Super Mario's Wacky Worlds

Super Mario's Wacky Worlds
The first stage, Greek 1
Developer(s)	NovaLogic[1]
Publisher(s)	Philips Interactive Media[2]
Designer(s)	Marty Foulger
Programmer(s)	John Brooks Silas Warner
Artist(s)	Nina Stanley
Series	Mario
Platform(s)	Philips CD-i
Release	Cancelled
Genre(s)	Adventure, platform
Mode(s)	Single-player

Super Mario's Wacky Worlds is a canceled Mario platform video game developed by NovaLogic for the Philips CD-i system. The game was conceived as a sequel to Super Mario World, a game released for Super NES in 1990. An early prototype received positive feedback from Nintendo, but the game was soon canceled due to the declining sales of the Philips CD-i system.^[3]

Development

NovaLogic, the developer of Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, was hoping to be hired by Nintendo.^[4] Philips was developing Nintendo's Super NES CD-ROM peripheral, and as part of that deal had the right to use Nintendo's characters in its own games for its existing CD-i console.^[5] A Nintendo sales executive suggested to NovaLogic that a simplified style of Super NES games could be adapted to the CD-i, so they decided to demonstrate a follow-up to Super Mario World. Developers Silas Warner and John Brooks worked reportedly 24 hours a day for two weeks on the game, finishing only a part of one level to present to Nintendo.^[1] Nintendo was impressed, but because of poor CD-i sales was forced to cancel the game.^[6] Multiple designers also left to work for Electronic Arts.^[7] This ended the CD-i career of Warner, who had expected Nintendo's reaction. Other developers such as lead artist Nina Stanley stayed with the project. Though the developers were highly enthusiastic about making a traditional Mario game (partly to establish their reputation surrounding Nintendo-licensed characters), NovaLogic hoped to use as little money as possible on the project. The company intended to make a small amount of profit while focusing on games such as the Comanche series. The game's final prototype is a pre-alpha at Version 0.11, finished on March 3, 1993, after one year of work. Approximately 80% of the game's art, 95% of its design, and around 30% of its code was finished.^{[citation needed]} The prototype contains music taken from Super Mario World and no sound effects beside the jumping sound.^[8][9] This seems to be an early placeholder, as the idea for the final game was to take advantage of the disc format and use a flexible audio range rather than port unimproved synthesized sound.^[4]

Accurately capturing the sprites of Super Mario World was difficult for the Wacky Worlds development team, since the CD-i had a different sprite-making style than that of the SNES.^[8] To create their characters, they copied sprites of Mario and several Koopa Troopas from Super Mario World.^[4] Their original designs include a Greek Koopa, knight Koopa, eskimo Koopa, vampire Koopa, and a walrus.^[10] The backgrounds were all hand-drawn,^[8][4] based on real-world locations.^[11]

Three prototypes are in circulation.^[4]

Gameplay

As an incomplete pastiche of Super Mario World, Mario can only walk and jump.^[4] Enemies are not programmed correctly, as they disappear when Mario ends up above them, suggesting incomplete stomping implementation.^[8] Enemies cannot harm Mario, and are stopped if touched, even if it means floating in the air. Mario can't die when he falls into a pit but floats on it.^[12]

Level progression can be pieced together by the selectable stages, with two or three levels per world. Each level has an exit such as a Warp Pipe, a Trojan Horse, or a stylized "M" object holding tape—some of which are non-functional,^[8] so the system must be restarted.^[4]

Reception

Kombo wrote that the game paled in comparison to Sonic CD, another platformer sequel released on a CD-based platform. He criticized the real-world setting as not befitting the "Wacky" monicker, suggesting that its cancelation helped avoid the laughingstock fate of the other Nintendo adaptation for CD-i, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.^[11] GamesRadar writer Tom Goulter compared its quality to fan games, stating that while it was an impressive effort, the CD-i's limitations made it fortunate that it was never released.^[1] Joystiq's Justin McElroy said that the game would have been better off to have not been rediscovered. He said that the real-world settings were an odd choice and that it was not a worthy successor to Super Mario World.^[13] Digital Spy's Mark Langshaw said that the limited sprite count and the CD-i's pointer controls would have tarnished Super Mario World had it been released.^[14]

References

Further reading

• Matthew, Henzel. "The best of the last CD-i that never was!". VideoGameObesssion. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
• "Super Mario's Wacky Worlds". IGN. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
• Mike Matei (March 10, 2014). "Super Mario's Wacky Worlds (CD-i) James & Mike". Cinemassacre.
• "Mario's Wacky Worlds [CDI – Cancelled]". Unseen64. April 7, 2008. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
• Merijn; Marty Foulger (November 30, 2003). "Interview with Marty Foulger - Lead Designer on Super Mario's Wacky Worlds". The Black Moon Project. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
• Merijn; John Brooks (October 2, 2003). "Interview with John Brooks - Lead Programmer on Super Mario's Wacky Worlds". The Black Moon Project. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
• Silas Warner (July 26, 2003). "Statement by Silas Warner - Programmer on Super Mario's Wacky Worlds". The Black Moon Project. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
• Devin; Merijn (July 31, 2008). "Revisit the Lost Super Mario CD-i Game". CD-i Interactive. Retrieved April 25, 2015.

This page was last edited on 1 February 2024, at 19:18