Takashi Tezuka on Mario Maker – swapping levels online, 3DS version possible, interconnected courses
USGamer posted a new interview today with Mario Maker producer Takashi Tezuka. Tezuka spoke about swapping levels through the Internet, the possibility of a 3DS version, and whether interconnected courses is something Nintendo is looking into.
Check out a few excerpts from the interview after the break. You can find more comments from Tezuka here.
On swapping levels online…
TT: It’s true, there was no Internet back then, and once we created something, that was it. It was out there. When you make a course, you naturally want someone to play it — that’s the point of it. Of course, if you friend makes a course, you’re going want to play it, right?
Now, with the Internet, you’re able to interact with friends from far away, so if you wanted to share courses with friends far away, we’re able to do that, in a technological sense. I would like to consider doing something like that with Mario Maker. There is a challenge there, though. If you create something and upload it somewhere, of course you want as many people as possible to see it. Naturally, the most popular courses will be seen and played by others, but those that don’t have that top spot may not attract the same number of eyeballs for people looking at them.
Of course, it’s nice to have rankings and the like, but we’re trying to think of ways to ensure that everybody’s creations get seen by someone. That’s what I’m working on now.
On incorporating Miiverse into Mario Maker…
TT: It could be possible to incorporate this concept into Miiverse. Using the Miiverse framework is one way to do it, or maybe we could do something new within Mario Maker. I want it to be something that best fits our needs.
On a 3DS version of Mario Maker…
TT: Yeah, a 3DS version is possible. You’re the first person to ask about this! (laughs) I have thought about it. But right now we think it’s best for the Wii U Game Pad. I don’t know if a 3DS version would work the same exact way, but maybe if Mario Maker does well on Wii U and people really love it, I might consider doing something for 3DS. Right now, the Wii U hardware has a lot more power, so you can fit a lot more enemies and elements on the course. That’s why we prefer this hardware. But of course, I am interested in the idea of a portable version.
On the possibility of interconnected courses (like going from 1-1 to 1-2)…
TT: I’m thinking about it. Of course, we’re planning on having some different art styles… and not necessarily just Mario.
On whether something like a Zelda art style in Mario Maker would play in the top-down style…
TT: No, I’m not thinking of something like a top-down style. Mario Maker will be a 2D side-scrolling format.
On how Mario Maker expresses the legacy of the Super Mario Bros. games…
TT: That’s a big and difficult question. (laughs)
My greatest challenge right now is that the physics of the original Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. are very different. So, people who are used to today’s Mario games might have a hard time with the original if they’re not accustomed to it. With Mario Maker, the retro Mario style looks that way visually, but the controls are a little bit closer to today’s Marios.
I have a feeling that if I make the original Mario style content control like the original Mario, people used to current Mario may not enjoy it. So, we haven’t carried those exact physics over. Yet there are parts, of course, that I don’t want to let go, that I want to continue.
