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Yoshikazu Yamashita

nintendo switch sports character

Nintendo has provided a look at early character concepts that were considered for Nintendo Switch Sports with brand new concept art.

While the game ultimately has human-looking characters and Miis, the team almost went in a different direction. Early on, college students were considered. There was even talk of using robots that made it to the prototype stage.

Developers Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshikazu Yamashita, Shinji Okane, and Junji Morii revealed the following regarding character concepts for Nintendo Switch Sports:

Why Nintendo Switch Sports took so long

A bit over five years into the Switch’s lifecycle, we finally saw the arrival of Nintendo Switch Sports. The announcement took many by surprise as some thought this would be the type of title we’d see earlier on.

Director Yoshikazu Yamashita and producer Takayuki Shimamura explained the long wait in a just-published interview on Nintendo’s website. According to Yamashita, Yoshiaka Koizumi requested a new entry in the Wii Sports series. However, Yamashita felt “that there weren’t any sports left to be added.” That led the team to create gameplay “without swinging the Joy-Con controller”, but “it didn’t go well in the end”. After realizing they took the wrong direction, years passed and Nintendo went back to the drawing board.

Here’s the full excerpt from the interview:

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.

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.

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.

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.


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