GamesPlatformerSuper Mario Bros. WonderAfter 39 years, Nintendo’s legendary composer put his voice in Super Mario Bros Wonder when his idea for a “live-action” Mario with “human proportions” was rejectedWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesPlatformerSuper Mario Bros. WonderAfter 39 years, Nintendo’s legendary composer put his voice in Super Mario Bros Wonder when his idea for a “live-action” Mario with “human proportions” was rejectedWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Koji Kondo joined Nintendo in 1984 and ended up composing basically every memorable theme from the Mario or Zelda series. The legendary composer had a particularly wild idea for a stage effect in last year’sSuper Mario Bros Wonder, and while that idea was rejected, it did end up giving Kondo the opportunity to bring his voice to the game.
Wonder director Shiro Mouri detailed a few unused level concepts for Super Mario Bros Wonder in a recent Game Developers Conference Talk, including “an idea from our sound director, Mr. Kondo. His idea was ‘when a Wonder effect activates, a live-action version of Mario with human proportions appears, progressing through the stage while humming the background music and mimicking the various sound effects himself.'”
But if you’ve played Wonder, the idea of a human voice making all the game’s sound effects might sound familiar - after all, that’s exactly what the Sound Off badge does in-game. “While we couldn’t use Mr. Kondo’s idea,” Mouri said, “we thought it could instead be used as a badge, a system where players can select their own special powers. It was such an interesting idea, it would have been ‘mottainai’ to not use it.”
At a minimum, it gave Kondo a chance to provide not just music and sound, but a little bit of voice acting for Wonder. “Incidentally,” Mouri noted, “the man behind the voice of the Sound Off badge is Mr. Kondo himself, the one who pitched this idea.”
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