Nintendo101

Casual Nintendo historian. Otherwise an artist and a professional zoologist. Bio degree. I've had an account here since 2012.

I wrote the character sections for ''Super Mario 64'', ''Super Mario Galaxy 2'', and ''Super Mario Odyssey''. I contributed much of the article for ''Super Mario Sunshine'' and am currently working on ''Super Mario Galaxy''.

During the {{wp|COVID-19 pandemic}}, I sequentially played some of my favorite games in the [[Super Mario (series)|''Super Mario'' series]] to 100% completion. This includes, in order, ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'', ''[[Super Mario Bros. 3]]'', ''[[Super Mario World]]'', ''[[Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island]]'', ''[[Super Mario 64]]'', ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'', ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'', ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'', ''[[Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker]]'', and ''[[Super Mario Odyssey]]''. It's been really fun so far! These are great games, and I always wanted to marathon a series like this before but never had the time. It has been interesting to see where the series began and where it has ended up. The design philosophies, the characters, the art directions, world building, level design, narrative, etc. All good stuff. It might be fun to write something about it some day.

 

==Sandbox for current project==

 

 

After ''Mario 64'' was released, Miyamoto assembled a team within [[Nintendo EAD]] to develop a sequel tentatively titled ''[[Super Mario 128]]'' that would be worked on intermittently for over ten years. At {{wp|Nintendo Space World#Space World 2000|Space World 2000}}, it appeared as a {{wp|technology demonstration}} for the [[Nintendo GameCube]]. Directed by Koizumi, it sees the player controlling 128 [[Mario]]s on a saucer-shaped platform that dynamically changes shape over the course of the demo. Miyamoto took some of the principals from the demo and produced ''[[pikipedia:Pikmin (game)|Pikmin]]'' (2001), but he did not abandon the intention of producing a successor to ''Super Mario 64''. For Koizumi, he co-directed ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'' at Nintendo EAD, which was assertedly unrelated to ''Mario 128''. This was the last 3D-related project Koizumi was involved with for several years. He came to the perspective that it was difficult to produce the "perfect 3D control environment" where it was fun to play but did not stress the player. He thought the part of the Space World demo where Mario moves freely around the platform could be adapted into an actual product, but implementing something like that would be technically challenging.

 

In 2004, Koizumi directed ''[[Donkey Kong Jungle Beat]]'', a 2D action-adventure platformer for the GameCube. The player controls [[DK]] with the [[Nintendo GameCube#DK Bongos|DK Bongos]], which has fewer input options than the conventional GameCube controller. The experience of developing ''Jungle Beat'' with the then brand-new studio [[Nintendo EAD|Nintendo EAD Tokyo]] made Koizumi realize they could develop a gratifying and rich experience with few buttons. They had established what Koizumi calls "contextual binding", where available player actions would be changed depending on the timing and context. Koizumi had also observed that an exaggerated presentation would delight and engage bystanders that were not directly playing the game. These were concepts he brought to Miyamoto for future projects.

 

 

 

Although Miyamoto was involved with multiple projects across Nintendo at the time, he served as one of the game's producers. He frequently visited the studio to share ideas and oversee development. ''Super Mario Galaxy'' is the realization of Miyamoto's long-term goal of creating a "true sequel" to ''Super Mario 64'' and recognizes it as the successor to ''Super Mario 128''.<ref name=wired/>

 

One of his suggestions was to include a delay between [[spin]]ning instead of having Mario spin continuously by shaking the [[Wii#Wii Remote|Wii Remote]], so that the game would be more challenging and interesting to play.<ref name=iwata/> A setup was eventually created so that both the Kyoto and Tokyo offices could playtest the game.

 

The development team made heavy use of play-testers due to the studio's experience while developing ''Donkey Kong Jungle Beat''.<ref name=iwata/> One of Koizumi's main concern were the camera angles and the motion sickness that they caused. He thought camera-induced motion sickness was a problem with 3D action games, and found neither ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'' nor ''Donkey Kong Jungle Beat''{{'}}s solutions satisfying.<ref name=iwata/>

 

 

 

In concert with the goal of making the Wii a system that appealed to demographics outside of their usual core consumers, the team tried to follow loose guidance from [[Satoru Iwata]] to make the game playable for anyone between ages "5 and 95".<ref name=iwata/>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• SMG released during a period when the strength of Japan-based video game studios was generally thought to be on the decline, in part due to the rise of development in American studios to great financial success and the general marketing trends of the industry

 

 

• SMG was not artistically compromised by this trend and it was something noted by commentators at the time; its success at BAFTA over Call of Duty was described as a surprise; its reliance on providing accessible, rewarding fun was considered unique at the time (see comparison to Heavy Rain)

 

 

 

 

 

• Super Mario 3D All-Stars

===Notable merchandise===

===Potential articles to review===

[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/understanding-the-fun-of-super-mario-galaxy]

[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/games-demystified-super-mario-galaxy]

==References==