Shigeru Miyamoto recently talked about what’s next for the Super Mario series. He started detailing the design process for Mario games mentioning that Mario games have evolved and started to become more complex so he is mindful they should also remain accessible. He also talked briefly about 3D Mario games going forward, stating that the next mainline 3D game will continue to expand on what has come before.
Shigeru Miyamoto on 3D Mario’s future
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.
What direction would you like Super Mario’s 3D adventures to go into?
