To say that Shigeru Miyamoto is a key part of the history of Nintendo would be a mega understatement. It’s because of his games in terms of Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong and others that helped set the table for Ninten-domination for many generations of gaming. Including the current one via the Nintendo Switch. Not surprisingly, this console has tons of Mario games, including ones in the 2D and 3D setting. But according to Miyamoto, they’re always looking to push their icon forward more.
During a Q&A during their recent financial briefing, Shigeru Miyamoto talked about how Nintendo strives to push Mario forward in new directions on the 3D scene:
As for the difference between 2D Mario and 3D Mario, let me explain by describing the background for the development of the Wii game New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which was released in 2009. At the time, it felt like each time we created a new installment in the Super Mario series – which by then had expanded into 3D – it became more complicated. After the release of Super Mario Galaxy in 2007, the goal was to develop a more accessible 3D Super Mario game, and the result was New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a basic side-scrolling Super Mario game that even new players could easily play. That later led to the release of the even simpler Super Mario Run game (a mobile application released in 2016.) When we develop software, we strive to incorporate new elements, but at the same time we want to make it easy for even first time players to have fun. Recently, people of all generations have been enjoying the 3D Mario game Super Mario Odyssey (released in 2017,) so for 3D Mario going forward, we want to try expanding further in new ways.
It’ pretty much inevitable that we’ll be getting a new 3D Mario title for switch given the success of Odyssey, but what will it be like? We’ll find out soon enough.