 The year was 2013. Super Mario 3D World had just been released onto the Wii U, and a brain trust of Nintendo's most talented developers and creators had come together to discuss their next project. Yoshiaki Koizumi, who'd served as the producer for the past several 3D Mario titles, wanted new ideas. While Nintendo was pleased with their latest game, there did seem to be a growing concern within the company that the Mario brand was playing things safe. Yoshiaki had pioneered an effective formula for level design, and the gameplay ideas that his team had come up with for Super Mario 3D World were inventive and entertaining. That said, Yoshiaki was looking for something big and exciting that would shake things up and get people really intrigued by the next game in the Mario series. Ideas were not in short supply. Everyone had some fun idea of what new direction to take with their next project. The problem was going to be in choosing which gameplay mechanics or story points to use. Yoshiaki was spoilt for choice. If only there was some way to mash all these different designs together. If only Nintendo could use a variety of art styles and creature designs and new Mario powers all within the same game. What if, instead of trying to find the best of the ideas that they'd come up with, the team just went ahead and made all of them? And with that, Super Mario Odyssey began to take form. Yoshiaki Koizumi had never really intended to become a games developer. His passion lay in storytelling. As a young man, he dreamed of becoming a movie director, and as such, he studied as part of the visual concept planning department of Osaka University of Arts. It was there that Yoshiaki first came across Nintendo's star game, Super Mario Bros. He wasn't very good at it. The game was very punishing, and Yoshiaki struggled to make much progress without dying. He ultimately decided that he preferred The Legend of Zelda, because at least in that game he could take more hits from enemies without having to start all over again. When Yoshiaki graduated, he managed to secure a job at Nintendo. There were many reasons for doing so, including his interest in the emerging storytelling medium of video games, but it didn't hurt that Nintendo's office was nice and close to his former university, which just made things far more convenient. While at Nintendo, Yoshiaki started off, not in game making, but in designing the manuals for video games. His first job involved creating the manual for The Legend of Zelda, a link to the past. As Yoshiaki looked through the resources he'd been given, he felt that something important was lacking. The booklet was designed to teach players how to use items and navigate the game world, but there wasn't much story here. At the time, game manuals often served as context for the adventure players would embark on, helping to explain what was going on, who were the heroes and villains of the story were, and why the player should care. Yoshiaki felt that Zelda, with its big, sprawling, open world and high fantasy setting, needed a big, epic, grand mythos and lore to match. So without any particular guidance, he began making one, creating a history for the land of Hyrule, coming up with religious symbols for the land's goddesses and trying to flesh out the story presented in the games with artwork and mythology of his own creation. Clearly, Yoshiaki's work was appreciated, as when the time came for Nintendo to work on a sequel in the form of Link's Awakening for the Game Boy, the humble manual designer was brought on board to help plot the story of the game. As Yoshiaki started, he discovered that the team, having already created a link to the past, hadn't really given much thought to what the Game Boy game's larger narrative should be about. Despite being a very junior member of the project, Yoshiaki was able to sprinkle in story elements throughout the work, in as much as it didn't interfere with anyone else's plans. Yoshiaki came up with a sprawling story of dreams and musical instruments, making Link's Awakening stand apart as an unusually rich narrative work for a game of the era. Inevitably, Yoshiaki ended up working on more games for the series, playing a big part in Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64. Throughout his work, Yoshiaki was eager to include a strong story at the core of the games that he worked on. The only problem was his boss. Shigeru Miyamoto, who ironically had started his rise to Nintendo Stardom by creating a relatively rich story for the arcade game Donkey Kong, now was more than a little hesitant to put too many cutscenes and story beats into his games. Gameplay should come first, Shigeru thought, and Yoshiaki often clashed with his mentor as the two argued over how overt a story should be in even the cinematic Ocarina of Time. Yoshiaki eventually found that it was easier to sneak his way around Shigeru rather than try to defy the veteran game developer. In Ocarina of Time, Yoshiaki told his intended story incidentally through offhand lines of dialogue from non-player characters or from signs or location decorations. This didn't seem to upset Shigeru too much, and Yoshiaki was pleased with the stories that he was able to tell through this indirect method. The strategy paid off so well in fact that eventually Shigeru gave