AlphaDream/Nintendo detail their relationship, discuss RPG battle system, consider a Super Mario RPG homage
Coming from an IGN interview with AlphaDream Producer Yoshihiko Maekawa and Nintendo Producer Akira Ohtani...
On working with Nintendo
“The best way to address your question is by thinking about how the Mario & Luigi series differs from the action Mario games. Being an RPG, there are of course a lot more text messages. You’re having a lot more interaction with the characters in the game. What this does is it allows us to have a much finer portrayal of individual characters and their personalities through the way that you’re speaking and interacting with them.
I feel like AlphaDream has always been very careful with the Mario & Luigi series. We understand that these are beloved characters that we’re dealing with, and so we have to take into account everyone’s feelings about those characters, and not lose sight of our own love of those characters and what makes them charming as we continue to refine their portrayals in a way we think is interesting." - AlphaDream Producer Yoshihiko Maekawa
"Of course, at Nintendo, Mr. Miyamoto works on a very different series of Mario games. I think that’s entirely the point. They’re a different kind of fun, the action Mario games, as compared to these RPGs. That’s exactly the point. They need to be different. There wouldn’t be much use in creating another Mario game that was fun in the exact same way. The goal here has always been to find these new fun ideas that are a little bit different from what people have seen elsewhere.” - Nintendo Producer Akira Ohtani
On the battle system
“The first time anyone encountered an action command battle system like that was in Super Mario RPG, which I was in fact involved with. That was very much inspired by a children’s toy that was available in Japan at the time. It was like a large laptop with these buttons that would play music. You had to press the buttons with good timing to the music. It was that idea, having gameplay built around timing button presses, that inspired me to hybridize these two genres of game, to get a little bit of action and RPG into the same game.
Having Mario just be turn-based was something that didn’t feel very Mario to us at the time, when we were experimenting with it. Once we included these action commands, we did feel like we were bringing the more traditional Mario action gameplay feel, but melding that with an RPG.
Then, once we moved on to the Mario & Luigi series, I think there was another interesting evolution. That was that you could then start to dodge enemy attacks entirely, which you couldn’t do before. You could only reduce damage if you had good timing on a button press. From the second and third installments of the game forward – and this is something we went back and forth on a lot with the battle planner at the time – we decided that it shouldn’t just be the buttons. You should also be able to use the direction pad and the circle pad. Now you can even use the gyro sensor for this function as well. I think that’s the evolution that’s brought us to the state it’s in today.” - Maekawa
On returning to Super Mario RPG...
Akira Ohtani: I’ve only ever worked on the Mario & Luigi series, and I wasn’t involved with Super Mario RPG, so I’m not sure I’m even the correct person to answer that question.
Yoshihiko Maekawa: Well, what’s your perspective, as a producer, about going back to that world and using characters like Geno and Mallow?
AO: Honestly, I think making new games is always a bit more appealing from my perspective. It’s okay to reuse some settings, like the Beanbean Kingdom, but we definitely want to introduce new characters and new gameplay ideas whenever possible.
AO: You guys really seem to like Super Mario RPG. Yeah, I really should admit that I do have to think a little bit harder about how to separate how I view older games from how I try to approach working on new games, because I don’t want to end up in a situation where my mind is too clouded by nostalgia for old games, and I can’t focus on how to best explore new avenues and new ways of bringing fun and surprising experiences to people. But I recognize what you’re saying. I really should learn how to compartmentalize those two parts of my brain a little better, so I can at least go back and play some more interesting old games from time to time.
YM: In this game, in Dream Team, we were able to bring back some characters from the first game in the Mario & Luigi series, that had appeared in the Beanbean Kingdom. These characters tend to be sort of minor characters that show up in less important areas, but they do have a few lines, and so you get to learn a little bit about what they’re up to now.
I was wondering if that might be some way to approach using Geno and Mallow in a future game, so that we’d still be able to look for fun new ideas like Mr. Ohtani was talking about. We wouldn’t get bogged down, but we could still provide a view of these characters for fans who really want to see one.
