Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s Visuals Took No Inspiration from the Mario Movie

gamingbolt.com:

The Super Mario property has never wanted for popularity over the years, but even so, it’s never been as popular as it is right now, in the aftermath of the wildly successful The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which released earlier this year. Nintendo is, of course, striking while the iron is hot with the upcoming launch of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the first new, mainline 2D Mario title in over a decade- but how much of the game’s development was impacted by the movie, especially given the fact that it’s introducing a new look and style for the 2D Mario series?

Well, not too much, really. That’s according to its development team, which touched on the topic in a recent Ask the Developer interview published by Nintendo. When asked about how much The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s success influenced Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s art style and visuals in particular, art director Masanobu Sato revealed that the vast majority of the game’s development team knew little to nothing about the movie and its contents.

“We’re often asked about the film’s influence on the game, but we didn’t hear anything about the film’s content during development,” said Sato. “I think [producer Takashi] Tezuka-san and [composer Koji] Kondo-san were the only members here who knew the details.”

Sato went on to explain that one of the development team’s primary goals with Super Mario Bros. Wonder was to continue using 3D models in 2D planes similar to the New Super Mario Bros. line of games, but in “more engaging and functional ways”.

“New Super Mario Bros. was the first 2D Mario game to use 3D models,” he explained. “The adoption of 3D models provided a natural change and was seen as a significant evolution in 2006 when it was released. In addition to the visual