Super Mario Bros. Wonder not inspired by Mario movie, Nintendo insists
Pratfalls.
Nintendo has confirmed that Super Mario Bros. Wonder was not inspired by the Super Mario Bros. Movie.
As has become typical of Nintendo, it's released an Ask the Developer interview with the development team to discuss its latest release.
Development of the game was completely separate from the film, it says, so new elements in Wonder are unrelated.
"We're often asked about the film's influence on the game, but we didn't hear anything about the film's content during development. I think Tezuka-san and Kondo-san were the only members here who knew the details," said Masanobu Sato, art director on Wonder.
Takashi Tezuka, a producer on Wonder, added: "During development, we didn't know when the movie would be released, but we were sure some people would play the game because they watched the movie. This is why we were conscious of creating a game that wouldn't disappoint them. So for this game, we dedicated ample budget and time to create the characters with even more care and attention and in greater detail."
The Super Mario Bros. Movie was hugely successful - within 10 days of its release in April, it had earned $500m at the global box office to become the biggest animated movie debut and biggest video game adaptation ever.
As such, Tezuka's point that some people would be inspired to play this latest game after the film's success is likely accurate, despite no direct influence between the two.
It's especially interesting considering Nintendo has altered the box art for the forthcoming Princess Peach: Showtime! to seemingly match the character model from the film.
Other details on Super Mario Bros. Wonder have emerged from the interview.
For instance, composer Koji Kondo had the idea of "an eight-heads tall, life-sized, live-action Mario humming along with the background music as he goes along", which sounds frankly terrifying.
Enemy characters have also been made more expressive compared with previous games. Now, Goombas actually bite Mario to cause damage - something that was always the case according to creator Shigeru Miyamoto but not possible to show on older hardware.
Said Sato: "I heard that someone once asked Miyamoto-san why Mario takes damage when he bumps into a Goomba from the side in the original Super Mario Bros. game. Apparently, he answered, 'It's because the Goombas bite him'."
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is due out this Friday, 20th October, exclusive to Switch. Donlan was impressed when he played the game earlier this month.
However, be aware that spoilers have already leaked online.