Next Level Games has a long and proud history with Nintendo, having worked on a wide range of titles including Super Mario Strikers, Punch Out!! and Luigi's Mansion 2. However, not all of the projects pitched by this developer have seen the light of day, and Unseen64 has posted an updated video explaining what happened to the proposed Mario volleyball game the company was working on.
Originally entitled Mario Volleyball, it would morph into a hybrid of volleyball and wrestling, showcasing surprisingly violent attack moves which see characters stomping on one another from great heights. The game was eventually given the name Super Mario Spikers and was pitched as a Wii release.
Next Level got as far as rendering various animations and mocking-up potential stage ideas - which included a wrestling arena - but the title was never given the green light by Nintendo of Japan. According to new information unearthed by Unseen64, a prototype of the title actually exists and it was the content of this demo which apparently resulted in the plug being pulled.
The Japanese felt the level of violence on display was too extreme, and apparently had issues with the idea of attacking prone opponents - it was viewed as "dishonorable" to do so in the context of a sports title.
Give the updated video a watch and let us know if you'd have paid good money for this unique sports title.
Comments (43)
Ummm... Whoa....
double facepalm
so much violence
I would pay for a Mario wrestling game, just sayin.
I thought we already knew this, or was it just an educated, and unsurprisingly correct, guess?
@Yorumi they said it was "unsportsmanlike", that is, in the context of a sports game, it was too much violence.
It would be kind of weird to have players fighting in volleyball since the net usually separates the two teams. I can see blocking being a cool feature an possibly fighting in midair but i'm not sure how that would work.
All that being said, I still would have bought this game because I have loved the Mario Strikers series.
Edit: The Peach, Bowser, Samus, and Fox costumes in Bayonetta didn't violate character honor? Seems like that was a fairly violent game.
Noooooooo. I loved these games! Played the GC one for hours!
@Yorumi Yeah but Mario isn't doing the stabbing. Now if we had a game where Mario took an axe to Bowser's head (and now I have the dorkly bits video stuck in my head) then I would look at them like they were crazy. Although boiling him in lava isn't very nice either...but that was his poor decoration choice. So perhaps we need a Zelda sports game instead then?
Could of taken Mario out and made it its own IP but oh well...
Old news??? Anyway, Nintendo once again showing that they know what is good for us.
Nintendo logic:
You can't make a silly volleyball/wrestling game...Now go and make a game about a little guy punching stereotypes.
Apparently these people never player Strikers, where the cheating AI would neuter your team by each individually tackling all of your teammates, when that was impossible for a person because of the control scheme.
Nintendo: the Mr Rogers/ Ned Flanders of the gaming world...
Don't worry guys, Reggie knows what we want.
Yeah... that's why Devil's Third is coming and Bayonetta was released.
I did not learn anything new in this article, except that a playable demo exists.
You gotta be kidding me
Yes we've uh...known about this for years. But...thanks for reminding us I guess?
I guess that rugby game next year will play like flag football then? No violence in sports.
@Ryno - So, did you go over to the dark side yet?
@rjejr: Not yet but I keep wavering on which one to go with!
@Yorumi I think the problem was the context of the violence, as was said in the article attacking a prone opponent is seen as dishonourable to the Japanese. Totally different from stabbing a sword into a guys head who is trying to kill you.
Soooooooo lemme get this straight... The violence in Smash is okay, but this isn't? I smell hypocricy...
Just take out moves on prone opponents.id be all over this day one
"See's waluigi jump on Mario" i could see why Nintendo didn't like the idea, but i'm sad that this never came out, would be cool for some sort of wrestling game
Why not just tone it down a bit or rework it?
Nintendo doesn't make sense sometimes. lol
Sounds boring.
This is curious/funny when there ESRB (or CERO in Japan), but there is a logic point; Is not easy for Nintendo to give a Mario game with classification T or M (B, C or D in Japan).
This sounds really dumb. I liked the attack methods in Mario Strikers, but they were largely item-based (except for tackles), and while very exaggerated, kinda still fit into the whole football theme.
But a volleyball game with wrestling moves is just... dumb. A teamplay-oriented sport that normally separates both teams to opposite sides of a field really wouldn't work. Wait, is that a pattern starting to shine through? Hmmmmm....
you wrote an article on this a year ago...
Dat creepy smiling Shy Guy tho....
It's strangly satisfying to see Waluigi trying to squash Mario at 2:27
A little late for an April fool's joke.
Judging by how they described it I am actually inclined to agree with them. Seems a bit out of place in a Mario sports game.
Everybody knows that Football gets an bad rep. So they made it look extreme. Also Japan takes it's ball games seriously so honestly this is just hype for the game. I still can't beleive the artwork for the spikers game. The game is meh, but the artwork is intense. That is what Super Mario SunShine should have looked like.
GOOOALL GOOALLGGOOOAAA
NLife recycling articles.
My first reaction to Super Mario Strikers was amazement at how vicious and angry everyone was, so I guess this must have been really extreme.
I know I saw a video on this game years ago, but i can't seem to find 'proof' that it existed before today.
Did I have a premonition? Is the plane going to explode?!
And my Nintendo facepalming keeps going on...
I wish Nintendo would have grabbed the rights to the developer that made games like Super Dodge Ball, World Cup Soccer, River City Ransom and Renegades. I think a Mario themed version of Super Dodge Ball and a Volleyball game that follows that structure would have done well (in fact there was a volleyball game built in the franchise).
This was reported on last year.
@luigiluigiluigi,
This is a updated video. By the way, Unseen64 is awesome! Hopefully they tackle Warioworld someday. I heard some VERY strange things regarding that game, maybe I should email them?
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