Bowser's Fury isn't open world. Open world has the inherent connotation that you can go anywhere at anytime to do anything--Fury locks its segments behind a series of progressively building linear challenges. I have no problem with them existing in the same space, that's cool and immersive.
@@MrBoponpa That's not entirely true. Xenoblade X is open world, and bigger than BotW, but it still has linear story progression. Not all open worlds are "do anything at any time." The new Pokémon games are also like this, which is frustrating because they allow you to challenge gyms in any other but don't scale on badge count.
An open world Super Mario Game would look like a giant colorful jungle gym playground with differently themed but interconnected areas like in the overworld of New Super Mario Bros U. If you ask me I would love if there was still progression in the game. So while the world is connected you can't access everything directly but the world opens up over time (A little bit like in a Metroidvania).
Here’s the thing, the game doesn’t even have to feel like an open world game. It could just be copy and paste of Mario Odyssey except instead of a menu to swap worlds you just ride Yoshi between the different worlds. Or it could actually enhance it with like an inventory of stored items and such too! Something that takes a lot from Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild!
I imagine it like the game Stray, except with actually good platforming. You have distinct zones such as the Sewers, Rooftops and Jail that feel cohesive as part of the world, whilst at the same time feeling extremely dense requiring time to traverse whilst always providing sight of the looming destination. I'm super interested to see they may tackle something like this with a Mario game.
Considering Mario odyssey was only not open world because of a flying hat machine, I could absolutely see open world Mario. You just need to make a compelling reason for each landscape like they always do
I think the Odyssey airship exists because the game isn't open world, not the other way around, but I do agree that the Mario series seems to be at least moving toward open world
@@GradyShoemakerI think they have to let you tackle the point of interest in any order like breath of wild. This is one of the key features of open world. I believe something like the hyrule castle but with platforming instead can be implemented. Basically a tower that get easier over time.
@@QnjtGWonQNqVsbYyzjx4Yeah I considered something like that, but it might be too complex for the casual audience Mario intends to appeal to. I think it's more likely that the final area will just be something you have to unlock
@@GradyShoemaker I think the 3D games are intended to be more complicated anyway. The entry point for Mario game is 2D Mario. Wouldn’t be surprised if the next 2D Mario is more like NSMB / 3D world than wonder, they can cater to kids that way The switch have an audience that is younger than the Wii and thus can understand gaming more, they just may not be a big enthusiast of it.
I think of it like an amusement park with different rides and kiosks, an open world Mario could just be one huge amusement park with many more rides and things to do
All the levels on Mario Sunshine exist on that one island. I imagine an open world Mario game would be like if you were playing Sunshine but could just naturally go from one level to the next instead of needing to teleport between them.
What if this game take place in the clouds instead of paradise? There are a lot of regions they can explore like a vine grown area, airship, maybe a hotel and hot spring too(maybe the angel toads lives there), a theme park can return as well. Instead of defeating bowsers, he have to defeat a demon-like queen dragon which is disguised as bowser for the majority of the games, peach is still kidnapped and the queen also caused the hot spring volcano to leak into the region and the surface world. This time Bowser lents his crown car to Mario as they both don’t want to kill peach after the event of odyssey and bowser’s fury. The crown car acts as the plessi equivalent of this game and he also got to use a magic wand invented by e gadd, which can have many abilities, which can be unlocked by grabbing the elements, this include the temporary creation of a cloud platform, fireballs and maybe disguise as a object for a while. The final boss lies on the bowser’s tower, available at the start of the game The main collectable is called power planets and can be used to unlock the elements. Player have the option to pull out insane jumps to cheese the tower(which is made not impossible), but the areas are designed with the abilities in mind, the game also encourage the player to leave the tower via shortcut pipes. Player also get to fight the shadow bowser at the middle of the tower ala Mario odyssey.
I think it's a bit more involved than just making all the levels connected, since I think there would be a lot of considerations for how to fill the space between the levels and how progression would work
@@GradyShoemaker Yeah, I know. I was just giving an easy example of a Mario game that could be easily converted into an open world game. Especially since you have the different Fludd attachments you unlock throughout the game and could use those to access new areas and make progress.
I've only watched half the video so far, but I think there's something a lot of people are missing when it comes to imagining an open world 3D platformer: verticality. Imagine a dense jungle gym of platforming challenges that weave in and out and all around in all the spatial axes. Platformers are based around jumping. Why not emphasize that by building a truly 3D space to explore? Metroid Prime did something similar with it's interconnected 3D world, I don't see why Mario can't do it.
