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New Mario in Development

by Aaron R. Brown - April 9, 2014, 9:00 pm EDT
Total comments: 27 Source: Edge Online

From the team that brought you 3D World.

A new Mario game is in the works at Nintendo EAD Tokyo, according to the team that created Super Mario 3D World.

When asked in an interview by Edge Online if it will be a Wii U or 3DS title, Nintendo producer Yoshiaki Koizumi replied with, "That's still a secret!" However, EAD Tokyo team leader, Kenta Motokura, chimed in saying that if it was to be a Wii U title, it might need to make better use of the GamePad. "There’s still a lot more room for discovery and invention, and we’ll continue to propose new and exciting game mechanics going into the future," stated Koizumi.

No further details regarding the new title were clarified.

Talkback

prominent ball of gas, etc.

leahsdadApril 10, 2014

I will be $10,000.00 that this is coming out in 2016...on the next Nintendo home console.  It will be a launch game.

Yup, I went there.

ShyGuyApril 10, 2014

New Mario? ...FINALLY!!

SorenApril 10, 2014

Whew! I was seriously thinking 3D World would be the final foray into the world of Mario. Thanks for erasing my fears, Nintendo!


It's going to be for 3DS.

broodwarsApril 10, 2014

Good. I was worried for a moment that the Wii U would actually have something approximating software variety.

TrueNerdApril 10, 2014

Sigh.

I love every EAD game but I am ready for them to do something new. Hopefully they at least push Mario in a new direction. Hell I'd be thrilled if they went back to the Super Mario 64/Sunshine style of Mario.

azekeApril 10, 2014

^ i surely hope you bought Jungle Beat, because people who didn't forfeited their own right to demand anything from EAD Tokyo.

Kytim89April 10, 2014

Perhaps it is a total remake of Super Mario 64?

Luigi DudeApril 10, 2014

With Mario 3D World not exactly giving the Wii U sales a huge boast, I could see Nintendo wanting to try something different with 3D Mario again just to see what it does.  You can't get anymore different then making it more exploration based again and with 3D World already providing a good engine for cheaper development, I think a Mario 64 type of game could be a real possibility.

Ian SaneApril 10, 2014

With both NSMB U and Super Mario 3D World failing to move systems, it would really make no sense to assume that MORE Mario will cure what ails the Wii U.  But Nintendo has no idea what they're doing anymore so I can see them thinking this will matter.

This isn't news.  It's like saying the Activision is making a new Call of Duty or EA is making a new Madden.  Yes, I now compare Mario to those soulless cash cow series but he become annualized so isn't the comparison fair?

It seems like Nintendo has become so conservative that they're using the logic that since Mario is their most popular series that they should focus almost entirely on him.  That's some really flawed logic but it is the sort of thing corporate suits will think up.  They're noticing that Mario can sell 10 million while another Nintendo franchise may only reach 2 million.  So if instead of one of each if they go with two Marios they can make 20 million instead of only 12.  The fallacy there is that the people that will buy a Nintendo system aren't only interested in Mario.  Mario might not even be their favourite Nintendo series in the first place.  What Mario is is the common denominator.  He's the Nintendo franchise that almost every Nintendo customer likes.  Now Zelda or Pokémon or Wii Sports or even something more obscure like Pikmin or Fire Emblem is their favourite and ends up being their killer app but they all like Mario and will buy Mario games if they own a system his games appear on.  Nintendo is looking at that large group of Mario players and thinking that Mario is the draw for all of them, but the group for which Mario is specifically the draw is much smaller.  This is why Mario made minimal impact on the Gamecube, was a huge success on the Wii, and is again making a minimal impact on the Wii U.  The Wii had a massively popular killer app in a new IP in Wii Sports.  It had Zelda and Metroid, two franchises with very devoted fans, being released prior to Mario.  It had more than just Mario to attract an audience and by the time huge Mario hits like Mario Kart Wii and NSMB Wii came out the userbase was already established.

Mario is a draw but he isn't the reason the Wii sold like hot cakes.  If any one game could claim to be the Wii system seller it's Wii Sports but I think for any system it's a team effort of many games that make the purchase worthwhile to the individual consumer.  That's why variety is so important because you never know what specific combination is going to sway each individual.  That's why third party support matters.  That's why you aim to cover multiple genres and multiple demographics.  That's why focusing too much effort on one series and one genre at the expense of others isn't working and is sinking the Wii U like a stone.

CericApril 10, 2014

Quote from: azeke

^ i surely hope you bought Jungle Beat, because people who didn't forfeited their own right to demand anything from EAD Tokyo.

I'm totally eligible to make demands.

Also when did the sky stop being blue?

Luigi DudeApril 10, 2014

Quote from: Ian

With both NSMB U and Super Mario 3D World failing to move systems, it would really make no sense to assume that MORE Mario will cure what ails the Wii U.  But Nintendo has no idea what they're doing anymore so I can see them thinking this will matter.

NSMB U and 3D World were both based off of existing types of Mario games that people could get on 3DS.  Who's to say this new Mario won't be something completely different in order to give greater appeal to the Wii U since people will have to buy a Wii U just to play this new type of Mario?

You think if Mario Sunshine was a huge success we would have gotten something like Galaxy on the Wii?  No, we would have gotten something more like Sunshine, similar to how Sunshine itself was more of a continuation of 64's exploration themed gameplay.

PhilPhillip Stortzum, April 10, 2014

Quote from: broodwars

Good. I was worried for a moment that the Wii U would actually have something approximating software variety.

There is software variety. It's just not coming from Nintendo EAD.


I know that doesn't allow you to make your sarcastic joke, but it's true.

