Miyamoto: 3D Mario Going Forward to Expand Further in New Ways - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 09 November 2021 / 1,978 Views

Nintendo game sales on the Nintendo Switch has seen a huge improvement, including 2017's Super Mario Odyssey, which has sold 21.95 million units worldwide to easily make it the best-selling 3D Mario game of all time.

Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto in a recent Q&A explained the difference between 2D Mario and 3D Mario. He said each 3D release got more complicated, while the goal with the New Super Mario Bros. series was to make it more accessible. He says the goal for future 3D Mario titles is to try to expand it further in new ways.

"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," Miyamoto said.

"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."

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.

5 Comments

Zippy6 (on 09 November 2021)

"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,"

Errr... considering NSMB Wii is just a by the numbers sequel to NSMB on the DS this is a really weird way to put it. The result was a completely predictable sequel. The way he says this it's like they were tasked with coming up with a completely new idea.