Yeah, exactly! A lot of Odyssey's kingdoms are very vertical, like Wooded, Lost and Metro, and an open world Mario game would absolutely have a lot more verticality than something like Breath of the Wild
Tears Of The Kingdom did that, expanding the open world formula in the vertical axis. Knowing Nintendo, that game might have been a testing ground for a future Open World Mario game. Mario is not new to sky or underground enviroments, so it's not hard to imagine the formula of Tears Of The Kingdom applied to a Mario game. Maybe with less riddles and more getting-over-it sections that will exploit his jumping ability. The real question is: What kind of power up or companion will he get to explore such world?
I just hope not like Sonic Frontiers, although it was still hub worlds. I wasn't a fan of the cyber platforms mixed with desert and wasteland fields. They could at least match the level themes, and not just some metal rails or whatnot.
A lot of people write Sonic Frontiers off for being "Breath of the Wild but Sonic" when in fact, it's the perfect example for new open world platformers; everywhere is important and there are no dull moments.
I think It could be a great idea to release a mix of Galaxy and Oddisey (Mario Universe / Omniverse), in which there would be open world sections with lots of stars and collectionables, but also many galaxy levels idk
I didn't really have any other option unfortunately, like I said I'm not much of an artist and I'd feel wrong sticking someone else's fan art up on that thumbnail since it seems kinda disparaging
@@GradyShoemakeryou know that generative AI is trained on stolen artwork right? So you stole anyway. The AI is so unnecessary, if you are adamant you can’t provide visuals and you can’t collaborate with an artist, don’t include them! Or try being creative. Use your words to describe it, video editing, footage from other existing games, any number of things. While it may not be how you see it, using AI just sends the message you don’t care/are lazy and like the above poster it’s gonna turn people off. If you don’t care about your video to actually make it yourself, why should we care to keep watching?
I always imagined open world mario in a similar vein to The Windwaker. Only instead of all the island being miles apart, you can actually easily access them like you could on Plessie in bowsers fury
I totally agree with people that open worlds can be empty and copy paste stuff around. My favorite open world games have so much recycling and it does kinda leave much to be desired. BUT (and i havent finished the vid so this guy may say it) Mario is a platformer. All open world games are flat cause the player can barely jump. Most times the jump button in these games is just to get over smaller obstacles or cross small gaps. Mario is compeltely different. Of mario went open world it would actually make open worlds so interesting. First off the flatness would be gone because youd have to platform your way through THE WORLD ITSELF. No more boring walks acros an endless feild. You got make you way over lava, water, poison, pits, you name it! With percision and grace. Also instead of a steed to travel the map quickly, WHAT ABOUT A CART. I woudl love yoshi to be in an open world mario game, but i think a cart would be you main way of transport. Other thing mario would bring is creativity in the world. Lots of open worlds are fantasy so they have mostly medeival looking worlds and tons of boring plains and forests. Mario would have CANDY as an entire biome to explore. Even the familar biomes could be unique cause of how colorful mario is. Although an open world mario game could be done wrong. Nintendo thinks outside the box. If they did an open world mario it would be like no other open world and thered be some crazy gimic. Also while sky islands/floating islands are a new thing to zelda, everythifn floats in mario so the sky would be cluttered in an awesome way. So uh yeah just my take, i just think mario would fix open worlds ratger than open worlds ruin mario
I completely agree with all of this! I was super excited for Tears of the Kingdom because I thought the sky islands would make for a really unique open world game where you have to actually think about how to get from one place to another. I was disappointed when the final game hardly had any sky islands other than the starting area, and that you could just build a plane to easily fly anywhere. I'd be so stoked if a Mario game finally delivered with cool sky areas like you said! I also had the idea of using a kart to get around an open world Mario game and I think it would be so sick if they fused Mario platformers and Mario Kart, but I don't see it actually happening since Nintendo wants to sell Mario Kart as a separate game :(
Miyamoto has wanted 2 player co-op since the very beginning. Luigi was originally in Super Mario 64 but got cut out at the last minute. Miyamoto's dream was realised in 2009 and 2013 respectively, but in both games, it was on rails and had a time limit. There is no doubt in my mind that there will be a 2 player Mario game where they'll ditch the gimmick as the second player. Can you imagine how cool it would be to see Mario and Luigi running around a HD environment with no time limit?
I'd love that but I think it would only work if both players have their own console. Nintendo is generally kind of against split screen, and dumbing down the second player is the only real way to make it so two players can play with the same camera view
@@GradyShoemaker My thoughts exactly. Have it so that Mario and Luigi can go to separate areas but can meet up at any time. In fact, for fast travel, there's a portable Warp Pipe Block.
@@GradyShoemakerI can see stuff like these works for the semi-open games like a potential galaxy 3, exploration is locked to a relatively small area and other times you are platforming on a set route
Yes I always look at the levels in 3D World where you can kick around balls and think it would've been so fun to do that in multiplayer without a time limit.
