While many of Nintendo’s IPs likeMariohave explored a variety of different genres, from platformers, to sports games, to puzzle games,The Legend of Zeldatends to stay true to its action-adventure roots. So, it came to the surprise of many when it was announced that theZeldaseries would receive its own musou spinoffin the form ofHyrule Warriors,a collaboration between Nintendo and Koei Tecmo, on the Wii U back in 2014.
Many fans were surprised to see Nintendo allow such drastic experimentation with one of its most-beloved IPs, but theBreath of the Wildmusou prequelHyrule Warriors: Age of Calamitychanged that late last year, legitimizing the game genre in the eyes of many fans. And whileThe Legend of Zeldahas officially received the 1 vs. 100 treatment, it seems that the president of Koei Tecmo would like to create aSuper Mariomusou game, as well.
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In a recent interview with video game website TheGamer,Samurai Warriors 5producer and president of Koei Tecmo Games Hisashi Koinuma was asked whichmusou crossover gamehe would be most interested in working on. While he clarified that he and Koei Tecmo have unfortunately not had the chance to collaborate with the IP yet, Koinuma responded with interest in aMariomusou game.
In a similar interview with German video game website JP Gamer, Koinuma mentioned that while he would love to see aSuper MarioWarriors-styled game, he is unsure as to how the idea would become a reality. In a separate interview late last year, Koei Tecmo producer Yosuke Hayashi explained that Koei Tecmo was surprised when it was approached by Nintendo to create anotherHyrule Warriorsgame, but also hopes to create more interesting games likeAge of Calamityin the future. With the ways that theSuper Mariofranchise has been expanding lately, throughan animatedMariofilm,Universal’s Super Nintendo World theme park, and more, the idea may not seem so far-fetched.
It’s also worth mentioning that theSuper Marioseries is certainly no stranger to spinoffs with third-party studios, such as the Square Enix-developed-Mario Hoops 3-on-3, and theUbisoft-developedMario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle.Many fans were shocked to see theMarioseries enter the turn-based tactics genre with anXCOM-style game, so while Nintendo is protective of its IPs, it seems just as open to experimenting.
Fans are excited to learn what Nintendo has been up to at this year’s all-virtual E3 experience coming up just next month. So far, the only upcomingMariogame that Nintendo has shared with fans isMario Golf: Super Rush,developed by Camelot Software Planning and set to launch on the Nintendo Switch just next month. It will certainly be interesting to see if any moreMariospinoffs come to fruition.
