[CONFIRMED] Super Mario Bros. 3 was in fact...a Play!


Nintendo

Nintendo Switch
Joined
Oct 8, 2005
Messages
13,418
Age
45
Location
Melbourne, VICTORIA - AUSTRALIA
Miyamoto Confirms That Super Mario Bros. 3 Was A Play

It was always a compelling theory, but it also always seemed more like over-analysis than something Miyamoto and crew had actually had in mind when they designed Super Mario Bros. 3.

But! Today on the Nintendo UK Twitter, Miyamoto addressed a handful of Mario myths, including the question, “Was Super Mario Bros. 3 all just a performance?” His response: YES.
http://kotaku.com/miyamoto-confirms-that-super-mario-bros-3-was-a-play-1729805751?hipra_discussion_redesign=off&utm_expid=66866090-52.r5txldOmRkqnbJxnyozIeA.1

1424455291278223684.jpg


Image courtesy of Kotaku.

Hmmmmmm...I never even thought about it :(
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Here's the rest of the video, in case anyone's interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu2DnTd3dEo
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It is still a kick ass game.

Now to read up on this and watch videos.  Why do I spend so much more time researching stuff related to games, computers and consoles than actually playing the games?  I am not like this with music and movies.
 
Why do I spend so much more time researching stuff related to games, computers and consoles than actually playing the games? I am not like this with music and movies.
They're a complex art, constructed with more creative tiers that are usually nonexisted in media such as movies or music (unless it's something like progressive metal). Video/Computer Games in particular also have the ability to immerse using their interactive design, which in turn can make the players more emotionally invested and thus much more interested.

My guess is if you're into relativly complicated stuff, that's why you spend time researching this art particularly.. that or you're just feeling nostalgic at the moment.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
 


Why do I spend so much more time researching stuff related to games, computers and consoles than actually playing the games? I am not like this with music and movies.
They're a complex art, constructed with more creative tiers that are usually nonexisted in media such as movies or music (unless it's something like progressive metal). Video/Computer Games in particular also have the ability to immerse using their interactive design, which in turn can make the players more emotionally invested and thus much more interested.

My guess is if you're into relativly complicated stuff, that's why you spend time researching this art particularly.. that or you're just feeling nostalgic at the moment.
I do research things related to film and music, I just spend a much larger time actually listening/watching (and a tiny bit making, from time to time) than researching.  Games are much easier to spend much more time, for lack of a better term, consuming than a movie or album, and I will usually go back and do it again later if I enjoy it.  There are some songs, albums, films, and tv shows where I will spend massive amounts of time looking into even little, fairly insignificant details, but the ratio of watching or listening to research is is heavily weighted to the watching and listening.  For games it is much much more for the research, even if it is a game I have no interest in playing.  I have done that since I started playing games.  The only thing I can think of is that, even back then, it was easier for me to find lots of information, through magazines, about games, and not so much about the others things.  As I got older I found more information about film and music.  The film stuff is usually enough for my interests (consider all the stuff related to popular films and tv shows) while the music stuff is not so much, usually consisting of interviews focused on people, with little about the music, and the more detailed (and technical, I guess) music stuff is just not interesting at all.

So, yeah, I guess you are right.

I'm rather surprised, that some people didn't seem to have noticed it. oO
It didn't really change anything to me.  I would need a lot more explanation of the ideas behind it, why it was done this way, and what it means within the SMB world.  At the time I noticed, but I always just thought it was stylistic choices.  Without knowing more it is still just that.  It doesn't seem to apply very well to our protagonist, such as when he flies, seemingly unassisted, while props are supposed to be "obviously" props, or when he changes costumes, and rather than running backstage there is that flash effect.  It seems to have more in common with other SMB games than a stage show.

In the image above, the only things I felt were significant were the bolts, which as I said I thought were a style choice (and one I found particularly appealing) and the end of level area.  The title screen is a title screen, and there have been other creative ones as well.  The various platforms, including those that have the line they run back and forth on, aren't too different from even the first SMB.  Some don't look obviously suspended, just like SMB.

I am not saying it isn't a play, just that it doesn't matter.  It changes nothing.  Plus, a game with no play wouldn't be as fun.

As a child, all I cared about was playing the damn game.
As an adult, all I care about is playing the damn game.
 
I am not saying it isn't a play, just that it doesn't matter.  It changes nothing.
This was my thought as well: so it was conceived as a play, big deal. What does that actually mean to the player? Is the player supposed to be the audience and Mario and Bowser are putting on the show? Or is the player, in the shoes of Mario, putting on a play for some third party? Is Bowser a willing participant in this play, or unwilling, or is he perhaps not the real bowser at all, just an actor in a suit? And the grand question of why is there even a play at all?
 
It doesn't mean much. Just a kind of an Easter egg.
I'm pretty sure it's not. This wasn't just some hidden gem, this was a style decision that defined the entire game. The rising curtain, the bolted on and hanging props, the shadow backdrops, everything was very deliberate. Why choose such a style over anything else? Someone at some point when they were designing it said "what if it's a play?" It's entirely possible that that's as deep as it went, that everyone just said "yeah, a play, that's a great idea" without going into further details.
 
Back
Top