Super Mario Odyssey Was Never Planned for Wii U, Nintendo Confirms

[Deleted member 249]

In the latest issue of Game Informer, the game's producer, and all-round cool guy, Yoshiaki Koizumi said the following about Odyssey's development process:

"It was always planned for Nintendo Switch. We really were considering a lot of the hardware capabilities specifically for this game, and wanted to make the most use of them."

With the various control options available to players within the game, and the emphasis given to using the Joy-Con as a priority, it does make sense that the Switch was always going to be the final destination for Odyssey.

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SOURCE

I know a lot of people believe that among other games, Odyssey was meant for Wii U, and held back for the Switch after it became clear the Wii U was going nowhere; while this is certainly true for games like Breath of the Wild and Kingdom Battle, it seems like Odyssey was planned for the Switch all along. Which makes sense- with Koizumi heading up development of the game and the hardware, he could have very easily been aiming for the new hardware with Odyssey all along.

 

[mrmickfran]

They really did want to kill the Wii U as fast as possible.

 

[Mory Dunz]

I didn't know M+R was planned for Wii U...

They really did want to kill the Wii U as fast as possible.

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by the time 3D World came out, Wii U's fate was sealed, so it makes sense to develop for the next system even then.

 

[DecoReturns]

I didn't know M+R was planned for Wii U...

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Yeah. They mentioned this a while back. (I think Ubisoft did)

 

[Deleted member 249]

I didn't know M+R was planned for Wii U...



by the time 3D World came out, Wii U's fate was sealed, so it makes sense to develop for the next system even then.

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Apparently, the game was originally prototyped for the Wii U, but then the Wii U turned out to be the Wii U.

And 3D World came out in 2013, lol; the Wii U was not beyond salvage back then, with MK8 and Smash on the horizon.

 

[Skittzo]

Fix your quote OP.

They really did want to kill the Wii U as fast as possible.

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Can't really blame then to be honest. At least they supported it pretty nicely for 3 or so years. Years 4 and 5 not so much.

 

[Zippo]

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/games/mario/234541/next-3d-mario-platformer-is-in-development

Yup, which explains why Koizumi wouldn't say which system the next game would be for back in 2014.

 

[Deleted member 1413]

3D Mario's almost always come out in the first year of a system. Always found it weird that people assume they just moved everything from Wii U.

 

[Mory Dunz]

Apparently, the game was originally prototyped for the Wii U, but then the Wii U turned out to be the Wii U.

And 3D World came out in 2013, lol; the Wii U was not beyond salvage back then, with MK8 and Smash on the horizon.

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some sales person probably has a bunch of numbers at hand, but I'm lazy.
Wii U and Wii were battling it out and iirc Wii U sold 31K in a 2013 month, when Wii beat it.
Japan was even worse getting to 5k and 4k a week.


It was over.

 

[Ryng™]

RiP Wii U, a wonderful console with a very unfortunate fate.

But i'm glad Mario Odyssey is on Switch... Feel like the perfect console for it. :)

 

[Deleted member 4037]

Did people think it was a wii u game? Seemed to me to always be a switch game especially given wii u had quite a few mario games already

 

[DriftingSpirit]

Did people think it was a wii u game? Seemed to me to always be a switch game especially given wii u had quite a few mario games already

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I did.

I'm pretty surprised. It puts into perspective how quickly they moved on from Wii U.

 

[CloverQ]

To think a game as motion control dependent as Odyssey was ever meant for the Wii U is a bit silly. Not like any of the control schemes felt tacked on in the game.

 

[Deleted member 249]

To think a game as motion control dependent as Odyssey was ever meant for the Wii U is a bit silly. Not like any of the control schemes felt tacked on in the game.

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I mean, technically that could have been accomplished with Wii remotes.

 

[Ryng™]

some sales person probably has a bunch of numbers at hand, but I'm lazy.
Wii U and Wii were battling it out and iirc Wii U sold 31K in a 2013 month, when Wii beat it.
Japan was even worse.


It was over.

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You are talking about August NPD, and that wasn't even his worst month... It sold 29K in July NPD 2013. >_<

 

[HockeyBird]

I mean that makes. You usually only get one 3D Mario per console with Wii being the exception and that was because Galaxy 2 used a lot of from Galaxy 1. You wrap up 3D World and then you factor in the number you need to make a brand new 3D Mario, then of course you're going to make it for the next generation of hardware.

 

[Mory Dunz]

You are talking about August NPD, and that wasn't even his worst month... It sold 29K in July NPD 2013. >_<

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!!

 

[Deleted member 4359]

I don't think it was planned for the Wii U per se, but I bet development was started and made considerable progress on Wii U before getting retooled.

 

[Deleted member 249]

I don't think it was planned for the Wii U per se, but I bet development was started and made considerable progress on Wii U before getting retooled.

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Naw, not for Mario. Again, Koizumi was heading development of Odyssey and Switch, I am sure he had enough insight into what the Switch was to be able to target that platform.

 

[Atom Heart Mother]

Always knew it was planned for Switch, in 2014 when they announced they were making a new 3D mario but didn't say what platform made it obvious.

