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The unsuccessful prototype that became Super Mario Bros. 2
Before there was a Super Mario Bros. 2 (in the US), and before there was a Doki Doki Panic, Nintendo was messing around with the idea of vertical platforming. "The idea was that you would have people vertically ascending, and you would have items and blocks that you could pile up to go higher, or you could grab your friend that you were playing with and throw them to try and continue to ascend," Donkey Kong Country Returns producer and Super Mario Bros. 2 director Kensuke Tanabe, who worked on the prototype, told Game|Life. "The game was mocked up (so that) when the player climbed about two-thirds of the way up the screen, it would scroll so that the player was pushed further down." The technology was cool, but there was a problem: the prototype wasn't actually any fun. Shigeru Miyamoto suggested adding some more traditional Mario-style side-scrolling, and the weird concept that eventually became Mario 2 began to take shape. "Picking up blocks was the same thing as pulling out vegetables from the ground," Tanabe said. This concept was first released as Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic; while it was in development, Fuji Television made a deal with Nintendo to release a game featuring characters for the Yume Kojo technology expo. Then when it was converted from Famicom Disk System format to a cartridge for Western release, Nintendo took the chance to make a couple of other changes -- like putting the Mario characters in. "We knew these Fuji TV characters wouldn't be popular in America," Tanabe said, "but what would be attractive in America would be the Mario characters."
Nintendo 'exploring option' of reprinting Super Mario All-Stars
Nintendo wasn't kidding about Super Mario All-Stars: Limited Edition being limited -- the game has become hard to find since its December release, with eBay prices hovering around the $70–80 mark. According to Nintendo PR director Marc Franklin, it may become easier to find in the future, though, as the publisher is considering reprinting the ... reprinted SNES collection ... of reprinted NES games. (A re-re-reprinting, if you will.) "Because of the strong response, we are exploring the option of bringing this item back at a later date," Franklin told GameLife. "Until that decision is made, consumers should check with retailers, as supplies will vary by store."
Inside Super Mario All-Stars: Limited Edition
There's more to Super Mario All-Stars: Limited Edition than an unaltered, emulated version of a game that came out in 1993. In short, it's a really nice package. Nintendo sent over the collection today in advance of its Sunday release, so we thought we'd give you a look at the packaging, the soundtrack, and the included booklet -- the stuff that's really going to call out for your $30. You've already seen the game!%Gallery-109579%
Super Mario Bros. 25th anniversary book out in Japan next week
For those Mario lovers who want more commemorative book than is included with the Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition, Enterbrain is publishing its own brand of "Super Mario 25th Anniversary Commemorative Book" in Japan on December 9. The 144-page page-turner includes a retrospective interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, a collection of Mario manga, stickers and a poster, and a CD of orchestrated Mario music from the Press Start Symphony of Games concert series. If you don't mind a little (okay, probably a lot) of Japanese text along with your Mario ephemera, you can pre-order a copy from Amazon Japan for ¥840 -- that's about $10.
Super Mario All-Stars was almost 'Mario Extravaganza'
Before Super Mario All-Stars got the name we're familiar with (and the even more staid Japanese game "Super Mario Collection"), the team considered other titles, including the more exciting "Mario Extravaganza." That's one of the factoids revealed by this Iwata Asks interview with Naoki Mori and Tadashi Sugiyama, who worked on the SNES remakes of the NES series. It became "Super Mario Collection," as far as the two could recall, at the suggestion of Shigeru Miyamoto. After the break, we have a video detailing another factoid: the composition of Bowser's castle in both the NES and All-Stars versions of Super Mario Bros. We promise you've never paid this much attention to that castle.
Holiday sales more crucial to Nintendo than competitors, says Fils-Aime
Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets Annual Digital Entertainment Conference in New York today, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime highlighted the importance of this year's holiday season, and contrasted his company's greater reliance on the end-of-year sales boom over that of competitors. "The holidays are more important to Nintendo than to other manufacturers," Fils-Aime said. "We have a distinct edge when it comes to gift-giving, and it's no doubt because of the familiarity and recognition of both our brand and key franchises." Nintendo's upcoming software lineup for November and December boasts some famous -- though not distinctly edgy -- brands, including Donkey Kong Country Returns and Disney Epic Mickey, but hardware has historically been the company's best performer during the holiday season. Nintendo sold over five million DS units and five million Wiis in the US through November and December last year, a two-month tally which Fils-Aime said comprised over 40% of Nintendo's annual sales. Fils-Aime also cited NPD data, which showed that Nintendo had shifted 43.1 million DS systems and 30.4 million Wiis in the US thus far. The holidays are just as crucial for software sales, with Fils-Aime noting that 44 percent of all annual game sales were incurred during the last two months of the year (compared to 33 percent for other manufacturers). Nintendo had the top three best-selling games in December 2009 -- New Super Mario Bros., Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort -- though it conceded November to Call of Duty. It's likely to do so again this year. With the introduction of new Mario-themed console bundles and a solid lineup of seemingly evergreen first-party sellers, Nintendo seems adequately prepared before it wades bravely into that throbbing, Black Friday consumer crowd. Perhaps Microsoft is the smart one for courting those same customers from a distance -- of eight feet or so.
