Topic: Do you think Mario Odyssey was originally being developed as a Wii U game?

@Harmonie Honestly I am just kinda interested in it's development history. I bet they were working on it originally back when they still thought the Wii U could have lasted longer, and when that fell apart they decided to develop it around the Switch. It was probably still pretty early in it's development when they did that unlike BotW.

@JayJ

Then you probably should have mentioned that in the opening comment and got a proper discussion going.

@BenGrimm I didn't think people would be so defensive lol

I think it depends on what the mindset of Nintendo was when they were first making it. It's hard to say but it feels like almost everything they were working on that wasn't nearly ready for Wii U by the time they made the initial NX announcement was pushed back to be a Switch game instead. I think Color Splash and a console port of Pokken were the only big Wii U games announced after that point.

@SwitchForce Well, there IS a difference between a port and a game built off of earlier games. A sequel is not a port, and that kind of nonsense really does kinda drive me nuts. No offense intended. A port is taking the same game from one device and putting in on another. A sequel is a new game, perhaps built of off the same engine, but is new content.

Of course I crictized Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon as being ports to the same system, since 90% of those games were reused content, and I am totally not still annoyed by that, but... yeah.

I that just a year after the Wii U launched, Nintendo had already accepted that the system was a failure and started working on the Switch. That was also about the time that 3D World came out. Assuming they finished 3D World before starting Odyssey, and they were already looking toward the next system, I really doubt Odyssey was ever intended for a Wii U release.

I do remember, somewhere in the middle of the Wii U's life, Miyamoto saying that the next Mario 64-style game would most likely be for their next console.

Edit: dug up the source
https://www.google.com/amp/s/mynintendonews.com/2014/12/19/mi...

That suggests to me that, as early as 2014, Odyssey was being developed with the Switch in mind.

@Heavyarms55 I know that part but this was about how people are grabbing for ports just o criticize the Switch for no good reasons. The point is that all games started somewhere and had designs from the past games mixed along with ground up games. But when they are on xbox, ps4 people are raving how great the games are but when it comes to the Switch it hurts their bung holes. They are trying to have their cake and vodka at the same time.

I think it was originally being developed as an Assassin's Creed game. After Mario+Rabbids Kingdom, Nintendo thought "Hey, let's get that stealth man from you, Ubi!" Then Ubsioft was all like "Nah, we're busy with our boys over here makin' an Odyssey."

So Miyamoto was so mad that he made his own Assassin's Creed Odyssey, but with Mario. That's why you can get on top of buildings in New Donk City.

Mystery solved, case closed. That'll be $27.50 for fees.

I really don't think think the Wii-u is nearly powerful enough to run this game.

@JayJ Your question is quite interesting. Just like you, it's interesting to me as well to see a game's development cycle and if it originated on another platform before eventually releasing on a different platform.

I agree with others in that I think Mario Odyssey was a Switch game right from the start. Did Nintendo consider releasing it on Wii U when Mario Odyssey was at the very beginning of development? I'm sure they did — it would be silly not to, considering the Wii U was their main home console at the time. Did they quickly decide there was no point since the Wii U was struggling, and then decide to save it for their next console and build it around their next console? I'm sure they did.

Odyssey unlike BotW is designed around the Switch. The motion controls would've required Wii remotes on a Wii U (which is already a big red flag since most first party games allowed you to play with the GamePad without requiring use of Wii remotes), the numerous moons as someone said earlier in this thread speaks to consideration of portability, the extensive implementation of HD Rumble, etc.

We'll probably never know for sure — for example Pikmin 3 was initially in development on Wii before being shifted to Wii U, and it uses the Wii U well enough that I'd have never guessed it was initially developed for the Wii. But Mario Odyssey was probably a Switch game from the very beginning.

I think there is a Nintendo Life article that links to a development interview where one of the producers confirm it was always meant for the Switch.

I can certainly see it. Nintendo probably knew a lot about their plans for the Switch in 2014 or so, less than a year after Super Mario 3D World released.

Probably not. No Nintendo console has ever has 2 completely different 3D Mario games. We've only had the Galaxy duo which used the same engine and assets.
They probably started developing it at the point they realised the Wii U was a failure. Probably about 2 years before the Switch released.

I don't believe SMO was originally being developed for Wii U, no. However, I do believe that SMO was rushed and took shortcuts in its development, so that it guaranteed a launch in the first year. I am therefore a lot more excited about a sequel, which logic suggests will arrive in 2020.

By the time the game was released, the Wii U was five years old.
That is the lifespan of the SNES, N64, and Gamecube.

Going by the timeframe, the game seems like it was developed to be a launch title to whatever succeeds the Wii U.

Id love to know the development story around Project Giant Robot myself. What elements were put to use in different games, why it never made it and why it was still appearing in infographics so late in the WiiUs life span. I dont think it would have been the greatest game of all time but i hope Unseen64 or someone will shed some light on that one day soon.

@Link-Hero i always thought Arms might have taken some aspects of the project as well as the more obvious Labo Robot Kit. It just struck me as weird how long it took Nintendo to cancel the game and i imagine there must have been some crazy ideas thrown around in trying to take it beyond being a tech demo. Would be interested to know more about it and what else was going on in house during the WiiU days.