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Nintendo is reportedly planning to remaster classic Mario games this year
This year marks the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. and Nintendo could be set to mark the legacy of its flagship franchise in a major way. The company is reportedly working on several Mario games for this year, including remastered versions of some classic titles.
This is why 'Mario' levels are brilliant
For the past 30 years, if you wanted a masterclass in video-game level-and-objective design you needn't look any further than a Mario title from Nintendo. That didn't change any with 2013's stellar Super Mario 3D World or last year's spin-off Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, either. As Pocket Gamer's Mark Brown dissects in the video below, the ingenuity lies in how the former communicates wrinkles and tasks to the player -- not with a series of terrible tutorials, but gameplay. This is something the game's director Koichi Hayashida draws from four-panel Japanese manga. The structure's called kishoutenketsu, and it comes directly from Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto's time spent drawing comics; it's always been influential in how the company has approached game design.
Super Mario 3D World announced for Wii U, coming this December (video)
Nintendo may be sitting out this year's E3, but that doesn't mean the company doesn't have some games to show. On this morning's Nintendo Direct presentation, company head Satoru Iwata announced what most Wii U owners have been clamouring for: a new entry in the Mario series. The new title, Super Mario 3D World, reunites Mario and Luigi with Princess Peach and Toad (a la Super Mario Bros. 2) for a full, open world multiplayer experience. And much like the unique attributes they had in that second series installment, each character once again brings players special abilities, like Toad's fast run, Luigi's high jumps, Princess Peach's floating jumps and the all-around average Mario. According to Iwata-san, Super Mario 3D World is slated for a December release and will be available on the eShop, as well as in traditional brick-and-mortar shops. But knowing Nintendo's predilection for perfection, it's entirely possible that date could slip into early 2014. Follow all of our E3 2013 coverage at our event hub.