My biggest issue with a sense open world with lots of “kingdoms” is how strange it would feel having a snow kingdom right beside a desert kingdom right beside a candy/food kingdom You could say they don’t need to be right beside each other, but then that introduces the problem of spreading things out too much and making the world feel empty There’s probably a solution to this, but I can’t think of one without introducing different issues One of the better ways I can envision it is like the Kingdoms from Odyssey that you access through the flying hat machine, only you can go to any of them at any time by going to your ship, and the kingdoms would be bigger than that of Odyssey making each feel vast and still dense Without the strangeness of having such different environments be close to each other
I think the art style would need to be more cohesive than Odyssey's. As fun as it is to have such a stark contrast between kingdoms like Metro and Luncheon, it would look odd to have something like that on the same map. I think there are ways they could connect kingdoms if the art style was more cohesive without them feeling disjointed, like trying to put kingdoms with similar themes near each other
I mean, have it be kingdoms that flow into one another. For instance, an island where a Beach/Sea Kingdom leads into a Jungle Kingdom one one side, that flows into a Desert Kingdom, that goes into a Mountain Kingdom that has a Snow Kingdom at the top (possibly with a Volcanic Kingdom on an adjacent mountain that you access from the other side of the island, and a Cloud Kingdom above it all.
So I watched the whole video, and I honestly remain unconvinced that it would add enough to the Mario experience without detracting in other ways, even as described here.
What if the final level was actually in the sky and the goal of the other levels was to build a path up to it? So, each world would connect to a different part of the final level, then also contain a switch that makes the final level a little easier to traverse. Maybe colored switches like in Mario World or maybe slowing down different hazards, opening doors or extending bridges/ladders across the level. Maybe it might even make changes to the level connected too. In this way, you might actually be able to finish one level and reach the final boss, but you'd have to be doing insane speed run tricks and you'd more reasonably complete most levels and activate more switches first. Maybe to discourage kids and game journalists from trying to beat the game quickly, Bowser could taunt you after every death, telling you you'll never reach him activating that one switch.
You could climb giant beanstalks into the clouds to grab coins and powerups, You'd have floating platforms, blocks, flying carpets, maybe some flying enemies like the Pigets.
Galaxy no, but the other 3 would be open world if there was no loading (remove the paintings and the airship) and you could walk to most levels without teleporting.
I'm using the term open world to mean games that primarily take place on a single large map. I guess the Wikipedia definition I showed technically doesn't specify that, but I think that's what most people really mean when they say open world
Open-world Zelda proposed the idea that locks that could be opened by multiple different keys would be more fun than a lock that could be opened by one key. I disagree with that idea. It really means that there's no puzzle to be solved, only processes to be optimized with the first and most efficient solution available. Turning Mario into an open world traversal type game would bring up a similar issue: multiple ways to approach a geographic obstacle means that devs constantly have to check all angles on all obstacles. Obstacles then have to be formatted in a way that allows for fast transitions from out of the interiors of challenges. Taking the linearity out of level progression is questionable for creating skill checks that feel satisfying to complete rather than cheese somehow. If you close off too many approach angles to challenges then you're not making an open world anymore, just an interconnected world, which is fine but dishonest. Open worlds also tend towards generic modular plug and play content which creates sameness and blandness in an effort to fill out a space. That could be minimized if they take a dense approach like you've put forward, but it's a real temptation. Odyssey's infamous "Why did I get that?" moons are a good example of this. Content without a story scenario tied to it is quite unmemorable... Powerups and being able to deploy them anywhere would present serious design limitations in regard to difficulty progression. Visiting things in any order with any powerups tends toward more generic landscapes without unique features, because everywhere has to be accessible at anytime for everyone... Freedom in games just isn't what it's chalked up to be. The best open world is a closed one.
I imagine it like the Minecraft Mashup world - You can do any challenge in what order you'd like and sometimes at the end of certain parts there is an end Castle. That'd be like a boss room or something I dunno
Open world Mario would 100% work . Main land , underground and sky . Spread it out in area say the size breath of the wild . Ways to get to the sky . Find raccoon suit …..find random stalks to go up with some being majorly hidden to reach parts of the sky u can other wise Underground area can be reached via certain pipes ect . Layout can be that there’s 7 or 8 main fortresses that need found and completed in any order as u find . A few scattered ghost houses …..overworld and underworld would be organic looking with natural looking olatforming elements ect . An open world Mario 100% can work
I had an idea for an Open World Mario but it’s mostly based around the world connecting to massive dungeons filled with puzzles and mostly platforming. First main area would be this mysterious orange mushroom forest with giant trees where the area doesnt feel as empty as something like Sonic Frontiers. Haven’t finished watching the video yet but its already so underrated, very good work.
