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Super Mario Odyssey Director Confirms Mario is Human Despite 'Different' Appearance

Vice Canada conducted an interview with the Super Mario Odyssey game's director Kenta Motokura during E3 in June. Motokura discussed Mario's humanity, world travel, and nostalgia in the interview.

Reporter Simon Coutu asked Motokura, "For the first time Mario evolves in a world where there are humans, and we see that Mario is really different from other people in New Donk City for example, is Mario human?" Motokura responded, "Mario is human." When Coutu asked him why Mario is different from other humans in the upcoming Nintendo Switch game, Motokura said, "In the world, there are many different types of people, you know."

When asked about the importance of travel around the world in the game, Motokura said:

This is a journey following Mario to save Princess Peach, one of his most [beloved], so we wanted to make this an epic journey. As players, we haven't even gone to all the places that we want to visit, and we haven't discovered all the places that we can. Through this game, we thought we could do that and bring a different experience to everyone.

In response to a question about creating the game for people introduced to Mario in the 80s and 90s, Motokura said:

Yes, we definitely thought about nostalgia for players who have previously played other Mario games. This world consists of 3D and 2D and we wanted to mix things up. Therefore, we implemented the 2D aspect as well.

Motokura confirmed that Mario is still human despite his drastically different appearance from the citizens of New Donk City. However, some fans noted that few pipes appear in the game's trailers and wondered if their favorite resident of the Mushroom Kingdom still had the occupation he is known for. Motokura replied, "In the January promotion that we saw Mario jumps out of a manhole so I think he is still doing his job."

Confirmed: Mario is a human plumber (who just happens to live in a world of magic mushrooms with very few members of his own species).

After Nintendo revealed Super Mario Odyssey in January, fans were quick to notice that he appeared much shorter than his fellow humans in New Donk City. YouTube user CrowbCat created a Grand Theft Auto IV crossover video to correct Mario's height issue. However, some fans may find the lanky Mario unsettling.

Here is the game's latest trailer that debuted at E3 last month:

Here is CrowbCat's "Super real Mario Odyssey":

The game will ship for the Nintendo Switch on October 27.

[Via Siliconera]