 

[Frankie_baby]

The Wii U was still a system with an incredible line up

 

[Crayolan]

I didn't realize this was something people thought. The Wii U already had a 3D Mario and it's usually one per console.

 

[TitanicFall]

I don't see it as a hardware limitation though. An undocked Switch does not seem to do that much more than a Wii U.

 

[Deleted member 3017]

January, 2013 was NCL's big chance to save the system (Wii U Nintendo Direct) and it failed. This isn't remotely surprising to me. Nintendo probably stopped greenlighting major Wii U projects in the middle of 2013, outside of small/mid-tier stuff like Star Fox Zero and Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival.

 

[Diarrhea Day-Lewis]

Had no idea M+R was originally for Wii U

 

[Comic Obsessed]

Knew it.

I would say that BOTW and XC2 were the only Switch releases that were planned with the WiiU in mind.

 

[Daedardus]

I don't think it was planned for the Wii U per se, but I bet development was started and made considerable progress on Wii U before getting retooled.

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I'm pretty sure early development was PC prototyping only before moving on to Switch devkit tools. No point in trying to run early stuff on actual hardware if you want to get gameplay down first.

 

[Deleted member 249]

January, 2013 was NCL's big chance to save the system (Wii U Nintendo Direct) and it failed. This isn't remotely surprising to me. Nintendo probably stopped greenlighting Wii U projects in the middle of 2013.

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I think as far as big Wii U games go, this is definitely the case; smaller fare like Mario Tennis, Amiibo Party, and Star Fox probably was greenlit after 2014 though.

 

[Phendrift]

Fucking finally they confirmed it.

I was getting annoyed with people who suggested otherwise.

It's common sense. There's not a chance in hell they'd start developing a game as big as Odyssey for the Wii U as it was a proven flop.

 

[Deleted member 249]

Knew it.

I would say that BOTW and XC2 were the only Switch releases that were planned with the WiiU in mind.

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XC2 was always planned for the Switch; in fact, early development of the game was problematic, because they didn't know what the Switch's final specs would be, and they couldn't optimize properly.

 

[Deleted member 3017]

I think as far as big Wii U games go, this is definitely the case; smaller fare like Mario Tennis, Amiibo Party, and Star Fox probably was greenlit after 2014 though.

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Yeah, almost certainly. Those small scale titles were given the go-ahead to keep the system on life support in its final years.

 

[Deleted member 5535]

Knew it.

I would say that BOTW and XC2 were the only Switch releases that were planned with the WiiU in mind.

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XC2 was always planned for switch

 

[Comic Obsessed]

XC2 was always planned for the Switch; in fact, early development of the game was problematic, because they didn't know what the Switch's final specs would be, and they couldn't optimize properly.

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XC2 was always planned for switch

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What I mean is that it was planned with the WiiU hardware in mind. XC2 uses the XCX engine and they were already working on the game before even knowing what the Switch was all about (which is a bit odd considering they're a first party studio).

 

[Mory Dunz]

plus don't a lot of games have a lot of work put into it before even entering a stage of defining a platform.

I don't think you need a platform day one.

 

[Deleted member 249]

Yeah, almost certainly. Those small scale titles were given the go-ahead to keep the system on life support in its final years.

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Yup. Which, uhhh... well, they were something I guess, lol.

 

[Altered]

ahahaha of course.


Didn't even try to hide that they had plans on pulling the plug on the Wii U's lineup. Mario kart 8 battle mode and mario ultra smash were the biggest "gotcha ass!" of all time.

[Miyamoto: Since we first created Mario, people have compared him to Mickey Mouse. I've always said Mickey Mouse evolved with each evolution in animation. You saw Mickey Mouse each step of the way. From early on, I wanted Mario to be that character in the digital world, so that with each digital evolution, he was there to usher in the next era. I think that maybe when we release the next hardware system, you can look forward to seeing Mario take on a new role or in a new game.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/miyamoto-amiibo-zelda-mario-movie-27699825

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[Deleted member 6730]

I think as far as big Wii U games go, this is definitely the case; smaller fare like Mario Tennis, Amiibo Party, and Star Fox probably was greenlit after 2014 though.

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Star Fox was shown at E3 2014 and Mario Tennis and Amiibo Party were at least in development for about a year so all of those games were probably greenlit in 2014 at the latest. But 2015 was definitely when Nintendo stopped green lighting Wii U games and the first Switch games were in development.

 

[Deleted member 3017]

What I mean is that it was planned with the WiiU hardware in mind. XC2 uses the XCX engine and they were already working on the game before even knowing what the Switch was all about (which is a bit odd considering they're first party studio).

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All 2017 Switch titles likely started on Wii U level hardware. Probably many 2018 releases as well, like Mario Tennis Aces. But like Odyssey, these games were all destined for Switch from the outset.

 

[Deleted member 8001]

If Wii U was a success it would've most likely been on Wii U.

 

[Deleted member 3017]

If Wii U was a success it would've most likely been on Wii U.

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I doubt it, as it would have likely been a different game . Odyssey was designed to be a killer app for a new console and a reaction to 3D World's reception (it did well, but was a huge decline compared to previous 3D entries). If Wii U had been a success and it had actually seen a second 3D Mario game, it likely would have been something akin to a 3D World 2.