Yeah I'd love to see creative locations like your idea in a potential open world Mario game, I think a lot of people have the false idea that it would all just be Mushroom Kingdom and Toad Town stuff Edit: I also would love to see more puzzles in Mario games, but I don't actually see it happening due to the casual audience Mario intends to appeal to
Y’all forgot Bowser’s Fury exists? Love that bonus-game to death, imagine if they combined that with the length and scale of Odyssey. One of the best Mario games ever to be made. NOW WHERE THE FUCK IS IT NINTENDO WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOREVER!!!
Thanks for the shoutout! I definitely think Odyssey was a better representation of the potential of an open world 3D Mario than Bowser's Fury. Honestly, though, I wouldn't even mind if Nintendo stuck with the Kingdom structure with Odyssey for a little bit longer, it's a good happy medium between linear and open designs. I think your point at 29:50 is maybe the most important part of open worlds. When everything is accessible to you from the beginning, it wreaks havoc on the difficulty curve and any sense of meaningful progression. I feel this especially with the new Zeldas, where it never feels like the Divine Beasts/Dungeons really get any more difficult, because the game has to assume all of them could be your first one. Even my favorite Zelda game, A Link Between Worlds, has a similar issue. If the next Mario game is open world, I think having some sort of linear form of progression will be essential to making it a standout experience (which is kinda of what the Kingdom structure in Odyssey also allows for).
Yeah, I especially found the dungeons in Tears of the Kingdom disappointing. The one in the Gerudo region is pretty good, for some reason they decided to make that one actually challenging and interesting even though it could be a player's first one, but the Zora, Goron, and especially the Rito one felt like tutorials. But to be fair, Mario is simpler and I don't really think Odyssey has much of a difficulty curve anyway - the only kingdoms that feel clearly harder to get around than the rest are Lost and Luncheon. Odyssey seems to be more about just exploring and having fun than taking on difficult challenges
I think you're imagining it too much like Super Mario Odyssey with all the kingdoms on the same map. Super Mario Odyssey still doesn't have enough platforming and most of the moons involve doing basic things which get boring once you've seen most of the map like whenever you've just gotta open a chest. I think it should be more like an open world version of Super Mario Galaxy; craziness everywhere with platforms hovering in all parts of the map.
Fair points, but I think I could make a whole separate video essay defending Odyssey's choice to have so many moons. I'd rather be rewarded with something permanent for exploring each nook and cranny rather than something disposable like coins or a 1-up. In Galaxy it feels like exploration is a waste of time and the game just wants you to hurry up and finish whatever level you're on.
@@GradyShoemaker it's not so much that there are so many moons; I too also would want to be rewarded for finding something. It's more there aren't enough areas with interesting platforming. I want more of those nooks and crannies to have interesting platforming. And I don't mean like Galaxy in the literal sense; I more mean in the sense of how dense all the platforming is.
I've not finished the video but I know I'm gonna like it. I've always thought a open world Mario game could work and over the years I came up with a simple saying: "Make the world's levels themselves, not just liminal spaces between short bursts of actual platforming". I came up with this saying from comparing a Sonic fan game called Sonic Utopia to Sand Kingdom in Mario Odyssey. My analogy has always been: "Open world platform games are like fun fairs. You got the basic streets as limal spaces between the rides, where you can access alot of side content like foods, merchandise and etc. And then you got the Rides themselves that act as the actual main attraction of the entire fair, that represents the main drew of a game. However in most open world games like Mario Odyssey especially in sand Kingdom, the streets are bigger than the rides (platform challenges) which makes the world feel empty." Basically, build an intresting nice looking environment and turn like 70 to 90% of that environment into a Mario 3D course, where you have many many options to get to the same place. Again, Sonic Utopia for example.
