Part of a GameSpot AU interview with Nintendo's Yoshiaki Koizumi...
GS AU: When you're designing a new Mario game, how much influence do fans have? The inclusion of the tanooki suit in Super Mario 3DS, for example, answers a lot of fans' calls. Do you listen to fans before you start development?
YK: I think it's important to note that our staff are all fans of the series as well, having grown up with Mario. And, as such, they're very familiar about what the traditional Super Mario game elements are, and what makes it a fun experience. So we decided to focus on those few elements and culled the rest, to really get down to the essence. And of course, on that list the tanooki suit was very high. So I would say in that sense, yes, we do listen to fans when we design the game.
GS AU: The upcoming 3DS version of Ocarina of Time will feature a video hints system, while New Super Mario Bros on the Wii also allowed you to skip past difficult sections. What do you think of such hint and help systems on a platformer, and are you planning to implement something similar in Super Mario 3DS?
YK: I feel like Ocarina of Time is a type of game that players can work through the puzzles even without this type of hint system. At the time, we were very satisfied with the challenge level it presented, even without hints. But looking back, we do recognise that there were some exceedingly difficult spots for players, so we're offering the hints in the form of video to help them out.
But ultimately, I feel that game design should strive for an experience that allows players to complete puzzles without the use of hints at all. And at the very least we should strive to make these puzzles fun to try repeatedly without hints--that's our ultimate goal.
GS AU: So what is the core Mario experience?
YK: I feel like the core experience is something that we may have started to get away from a little bit when we first started presenting games in 3D like in Super Mario 64. The idea in those games is that you walk around in those environments and give the players a lot of opportunity to explore.
But the real basics of the Super Mario series is that players have to get to the goal of a level without dying. You have short levels with a very quick tempo, and it should be a very thrilling experience. So some of that was actually missing from Galaxy. The gameplay was a bit slower, and it was so much easier to die, so the core experience of getting to the goal without dying was harder to achieve.
This time around, you'll find that we have something closer to the three-minute levels you see in Super Mario Bros, so for me, overall this feels closer to the core of the Super Mario Bros. experience traditionally.
GS AU: So Mario played around with gravity in Galaxy, and now he's moving into a 3D visual environment. Where is there to go for platformers from here?
YK: Clearly I can't make an out and out prediction. And I have to say that presenting Mario in a 3D display still has some secrets that I'll challenge myself to unveil. But I do look forward to the different types of experiences we can bring to the Wii U. Given that very interesting new hardware, I think we'll be able to do a lot with it, and we're exploring that right now.
GS AU: So where do you get your inspiration?
YK: I guess I find the inspiration for Super Mario game from regular life. Considering that Super Mario levels are so full of simple props and gimmicks you can interact with, things as simple as turning a knob or hitting a switch are the places you'll find inspiration for similar objects in the game.
I should also mention that because I commute by train, I spend a lot of time looking out the window, and sometimes the buildings that pass me by look like giant Mario courses. For example, I imagine one of those giant, spiky skewers coming out of a building and wondering how cool that would be.
GS AU: Would a game like Mario work with a touchscreen device?
YK: When we were developing for the Wii and the DS, we actually tried to do a few experiments where people were touching a screen to jump. We feel it's important when making a Super Mario game, which is supposed to be accessible to a great many kinds of people, that you ask questions of those people. In that case, it turned out that buttons were the best option. But that certainly doesn't limit our thinking about new types of interfaces, and those new kinds of interfaces wouldn't necessarily need control pads or buttons, but we just don't know yet.
Full interview here
GS AU: When you're designing a new Mario game, how much influence do fans have? The inclusion of the tanooki suit in Super Mario 3DS, for example, answers a lot of fans' calls. Do you listen to fans before you start development?
YK: I think it's important to note that our staff are all fans of the series as well, having grown up with Mario. And, as such, they're very familiar about what the traditional Super Mario game elements are, and what makes it a fun experience. So we decided to focus on those few elements and culled the rest, to really get down to the essence. And of course, on that list the tanooki suit was very high. So I would say in that sense, yes, we do listen to fans when we design the game.
GS AU: The upcoming 3DS version of Ocarina of Time will feature a video hints system, while New Super Mario Bros on the Wii also allowed you to skip past difficult sections. What do you think of such hint and help systems on a platformer, and are you planning to implement something similar in Super Mario 3DS?
YK: I feel like Ocarina of Time is a type of game that players can work through the puzzles even without this type of hint system. At the time, we were very satisfied with the challenge level it presented, even without hints. But looking back, we do recognise that there were some exceedingly difficult spots for players, so we're offering the hints in the form of video to help them out.
But ultimately, I feel that game design should strive for an experience that allows players to complete puzzles without the use of hints at all. And at the very least we should strive to make these puzzles fun to try repeatedly without hints--that's our ultimate goal.
GS AU: So what is the core Mario experience?
YK: I feel like the core experience is something that we may have started to get away from a little bit when we first started presenting games in 3D like in Super Mario 64. The idea in those games is that you walk around in those environments and give the players a lot of opportunity to explore.
But the real basics of the Super Mario series is that players have to get to the goal of a level without dying. You have short levels with a very quick tempo, and it should be a very thrilling experience. So some of that was actually missing from Galaxy. The gameplay was a bit slower, and it was so much easier to die, so the core experience of getting to the goal without dying was harder to achieve.
This time around, you'll find that we have something closer to the three-minute levels you see in Super Mario Bros, so for me, overall this feels closer to the core of the Super Mario Bros. experience traditionally.
GS AU: So Mario played around with gravity in Galaxy, and now he's moving into a 3D visual environment. Where is there to go for platformers from here?
YK: Clearly I can't make an out and out prediction. And I have to say that presenting Mario in a 3D display still has some secrets that I'll challenge myself to unveil. But I do look forward to the different types of experiences we can bring to the Wii U. Given that very interesting new hardware, I think we'll be able to do a lot with it, and we're exploring that right now.
GS AU: So where do you get your inspiration?
YK: I guess I find the inspiration for Super Mario game from regular life. Considering that Super Mario levels are so full of simple props and gimmicks you can interact with, things as simple as turning a knob or hitting a switch are the places you'll find inspiration for similar objects in the game.
I should also mention that because I commute by train, I spend a lot of time looking out the window, and sometimes the buildings that pass me by look like giant Mario courses. For example, I imagine one of those giant, spiky skewers coming out of a building and wondering how cool that would be.
GS AU: Would a game like Mario work with a touchscreen device?
YK: When we were developing for the Wii and the DS, we actually tried to do a few experiments where people were touching a screen to jump. We feel it's important when making a Super Mario game, which is supposed to be accessible to a great many kinds of people, that you ask questions of those people. In that case, it turned out that buttons were the best option. But that certainly doesn't limit our thinking about new types of interfaces, and those new kinds of interfaces wouldn't necessarily need control pads or buttons, but we just don't know yet.
Full interview here
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