There was no malicious intent behind the brief scene Super Mario getting his head blown off in the debut gameplay trailer of “Banjo Kazooie: Nuts And Bolts,” a developer working on the game told me yesterday.
Salvatore Fileccia, the lead software engineer behind the upcoming vehicle-based Xbox 360 platformer, said his team has the utmost respect for the Nintendo icon.
He offered a simple explanation for its inclusion.
He told me that the Mario figure that gets blasted apart in the trailer was actually a custom vehicle created by one of the developers on the game using the Lego-like vehicle-building editor. As he demoed the game he had stressed that the developers had managed to create many Star Wars vehicles as well.
The Mario vehicle, which looks like a Mario statue, will not be in the final game — though I can’t imagine someone won’t try to create one within hours of the game’s official release.
Fileccia told me that he wasn’t allowed to say much about what happened, but the impression I got was that Rare snuck it into the trailer and got themselves in some hot water. Either that, or this is an intentional buzz-builder. (You can see the scene online on many sites, including this one.)
Rare developers actually seemed quite eager to stress respect for the “Mario” franchise. When Fileccia began his demo of the game he said that “action platformers have gotten a bit stale” but then added “except for Mario.” And when he and I spoke about the bit in the trailer he assured me that even though he hadn’t played “Super Mario Galaxy” yet that it would be the first game he plays when he finishes making Banjo.
Rare, of course, used to be partially owned by Nintendo before being purchased by Microsoft in 2002.
(Image capture via NeoGaf)
May 14th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Did anyone else think this was just a funny homage to Rare’s roots? I laughed out loud, personally.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I laughed, too, and I think it’s pretty sad if they are getting in any sort of trouble for including it.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
I loved it I was like OMFG….! But much props to Rare being bitter. lol
Joking they are an awsome company and I love all of their work including VivaPinata and Perfect Dark Zero…yeah I guess I’m a big Rare fan.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:07 am
I imagine Rare does appreciate Mario and Nintendo, after all, without Nintendo investing money into them, I wonder what they would have done on their own. Nintendo was very patient, putting up with (very) long development times and a number of flops (whether the game was good or not, Rare had just as many flops as hits.)
But I bet Rare also has a bone to pick with their former owners as well, as they had to go by strict pc standards, with the exception of Conker’s BFD. Which led to this little jab at the show.
It’s all in good fun, though, and will probably get the game much more attention than it ever would otherwise. I like some of Rare’s stuff, but who is looking forward to a Banjo vehicle combat game?? Certainly not me. Diddy’s Racing on the 64 scarred me pretty good.
Rare is practically dead to me these days. Perfect Dark Zero is actually a decent game if given a chance, but it is still rather pale compared to the N64 classic. Oh man, if only PD would come out on Xbox Live Arcade!! I would be pretty happy with that.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:23 am
I’m looking forward to this game. I really liked Banjo Tooie. I don’t see what the big deal about this incident is though…
May 15th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
It seems that almost all of games Rare release on the Xbox aren’t really for the Xbox customer base (usually gamers who play to compete for money or “king” of the group). Perfect Dark Zero was probably the only game that fits the Xbox customer base and it didn’t really do well than expected.
So, I wouldn’t be suprise if Banjo would somehow flop and not meet expectations of Microsoft or Rare.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
“I like some of Rare’s stuff, but who is looking forward to a Banjo vehicle combat game”
I honestly suggest you read more previews and watch more videos of this game because that’s pretty far from what this is.
It’s interesting to me how much dislike this game is getting from people online while all of those who have actually played it have yet to say anything negative beyond “it’s not finished yet”.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
ya…this game looks kewl and all but it doesn’t look original like the 1st banjos(BANJO KAzooie,Banjo Tooie) they dont even look like them selves and driving..??? ya not original that’s just my opinion though.
May 28th, 2008 at 11:50 am
I am HARDCORE looking forward to this game. I loved Banjo for the 64 and despite the fact that Kazooie’s moves have been replaced with picking up car pieces, the original team is making it, therefore it should share the same “soul” as the originals.