Close Menu
Technology Mag

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    What's Hot

    The 11 Best Coolers for Cold Beer on Hot Days

    August 3, 2025

    Gamers Are Furious About the Censorship of NSFW Games—and They’re Fighting Back

    August 3, 2025

    Lenovo’s rollable laptop is the coolest computer I’ve used all year

    August 3, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Subscribe
    Technology Mag
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    • Home
    • News
    • Business
    • Games
    • Gear
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Security
    • Trending
    • Press Release
    Technology Mag
    Home » ‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder’ Is What Happens When Devs Have Time to Play
    Games

    ‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder’ Is What Happens When Devs Have Time to Play

    News RoomBy News RoomMarch 7, 20244 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Email

    Wonder also introduces badges, which give players different abilities like invisibility or revival when equipped; some are meant to appeal to more advanced players. During development, the team considered giving players the power to use two or three at a time, or even to change badges mid-level, but ultimately nixed it. “It felt more like maybe something that you would see in a Zelda title,” says Tezuka. “It didn’t really feel very Mario-esque … Mario gameplay is a lot more straightforward and simple.”

    If players want to retry a level again for any reason, they can always experiment with new badges. “If someone plays through a course, finishes it, moves on, and never comes back, that makes me a little sad,” says Tezuka. “I really want players to play courses again and again.”

    The team’s other big priority was to fill Wonder with secrets—the kind players will want to brag about finding. “Something we talk about within the teams: Don’t actually make a maze,” says Mouri of the game’s puzzles. “We just need something that looks or feels like a maze.” It’s basic stage design: Teach players something about how to play, whether it’s a hazard or a gimmick, then give them the chance to put it into practice.

    That’s clear with the game’s power-ups, like Wonder’s new water-spewing elephant form, or one that slaps a drill bit on to your head. They’re cute, goofy, and also incredibly practical. Mouri says that creating a new power-up boils down to how it’ll change gameplay. Take Drill Mario, for example, who can travel underground or through the ceiling. “You might think, well, if you want to do that, why don’t you just create Mole Mario?” says Mouri. “Because when you have Drill Mario, you can defeat enemies that are falling on top of you. And that’s something that a mole wouldn’t be able to do.” When the team wanted to give Mario a bigger body to smash blocks and stomp enemies, but also spray water? “Elephant was the obvious choice,” he says.

    Power-ups aren’t the only way players can transform. Super Mario Bros. Wonder also introduces eponymous plants that make things a little … trippy. A Wonder Flower might make Mario really, really big, or it might transform him into a Goomba. Sometimes they shift the very world itself, making pipes bend and slinky along. Mouri says that with so many Mario games behind them, they realized creating new things that surprise players was a challenge. They first played with the idea of items that warped you into different areas, until Tezuka offered some poignant criticism: “If you’re still just going to warp to a different area, it’s still the same. Why don’t you just change where you are right now?”

    Instead of incorporating Wonder effects into just a few levels, the developers decided to create a special one for every main course. So Mouri and Tezuka pooled the entire team, “regardless of what part of the game they were working on or how many years they’ve been working at Nintendo,” Mouri says. “The number of ideas we got was probably over a thousand, 2,000 ideas.” From there they narrowed down options and refined what they had.

    At its core, says Tezuka, Wonder is about action. “But I do think if we focus solely on that, it might be a bit boring, for both players and creators,” he says. They have to keep shooting for the unexpected.

    “I do think people have ideas that Mario has to be a certain way. There are certain limitations that people have in their own brains,” says Tezuka. He asks his teams to throw away their limiting beliefs right out of the gate. “If you think it looks cool, it’s going to be fun. Do it.”

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleApple will cut off third-party app store updates if your iPhone leaves the EU for a month
    Next Article Apple’s last-minute App Store changes come with a catch — here’s what developers think

    Related Posts

    Gamers Are Furious About the Censorship of NSFW Games—and They’re Fighting Back

    August 3, 2025

    Steam and Itch.io Are Pulling ‘Porn’ Games. Critics Say It’s a Slippery Slope to More Censorship

    July 31, 2025

    The Tiny Super Pocket Neo Geo Edition Is Affordable Retro Fun

    July 28, 2025

    A Surprise Pokémon Game Just Dropped for Switch and Mobile

    July 24, 2025

    Life Without Screens: This Camp Is a Teen’s Worst Nightmare

    July 24, 2025

    Mix Up Your Gameplay With Our Favorite Controllers for the Switch 2

    July 23, 2025
    Our Picks

    Gamers Are Furious About the Censorship of NSFW Games—and They’re Fighting Back

    August 3, 2025

    Lenovo’s rollable laptop is the coolest computer I’ve used all year

    August 3, 2025

    A webcam that’s almost like a real camera

    August 3, 2025

    States Are Moving to Protect Access to Vaccines

    August 3, 2025
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Vimeo
    Don't Miss
    Gear

    How to Clean Your Mattress No Matter How Gross It Gets

    By News RoomAugust 3, 2025

    One note: Be wary of over-saturating your mattress. Leaving liquid behind can cause mold and…

    Gear News of the Week: Insta360 Debuts a Drone Company, and DJI Surprises With an 8K 360 Camera

    August 3, 2025

    Today I’m toying with

    August 2, 2025

    Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 8 just came out and you can already save $50

    August 2, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of use
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    © 2025 Technology Mag. All Rights Reserved.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.