Yoshiaki the chance to create a Zelda game that revolved around storytelling more than anything in the series up to that point. The legend of Zelda, Majora's Mask, was built around a three-day time cycle that Yoshiaki created, and he was able to fill the world with characters that moved around, had conversations with each other, and all had their own unique stories that the players could learn about and interact with. As Yoshiaki's star continued to rise, the heads of Nintendo's creative team gave him more and more freedom. He still had to approve ideas with Shigeru Miyamoto, but he was entrusted with the company's crowning jewel, the Super Mario franchise. Eventually, as Nintendo prepared for their newest console, Yoshiaki and his team found themselves brainstorming new ideas for what to do with Mario next. They needed something standout, something that worked with the unique design of the Switch that would take Nintendo's mascot in a whole new direction. There were a lot of fun ideas bouncing around the team's discussions. Nobody could settle on a preferred art style, or a consistent theme, or even a unifying set of gameplay controls and power-ups. Then, as the group discussed their plans, a bolt of inspiration hit. Instead of trying to chase some big, new, futuristic idea for the future of Mario's gameplay, the team decided that they should take him back to his 3D roots. They were going to make a big, open world game similar to Super Mario 64, but using the greater hardware power afforded by the new Nintendo console. They were going to throw as many of their ideas together as would fit, no matter how weird and incongruous they felt. Yoshiaki and his team were going to make the biggest, widest, most varied Mario game of all time. The Switch was a big change for Nintendo, and it was dramatically changing the way the company was approaching game design. A portable console that could easily switch into handheld mode needed games that were designed for single-player, on-the-go experiences. Nintendo needed to make sure that their big, tentpole games offered deep, immersive worlds for players to get stuck into, while also allowing for small, short bursts of gameplay. It was a tough balance to make. Thankfully, the design of Super Mario 64 fit here perfectly, with a series of big, open worlds that could be explored at will, with plenty of different missions that were possible in each sandbox environment. Thus, Super Mario Odyssey was designed so that players could enjoy lots of little rewards for playing, piece by piece. Yoshiaki's big change to the classic sandbox Mario formula allowed players to continue exploring an area even after completing an objective, allowing for a game session to go for as long or as short as necessary. Similarly, the game was designed without a risk of failure. Without a live system, Mario Odyssey wouldn't force players to start all over again if they didn't succeed right away, encouraging uninhibited exploration and experimentation. The nice thing about the game's diverse set of sandbox worlds was that the game's developers didn't need to be restricted to a single set of mechanics or a set art style. In fact, Yoshiaki encouraged his team to come up with the weirdest possible looks for these different worlds. One was polygonal and abstract, while others were hyper realistic for the sole point of making the player sit up and pay attention. There were no set rules for what these worlds should feel like. As long as the result was fun, everyone was happy. Still though, Yoshiaki had one person's approval that he needed to win. With trepidation, he presented the game to his mentor, Shigeru Miyamoto, for his feedback. Mario Odyssey's bizarre design and gameplay would need to be approved by Nintendo's star designer. Thankfully, Shigeru was on board. He trusted Yoshiaki, and this new game looked like the kind of big, impressive, exciting title that would get people excited about Mario all over again. Shigeru was right. Nintendo fans were thrilled with the look of this brand new Mario game, which felt both completely fresh and original, while also returning to a popular game style that many were eager to see the series revisit. As Super Mario Odyssey went out to reviewers, Yoshiaki felt a wave of satisfaction as the game received near perfect scores across the board. This ambitious endeavour had done its job, and given players an exciting, fresh experience within the classic Mario framework. The moral of the story is that you can do great things when you step outside your comfort zone. It can be easy and relatively stress-free to stick to a strategy that works in life. Sometimes, the fear of failure will keep us from trying something new, whether it's developing a new talent, trying to find a new job, or making significant changes in our lives. It's okay to be concerned when facing up evil. If you put in the work, try your best in experiment, you may well still fail at your first attempt. What matters, though, is that you push yourself to try new things. Super Mario Odyssey has proven popular in large part because it's ambitious, and because it tries new and different things. Do your best, be creative, and don't be afraid to break them old. As you work hard to try new things, you never know what amazing things you'll learn about yourself along the way.