 

[Mory Dunz]

ahahaha of course.


Didn't even try to hide that they had plans on pulling the plug on the Wii U's lineup. Mario kart 8 battle mode and mario ultra smash were the biggest "gotcha ass!" of all time.

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I wouldn't equate those two personally.

ultra smash was a straight up incomplete game that was to fill in a hole to have a game. (now it's being complete in the form of Aces lol)
MK8 to me was them making the first HD MK, and needing to get the game out, so they made cuts somewhere. And chose battle mode. But not specifically becasue of wii U sales.

I'll put it this way:
If the Wii U was selling decently I think MK8 would've still launched without a substantial battle mode, to get the game out. (like them getting Splatoon 2 out for Switch)
If the Wii U was selling decently, I do not think Ultra Smash would've launched in that state.

 

[Ryng™]

Star Fox was shown at E3 2014 and Mario Tennis and Amiibo Party were at least in development for about a year so all of those games were probably greenlit in 2014 at the latest. But 2015 was definitely when Nintendo stopped green lighting Wii U games and the first Switch games were in development.

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I agree with this, and btw. Isn't impressive Splatoon was released on Wii U?

Nintendo probabily was not expecting a success like that........ But still.

 

[julian]

I didn't realize this was a thing people thought. The visual upgrades of Odyssey over Zelda I would've thought would give it away. It doesn't seem like mere texture upgrades when compared to a Wii U game and it was always going to run at 60fps.

 

[javac]

Wasn't M+R originally a 3DS game?

 

[TaterTots]

They really did want to kill the Wii U as fast as possible.

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Oh yea. Wouldn't you? It was half an idea that was fully realized with the Switch. Since the Switch passed the all time sales of the Wii U I don't know if that means the Wii U was that big of a failure or the Switch is extremely successful.

 

[Deleted member 8001]

I doubt it, as it would have likely been a different game . Odyssey was designed to be a killer app for a new console and a reaction to 3D World's reception (it did well, but was a huge decline compared to previous 3D entries). If Wii U had been a success and it had actually seen a second 3D Mario game, it likely would have been something akin to a 3D World 2.

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Wii U died mid generation, we are still in the same generation as Wii U and Mario Odyssey ended up coming out in 2017. If the Wii U was a success, they wouldn't have had to kill it to release something new mid generation. So with that in mind, the next generation Nintendo console would've been several years from now with Wii U still on trucking, the Nintendo Switch is essentially a reboot of this current generation for them (the PS4, XBO, Wii U, Switch gen), so I doubt they would've waited several more years to release the game when the Wii U would need more games to extend its life.

Mario 3D World always felt like something they did to conserve development time and get a game out and I always expected the next "epic" Mario to come to the system.

 

[Deleted member 249]

Wasn't M+R originally a 3DS game?

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Nope

Oh yea. Wouldn't you? It was half an idea that was fully realized with the Switch. Since the Switch passed the all time sales of the Wii U I don't know if that means the Wii U was that big of a failure or the Switch is extremely successful.

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Both

 

[Deleted member 6730]

I agree with this, and btw. Isn't impressive Splatoon was released on Wii U?

Nintendo probabily was not expecting a success like that........ But still.

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Nintendo had some incredible luck in having a solid concept with marketable characters that made Splatoon a success. It's really going to help the series long term that it got visibility on the Wii U. I don't know though, in some ways Splatoon encapsulates the Wii U's identity and in other ways it's a symbol of how much they changed after the Wii U.

 

[Deleted member 3017]

Wii U died mid generation, we are still in the same generation as Wii U and Mario Odyssey ended up coming out in 2017. If the Wii U was a success, they wouldn't have had to kill it to release something new mid generation. So with that in mind, the next generation Nintendo console would've been several years from now with Wii U still on trucking, the Nintendo Switch is essentially a reboot of this current generation for them (the PS4, XBO, Wii U, Switch gen), so I doubt they would've waited several more years to release the game when the Wii U would need more games to extend its life.

Mario 3D World always felt like something they did to conserve development time and get a game out and I always expected the next "epic" Mario to come to the system.

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Actually, if Wii U had been a success, we'd probably be seeing its successor by the end of this year, giving Wii U a 6 year lifecycle. Its failure cut less than two years from its life. Nintendo likely would have saved the next big Mario game for the successor to Wii U or they would have gone the Galaxy 2 route and created a direct follow-up to 3D World. A game like Odyssey doesn't serve Nintendo very well on Wii U in 2017, even if said system had been a big success.

 

[TaterTots]

I agree with this, and btw. Isn't impressive Splatoon was released on Wii U?

Nintendo probabily was not expecting a success like that........ But still.

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Might be off topic in a way, but I hope Nintendo keeps pumping out new i.p. like that. Splatoon 2 is the biggest reason I ordered a Switch(can't wait for it to get here). Mario, Zelda, MK, Smash, etc. will always be safe bets. Splatoon came out of left field imo. A third person shooter with a Nintendo twist wasn't something a lot of people were expecting when the first Splatoon released.