Speaking with GamesMasters in their latest issue, Nintendo developer Takashi Tezuka spoke regarding Mario as a character and his success through the generations:
Personally, I think that even before people come to like Mario as a character, it’s the gameplay of Super Mario that really resonates with them. We created Super Mario Bros paying close attention to intuitive feelings – things that anyone in the world can relate to – which users feel through the gameplay; running is fun, jumping high is something you want to do, falling is scary and spikes hurt you if you touch them, etc.
I think it all started with how the gameplay resonated with players. From there it’s been how we’ve continued to make Mario games for so long, and all the work we have put into making sure that Mario is never used in an inappropriate way, that has allowed him to slowly become such a well-loved character.
Later, Tezuka-san noted:
“Ultimately it comes down to the quality of the gameplay. No matter how many Mario games we release, if players don’t enjoy them, it can only be a bad thing for Mario. The quality of the visual design is also very important too; it’s vital that we work hard to make sure that we present everyone with the same image of Mario across all these different games.”
And while asked about Mario’s future, Tezuka-san had this to say:
That Mario has been loved so much up to this point is nothing short of miraculous, although obviously this is in part the result of the untold work of multitudes of people, not limited to just the developers at Nintendo. It’s impossible for me to imagine what Mario will go on to become in the future, so I am very excited to find out. However, I do hope that even after 30 more years, Mario continues to be Nintendo’s lead videogame character.
You can purchase last month’s issue of GamesMaster now for the full interview with Tezuka — including his comments regarding ultra-difficult levels in Super Mario Maker.
Please play my levels! Warning though they are hard:
B3CA-0000-009C-88D1
A2FE-0000-009C-CF28
AB84-0000-009C-D8EB
437A-0000-009C-F405
I personally try to make medium-difficulty levels. I like them to be fun, playable, and long.
Oh there playable, there just not easy.
Mario is Love.
Mario is Life.
!! Tezuka is spelled wrong on the title of this post !!
I actually agree with Tezuka. The great gameplay is what always made Mario games so fun. I doubt it had anything to do with him being an Italian plumber from Brooklyn.
Thanks The Collector — for some reason my spellcheck hasn’t been working in the titles! Will change accordingly :)
im glad mario was created by nintendo and the guy himself who created him yeah mario has been in some tough times in his adventures but his adventures will still go on like sonic the hedgehog yeah im glad mario and his games exist but i was wondering what will mario and sonic look like in the future if they reach there goals on becoming even more popular then maybe both there series will becoming a good success still i wonder what nintendo have in store for us for the mario games.
I don’t know about that. For the early Mario games, what he’s saying is definitely accurate, but I don’t really believe you can still say the same today. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying today’s Mario games all lack quality or anything, but I’m pretty sure that it certainly helps sales if the game is part of the Mario franchise, or Mario takes a prominent role. A good example for that is the Super Mario edition of Puzzles & Dragons; would people normally pay 30€ (that’s how much it costs over here, at least) for a game that’s technically available for free on phones? No, they wouldn’t. But since it’s Mario, they do.
So, in my view, it’s unrealistic to think that the success of Mario games is solely thanks to gameplay, I personally believe a the success is indeed achieved mostly through the character(s). If it really was gameplay what determined the success of a game, we’d see many indie games selling millions, but that’s not happening.
Exactly. If it was indeed the gameplay these days, how come all other platformers get their asses kicked by Mario when on a Nintendo console? How come they aren’t doing amazingly well on consoles that don’t have Mario in them? These guys talking about it being the gameplay & not Mario are clearly way out of touch with the industry. Pathetic, really. Oh the days when Nintendo actually knew what the majority of hardcore gamers wanted.
Or they do know & just don’t give a fuck about us anymore. It’s all about the suckers that buy up their crap & worship them every day like little blind sheep even when Nintendo is clearly in the wrong or out of touch with the real gamers that aren’t slaves.
I don’t think anyone at Nintendo believes this for a second. The Mario name sells, and they damn well know this is true.
Sure, but in the starting day’s nobody knew him. And did you really ever heard anyone say that Mario is such a interesting character personality wise? Ofcourse not… The reason we buy Mario’s games is because of the gameplay, and that’s what this guy is saying.
True, I guess what I meant to say was now. The name Mario alone sells, but I do agree that it’s because of quality in the gameplay. Had the quality dipped years ago, so would his name brand recognition.
I’ll try to make my self clearer next time haha.
Having read Console Wars, I’d have to somewhat agree with this guy. Everyone had a Sonic craze for awhile because Mario was aimed at kids, For example, in the Mario vs. Sonic in the beginnings of the industry Mario was the new Mickey Mouse for kids, and Sonic was aimed at everyone else. For awhile it was “Either Sonic the too fast, too cool hedgehog, or it’s that ‘nice boy’ Mario.” That’s what got Sonic running as the lead, he was the alternative to ‘kids games’. But Sega started falling back as the majority of their games were beginning to be less than Nintendo’s game quality standard. That’s what killed Sega, and that’s why Nintendo remains in the lead.
These guys are clearly out of touch with the video game industry of today. Back in the early days, sure it was the gameplay. But nowadays, it’s clearly the Mario name. If it wasn’t the name & was solely gameplay, how come Mario is the only platformer that is making a killing these days?
because Mario is one of the few who still gets gameplay 100% right.