Super Mario 3D Land director Koichi Hayashida took to the stage at Game Developers Conference and revealed some of the stranger ideas Nintendo's EAD team cooked up but ultimately left out of last year's platformer.
Among the oddball ideas were a pro skater Mario, where the plumber rode a Koopa shell around a half pipe; an elongated Mario with bizarre long limbs; enemy cockroaches that could be killed by shutting the 3DS and the ability to snap your own photo for Princess Peach's face. You can imagine the possibilities.
Hayashida said not all these ideas were seriously considered but had come out of early brainstorming sessions for the creative team. He said:
It reminds me of something important. We must always consider ideas outside the normal range from what people expect from a Mario game. We must make others laugh with strange new ideas. We have to keep a feeling of joy in the development process.
Despite the obvious pressure on the team to 'save' the 3DS with a Mario platformer, Hayashida said development was light-hearted and enjoyable. He said the team's mantra was "enjoying making something leads to making something enjoyable."
Our Super Mario 3D Land review would agree.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 38
Super Mario Pro Skating, maybe?
That's a good mantra. There are times when I'm playing a game, and I can tell there was a lot of hard work in it, but also that the creators had a lot of affection for the material. Super Mario Galaxy was one of those games where I could feel that, and I'm sure Super Mario 3D Land is the same.
That would have been sweet!
Spyro 3, anyone? Skateboarding was awesome on the game. ^_^
Roaches? No thank you.
would be good that a la wonder boy
Mario skateboarding? Not any more crazy then going to outer space jumping from planet to planet, talking to stars (lumas) and falling into multiple black holes. Skateboarding is too normal for Mario.
When you love what you do, your product and performance tend to have a higher quality.
Also, that skateboard idea sounds right up Mario Party's alley.
No, thanks. I like it the way it is.
@Blizzaga Really nice that Spyro 3, I loved it and it's true: The skate minigame was better even than other skate games.
What I would want if there is a number 2. Is longer campaign, two player campaign? (Like in Halo's 2 player campaign).
We could have been killing cockroaches? I love to do that! I demand a DLC now!
Seriously, I freaking hate cockroaches.
Super long limbs would've been hilarious. And pointless.
They should release a second one, with all the ideas that weren't put into the first one!
weird crazy ideas
Super Mario 64 had Mario on a koopa shell.
LOL watch it becomes a spinoff standalone game. Super Mario Pro Skateboarding. After all, it may be the only sport mario hasn't done yet loll
=.=; Skateboarding, elongated Mario, COCKROACHES! The first two sound reasonable but the last should have not surface. I hate roaches more so than spiders. I'd probably have killed my 3DS by now if I had seen a roach in game.......
DOESN'T ANYONE ELSE REMEMBER THE GREEN SHELL FROM MARIO 64??? Seriously, I think those were the best part of the game for me, aside from tossing Bowser into spiky bombs. They could have easily integrated something like that into 3D Land.
I take it the people freaking out about roaches have never played Animal Crossing.
Skateboarding is fine, so long as it's not like in Mario Party...
As others have mentioned, Super Mario 64 (DS) had ridable koopa shells, and it was blast, so I don't see why they couldn't have included it. Imagine the stage design possibilities! Surfing across large expanses of water and lava!
Riding the Koopa Shell in Super Mario 64 was one of the funnest things to do in the game. A great moment in my childhood
I don't like skateboarding games but I always seem to like them as part of other games. As was mentioned Spyro and then taken a step further in Jak 2 with the hoverboard that had a skateboard park area. The rollerblades in Our Vacation are a good way to get around. It's basically usually just a way to add speed to a game, which could give Mario some 2D Sonic inspired levels.
Half Pipes meet Warp Pipes. Sounds fun! Maybe it will be in the sequel. I'm not crazy about having my face on Peach's body (she would have serious Peach fuzz!).
Brainstorming. It makes good I ideas.
Good mantra. You can often tell when developers enjoyed making a game, and it definitely adds something.
The idea of shutting the 3DS to kill an enemy sounds pretty intriguing. It kind of reminds me of olden games where you had to do something to the system to progress or make a battle easier (there weren't very many that did this, but it did happen).
Wouldn't closing the 3DS over and over damage the hinge a bit? XD
Skateboarding on a koopa shell down a pipe...? Crushing cockroaches with your 3DS...?
Sequel please?
@Blizzaga
Glad someone else remembers Spyro 3´s legendary skateboard minigame too. That was awesome especially the Lost Fleet one, my favourite minigame in a platform-adventure game. They should do that in Mario games too, Galaxy had that nice surfing game.
Crushing roaches by shutting the lid would rather break flow, I suspect. The Koopaboarding would've been great though. Shame it wasn't included, Super Mario 3D Land was a little short on ideas. Not that it wasn't a good game; but it certainly spread its innovations a little thin - the isometric puzzle rooms were a great idea and made good use of the 3DS's main feature, but yet there was only about 3 in the entire game.
@drumsandperc92 Super Mario snooker? Would probably be the greatest thing ever!
Fools, only Sonic skateboards!
Am i the only one who immediately thought of adventure island with using a skateboard?
awwwwww that sucks. Shell riding was soooooo much fun in super mario 64 (especially in lethal lava land; that level was perfect for it), it would have been great if they had brought that back.
I like the idea of smashing cockroaches with the 3DS screen, kinda like those bugs in SMG Hiney Hive Galaxy that fall on their backs and don't hurt you but just die when you kick them. I guess some people have an aversion to cockroaches ( the "eww" factor) so I can see why they left that one out.
Surfing games are Kirby's domain (sadly).
Nothing against the Warp Star, just games based around surfing racing.
Sounds like fun ideas! And nice mantra!
why ts there a changing mind idea for all games if it came out?
Aww, sweet article! Thanks for that. I think Super Mario 3D Land deserves MUCH praise, it's an excellent game and it deserves a lot of credit for also revitalizing 3DS sales and interest. Keep the action coming!
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