Happy birthday, Mario! We share cake with Mario and Miyamoto at NYC's Nintendo World Store
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., Nintendo invited fans to celebrate with an incredible cake, adorned with recreations of levels from the game. Not only did Mario show up, but so did his creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, and NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime.
Super Mario All-Stars U.S. box art revealed, Iwata Asks talks music
Listen, if you're a dyed-in-the-wool Wii owner who hasn't already purchased the entire Super Mario catalog on Virtual Console, you're probably going to pick up the 25th Anniversary Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition package. Nintendo recently revealed exactly what the game you'll be hunting for is going to look like, posting the game's official U.S. box art on the company's Twitter feed. Also, the latest installment in the Iwata Asks saga sees the president pressing a few Nintendo EAD composers about the music which will come in the bundle's soundtrack CD. Give it a read, if you're interested in the history of the franchise's timeless accompaniment -- just don't get surly with us if you get "Slider" stuck in your head for like, a month.
Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition hits North America on Dec. 12
Nintendo of America has announced plans to celebrate Super Mario Bros.' 25th anniversary by selling us Super Mario All-Stars again. On December 12, the Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition will be released in North America, with the same contents as the European and Japanese releases: the game on a Wii disc, a Super Mario History CD with tracks from classic and modern Marios, and a 32-page Super Mario History booklet. Nintendo says that sales will continue "while supplies last," which makes it sound like there will be only one run of the All-Stars collection. Considering the bonuses, that $30 price actually compares pretty favorably to buying All-Stars on eBay.
Super Mario used to pack a beam gun
OK, so our jealousy of Japan and Europe and their Super Mario Bros. collectors editions has become utterly crushing. N-Styles provides the proverbial camel-back-breaking straw with some original design docs included in the package's history book. Not only are they so totally gorgeous that we want to lay them out on a bed and go full Indecent Proposal, but Andriasang's translation shows they're full of interesting tidbits like the fact that Mario was originally supposed to have a beam gun. Boy, fireballs seem pretty tame now that we know how close we got to ... Mario Chief? Master Plumber? ... Sorry, give us a second, we'll come up with something.
Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary hits Europe on Dec. 3
Europe will be able to play Super Mario All-Stars on the Wii -- and, perhaps more importantly, collect some new Mario stuff -- on December 3. Nintendo of Europe announced plans today to release Super Mario All-Stars: 25th Anniversary in the region, in a deluxe package similar to the Super Mario Collection Special Pack coming out in Japan this month. The new Wii package includes Super Mario All-Stars (SNES versions of Super Mario Bros. 1-3 and The Lost Levels), a history booklet, and a CD with selections from throughout the series, through Super Mario Galaxy 2. With all the special edition items in Japan and this in Europe, we in North America feel left out of the festivities. We're checking with Nintendo of America about potential release plans for the collection here. Update: Nintendo UK posted an image and a press release here.
Super Mario Collection announced for Wii in Japan, website opened
After revealing the Super Mario Collection Special Pack on its release calendar, Nintendo of Japan has officially announced the title and opened a website to celebrate the 25th anniversary of everyone's favorite mustachioed plumber. As speculated previously, the pack includes a port of Super Mario All-Stars, a booklet about the history of the Mario series and a CD, which contains Mario music ranging from the original Super Mario Bros. to this summer's Super Mario Galaxy 2. The website also shows off plenty of celebratory swag that Nintendo will be giving away. Super Mario Collection will be released in Japan on October 21 for ¥2,500 ($30). No announcement has been made regarding a North American version of the collection, though it seems like a no-brainer given how successful recent Mario titles have been. Check out a video of the collection after the break. [Thanks Anthony!]
Nintendo of Japan releasing Mario collection for Wii in October
Nintendo's Japanese release calendar includes a currently unannounced game called "Super Mario Collection Special Pack." This coincides with the rumored announcement of just such a thing from a Nintendo retailer conference in Japan. Andriasang translated a Game Jouhou report of leaked information from this event -- normally we'd put little stock in third- or fourth-hand information like this, but the subsequent inclusion of the game on Nintendo's official calendar lends a bit of credence to the claims. According to this translated scuttlebutt, Super Mario Collection is a "revival" of Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES. We don't know if that means just a port, or additional included games, or further graphical updates -- though at 2,500 yen ($30) we don't expect extensive remaking. The "Special Pack" name reportedly refers to an included book showing material from 25 years of Mario game development, along with a soundtrack CD featuring music from the whole series. Nintendo has scheduled the release of this game for October 21, which means that we should see official information very soon. It also means that No More Heroes 2, out in Japan the same day, officially has no chance of selling any copies.
