Takashi Tezuka (Osaka, 1960) was involved when the very first Mario and Zelda games were designed and launched in the 1980s. Since then, he has mostly produced or supervised all the games in these series, perhaps with a bit more focus on the 2D games. When we met Nintendo’s legendary producer at Gamescom after playing Super Mario Bros. Wonder, we therefore asked him about the old and the new way.
“So first of all, thanks for noticing,” Tezuka-san begins around the 2:30 mark in the video when we recall his origins when asked how much of the good old pen and squared paper went into this the game. “And as you mention, in the old days we used to design these courses with paper and pen, but of course we don’t anymore! (laughs). So now we’ve developed a specific tool for this, so level designers can use this tool to design their paths. Level design therefore does not mean that we only place certain elements and objects in a path”.
“We also have to think about elements like enemies and gimmicks, and how those enemies and gimmicks will work and work in the entirety of the course.”
“So these level designers have to work together with people like programmers, sound designers and other designers as well,” continues the Japanese producer. “We also have knowledge from previous Mario courses and certain things that are kind of predetermined. So we also go through these fixed points, but we also have a lot of different types of courses, so we also have to think of different ideas to create those the pitches. That’s one of the most challenging things.”
Next, we compare Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s renewed whimsy and variety with what users can create with Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Maker 2.
“I think when we first introduced Super Mario Maker, some people might have thought that this was the pinnacle, or that this was all we needed for 2D Mario,” Tezuka-san answers when asked if Wonder was deliberately designed to be something more complex or wackier that really could no longer be created with Super Mario Maker. “Don’t be afraid, there are so many ideas we can put into 2D Mario, and so many new things we can create! (laughs). Now that we can finally introduce this new type of 2D Mario, we are very excited to could do it”.
There are many other Mario themes that Tezuka-san and director Shiro Mouri discuss in the video, including difficulty, animation, and the brand new online mode. The very last question is actually Nintendo’s producer reflecting on the platform genre and how it has evolved since Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka and co. were precursors to the one on the original Famicom.
2023-09-09 15:03:03
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