Super Mario 128

Super Mario 128
128 Marios running arround
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo Revolution (speculative)
Release	2006 (speculative)
Genre(s)	Adventure/Platform (speculative)
Mode(s)	Single player (speculative)

Super Mario 128 is a video game supposedly under development by Nintendo, the next game in the Mario series and is being called the "true" sequel to Super Mario 64. It is currently under very close wraps, supposedly so that Nintendo's competitors would not be able to copy their new ideas. Veteran creator Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that developer focus is for release on Revolution. It has been expected that the game would be revealed, at least in part, at the three previous E³s from 2003 to 2005, however, it has not been shown. The game is close to vaporware as a lot has been said about it for many years but little concrete has been shown.

Early origins

The name Super Mario 128 was first coined by Miyamoto during an interview for Nintendo Power as early as January of 1997, as a possible name for a Super Mario 64 sequel on the Nintendo 64.

NP: Why did you make Star Fox 64 for Nintendo 64, a remake of the original Star Fox?

SM: We wanted to produce an interesting game design, rather than a new story. Sometimes I ask myself if we should continue this approach. For example, should we keep trying to put all the new technologies into each new Mario game. What comes next? Super Mario 128? Actually, that's what I want to do. (laughs). [1]

However, no further regular Mario games were released on the Nintendo 64. Focus moved to a next-generation Mario title with the announcement of 'Project Dolphin' in 1999 as the codename for their next console, which eventually became the Nintendo GameCube. In another Interview, with Nintendo Power (in January, 2000) Miyamoto spoke about the next-gen Mario game:

SM:"I'd like people to think that the new Mario for Dolphin is something that they've never seen before. That's what I'm thinking about right now. I think I can make an entirely new game experience, and if I can't do it, some other game designer will. I'd like to make a new Mario game that appeals to everyone, full of interesting new ideas. If it turns out that Mario doesn't really fit into the type of game I want, I wouldn't mind using Zelda as the basis of the new game." [2]

The game apparently appeared at the penultimate Nintendo Spaceworld event in August, 2000 with a demo called "Super Mario 128" being shown, with a large 2D Mario splitting off into 128 smaller marios across a kind of circular Monopoly board. This game, as Miyamoto stated, was "something they've never seen before" in the Mario series. It is now widely thought that technology used in this demo was put into Pikmin, using large numbers of characters at once on screen.

In the end this game merely turned out to be just a tech demo. One year later at Spaceworld 2001, Super Mario Sunshine was fully unveiled as the next Mario game; it was released in July, 2002, in Japan, and a month later in North America. It was very similar to Super Mario 64, and not the 'different' game Miyamoto had spoke of before. Many people believed Mario 128 turned out to be Mario Sunshine, and the name quietly sank into oblivion.

Chasing Mario 128

On the 10th of December, 2002, IGN reported that according to an interview in Japan's Weekly Playboy magazine Miyamoto had mentioned, and confirmed the continuing development of Mario 128:

"In the interview, when asked about what's next from the company, producer Shigeru Miyamoto comments, "'Pikmin 2' and the 'Mario 128' game that was shown at the [GameCube] unveiling are both in development." Miyamoto elaborates a bit about the latter title, stating "I believe that with this game you'll be able to feel the "newness" that was missing from Mario Sunshine." [3]

Miyamoto mentioned the game a couple of times before E³ 2003, but it failed to appear at the expo. Instead, Miyamoto demonstrated Pac-Man Vs. and concentrated on connectivity and its relation to Nintendo products. Mario 128 was not mentioned. In an interview after E³ with Computer and Video Games, Miyamoto confirmed that Mario 128 and Mario Sunshine had been separate games.

Miyamoto:"In the case of Mario, obviously we were doing work on the Mario 128 demo that we were showing at Spaceworld, and separately we were doing work on experiments that we made into Mario Sunshine." [4]

Rumors later surfaced that Nintendo did not show Mario 128 at E³ 2003 because the game was very innovative, and Nintendo did not want other developers stealing the ideas from the game. As reported by IGN:

"The latest issue of Japan's Nintendo Dream magazine is apparently home to good news for Mario fanatics who were a bit disappointed with Mario Sunshine. According to the magazine, Nintendo's upcoming Mario 128 title is being built around a new idea that's never before been seen in a game. Apparently, Nintendo refrained from putting the title on display at E³ in order to prevent it from being stolen." [5]

Miyamoto later confirmed this in an interview with Nintendo Official Magazine UK, stating when asked what was happening with Mario, "I can't say anything concrete yet -- sorry. We're making it, of course and as afar as Mario games go, I want to make this a different -- but still Mario-esque game." [6]. Later in the year, there was a disappointing message from Nintendo's George Harrison where in an interview with CNN Money he stated that Mario 128 may not appear on GameCube at all.

