Nintendo has announced that Super Mario Bros. Wonder is Europe's fastest-selling Super Mario game ever.
18.10.2023 - 18:42 / gamesradar.com / Shiro Mouri / Takashi Tezuka / Bros Wonder
Nintendo's soon-to-be-released Super Mario Bros. Wonder is looking to be a wild step forward for the traditional style of 2D Mario games. Along with its bold, new visual style, it also features some intriguing changes to the conventional style of 2D Mario platforming action.
While Super Mario Bros.
Wonder looks like a raucous time for a group of players, the game also features a new "live player shadow" feature for those who prefer to play solo. In the vein of Dark Souls, these shadows are real-time players who can join you in your trek to the finish in a more laid-back manner.
In a recent Ask the Developer post on Nintendo's official site, game director Shiro Mouri spoke about the creation of the player shadow system, which allows solo players to sync up with other active players spontaneously in the stage - much like the player summons from Dark Souls. According to the developer, it grew from the idea of giving players "a casual connection" with others and offering an extra boost to make it to the goal.
"Basically, you can enjoy the game as if you're playing solo, you don't have to be on standby while you're matched up with other players; matching takes place automatically behind the scenes during single player, so there's no waiting around," said the game director.
"If someone in the world is playing the same course as you at the same time, you can connect and play online together. And so, we came up with ideas to form this casual connection with players worldwide. We call other online players 'live player shadows,' and if you greet them, they might greet you back, give you an extra item if they have one, or even help you when you make a mistake.
But they can't attack or disturb you. We wanted to create gameplay where only things that benefit the player can happen, and that resulted in the current design."
Throughout the various Ask the Developers posts with the creative team, it was stated that Super Mario Bros. Wonder was about making the game approachable for all players.
This aspect was focused on when producer Takashi Tezuka learned that another Nintendo developer stated they had given up on the mobile game Super Mario Run due to its challenge. This led to various ideas and pitches for what could be done for Wonder.
This aspect of design led to the creation of the game's live shadow system, which not only gives solo players who want to focus on solitude a taste of the online co-op experience but also a way for them to make it through some more challenging levels with the help of another player going through the same challenge they are. It's a particularly clever idea to situational co-op and give players a helping hand, especially when the series that popularized this feature is known for
Nintendo has announced that Super Mario Bros. Wonder is Europe's fastest-selling Super Mario game ever.
The original Super Mario Bros. on NES was made by a team of five people, and it seems every single one of them is still at Nintendo and was credited on Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is one the most unusual and surreal spins on a 2D Mario game that Nintendo has released in a long time, and so far, fans have embraced the new style and liveliness. One of the game's most interesting stylistic upgrades is expanded voice-over work from characters, and apparently, this was once planned to be much more ambitious. In a recent Ask the Developer blog post coinciding with the launch of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, game producer Takashi Tezuka and designer Koichi Hayashida spoke about many of the ideas that were worked on yet ended up being tossed into the development trash bin, including a live commentary feature that would praise - or judge - your every move. According to game director Shiro Mori, Takashi pitched the idea of having live commentary on the game - just one of the ideas that the developers received via 2,000+ sticky notes. The concept went pretty far into the development, with a full six months of work done. It was used in internal play-tests and even included tsundere-style commentary, a personality that hides genuine tenderness behind a cold exterior and is especially popular in Japanese media .
Today — Friday, Oct. 20 — two wildly clashing and yet somehow complementary works from creators at the top of their game, both sitting right at the intersection of art and commerce, arrive at the same time. It’s Barbenheimer all over again, but this time it’s just for me. Today, we are blessed with both Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is now available to play on the Nintendo Switch.
It turns out that Super Mario Bros. Wonder had a “live commentary” feature during its development that would have matched players’ actions as they progressed through the 2D platformer’s levels, with the option to switch the generic default voice to “tsundere commentary”. However, it didn't make the final cut.
Do you ever wonder what it would be like if someone commented on every decision you made in Mario? Well, according to a recent Super Mario Bros. Wonder developer interview, the idea of live commentary was tested for the game.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a pretty major shake up for the plumber's 2D outings, and despite there being a lot of creativity on display, not every new idea that Nintendo had will have made it into the final game. Some weird and wonderful concepts will have been left on the cutting room floor, which is exactly what happened with a live commentary feature that almost made it in, one which would have had an optional "tsundere" mode.
Like other 2D Mario games, the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder features online multiplayer. But it also introduces a new feature to the series that would allow solo players to feel like they were interacting with others, which the team dubbed "casual connection."
The Super Mario franchise’s line of 2D mainline platformers hasn’t quite been on the same level as its flagship 3D entries over the last couple of decades, but with the New Super Mario Bros. series firmly in our rearview mirror and the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Wonder making lofty promises, there’s plenty of excitement surrounding the 2D Mario line’s future once again.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder's developers have confirmed that the game wasn't inspired by and has nothing to do with Illumination's Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder almost had running 'live' commentary, like a sports game.