But it wasn't necessarily all Mario Pinball development during this time period. So it was a period of about 18 months or so. IGN: From start to finish, how long was the game in development?Īdrian: We started the company in September 2002, and the game was mastered in June of this year. It wasn't too dissimilar to the Super Nintendo. It's not like we're having to write it so it would work on other platforms, so even though the platform is somewhat restrictive it's got a very rigid set of parameters, and you just try to work with them to get the most out of the system. IGN: Since this was your first project on the Game Boy Advance, did you find it a restrictive platform, making it do what you wanted it to do?Īdrian: It wasn't restrictive at all, because when we set out to design the game for the hardware, we looked at what it had to offer, and then tried to build the best possible game we could for it. That coupled with the fact that it's ideal platform for a pinball game, something that you can just pick up and knock the ball around for a bit. And that's what would give us the best chance of creating something that would stand out from everything else on the platform. And with experience on systems like the Super Nintendo we knew we'd be able to push the hardware of the GBA very hard to its limits. So trying to tackle something like the GameCube was a much taller order. IGN: So why did you decide on the Game Boy Advance?Īdrian: When we founded Fuse it was just the two of us, we had very limited resources. We basically put all this together, tweaked it, went to Seattle, and pitched it to them. The little demo featured what we thought could be the first area of the game, and then jump straight to what we thought could be the last area, a showdown with Bowser. It was crucial to show great gameplay because that's what Nintendo's all about. So the only way forwards was to produce a very playable demo. As we were a newly formed company we thought we needed a bit of impact before they would even bother to speak to us. IGN: Who came up with the concept for a Mario pinball game? Was it a Fuse idea, or was it something that Nintendo wanted to do and commissioned you guys to do it?Īdrian: It was a Fuse concept. There was a lot we could draw upon and twist to fit the unique style of gameplay in Mario Pinball. IGN: Did any existing assets, like physics algorithms, move over from Pro Pinball to Mario Pinball Land?Īdrian: No assets, we really just took the experience we had. That provides the foundation for really exciting gameplay. Beyond that, it's the element of chaos, trying to get the ball to do what you want. You can tell pretty much anyone that one button controls the left flipper, another button controls the other flipper, and then have some fun. IGN: So why do you guys favor pinball so much?Īdrian: I think that the main thing is that it's so easy to pick up and play. This formed the pedigree for the company, so to speak. Before that, Richard and myself worked on a series of games, Pro Pinball, which were pinball simulations. From there we got a few other people together to create Mario Pinball, just the five of us. I founded it with a guy I worked with for many years, Richard Horrocks a few years ago. Adrian Barritt: We're a very small young company.
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