On working with Nintendo
“The best way to address your question is by thinking about how the Mario & Luigi series differs from the action Mario games. Being an RPG, there are of course a lot more text messages. You’re having a lot more interaction with the characters in the game. What this does is it allows us to have a much finer portrayal of individual characters and their personalities through the way that you’re speaking and interacting with them.
I feel like AlphaDream has always been very careful with the Mario & Luigi series. We understand that these are beloved characters that we’re dealing with, and so we have to take into account everyone’s feelings about those characters, and not lose sight of our own love of those characters and what makes them charming as we continue to refine their portrayals in a way we think is interesting." - AlphaDream Producer Yoshihiko Maekawa
"Of course, at Nintendo, Mr. Miyamoto works on a very different series of Mario games. I think that’s entirely the point. They’re a different kind of fun, the action Mario games, as compared to these RPGs. That’s exactly the point. They need to be different. There wouldn’t be much use in creating another Mario game that was fun in the exact same way. The goal here has always been to find these new fun ideas that are a little bit different from what people have seen elsewhere.” - Nintendo Producer Akira Ohtani
On the battle system
“The first time anyone encountered an action command battle system like that was in Super Mario RPG, which I was in fact involved with. That was very much inspired by a children’s toy that was available in Japan at the time. It was like a large laptop with these buttons that would play music. You had to press the buttons with good timing to the music. It was that idea, having gameplay built around timing button presses, that inspired me to hybridize these two genres of game, to get a little bit of action and RPG into the same game.
Having Mario just be turn-based was something that didn’t feel very Mario to us at the time, when we were experimenting with it. Once we included these action commands, we did feel like we were bringing the more traditional Mario action gameplay feel, but melding that with an RPG.
Then, once we moved on to the Mario & Luigi series, I think there was another interesting evolution. That was that you could then start to dodge enemy attacks entirely, which you couldn’t do before. You could only reduce damage if you had good timing on a button press. From the second and third installments of the game forward – and this is something we went back and forth on a lot with the battle planner at the time – we decided that it shouldn’t just be the buttons. You should also be able to use the direction pad and the circle pad. Now you can even use the gyro sensor for this function as well. I think that’s the evolution that’s brought us to the state it’s in today.” - Maekawa
On returning to Super Mario RPG...
Akira Ohtani: I’ve only ever worked on the Mario & Luigi series, and I wasn’t involved with Super Mario RPG, so I’m not sure I’m even the correct person to answer that question.
Yoshihiko Maekawa: Well, what’s your perspective, as a producer, about going back to that world and using characters like Geno and Mallow?
AO: Honestly, I think making new games is always a bit more appealing from my perspective. It’s okay to reuse some settings, like the Beanbean Kingdom, but we definitely want to introduce new characters and new gameplay ideas whenever possible.
AO: You guys really seem to like Super Mario RPG. Yeah, I really should admit that I do have to think a little bit harder about how to separate how I view older games from how I try to approach working on new games, because I don’t want to end up in a situation where my mind is too clouded by nostalgia for old games, and I can’t focus on how to best explore new avenues and new ways of bringing fun and surprising experiences to people. But I recognize what you’re saying. I really should learn how to compartmentalize those two parts of my brain a little better, so I can at least go back and play some more interesting old games from time to time.
YM: In this game, in Dream Team, we were able to bring back some characters from the first game in the Mario & Luigi series, that had appeared in the Beanbean Kingdom. These characters tend to be sort of minor characters that show up in less important areas, but they do have a few lines, and so you get to learn a little bit about what they’re up to now.
I was wondering if that might be some way to approach using Geno and Mallow in a future game, so that we’d still be able to look for fun new ideas like Mr. Ohtani was talking about. We wouldn’t get bogged down, but we could still provide a view of these characters for fans who really want to see one.
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