4:20 I find it funny that people feel like Open world HAS to look like Zelda; when Mario Odyssey is takes place on one planet. When I picture Open world Mario, It's Mario Odyssey with Transition areas between each area (like what if you followed a river from the wooded kingdom to the Lake Kingdom, or got from the Seaside kingdom to the cloud kingdom by using the water shooting squids and Small clouds of Water?). Too many open world games try to make a realistic setting, with Fantasy-realistic Characters (orcs, etc.). Meanwhile, Odyssey has a lake in a giant floating Denim box, and a goo volcano with talking Forks
I’m only at 8:41 (in case you say this later) but I just keep thinking that it just needs to be open world like Dark Souls: multiple mostly separate areas with their own themes, but all interconnected within one map (obviously Dark Souls has some exceptions to this but that’s beside the point). Edit: Now at 22:53 and since in my mind I’ve been comparing to what I said, I wanted to add that I think a Mario game should be more connected than Dark Souls is, with more visibility into future areas (which is a thing in Dark Souls but more than that) to see things and be interested in how to get there, and then you should be able to go to at least most places whenever you can see them, with maybe some areas (i picture a sky island area for example) where you can see it but wonder how you could get there and have to find a way in the open world somewhere. Edit: 31:17 I definitely agree that some areas should be locked until doing enough in earlier kingdoms. There could be a few areas where the main entrance is locked by a number of collectibles, but then from inside you can open shortcuts to other kingdoms or hit a switch inside to open access to that kingdom from other places. For Bowser’s kingdom, I picture a big wrought iron gate with bowser’s face on it that requires a certain number of collectibles to open. Or maybe the kingdom is accessible but the castle itself is locked by that gate.
Hmmm.... I actually think an open world mario would work. But it'd have to be *just* right. I know I'd be curious. It's one of those ideas that'll either work wildly well or fail completely and either way it'd be fascinating.
They should bring back the Switch Palaces from Super Mario World, that way you'd have an incentive to visit every world. This could also be used to gate progression instead of collectables, as they'd summon blocks that would let you cross gaps. Also canons, have pink bobomb open canons for you like in 64, which would also gate progression.
@@sobblegaming350 They could do a combination of both, have the blocks give you unique power ups like in 64, but also have them be useful for platforming like in World. But also have the switches be hidden like in 64, to incentivise exploration.
I agree a Mario game have to make him jumping all the time, make him walking more than jumping I don't think I will like, and thinking about, fill a world with Mario type platforms It will be a huge challenge. This make me think a good sollution for that are many thematic big worlds for a Mario Galaxy 3, It Will be easier to create non-boring interactives environments.
I don't think it's that open worlds HAVE TO be repetitive and empty, but making huge scale worlds that are also dense would require a LOT of content to fill in each nook and cranny, which would take lots of development time, and they would likely run out of creativity to fill in each spot. This is why games should be made smaller in scale, not larger. The idea of open world has already been tainted with large-scale worlds and realistically-scaled landscapes, which is too huge for meaningful content. It would be fine to go back to calling it open-zone or open-level like this was Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine. Those worlds were scaled down significantly to fit in meaningful content and platforming challenges.
Yeah run around the overworld, hit a block with a Yoshi egg in it and hop onto Yoshi. Each one would have a different color and there would be way more colors to pick from than usual. Then you can ride your new Yoshi anywhere. Yoshi can flutter jump to get across big canyons or spike pits. Eat a blue shell Koopa and you can fly higher for a while. Red koopas for flamethrowers because fireballs can already be tossed by Mario when using a fire flower. Maybe have Yoshi gather eggs from swallowing enemies and carry up to six for projectiles. Have the eggs explode like a bomb from Yoshi eating bob-ombs. Mushrooms make Mario bigger temporarily. Instead of one extra hit like a regular shroom, have it be a time limit. I guess that'd be like a Mega Mushroom. That way you can keep the health meter from the 3D Mario games. Starman powerups should also be temporary. You could use them to run across hazards quickly like across hot lava or freezing cold water. Maybe you need to get past some enemies that are a real pain in the butt and don't wanna die. Bullet Bills should chase you down no matter what, no matter how far you run. Have them lock onto you like a homing missle and keep going until they hit you or you jump on them. The overworld would be like any Mario game but you can run in any direction. Underwater segments would have your usual bloopers and cheep cheeps. Maybe some treasure chests. Air bubbles let you stay underwater longer. Coins should only be used for currency, not oxygen or health. Instead to recover health, may I suggest regular mushrooms? 1-up shrooms are gone now. An open world game means no life counter. Instead you have one life and when you lose that it's game over and a reset from the last save point. Boos would hang around graveyards instead of haunted houses. Have them hiding in headstones. Same for Dry Bones coming out of the ground like the Stalfos in Zelda.
Like you I believe mario shoupd be fine in openworld and people just arent thinking about it in the right light. Having said that what mario is and what nintendos willing to do in that context is going to have to evolve significantly in order for it to work. The modern zeldas that reward you with: larger inventory, more health, greater capacity to climb & special abilities that shift how you engage with the world still gets criticized for a sense of exploration without purpose or reward, so how does mario which can only open a few doors, buy some cosmetics and maybe unlock a new power up or two overcome that?
Nice job on this video and congrats on the apparently sudden channel growth lol. It was recommended to me and caught my eye. This topic really speaks to me as a fan of both 3D platformers and the open-world subgenre. I also have no doubt an open-world entry would exceed most people's expectations. It'll be nice to see new 3D Mario and Mario Kart games after so many years.
