Rise and fall of Wacky Stardust
by FLbond
When you are a Mario fan, you want to know everything about your favorite plumber, even when another studio is involved. One group of women and men brave enough to walk into Nintendo path and give players a sequel to Super Mario World on Philips CD-i. From the project’s early days to the decision to remain at the prototype stage, here is the story of Super Mario’s Wacky Worlds.
Became the special studio
It all starts in 1993, with a development team called Novalogic, making games for computers and home consoles, and great fans of Nintendo games. When Nintendo decided to give the rights to Philips for the SNES-CD, and then changed their mind, Philips was allowed to make 3 Zelda games and 2 Mario on CD-i. We’re not talking about Zelda games, because even if they have some nice graphics, they are too rushed to be considered as good games, and we’re focusing on Mario. The first Mario CD-i game on the other hand, called Hotel Mario, is a nice puzzle game, if you choose to forget the ugly animated cutscenes. But Let’s get back to our story.
Novalogic have got their chance to make one real Mario game. Their last release, Rocketeer on SNES, was successful enough for Philips to let them work on it. Their main goal : making a Super Mario World sequel. One says they are crazy, as only Nintendo creates Mario platformers, and CD-i development is fairly new to most studios. But they will make Super Mario’s Wacky Worlds, with some great skills.
God-Given Skills
Designing a game for the Philips CD-i is not the same as on the SNES. Super Mario’s Wacky Worlds is the first game to be featured on CD-ROM and drawing is easier. According to John Brooks, lead programmer, CD is “hundreds of times larger than rom cartridges of that era”, and allows Novalogic to try a lot of new things for the Mario saga. Music now can leave the MIDI format and gains some instruments and depth. Larger formats mean a larger game. SMWW will have 6 “time traveling” worlds. Each world will have its own theme and music. For the first time, Mario will face some challenging puzzles too. For this new feature, Marty Foulcher will be the one needed to think about them.
And his role on this game is way more important than just a “Riddler”. His works on Dragon’s Lair, one of the first games on Laserdisc, gives him the knowledge to work on CD-i hardware. With Nina Stanley he draws all the level backgrounds, and is amazed when Brooks manages to put them uncompressed into the game. SMWW has new enemies, according to their environment, and koopas can now be Roman soldiers or Inuit people. Many great ideas, but Brooks and the team needs to know how “A Mario game works”. For this goal, they play the game, read the strategy guide, ask other studios for their advice, in order to reproduce the feeling of a Nintendo adventure. All their effort worked, with one prototype ready to be shown to Nintendo. But….
Took it too far
Novalogic has two great flaws: making this game as a quick cash grab and the CD-i support. Mario’s IP, in the studio’s point of view, will be enough to sell lots of games. The money earned would be used in their main series, like “Comanche”. This is the main disappointment for Brooks/Stanley/Foulger and the team, as they have a few resources to make a decent game. In order to finish their prototype, sound effects and music are Super Mario World rip-off. Mario’s gameplay is quite great but many collisions are missing, and some levels are just placeholders on the main screen. Yoshi is also scrapped, due to CD-i technical limitations. All of this to get Nintendo approval!
It’s hard to get all the details of Nintendo-Phillips meeting, but Steve Radosh is in charge on Philips side and has all the details about this game, being Foulger friend. According to him, Nintendo is impressed with the game and all the work made by Novalogic team. But SMWW is doomed, as Philips CD-i sales are way below Big N expectations, and like many projects (Starfox 2, Mario VB, …), Wacky Worlds will become Cancelled Universe. Radosh isn’t invited to this last meeting, Brooks and Stanley are now at EA, and Novalogic CD-i team shuts down. SMWW is no more.
As time goes by, several prototypes are now available online. They are the last part of one interesting project in the Mario Universe. A story about a special Mario game, a talented team, and a missed opportunity.
Wahoo! You are a Super Reader! But the adventure doesn’t stop here… There’s more of this project in another castle! This article is just one level in an entire Super Mario Multiverse, a galactic collaboration between writers around the world sharing a bit of our hearts and memories about our favorite Mario games. Visit the Center of the Multiverse to see more:
I had never even heard of this one and it was a fun and fascinating read to find out about it!