Koizumi: Mario's core is to 'get to the goal without dying'

Super Mario 3D project lead Yoshiaki Koizumi has said the switch to 3D graphics with Super Mario 64 began to detract from the core Mario experience: not dying.

"I feel like the core experience is something that we may have started to get away from a little bit when we first started presenting games in 3D like in Super Mario 64," the director and producer told Gamespot.

"The idea in those games is that you walk around in those environments and give the players a lot of opportunity to explore.

"But the real basics of the Super Mario series is that players have to get to the goal of a level without dying. You have short levels with a very quick tempo, and it should be a very thrilling experience.

"So some of that was actually missing from Galaxy. The gameplay was a bit slower, and it was so much easier to die, so the core experience of getting to the goal without dying was harder to achieve.

"This time around, you'll find that we have something closer to the three-minute levels you see in Super Mario Bros., so for me, overall this feels closer to the core of the Super Mario Bros. experience traditionally."

Commenting that he felt Super Mario galaxy had managed to introduce new gameplay while exploring the franchise's roots, Koizumi said the new 3DS game would top that effort.

"This time I guess our approach is best described as focusing on how to bring the core essence of the Mario gameplay experience to a game that is presented in 3D," he said.

"And this is taking us to lots of interesting new ideas that go even beyond what we did in Galaxy."

Super Mario 3D is expected to arrive before the end of the year.