The iconic plumber duo, Mario and Luigi, could have taken a more daring and rugged path in their latest adventure, but Nintendo opted for a different route. Dive into the fascinating journey of how the art direction for Mario & Luigi: Brothership evolved!
Mario & Luigi Was Rough And Rugged Early On
Experimenting With Different Styles
Image from Nintendo and Acquire
In an insightful "Ask the Developer" article on the Nintendo website, published on December 4th, the developers behind Mario & Luigi: Brothership, Acquire, revealed that the beloved brothers were initially designed to be edgier and more rugged. However, Nintendo felt that this approach strayed too far from the core identity of Mario and Luigi.
The interview featured Akira Otani and Tomoki Fukushima from Nintendo’s Entertainment Planning & Development Department, alongside Haruyuki Ohashi and Hitomi Furuta from Acquire. As part of their mission to craft "3D visuals that would bring out the unique appeal" of the series and differentiate it from other Mario games, Acquire explored various styles, leading to the creation of a more rugged Mario and Luigi.
"And in our search for a new Mario & Luigi style, at one point we ended up trying to present an edgier, more rugged Mario instead…" designer Furuta shared with a laugh. Following feedback from Nintendo, which emphasized maintaining the recognizable Mario and Luigi identity, the team convened to reassess their direction. Nintendo provided a document outlining the defining characteristics of Mario and Luigi within the series. "Although we'd enthusiastically pitched this rugged version of Mario, when I considered it from a player's perspective, I started to worry about whether it really represented the Mario that players would want to play," Furuta added. With Nintendo's clear guidance, the path forward became evident.
"We were able to narrow down our focus to how we could combine two things: the appeal of illustrations featuring, for example, solid outlines and bold, black eyes, and the charm of pixel animations depicting the two characters moving around comically in all directions. I think that's when we finally started to develop an art style that's unique to this game," the team explained.
Nintendo’s Otani added, "While we wanted Acquire to have their own unique style, we also wanted them to preserve what defines Mario. I think it was a period when we were experimenting with how those two things could coexist."
A Challenging Development
Acquire, known for their work on less colorful and more serious titles like the JRPG Octopath Traveler and the Way of the Samurai series, faced a unique challenge in developing a game within the globally popular Mario franchise. Furuta acknowledged that without Nintendo's guidance, the team might have naturally gravitated towards a darker, more RPG-centric direction.
The collaboration ultimately led to a successful outcome. "Although we were still getting to grips with the mood in the Mario & Luigi series, we decided on this direction so we wouldn't forget that it's a stage for fun, chaotic adventures. This doesn't only apply to the game's world, but we learned a lot from Nintendo's unique design perspective about making things easier to see and understand. The world turned out brighter and easier to play due to the insights we gained," Furuta concluded.