What about the Mario themed Minecraft world on console versions? Surprised you didn’t mention that, I think it sort of is like what you’re imagining as an open world Mario game.
I don't think it's a question of can it be done, but should it be done? Like I dont think every series is meant to be open world, nor should open world be the end goal.
Your points are making me think of super Mario RPG with loading zones. That’s be so cool. SMRPG has amazing areas, if they did that in true 3D it may work, who knows
personally i think Bowser's Fury is gonna be the blueprint for a standalone open world 3D mario game, mainly the power-up system with maybe the level design from Odyssey
I sorta think it'll have something new to replace powerups like Odyssey did, probably something that we'd never think of and only the geniuses at Nintendo could possibly think up. If I had to try to pull such an idea out of my ass, maybe something similar to captures but where you merge two different enemies? But who knows, maybe traditional powerups will make a return
@@GradyShoemaker honestly the captures just don't hit the same as power-ups because you can jump out of them at any time and getting hit doesn't make you lose the capture. Also you often can't take the capture with you out of a confined space and the captures have limiting ability's while power-ups are more generally useful that only enhance your moveset
@@Doktario_Mystario Fair point, I was mostly just glad to see them do something creative and different with powerups. There could be plenty of other creative things they could do though
Same! It’s a little-known fact that Bowser’s Fury is the first collect-a-thon 3D Mario to actually incorporate traditional power-up mechanics. The Galaxy games have them, but they are both gimmicky and (in the case of the fire and ice flowers) time-limited. I would love to see them incorporated in the future games.
When people say they honestly can't imagine what open world Mario would look like, it's because they lack the kind of imagination needed to visualize it. Keep in mind here, Super Mario 64 was the first ever 3D platformer. Nintendo was BREAKING NEW GROUND by creating a platformer that existed in the third dimension with a camera to visualize it with, you don't think they can do it again? Also, a lot of criticism of Mario as an open world is that it's a platformer, like the one person who said "Mario should spend as much time jumping as he does running"... Oh, so you mean like the giant sprawling desert hills in sand kingdom, where you don't need to jump once to go from one end to the other? Or perhaps Metro which just gives wires to go to the top of every building instead of making you jump up every one? No, you probably meant like Cascade, where the intended way to get to the top of the plateau only utilizes TWO of the three dimensions the game was made in, right? Point is, Mario does not spend as much time jumping as he does running, nor should he. Plenty of interesting level design simply can't exist if we are restricting all of it to follow the arbitrary rule that Mario needs to jump to go literally anywhere. Consider all the movement gimmicks Mario games have used, from FLUDD, to the Spin, to captures. All of these change movement in significant ways, and some of them don't really work if you're assuming that going up should be as important as going side to side.
I agree with you. The only problem that I see in open word game is Lost what I mean is. In liner game goin for point A to point B and or in case or Mario Odyssey for one word to another. In open word game on the other hand you able to go enywar that means it's very likely for people Lost or not go to every area. For example how can play able to know that the final boss is on the other end of the map when the little able to go any were. And what It make the Player to won't to explore all the map not only parts of the map. In my opinion open word game need to be open ending one good example for this is the elder scrolls sires. For example on Skyrim you able to go eny and do multiple quest explore ECT and you don't nessery have to follow the main quest and this sires hase multiple guilds that is you little able to do whatever you want. One other good example for is Zelda breath of the wild but to be fer what I don't like on the game is the fact that end what mean by this wean defeat the final boss the you have to go to last save instead of let you explore the game.
Why try applying Breath of the Wild aspects to a new 3D Mario? I feel like applying a lot of metroidvania aspects to a 3D Mario would fit better overall as a new style of gameplay in regards to open world speculation.
The problem with open-world games is that they are mostly empty space and automatically generated nothing with the same enemy all over the place. What you want is wat we all want a good open world game that is hand crafted.
I imagine a colored switch mechanic for eqch wprld u beat, like mario world, could add a lot while still allowing people great challenges for trying to skip to harder kingdoms and challenges
Imagine Bowser’s Fury, but with as many Cat Shines and challenges as Galaxy or Odyssey. That’s what I think of for open world Mario. And, honestly, it’s my favorite Mario game/gamemode. Also, what I love about BF is that it incorporates the power ups from 3D World, which makes the levels and platformimg way more fun.
I'd be down but I don't know if it would be the optimal formula for a full game. I think a full game could use more variation in terrain and environment rather than just being mostly water
The people who complain about open world games are the same people that aren’t picky about the games they play and tons of terrible games . When I think of open world my examples are RDR2 BOTW ELDEN RING GTA, I don’t play Ubisoft or assassin creed boring filler ass games . Even if mario was open it wouldn’t be like the “open worlds” people are complaining about.
