun it was to watch the videos, without even playing myself. There are so many intriguing and inventive courses, like one which you couldn’t beat if you picked up a mushroom. It’s been a huge motivation for us developers to do better.”
More: interview, Super Mario Maker, Takashi Tezuka
Tezuka on Mario’s success, hopes he’ll remain Nintendo’s leading character, more
Posted on 9 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.”
More: interview, Mario, Takashi Tezuka, top
Miyamoto and Tezuka on the struggle of balancing games for advanced players and beginners
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 39 Comments
Last month’s issue of GamesTM has a lengthy interview with Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. As you would expect, the discussion is largely focused on the Super Mario Bros. series.
A few interesting comments came about when Miyamoto and Tezuka were asked if they ever made any choices that they were concerned about being controversial. Miyamoto started things off, and spoke about how it’s difficult catering to both advanced players and beginners.
He said:
“For me one of the things was maybe the gap between the really advanced players and the first-time players. The difficulty balance is always something that I hear frustrations about from the public, whichever way we decide to go. We always have the testing team test our game, but whatever they say is really fun, the first-time players might consider to be very difficult. One of the things I do sometimes at the later phases of development is go in and hear the testing team’s requests and actually pull that away and lower the barrier or change what it is they want. Sometimes I even hear from the testing team, ‘You’re destroying the fun’, but on the other hand, the flipside is you hear the first-time players saying ‘If I can’t clear a level it’s not fun for me. If I can’t complete a game it’s not fun for me’. The more years that have passed, the gap between advanced and first-time players has become wider.”
