I think the idea of Nintendo being intransigent with violence ceased to amaze me the day I read that Miyamoto wanted the players of GoldenEye 007 to shake hands at the end of the game. No deaths, it was a joke , they get up and shake hands like good brothers.
Over time, the Japanese company opened its sights a little more to achieve an outstanding mediocrity like that of Splatoon, a fantastic shooter that does not reflect that feeling of violence, but even I can understand why they shelved Super Mario Spikers .
The first steps of Next Level Games
The time machine takes us to the offices of the Canadians Next Level Games . There are 12 years to go before we completely fall in love with their Luigi’s Mansion 3, but back in 2007 they were already enjoying generous popularity thanks to two of their biggest hits.
If a couple of years before they had surprised by introducing Mario to the world of football with Super Mario Strikers , its sequel for Wii, Mario Strikers Charged, had managed to dazzle the public. Arcade football, an addictive online mode and special powers that had nothing to envy the best Oliver and Benji chapter.
Nintendo was thrilled with success and, as a reward, decided to give the studio creative carte blanche to do whatever they wanted with their next project. Without a doubt the wet dream of any developer, that Mr. Nintendo comes with bags of money in his hand and says: enjoy your work.
In Next Level Games they thought that, if something works, the best thing is to continue along that line, so they decided to continue with Mario’s sports side by accentuating the aggressiveness that Mario Strikers Charged displayed in front of other plumber projects such as tennis or golf. Too bad the enthusiasm got a bit out of hand.
The road to Super Mario Spikers
What begins with a volleyball game featuring Mario characters soon begins to absorb ideas from an old canceled studio project, a fantasy wrestling game known as WWE Titans .
The idea of evolving towards that false violence of the Mario universe that already existed with the Super Smash Bros saga and joining it to the contact sport seemed logical. Because hitting the ball has its point, but doing it with the possibility of heating up the opponent’s mouth in front of the crowd of a television program looks much better. Even more so if you enjoy movements as spectacular as the ones you have in the video .
Unfortunately the project did not go from the pitch phase to Nintendo and all that has transcended from it is a collection of concept art and animations. Those of the big N felt that the idea was a bit outside the company’s code of honor and, as such, invited Next Level Games to get on with something else.
The alternative would be a Punch-Out !! that would end up arriving two years later. Another success that over time would tie Nintendo even more in the hands of Luigi’s ghosts in Dark Moon and the infantilized shootings of Metroid Prime: Federation Force. Maybe one day they’ll let them go back to allowing Mario’s friends to spread out hosts like bread .
