So Super Mario Bros. Wonder is out and it’s great. But I specifically want to call out something about it’s approach to animation, because yes Wonder looks better than the New series but it’s important to acknowledge WHY.
This video, without words, does SO MUCH to demonstrate the difference between Wonder’s philosophy and the New series philosophy. And it's something I'll be discussing more... AFTER THE BREAK!
I think something that gets lost in the discussion about the NSMB series is how the series evolved graphically, because it’s easy to look at the difference between U over a decade ago (or U Deluxe just shy of 5 years ago) and Wonder and wonder (heh) just what was going on with U.
The answer is that for 5 years U represented the culmination of a different kind of graphical journey, one that I was there for and remember noticing even at the time. And look, YES the NSMB games are generic but let’s table that for a second and go on a bit of a journey here.
NSMB DS came at a time where having a 3D game on a handheld was a BIG DEAL, and NSMB reflects that in more ways than one. Because while the promo art looks like THIS:
The actual game looks more like THIS:
If you go back and play NSMB today the thing that’s going to surprise you is just HOW LITTLE 3D is in it. Yes Mario is 3D and most of the enemies are too but the blocks you bash, the Koopa shells you kick, the power ups you collect and the backgrounds you run through are NOT. They’re all rendered as 2D sprites to help the game run smoothly on the DS.
Why do I point this out? Because it’s indicative of the New series’s approach to 3D. The sheer act of being in 3D is a spectacle, having a 3D rendered Mario is a graphical trick so cool that the first game has to invent its own hybrid art style to show it off.
Now let’s flash forward to Wii:
Immediately we’re looking at a big shift, we’ve still got a hybrid art style but one that looks much more cohesive.. This game is a much more significant graphical leap, it LOOKS in gameplay like the first game’s promo material! And this trend would be continued by 2 which upped the saturation in its art style (2 is both my favorite game in the New series and my favorite pre-Wonder 2D Mario (no really) and I usually hate that it gets the shaft but that's a discussion for another time unfortunately).
Now jump ahead to U:
Nintendo's first game on an HD console, U was considered U-niversally (heh) underwhelming by graphical standards but for my money I think U still had a distinct graphical goal: to create environments that were U-nique (heh) to the previous games. NSMB is famous for using the same world themes in every game, but U takes them, polishes them up, and gives them a bit of personality to help stand on their own. From the moai and dessert motifs of layer cake desert to the mushroom trees of acorn plains to the night skies and auroras of frosted glacier. YES its the same themes but they have a bit more pop this time and that's intentional.
What HASN'T changed is the approach to animation, and this is where we circle back to Wonder. The "Wow" factor of these games is still that it uses 3D models, so it doesn't focus on HOW it uses models as much or how those models look in 3D space.
Go watch the video again and what stands out is how... for lack of a better term... utilitarian the U animations are. The Wonder animations are all peppered with bits of personality but the U animations are all focused on just manipulating the models, because the 3D models are the (theoretical) draw.
Moreover, look how the models are constructed. U Mario faces forward as if he is in a 3D space, while the Mario Wonder model is built to more closely resemble the Super Mario World sprites. If you look at the Mario Wonder model closely it doesn't totally make sense, Mario is tilted at a diagonal angle at almost all times, why? BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT LOOKS BETTER IN 2D. The U model is technically what looking at Mario from a side on perspective would be, but the Wonder model brings in elements of 2D animation to create something more visibly appealing. Honestly that's basically the MO of Wonder's graphical style, ignore realism and create visuals that LOOK GOOD with the perspective of the game. It's one of the reason that I find it so strange for the game to use the standard character models in the promo material:
Compared to how they look in game:
But that's just my thoughts. I'd be interested to hear what more seasoned artists think as well! And thanks for tuning in to this tangent haha.
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