Junki Ikeuchi, the chief artist for Super Mario Odyssey’s visual effects, discussed how they came to be on a posting on Nintendo’s Japanese recruiting site.
The team attempted to achieve harmony between the effects and the many art styles. Ikeuchi said that “elements from both themes were collected and melded together.”
Designing Super Mario Odyssey
We created an announcement video for Super Mario Odyssey that featured Mario leaping from a manhole and running through a CG New York-like metropolis. The video’s goal was to juxtapose an animated Mario against a genuine, live cityscape. As the project’s effect designer, this presented me with several obstacles.
In Super Mario Odyssey, as Mario runs, a little white cloud of smoke forms underneath him. My senior colleagues often state that “effects are like glue,” holding things together when elements in the game interact with one other. When Mario tosses his hat and it strikes an adversary, stars appear to visually indicate that you’ve struck the target.
The significant challenge when Mario interacts with the’real’ world was deciding which of the two art styles the visual effects should mimic. Should we go with an effect that looks like an animated Mario? If so, it would be inconsistent with the realistic city, and vice versa. To tackle this difficulty, concepts from both topics were combined.
Consider a waterfall in the midst of the forest with a genuine splashing effect. When Mario smashes anything, though, adorable stars appear instead. We didn’t want all of the characters to have the same impact. While a dragon spits fire, the fire becomes more realistic the farther away it is from Mario, and we kept that design decision in mind when creating all of the effects in the game.
When compared to character design, effects design may seem simple, yet technology allows for more distinctive expression. However, a designer cannot implement technology on his or her own. You need programmers to assist you apply ever-evolving technology to effects, and Super Mario Odyssey has a lot of aid with this.
One such example is the disintegration effect that occurs when Mario catches an adversary. It was a collaborative effort with the programmers and exemplifies how technology may be utilized productively.
One of the nicest parts about this work is that we can use a single effect to let what’s on screen take center stage. Mist adds a more natural touch to a woodland scene. For example, if you view a photograph of a cherry blossom tree from outside, it is lovely on its own, but what happens when you add a wind effect to it? The picture’s context changes, and it portrays the passage of time. Effects not only hold everything together in the game, but they also contribute to the universe. The duty of the effect designer is not just to create effects, but also to make the game feel more’real.’
About Super Mario Odyssey
Mario leaps from the Mushroom Kingdom and goes on an adventure in Super Mario Odyssey, available exclusively on Nintendo Switch!
Join Mario on a gigantic, globe-trotting 3D journey, collecting Moons to power up your airship, the Odyssey, and save Princess Peach from Bowser’s wedding preparations!
This sandbox-style 3D Mario adventure – the first since 1997’s beloved Super Mario 64 and 2002’s Nintendo GameCube classic Super Mario Sunshine – is chock-full of secrets and surprises, and with Mario’s new moves like cap throw, cap jump, and capture, you’ll have fun and exciting gameplay experiences unlike anything you’ve experienced in a Mario game before. Prepare to be swept away to bizarre and amazing locations far from the Mushroom Kingdom!
Super Mario Odyssey was first published in October 2017 for the Nintendo Switch.
