Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s Goombas actually bite, just like Miyamoto always wanted

In the past, you may have wondered: Wait, why does Mario take damage when he crashes into a Goomba in the original game? Super Mario Bros.? turns up, Mario Creator Shigeru Miyamoto had an answer: enemies were biting you. We never saw that happen. Well, that’s changing in the soon-to-be-released version Super Mario Bros Wonder.

in The latest installment of Nintendo’s ongoing web seriesAsk the developer, the people behind He wonders He answered some wide-ranging questions about the upcoming Switch exclusive. They revealed it wasn’t truly He was affected By moviethat it was developed differently than in the past Mario Games and the weird work of making 3D models look good in a precise 2D side scroller. It’s really interesting stuff! But perhaps my favorite part of the first two parts of this long-running “Ask the Developer” series is the backstory as to why Goombas bite Mario and other characters when they get close.

according to He wondersThe art director, Masanobu Sato, once heard someone explain that when Miyamoto was asked why Mario took damage after colliding with a Goomba in the original game, he replied: “That’s because the Goombas bit him“.

However, as he pointed out He wondersDirector Shiro Mouri, even if this is what is happening, due to “hardware limitations” at the time, the game could not show these details. Super Mario Bros Wonder Producer Takashi Tezuka, who was working on it Mario Games for nearly four decades have also explained that this is why the Koopa Troopas turned to face Mario when they ran into them in the classic NES game.

“We tried to convey that they bit the player by making him turn around,” Tezuka said.

“But now we are able to show those expressions,” Sato said.

The developers say that in He wondersthe moment the Goomba deals damage to Mario, a small animation plays showing the iconic enemy biting the plumber (or other character used by the player.)

“Yes, and when they bite you, they’ll do it with a smile on their face!” Sato added.

I highly recommend reading The full interview Because it reveals more behind-the-scenes information about how the game was developed and where all its weird ideas come from.

Super Mario Bros Wonder It arrives on Nintendo Switch on October 20 Although copies have leaked into the wild, so be careful of spoilers.

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