I think people apply the same criticisms even to the most beloved open world games though. BOTW actually has a lot of repetition and emptiness, but many people look past that due to how fun it is to have so much freedom. However, some other people aren't able to look past that, and that's where the criticism of open world comes from, I think.
For the "final kingdom" they could do something similar to Phantom Hourglass where there's some restriction on the player's movement (ex. a time limit, thick fog, etc) that prevents most CASUAL players from completing it on their first try, and would require collectibles from the other kingdoms to loosen the restrictions (looser time limit, less dense fog, etc). But really skilled players like speedrunners would be able to get past these restrictions and beat the kingdom without any collectibles.
Yeah I considered something like that but didn't think Nintendo would do it in a Mario game. I didn't know Nintendo had already done something like that though, so who knows!
Backtracking and metroidvania esque design could also work really well for an open world Mario. Ex. you obtain a star on one side of the map that opens up new routes and areas in the other side of the map.
I think “Odyssey but all the different kingdoms are only separated by a quite literal line in the sand” would be a good format for an open world Mario game. Adjust the mechanics and goals to reflect the new world setup, and you’re golden! You could even replace “Odyssey” with “Galaxy” and “Kingdoms” with “Planets” to get a similar idea, if the Super Mario Galaxy series is your preferred series… Except the gravity gimmicks in Super Mario Galaxy wouldn’t work in an open world like that unless there is literal space travel, in which point it becomes “No Man’s Sky, but Mario”… I don’t see that working…
Gravity gimmicks could work in an open world game - they'd just need to be confined to a certain area or structure. Odyssey had gravity gimmicks, even though it was only within the 2D areas, but at least it showed it's possible to have them integrated into a larger world.
Bro failed to mention that Mario Sunshine does exactly what he's mentioning at 22:04. When I was first playing through that game as a child, I used to imagine there is a lot of open world space in between the hub area and the levels, often because you can see the other levels relative to one another when you're in one
Super Mario Sunshine was going to be open world, they had to scrap it because they rushed the game, Delfino Isle was meant to be way more interconnected, I wouldn't be surprised if the next 3D Mario in 2025 is 'Super Mario Sunshine 2' but with another name.
An open world game can literally be mario odyssey without the ship giving you fast travel. If all the kingdoms were just placed next to each other, boom that would have been open world. That would have worked relatively busy as great, however, I think I still preferred the fast travel to another kingdom, though. EDIT: After making it far enough into the video, you had similar thoughts lol
Something I’ve been wondering about is why the next 3d Mario game needs to be open world to begin with. Most of the benefits just don’t seem worth it to me, for instance all the time spent making the world seamless, getting everything on screen to render correctly no matter how far away it is could’ve gone into making individual levels better. There’s also a big problem with the restraints that an open world has on level design, the main one being that typical mario levels would look extremely jarring when put next to each other like how it’d look extremely weird if all the odyssey kingdoms were next to each other. To be fair I don’t think a lot of people will be too bothered by this, even I think I’d probably get over it quite quickly, but I absolutely believe that some people will since I’ve seen it before with complaints about sunshine’s secret levels and sky levels because sunshine’s world is supposed to be interconnected. This all being said, I’m just one guy whose game design CV is entirely made up of the few meh geometry dash levels I made years ago so I’m hoping that if Nintendo wants to go through with this, they’ll have enough people working through any problems they come across to make a solid game, in the meantime though I’m still gonna be worried about it. Throughout writing this I actually came up with an idea I think would actually be quite interesting and that’s to make the entire world just one big mountain. What I mean is basically, take an open world Mario game map, wrap it into a cylinder, and put it length ways up so essentially you’d be platforming up an enormous mountain whilst encountering all the regions of the game on the way, you could even make it so there are multiple ways to climb up and mechanically locks you from going straight to the end of the game from the start since your objective is as far away from you as possible. What I really like about this though is that this game would not be able to be made if it wasn’t an open world since in any other Mario game you just select the next place you’re going to but the main gameplay loop for this game is the exact part of Mario games which is usually left out or cut across using a hub world. This is the kind of solution I wanted when I asked myself the question I posed at the start of the comment since with this idea we’ve unlocked a new potential for 3d Mario games that we didn’t have before just like how lots of care for how the world actually functions without you allowed for the interconnected world of sunshine, just like how the gravity mechanic and using miniature planets allowed for level design that can’t be replicated anywhere else with galaxy and how cappy allowed for essentially as many new power ups as needed to make a game with so many individual objectives be new and interesting throughout with odyssey. Every 3d Mario game has managed to be a pioneer for new ideas since the start however open worlds have been used in games for ages now so to live up to the standards of the others, the next 3d Mario game cannot just be Mario levels but they’re all connected because it can be so much more than that.
