In an interview, the developers of Mario & Luigi: Brothership explained how they pitched a more gritty concept for the game.
In an “Ask the developer” interview after the release of Mario & Luigi: Brothership on Nintendo’s website, Hitomi Furuta, the game's designer explained how they pitched an edgier concept for the Mario RPG.
Since the very beginning, games around the character of Super Mario have been light-hearted, colorful adventures full of joy for players of every age. Even when his princess got kidnapped by a giant turtle, he’s frolicking over some grasslands and “Yahooo”-ing all over the place.
Concept of an edgier Mario
In the interview, Furuta stated that they wanted for Mario to be different in his next game:
I’m ashamed to say it, but we weren’t conscious of that when development started, which led to us making a huge detour. 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.
Of course this idea got rejected, which is especially sad because there might be a lot of people that would like to see a more dark and gritty Mario game at least once. In the end, the team was encouraged to look for something more family-friendly, which led to the general style of the Mushroom Kingdom being reused.
Even rugged Mario would have been as cute as before
But don’t feel too disappointed, because the concept art that of game that came along with the interview shows what the developer thought would be a “rugged Mario” and we have to say it’s... cute...
Considering that even this idea, showing the Mario Bros. with just some dirt on their suits (or, God forbid, a raincoat!), was rejected, we might never get a really edgy version of the red-hatted plumber.
And since Nintendo wants to promote most of their games to kids, it is understandable that the they want to keep the light-hearted tone of the Mario franchise, however, considering the mild enthusiasm surrounding Mario & Luigi: Brothership, maybe just a touch of darkness and edge could have made a way more interesting game.
What do you think about the concept art? Would you like to play an edgier Mario in the next game?