"George Harrison, senior vice president of marketing for Nintendo of America, told me Tuesday that while a new Mario game for the GameCube is still a possibility, it's definitely not certain. Nintendo game master Shigeru Miyamoto teased a crowd with footage of what he called "Mario 128" when the GameCube was unveiled in 2000, but has said little else since. Harrison said the title is still under development, but he stopped short of saying it would be a GameCube game." [7]

It was then thought that Nintendo would reveal all at E³ 2004, as the GameCube approached the golden age of its life cycle. Miyamoto once again confirmed the existence of Mario 128 with another interview during February 2004, but the game failed to surface. Some believed this was due the announcements of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and the Nintendo DS, both revealed at the 2004 show. GameSpy asked Miyamoto about the game after E³:

GameSpy: What is going on with Mario 128?

Miyamoto: It's moving along secretly like a submarine under the water. When developing, we often look at the different hardware and run different experiments on it and try out different ideas. There have been a number of different experiment ideas that we have been running on the GameCube. There are some that we have run on DS, and there are other ideas, too. At this point I just don't know if we will see that game on one system or another. It is still hard for me to make that decision. I am the only director on that game right now. I have the programmers making different experiments, and when I see the results, we will make the final decision. [8].

IGN later in the year got the same response:

Mario 128's status is a bit more questionable, and although mentioned by Miyamoto in the interview, we're still not sure if the game's a go on the GameCube. Says Miyamoto with a laugh, "We're currently in development with Mario 128, which people throughout the world have been wondering about." The state of the game is in question, though, as Miyamoto continues with: "We're now at the state of conducting various experiments with Mario, so until a release has been set, we cannot make [the game] public." The term "Mario 128," by the way, is just a tentative name based on the game's theme. [9]

Does it exist?

At the GDC 2005, Nintendo's VP of Marketing, stated that Mario 128 would be shown at E³ 2005. This was the point where most people thought that the game would finally surface.

IGNcube: So we can expect to see something on Mario 128 at E3?

Reggie: Yes. In terms of how we're going to show Mario 128, though, it's likely that we'll show it in video form more than playable. We have so many great games in playable form already. [10]

However, for the third year in a row, the game once again failed to surface during E³. During a GameSpot video interview at E³, Reggie Fils-Aime stated that, "I can only show what Mr. Miyamoto gives me to show." When a reporter asked if it exists, he responded, "I've seen bits and pieces."

In the latest piece of this puzzle, during an interview with IGN Cube at E³ 2005, Mr. Miyamoto was accosted concerning this seemingly AWOL title. He divulged the following information [11]:

IGNcube: Can you give us an update on Mario 128?

Shigeru Miyamoto: [Chuckles] I'm just really sorry. I think I've given people the wrong impression with Mario 128. With all the questions I'm getting about this, I really feel like I've done people a disservice. In regards to Mario 128, we're currently doing a lot of Mario experiments back in Kyoto. We are definitely going to have a new Mario for Revolution. Whether or not that's 128 or not, I can't really say. It might be a new Sunshine. We're not sure. We're doing a lot of Mario tests right now for the Revolution.

In the September 2005 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Miyamoto confirmed that Mario 128 would be targetted at the Nintendo Revolution.

EGM: You mentioned Mario 128 two years ago when we talked. You said if you didn't show Mario 128 in that next year, you would consider yourself a failure. And now here we are…

Miyamoto: I'm sorry. [laughs] Yeah, I got side-tracked with things like Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat and some other titles, and they took some of my energy away from the project. We have been continually working on different projects, different experiments with the Mario 128 engine. The name Mario 128 came from Mario 64 [for the Nintendo 64 and now DS] -- with that name, we wanted to say, "Hey, we're creating something brand new." So what we do on the Revolution, whether or not that's going to be [called Mario 128].... it's going to be a new Mario.

EGM: Since Mario 128 started as a GameCube project and has now been moved to the Revolution, has the game design changed as well?

Miyamoto: Well, [when we] create a Mario game, there are [initially several] experiments. A lot of fundamental things have to be in place. And really, Mario 128 really never got past that stage. So rather than having an actual game design for it, it was more of a concept, like the types of things we want Mario to do. So we're obviously using a lot of that material, but as far as the game design [is concerned], we're swapping ideas and different concepts with the Mario Sunshine team and trying to see what we can come up with, trying to find the most interesting direction to take.

Trivia

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, event match number 22 is titled SUPER MARIO 128. In it, the player must defeat 128 tiny Marios.