Super Mario Bros. Wonder originally had co-op collision, but it was removed to reduce player stress
Deplatforming friends
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is far from the first 4-player Mario game, but it does add in a unique wrinkle when compared to other outings. This time around, when you’re running around next to 3 of your friends, you won’t have to worry about bumping into them.
When you’re running through Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s secret-filled stages, you won’t have your friends getting in the way. Thanks to the removal of collision, you can platform however you see fit, as your character will pass right through your co-op buddies. In an interview with GameSpot, Director Shiro Mouri reveals why they made this decision.
So actually, when we initially started development on this, there was collision between characters. But this time around we have the very big Elephant Mario, and there’s also a Mario that’s very, very tall with the effects of Wonder. When those two collide, it’s a level of stress that hasn’t been seen thus far. And something we really put our focus and energy in this time around multiplayer is the idea of making it a stress-free experience. So when we took the jump and removed the collision completely, we realized that it provides a very smooth, stress-free experience. Another simple example of a stress-free experience is the fact that maybe you have a narrow platform, but with collision people might get in the way and you just fall. But without collision you can land safely and make a jump. Another reason we wanted to remove the collision was the fact that having multiplayer without collision would just provide an entirely new multiplayer experience. And hence, that’s why we decided to move forward with this spec.
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kingbroly
10M agoI wish it was an option at least. But Japanese developers are all about those specific experiences.
vinlauria
10M agoAh balls, that's a shame to hear. If you can't interact with each other that much, then what's even the point of playing co-op?
haleman1704
10M agoOh thank God. It ruined multiplayer in New Super Mario Bros. Wii for me.
mystikoi
10M agoI played Wonder with 3 others at Nintendo Live and the co-op experience was immensely more fun and less claustrophobic compared to the console NSMB games largely because of this change. It makes a huge positive difference because the challenge comes from the level itself rather than the annoyance of navigating around your friends. It actually feels like you are helping each other rather than hindering each other, and it makes it far more tolerable to play with players across a wide skill gap because of this.
the_crimson_lure
10M agoSounds right.
Most the criticism of the New Super Mario Bros. multiplayer was aimed at the ire that the collisions caused.
Cool to see Nintendo listening.
bluespheal
10M agoI think this is a good change, it also means levels don't have to accommodate for all 4 players bumping into each other, which in Wii, U and 3D world, made some levels feel needlessly big.
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