It’s widely known at this point that Retro Studios – famed for the Metroid Prime series and for reviving Donkey Kong Country – was recruited by Nintendo to help out on development for the 3DS release of Mario Kart 7. The developer had just wrapped work on Donkey Kong Country Returns and according to environment artist Ted Anderson, many weren’t too keen to work on a Mario Kart game.
Speaking to YouTuber KIMI TALKZ, Anderson stated that the team was initially brought in to help Nintendo get over the finish line, but ended up creating entire tracks, which some members were apparently not “super-duper excited” about:
“Initially I think we were supposed to help them finish stuff out and help them get over the finish line. It ended up being where we ended up making more than that; we ended up making entire tracks from scratch. It was kind of funny, Because I remember initially that a good deal of the team was kind of not super-duper excited about that, but I was stoked, I was thinking “this is gonna be awesome”. re gonna do this”, and I’m like “what are you talking about, we’re gonna make a Mario Kart game for the 3DS – wow!”
It sounds like the team eventually came around to the idea of assisting Nintendo with Mario Kart 7, giving that Anderson put emphasis on the word ‘initially’. What changed for the team is unclear, but it’s possible that given the scope of their increased involvement beyond the initial requirement, enthusiasm may have been given a much needed bump.
You can check out the section discussed in the video below, but we’d also recommend watching the whole thing; there are plenty of interesting tidbits held within!
What do you make of Anderson’s comments here? Do you think Retro’s talents would have been better suited elsewhere? Let us know!
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