I didn’t agree with my co-commentator for the Nintendo’s E3 press conference on very many things, but even I had to admit that the two new Mario games coming out this year (New Super Mario Bros. 2 and New Super Mario Bros. U) looked almost identical in terms of art direction and in gameplay. Adding insult to injury, both games look almost exactly like to the two prior games in the New Super Mario series (New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. Wii). Our man Tony Ponce had already talked about this thing in great detail, but it really hit home seeing these two “different” games on the big screen at E3.
Why didn’t Nintendo change it up at least a little bit for one or more of their “New” Super Mario titles? Apparently, you didn’t want them to. Takashi Tezuka, Nintendo’s General Manager of EAD Development, had this to say in a recent interview with Gamespot– “That similarity in the visual style and the control style is all intentional. The things we feel like we’ve already promised the gamer is that Peach will be kidnapped by Bowser, and Mario will move from left to right. We know that’s what people are expecting! [Laughs] We know that there are all types of Mario games, as you said. So for us, with the New Super Mario Bros. series, we don’t really need to mess with it. This is what people want.“
Do you think they’re making the right call here? Do you get the sense that Nintendo would like to do something more creative with New Super Mario Bros. series, but are playing it safe in order to maintain a broader appeal? Would you like to see them change the art direction or central gameplay hook for future games in the series?
Tezuka on New Super Mario Bros. U’s visuals, what a touch screen-only Mario would be like [GoNintendo]
