Nintendo Talks How Mario And Zelda Have Stayed Relevant for Nearly 40 Years

Ever since Nintendo’s flagship franchise burst onto the scene nearly 40 years ago, the Super Mario Bros. franchise has maintained its popularity, relevance, and status since its revolutionary debut entry. It’s also not the only one; The Legend of Zelda, which was launched around this time, has also been a leading series in gaming for decades. During our discussions with Nintendo during our Super Mario Bros. Wonder cover story (and other interviews earlier this year), we tried to drill into why these franchises – in particular, the Mario franchise – have maintained their popularity and level of quality while so many other series have struggled to hold onto it for even a fraction of the time.

Takashi Tezuka is the producer of Mario’s series. He believes that the longevity of staff members involved in the series are key to keeping Mario and The Legend of Zelda at the forefront of their respective industries. He states that “many of them are long-time employees who have contributed to these franchises.” “For example, Mr. [Eiji]Aonuma joined the Zelda development team and has been with them ever since. For Mario, I am responsible! The level-designing philosophy is, I believe, very important for the Mario franchise.

Super Mario Bros. (1985)

This level design philosophy and the emphasis placed on iteration have been key in maintaining the Super Mario series as the leading platforming franchise ever since 1985. “When we’re creating every individual course, we just keep iterating, we keep looking, working on it until we believe that it’s interesting; if it’s interesting to play or fun to play, it’s because someone made it fun to play,” Tezuka says. A major characteristic of 2D 2D side scrolling games is the ability to still change the course in the last stages of development. It is obvious that this can’t be done without great course-editing tools. “It’s crucial to be persistent and to continue striving for improvements until the end. Referring to feedback from focus group.”

Shigeru Miyamoto believes that the simple gameplay of Mario is the reason for his continued popularity. Miyamoto said that the game is intuitive, in that you jump over a hole, and climb a hill when it’s high. Game Informer At the premier of Super Mario Bros. Movie earlier this year. “When that intuitive and direct connection happens, then people are encouraged to say, ‘I want to try this. I want to go there. I want to challenge this.’ And then, through that, they’re rewarded with other gameplay experiences. That feedback it creates, I think that’s the kind of gameplay that Mario is, and this is probably why it can be so appealing to so many different people across both ages, but also across cultures and countries.”

Super Mario 64 (1996)

In appealing to numerous generations, Mario is now created, at least in part, by developers who grew up playing the earlier games in the series. While Tezuka still values the tenure that longtime Nintendo employees such as himself bring, he also wanted to leverage that new blood in the creation of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. “When looking at creating a new Mario title, we actually went ahead and brought in a lot of younger people into our staff,” Tezuka says. “There are people who hadn’t made a Super Mario game before; they’re our target audience. They’re, of course, developers, but they’re also people who enjoy playing games, and so they wanted to create something that they themselves would enjoy as gamers.”

This new crop of developers melded with the long-standing Mario developers to challenge preconceived notions. “It’s really this great mixture of people who have been veterans in the series and also new and upcoming developers, and they are open to fielding the feedback from these new developers,” Super Mario Bros. Wonder director Shiro Mouri says.

“We never, ever, ever ignore the feedback that we get from our new staff members,” Tezuka chimes in. “And when I present an idea myself, they really are quite honest in saying, ‘Yeah, I don’t like that,’ or ‘I do like that.’ I think that’s a really beneficial environment that we have.”

Super Mario Bros. Wonder (2023)

In addition to serving as series producer of the Super Mario franchise, Tezuka directed some of the most formative Mario games, including Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. Tezuka was also heavily involved with the Legend of Zelda franchise, even directing two of the most beloved titles in the series’ early years, A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening, in addition to co-directing the first game on NES. Following the SNES era, Tezuka moved into a supervisory and production role, and Eiji Aonuma slotted in to direct a run of games beginning with Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. However, following the release of Twilight Princess, Aonuma also relinquished directorial duties in favor of supervisor and producer roles within the series.

To this day, Aonuma oversees the Legend of Zelda series as producer, but like Tezuka and his team, he has worked to incorporate newer developers into the mix, but he still relies on his experience to ensure that no matter what form the Zelda franchise takes, the game still feels like a Zelda game. “[We always make] sure that Zelda-ness or that Zelda feel is really in the game,” Aonuma told Game Informer at the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomThis year, the first of these was in early January. “Even if a game like Breath of the Wild has really big changes in it, as long as the fans and the players are able to feel that this is a Zelda game at its core when they play the game, that is something that is really important to us when meeting fans’ expectations.” 

The Legend of Zelda (1986)

Hidemaro Fujibayashi has slotted into that Zelda director spot for many recent titles, including Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom. He attributed keeping the essence of the Zelda franchise intact regardless of the direction the core gameplay goes, but much like his Mario counterparts, the development-team makeup is crucial to keeping the franchise fresh over the decades.

“I think some of it has to do with the fact that we have a unique and diverse set of people in our teams in that they have all kinds of hobbies; it’s not only just people who play games,” Fujibayashi told Game Informer The launch of The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom took place earlier in the year. The developers take the elements of their hobbies and incorporate them into the video games they make. It’s important to have an environment in which they feel free to develop, use their imagination, and create unique, diverse, and original games.

The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (2000)

The answer to Zelda’s enduring relevance is likely to be found in the way Nintendo creates its games. It also speaks to a larger question about the Mario franchise. Aonuma referenced how Fujibayashi wasn’t able to implement everything he wanted to in Skyward Sword, but circled back on some of those ideas in the creation of Tears of the Kingdom. Aonuma emphasized that it was not a singular example, but rather a consistent philosophy within Nintendo.

Aonuma stated that “when it comes to Nintendo development, I believe we are a little tenacious with our ideas.” This is something that I believe Mr. Miyamoto said before, when you come up with an idea, try it out and it fails, don’t abandon it. Wait for the perfect opportunity. Those ideas – and I think this is true of our developer – stick around in their heads; they keep them with them as they continue in their work. “When they pile up and the perfect opportunity arises, we implement these ideas.”

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)

Nintendo’s strategy is clearly working. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released in March 2017, and won many Game of the Year Awards (including ours), before The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which launched this May to critical acclaim. Super Mario Bros. Wonder marks the first 2D console platforming game the franchise has released in eleven years. However, all indications are that it is an outstanding evolution of series conventions. Nintendo has no intention of stopping anytime soon.

For more on Super Mario Bros. Wonder, be sure to visit our hub through the banner below for exclusive content about Nintendo’s next highly anticipated 2D platformer. Click here to read the complete interview between Shigeru MIYAMO and Koji Kondo. Go here to read the complete interview between Eiji Aonuma, Hidemaro Fubayashi and Shigeru Miyamoto.