Mario creator has surprising opinion on Wonder’s bizarre Elephant Mario

Nintendo had its August 2023 Nintendo Direct dedicated to Super Mario Bros. Wonder. And while some of the game’s new powers, like Elephant Mario, were a surprise, not everybody was keen on them—including, initially, Mario‘s creator.

During an Aug. 31 interview with IGN, Super Mario Bros. Wonder director Shiro Mouri and producer Takashi Tezuka spoke about some of the feedback they received during the game’s development, and a few notes came directly from Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto himself. While the team worked hard on putting together the game, Miyamoto would pop in and see what they were up to, and he had a strong first opinion on Elephant Mario.

“Sometimes he would come by where we are working and look at things and give some opinions,” Tezuka said. “He would generally observe things and make comments here and there, and even things that didn’t seem like they were big comments…” 

Tezuka also elaborated about what Miyamoto had to say about Elephant Mario.

“He did have a comment about Elephant Mario… He had come and taken a look before that and he gave us the sharp comment that ‘This doesn’t look like a Mario character,'” Tezuka said. “There was the idea of how Elephant Mario sprays water, he came and said that if an elephant was actually spraying water, it wouldn’t move that way…”

Tezuka mentioned that Miyamoto’s comments were around the time the development team had early visuals for Elephant Mario. Although the team had plans to modify the design, Miyamoto’s feedback was taken to heart.

Since the reveal of Super Mario Bros. Wonder in June 2023, many fans have given a positive reception to the design for Mario’s newest power. While Miyamoto isn’t involved fully in the development of the game anymore, it is interesting to see that his perspective on Mario and game design still has a positive impact at Nintendo. As Elephant Mario, players are able to store and shoot water at enemies, while they can also break blocks and run over larger gaps in the game’s new stages.

These new abilities were shown in full during the latest Nintendo Direct presentation that focused solely on Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Nintendo fans will have only a short wait before getting their hands on the game, which is set to release on Oct. 20.