Pixelated PixiesApril 10, 2014

It just goes to show how tainted the NSMB series is at this point that I see the words 'New' and 'Mario' together and think 'nope'.

Ian SaneApril 10, 2014

Quote from: Luigi

Quote from: Ian

With both NSMB U and Super Mario 3D World failing to move systems, it would really make no sense to assume that MORE Mario will cure what ails the Wii U.  But Nintendo has no idea what they're doing anymore so I can see them thinking this will matter.

NSMB U and 3D World were both based off of existing types of Mario games that people could get on 3DS.  Who's to say this new Mario won't be something completely different in order to give greater appeal to the Wii U since people will have to buy a Wii U just to play this new type of Mario?

You think if Mario Sunshine was a huge success we would have gotten something like Galaxy on the Wii?  No, we would have gotten something more like Sunshine, similar to how Sunshine itself was more of a continuation of 64's exploration themed gameplay.

A new style Mario game stands a better chance of selling Wii U's than the previous games.  I agree with you there.  I still think they ought to try something different, though.  The Wii U has enough platform games and needs other genres.

nickmitchApril 11, 2014

I would've liked to see them do something new as well.  But maybe they'll do something like Jungle Beat -taking advantage of a unique controller- and just add Mario to it.  But who knows.  I don't think a Mario platformer is gonna drive people to buy the system.

SorenApril 11, 2014

Quote from: Phil

There is software variety.

No, there isn't. There are bunch of platformers with a few other genres sprinkled in between. That's not variety.

I definitely have Mario fatigue at this point, having only played through world 3 fo 3D World and stopping out of disinterest.

That said, I'm assuming this 3D Mario game is a ways away, I might be more interested as more details are released.

Luigi DudeApril 11, 2014

Quote from: Soren

No, there isn't. There are bunch of platformers with a few other genres sprinkled in between. That's not variety.

Outside of Yarn Yoshi, the rest of Nintendo's upcoming Wii U lineup is all different genre's.  So more variety for the system is coming.

Plus this new Mario hasn't even been officially announced yet.  For all we know it might not come out until Fall 2016 so it's a little early to complain about it being a part of the too many platformer problem.  If they release a bunch of non-platformers between it and Yoshi, then I'm not seeing the problem with it being another Platformer because by the time of its release, we might have had a 2 year gap of no Nintendo platformers.

PhilPhillip Stortzum, April 11, 2014

Quote from: Soren

Quote from: Phil

There is software variety.

No, there isn't. There are bunch of platformers with a few other genres sprinkled in between. That's not variety.

ZombiU, LEGO City Undercover, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Pikmin 3, Resident Evil Revelations, Deus Ex, both Batman games, The Amazing Spider-Man, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Need for Speed Most Wanted U, Wii Party U, The Wonderful 101, Nintendo Land, and Scribblenauts are not platformers.


Now, there are a wide amount of platformers, but to say there's just "a few other genres sprinkled in between" is incredibly disingenuous.

I love that the biggest non-story ever ("Nintendo is making a Mario game.") is getting this kind of response. Wii U doomsday talk at the mere possibility that the game *might be* on the console.

marvel_moviefan_2012April 12, 2014

Does the story say main line Mario game or is there a chance it is a spin off like a Mario sports or Mario Party or that Mario Paintball someone mentioned before?

smallsharkbigbiteApril 12, 2014

Quote from: NWR_insanolord

I love that the biggest non-story ever ("Nintendo is making a Mario game.") is getting this kind of response. Wii U doomsday talk at the mere possibility that the game *might be* on the console.

Maybe if the Nintendo were releasing games for the Wii U, people would be talking about those games or playing those.  Until then, we'll just comment on a bunch of non-stories.  Viva la drought. 

Quote from: marvel_moviefan_2012

Does the story say main line Mario game or is there a chance it is a spin off like a Mario sports or Mario Party or that Mario Paintball someone mentioned before?

From the source story:
We speak to the team behind Super Mario 3D World in the new issue of Edge, which is published on April 10 in (ads removed) Within that feature, Nintendo producer Yoshiaki Koizumi says that while work has begun on the new game, it could not confirm whether it’ll be 3DS or Wii U title. “That’s still a secret!” he says. “I can tell you, though, that we’ve already started approaching our next challenge.” Elsewhere, Koizumi says: “There’s still a lot more room for discovery and invention, and we’ll continue to propose new and exciting game mechanics going into the future.” If follow-up to Super Mario 3D World is to be a Wii U game, co-director and EAD Tokyo team leader Kenta Motokura says his team “might need to make even more use of the GamePad.”

SorenApril 12, 2014

Quote from: marvel_moviefan_2012

Does the story say main line Mario game or is there a chance it is a spin off like a Mario sports or Mario Party or that Mario Paintball someone mentioned before?

It's Tokyo Group 2, so it will be Super Mario 3D Flipnote Studio Remix Land.

marvel_moviefan_2012April 13, 2014

I don't know anything about the internal workings of Nintendo, who makes what, who works for who, so that means nothing to me. I would be up for them making more Mario games as long as they keep making other non-Mario stuff, if you count Mario Kart and Smash Bros. they're already releasing two Mario-themed games this year, not counting the NES Remix stuff.

Fireninjastar26May 08, 2014

More detailed, life-filled environments (plant filled swamps, machine filled factories, etc.), use the tilt controls of the gamepad to ride in boats, minecarts, and sleds, touch controls to solve certain puzzles, have Mario have SOME sort of personality, have several CGI cutscenes, no princess, Metal Mario as a villain.


Hey, I can dream.

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