It's been well-documented that the development of Super Mario Galaxy 2 posed a few tricky decisions for the team: starting out as Super Mario Galaxy 1.5, the role of the story was much-discussed inside Nintendo, with different team members arguing for more or less story. All this led Shigeru Miyamoto to a realisation: he prefers games that resonate rather than ones with overt stories.
Speaking to Satoru Iwata in the latest Iwata Asks, Mr Miyamoto says he's more interested in making characters that ring true with players around the world:
Whether or not the game world resonates with you as you're playing the game is what's most important. For example, when you watch a big-budget movie, you may be amazed by all the pyrotechnics, but at the same time, something isn't quite striking home with you.
Presumably this is one of the reasons why many of Miyamoto's lead characters have remained near-mute over the years, to avoid them speaking a line that would jar with gamers' image of their heroes.
The translated article contains plenty of other interesting discussion that should help tide US gamers over until the game's launch tomorrow morning.
[source us.wii.com]
Comments 28
Oh MAN!
This is gonna be a loooooooooooooooong day.
I NEED THAT GAME!
But Mario's not silent!!
@lz2010 So is Starfox!
I like to imagine that whilst Mario speaks with an Italian accent everywhere in the world, he speaks with a strong streotypical British one in Italy.
IT IS I, TOP NOTCH MARIO. SHALL WE GET GOING, CHAPS? YOU KNOW, I AM PARTIAL TO A LITTLE SPAGHETTI.
Also in Italian Super Mario Galaxy 2 he wears a top hat and a monocle. FACT.
Yeah, he's always saying things like "It's a me! Mario!" or "Lets a go!" even things like "Yahoo!"
@Raylax I'm going to do that impression on the next podcast.
@Prosody:
While I agree about big budget movies I don't see how that is an argument for less story. Though I guess it argues for a more vague fill in your own blanks story like say the bit.trip series. Though I don't really see galaxy as having that either. Oh well, as long as the games are fun.
comes out tomorrow...will time speed up? hopefully so!
Seriously if only Sonic Team would have done the same thing, Sonic would be so much more than he is now. Miyamoto is definatley right in this one IMO for the style of gameplay that the games are. For games like Uncharted you have to have the dialoge and characters come to life, but for Mario, stay quite my man!
.....Oh, and can you PLEASE Shut Up Staffy..... Please Shut Him UP!
I have read that complete Iwata asks feature and I dunno what to think of this. It seems that thet try to hard to understand why 3D Marios doesn't sell as much as 2D marios. They tend to think that is a thing of accesibility and story and things like that and they think why it resonates but is half the truth. Is not because people is stupid is simply because they don't like them (3D Marios) because they are not that fun. They seem that they just don't get that those are very different kinds of games with a different content. They will never be the same.
It's like Revenge of Metaknight in SuperStar. Kirby is going to each section of the ship. Is he just randomly and by luck finding the ships weak spots and targeting them? Or is he smarter than we think? Kirby is still a baby is Metaknight even trying to take over Dreamland? Doesn't he work under King DeDeDe?. Or the whole Gygas thing in Earthbound. I love figuring things out. Leave a lot of mystery and stuff.
@Slapshot: I dunno... I don't think I'd like Sonic as much if he were mostly mute like Mario.
@Buffalobob: I think you're in the minority, pal. 3D Marios sell very well because most people think they ARE that fun (And most 3D Sonics sold well, too. It only took, like, 2 stinkers to make people forget that).
I'm not a big fan of 3D platformers in general as even the best of them involve fighting the camera more then anything else, and that's not something I find particularly fun. Having said that, this game interests me anyway. I've not even played the first one more then a few minutes, yet I want the sequel. I don't know why.
@Wam.... that is exactly what I meant. Had Sonic stayed silent and with his roots instead of all the dumb character the franchise would prob be much better than they are now.
14 hours and counting
@WAM2: oh really?
NSMBWii sales to date: 14.7 Million copies sold in 7 months
SMG 1 sales to date: 9 Million copies in 3 years
@17
Im sure one of the main reason why Super Mario Bros wii sold so well is because 4 ppl can play together. And i know u can play 2 ppl with SMG but who would? But i perfer my mario 2d
It's not like 9 million is something to scoff at. Most developers, even of hugely popular games by industry standards, would LOVE to sell that many!
Yes, it's a lot lower than NSMBW, but I agree with Iggy...multiplayer had a HUGE impact on that. Not to say it simply being a 2D throwback didn't entice some people, as I know for a fact that it did. But I guess the point is that it's not that people in general don't like 3D Mario, it's just that different games sell to different people for different reasons.
couldn't it be simply that 95% of people just prefer 2D Mario because is more fun? 3D Mario is more puzzle oriented while 2D Mario is more arcade like. The first is more niche and the later is more mainstream. Honestly is not rocket science.
You should look at NSMBWii sales as :"everyone who wanted a 2D mario in 2009" combined with "everyone who wanted a fun multiplayer game in 2009." If you look at it that way, then it's more comparable with Galaxy, which was a "everyone who wanted a mario game in 2007, etc." Think this logic is less than great? Well, most arguments with sales numbers are.
@buffalobob.... I think you are right my friend. 2D Mario is just something special. While I do prefer Mario 64 over ALL of them. The 2D Marios are simply gaming in perfection. Ive been a fan of 2D gaming back when that was pretty much all there was (with exception of a few Atari games that tried 3D movement) and I think its really funny to see this new generation to get so hyped over the games when they release. Nintendo can sell games like none other and that is a fact. Event the biggest franchises on other systems cant even scratch the sales of these games. That shows you the fanbase, as well as parent confidence in the product for their children.
@15: Yeah, I know. It's just that I get a little frustrated that people just account the sudden crappiness of the games solely to the fact the series went 3D, which it wasn't. They were still really fun for a few more games before the series officially jumped the shark. Or, as a video game equivelent, "gave the hedgehog a gun".
And I didn't say the character overload was something I appreciate, 'cause I don't appreciate that.
@Buffalobob: Hey, you just don't like the 3D ones, and that's fine. I'm just saying that's not how everyone thinks. A lot of people obviously like 2D Mario more, possibly a majority, but certainly not 95%!
"Also in Italian Super Mario Galaxy 2 he wears a top hat and a monocle. FACT."
@Raylax: Prove it.
I love the Iwata Asks segments. Even if they don't give too much nitty-gritty insight into specific game details, they often go into interesting background stories that we'd never otherwise know. Plus it's cool to imagine these guys having a chat about their career, their passion. Even if it's all edited together and possibly scripted, it still makes me feel good. They're so happy! And laughing all the time! Their own fun filters down into their games... this is the secret of Nintendo.
@buffalobob: Nirvana's "Nevermind" has sold 10 million copies over the course of 18 years. People must not like it that much.
@GrangeGrover: and that has a lot to do because.....?
@WAM2: uhmm...at what moment I said I didn't like them?
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