Nintendo's Goal For Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
It's the first truly new 2-D Mario title in over a decade, which is a heck of a long time, but I kind of shrugged at the trailer and lacked the familiar pull to play it. At the top of this, the week of its release, and I still hadn't felt it. I wondered whether I'd become cynical: I know the series so well, and seeing such a stylistic divergence made me feel like none of the original minds, with their deceptively deep thinking so takable for granted ever since, were working on these more "modern" games. The focus was apparently flashy gimmicks, lending to a sense that even Mario is tempted by whatever all-too-common short-term measures might grab gamers' short-term attention.
But I've been reading the newest developer interview, a continuation of the esteemed "Iwata Asks" tradition. A couple of newer staff are present ("newer" meaning a mere decade there rather than three), but Takashi Tezuka and Koji Kondo, two of the originals, comment away.
From Shiro Mouri, the game's director:
When I think back to the first time I played the original Super Mario Bros. game, I remember feeling that it was full of hidden surprises and wonders. Coins would come out when you hit the blocks, and your body would grow bigger with Super Mushrooms. Back then, everything was new and packed with unexpected delights. However, now that the Super Mario games have been enjoyed by players for many years, those things have somehow become ordinary. That's why Tezuka-san's goal was to create moments that even modern players would find unexpected and wondrous.
That quote reassured me that Nintendo is still doing what it always has: stepping back to consciously conceive a singular idea, very much in the abstract, and setting out to achieve it. That particular goal must sometimes result in what seem like gimmicks, but I trust they will collectively serve that purpose.
If you haven't ever read these interviews, I can tell you, as a Nintendo fan, that they're still more interesting and valuable to me than just about any other form of their publicity.