Well, there was already a topic about the Zelda series and which non Nintendo companies could handle it, so how about the Mario series? As of this time, quite a few third parties have worked with Mario games (especially spinoffs), such as AlphaDream, Square Enix and Sega. But who else could work on the series? Here are my thoughts on that:
And Artoon should stay away. Yoshi's Island DS was decent enough gameplay wise, but level design was quite poor and the music was terrible, whereas Yoshi's Topsy Turvy was just plain bad. Hey, at least NSMB has decent music!
So yeah, what companies would you trust with the Mario series?
- Retro Studios. It's an internal Nintendo studio now so it's not technically a second or third party, but their track record with Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong Country Returns proves they can handle some very well respected big name series. Perhaps they could work on a 2D or 3D Mario platformer in the future?
- GoodFeel. They made Kirby's Epic Yarn and Wario Land Shake It, so perhaps they could be trusted with a 2D Mario game as well? Yoshi's Island seems like their next Nintendo IP to work on, but I think they can also do great things with the New Super Mario Bros license, and possibly make something that's more creative than Nintendo's attempts.
- Project Sora/Sakurai and co. They worked wonders on Kid Icarus Uprising and Super Smash Bros games, maybe a Mario game could be something they could pull off well? Especially a 3D one.
And Artoon should stay away. Yoshi's Island DS was decent enough gameplay wise, but level design was quite poor and the music was terrible, whereas Yoshi's Topsy Turvy was just plain bad. Hey, at least NSMB has decent music!
So yeah, what companies would you trust with the Mario series?
