Super Mario 128

Super Mario 128 is the name of a series of development projects that were initially to be used to create the sequel to Super Mario 64. At Nintendo's Space World trade show, Super Mario 128 used the rapid generation techniques that were later incorporated into games released for the Nintendo GameCube. The physics technology that was to be used in the game, seems to have been used on many stylish Wii games, one of which being Super Mario Galaxy 2.
== Super Mario 64 2 ==
There were rumors persisting a sequel to Super Mario 64, called Super Mario 64 2. It was said to be developed on the Nintendo 64DD, a failed project of Nintendo's design. Shigeru Miyamoto mentioned at E3's 1997 convention that he was "just getting started" on the project. In a "Nintendo Power" interview with Shigeru Miyamoto in November 1999, Miyamoto said, "Well, for over a year now at my desk, a prototype program of Mario and Luigi has been running on my monitor. We've been thinking about the game, and it may be something that could work on a completely new game system." Unfortunately, the game never went beyond a simple game demo. Miyamoto claimed that multiplayer was the first aspect of the game that he wanted to include, however, multiplayer in a game like this wasn't done until the Nintendo DS with Super Mario 64 DS. Another rumor of this failed project, was that elements from Super Mario 64 2 were transferred over to the GameCube's Super Mario Sunshine and the DS's Super Mario 64 DS.
Another basic rumor is that elements of Super Mario 64 2 were incorporated into New Super Mario Bros., such as multiplayer. In an interview in the September 2006 issue of "Nintendo Dream", Miyamoto answered some questions about Super Mario 64 2, stating that he had forgotten whether it was being made for the Nintendo 64DD, and that "it's become other games." When asked whether he meant that the game systems are being used in other titles, Miyamoto responded, "From the time that we were originally making Mario 64, Mario and Luigi were moving together. But we couldn't get it working in the form of a game," echoing his statements from 1999.
== History ==
=== Origins ===
The name Super Mario 128 was first used by Shigeru Miyamoto during an interview for Nintendo Power as early as January 1997, as a possible name for a Super Mario 64 sequel.
Super Mario 128 was referred to again at the SpaceWorld event in August 2000, when Nintendo showed a tech demo titled Super Mario 128 to display the power behind their then-upcoming Nintendo GameCube game console. In the demo, a quite large 2D Mario multiplied into exactly 128 much smaller Marios across a kind of circular board. This demo was meant to display the technical power of the GameCube by rendering additional Marios at once until the number of characters on the screen reached 128. The terrain in the demo was manipulated, rotated, and spun to show the physics abilities of the new system.
One year later, at SpaceWorld 2001, Super Mario Sunshine was unveiled as the next Mario game; it was released in July 2002, one year later, in Japan and a month later in North America. In an interview after E3 with Computer and Video Games, Miyamoto confirmed that Super Mario 128 and Super Mario Sunshine were indeed separate games.
=== Resurfacing ===
On December 10, 2002, IGN reported that according to an interview in Japan's Weekly Playboy magazine Miyamoto had confirmed the continuing development of Super Mario 128.
Rumors later surfaced that Nintendo did not show Super Mario 128 at E3 2003 because the game's innovation and unique likeness, Nintendo did not want other developers and rival companies stealing the ideas used for this game. However, Miyamoto later confirmed in an interview with Nintendo Official Magazine UK that Super Mario 128 was still in development and that the game's development team had planned to take the Mario series in a new direction. In 2003, Nintendo's George Harrison, in an interview with CNN, "Money that Super Mario 128 may not appear on GameCube at all."
It was thought that Nintendo would unveil the title at E3 2004, but Miyamoto again confirmed the existence of Super Mario 128 in an interview during February 2004, but the game failed to surface. Some believed this was due to the announcements of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and the new innovation of the Nintendo DS, both of which were revealed at the 2004 show. IGN later in the year got a similar response to Gamespy after the show. Miyamoto again asserted that there is extreme experimental nature of Super Mario 128 and that it is far from its completion.
In 2005, at GDC, Nintendo's VP of Marketing, Reggie Fils-Aime, stated that Super Mario 128 would indefinitely be shown at E3 2005. This was the point where most people thought that the game would finally surface. However, for the third year in a row, the game once again failed to surface during E3. During a GameSpot interview at E3, Fils-Aime stated, "I can only show what Mr. Miyamoto gives me to show." When the reporter asked if the Super Mario 128 project actually exists, Fils-Aime responded, "I've seen bits and pieces." In an interview with Miyamoto that year, a Wired News reporter confirmed that Super Mario 128 would not be produced for the GameCube, but rather that it had been definitively moved to the upcoming Wii (code-named, Revolution).
In September 2005, Shigeru Miyamoto gave his least ambiguous comments regarding Super Mario 128 yet. When asked about the status of the long-awaited game by a Japanese radio station, he revealed that Mario would have a new character by his side and reiterated that the game would appear on the Wii, of course, it also will be under a different name. Interestingly, he also mentioned that Super Mario 128 played a large role in the conception of the Revolution, similar to that of the success of Super Mario 64 and the Nintendo 64. He went as far to say that the Wii was based around "this new type of game". It was later confirmed that Super Mario Galaxy, the first Mario platformer released specifically for the Wii, was not Super Mario 128 when Miyamoto stated at the E3 of 2007. He went on to say that Super Mario Galaxy was "created by the team that made Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, and development began as soon as the earlier title was finished. While Super Mario 128 has been in development since at least 2000, when the technology demo was first shown. In 2006, Shigeru Miyamoto finally confirmed that the project was no more, and that bits and pieces of the concept had evolved into the Wii title Super Mario Galaxy, as well as the many titles that already told of their development such as Pikmin and Super Mario Sunshine.
=== Final word ===
During the GDC of 2007, Miyamoto mentioned that Super Mario 128 was initially just a demonstration to help better illustrate the power of the newly developed GameCube. He also stated that most of these elements of Super Mario 128 that revolved a multiplayer interface were incorporated into Pikmin, due to the player controlling a large number of characters on screen. Other elements from the beta test of the game, such as walking on 3D spheres, are seen in Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel.
==Trivia==
*There is an event challenge called Super Mario 128 in Super Smash Bros. Melee, where the character must battle 128 tiny Marios on the Super Mario Bros. 2 stage.
== Gallery ==
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Category:Tech demos