"Typical mario levels would look extremely jarring when put next to each other like how it’d look extremely weird if all the odyssey kingdoms were next to each other." Actually it's just Mario's Odissey putting that to the extreme, with levels that don't even seem to beling to the same game. Yet, after some accomplished missions, we can see the inhabintants of each kingdom appearing as tourists in the other kingdoms, and they really stand out, like some characters of Super Smash Bros. next to each other, but that level of goofyness works for a Mario game.
I dunno how much weight to give some of the naysayers when oke of them said open word "ruined" Zelda. The non open world games are great too but botw and totk are awesome games.
I agree with you and I vastly prefer BOTW and TOTK to classic Zelda games, but I do understand the criticisms and I think the main flaws of modern Zelda are things like the puzzles, dungeons, and repetition. I also think TOTK was a bit of a disappointing sequel (even though I still enjoyed it), particularly because it didn't attempt to combine the open-endedness of BOTW with the more deliberate design of classic Zelda games, and instead went even further in the opposite direction with even less focused puzzles and more repetition and emptiness throughout the game
Hey I’m not sure if you’ll see this or do a follow up on this video but I think sonic frontiers has a flawed but interesting take on the idea of an open world platformer. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the idea of it!!!
Making the kingdoms bigger would mean there's less of them. I don't disagree, since I'm basically just advocating for there to be only one kingdom, but it's massive
Mario Sunshine and Mario Odyssey were disappointments, and Mario 64 and Super Mario World on N64 we're awesome. Because of Mario Sunshine I stopped playing Mario for a while I thought maybe Mario Odyssey was a return to form but it also disappointed me as well. An open world Mario I feel like should look like the map of Super Mario World from the Nintendo 64.
There was literally no way for me to make the point I wanted to make in the thumbnail without: a) Using someone's fan art with permission (not gonna happen since using it in this thumbnail is kinda disparaging) b) Using someone's fan art without permission c) Paying $40 of my hard earned cash to commission some art for myself d) Using AI So I'm not sure what Mario PNGs you're talking about here. The point is to have an image in the thumbnail that resembles what people (incorrectly, in my opinion) imagine open world Mario to be like
I think it's likely that Nintendo could just show the next 3D Mario game before I can make a part 2! They're rumored to be announcing the new console this month, so if they show the 3D Mario game and it turns out to be open world, I wouldn't really be able to make a part 2 with the same format... but there's a good chance I'd make a video analyzing the trailer and describing some theories or ideas!
I thought Bowser's Fury proved it'd work very well.
Me too but apparently a lot of people disagree
@@GradyShoemakerMight be because most people bought it for 3D World meaning those people prefer super linear Mario.
I think Bowser’s Fury was made for that exact purpose: to be a proof-of-concept for open-world Mario.
Bowser's Fury isn't open world. Open world has the inherent connotation that you can go anywhere at anytime to do anything--Fury locks its segments behind a series of progressively building linear challenges. I have no problem with them existing in the same space, that's cool and immersive.
@@MrBoponpa That's not entirely true. Xenoblade X is open world, and bigger than BotW, but it still has linear story progression. Not all open worlds are "do anything at any time." The new Pokémon games are also like this, which is frustrating because they allow you to challenge gyms in any other but don't scale on badge count.
holy shit i forgot this guy isn't actually a hat
Yes I am, you are what you eat
@@GradyShoemakeryou eat hats?????
@@GradyShoemaker LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
@@ineophobe I'll eat a hat if the next 3D Mario game isn't open world
@@GradyShoemaker you better have a really tasty hat ready just in case they re-release super mario 3d land and call it super mario 3d all stars deluxe
An open world Super Mario Game would look like a giant colorful jungle gym playground with differently themed but interconnected areas like in the overworld of New Super Mario Bros U. If you ask me I would love if there was still progression in the game. So while the world is connected you can't access everything directly but the world opens up over time (A little bit like in a Metroidvania).
Here’s the thing, the game doesn’t even have to feel like an open world game. It could just be copy and paste of Mario Odyssey except instead of a menu to swap worlds you just ride Yoshi between the different worlds. Or it could actually enhance it with like an inventory of stored items and such too! Something that takes a lot from Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild!
I imagine it would feel pretty different from most other open world games, but would still have the aspects that make open world games great!
I imagine it like the game Stray, except with actually good platforming. You have distinct zones such as the Sewers, Rooftops and Jail that feel cohesive as part of the world, whilst at the same time feeling extremely dense requiring time to traverse whilst always providing sight of the looming destination. I'm super interested to see they may tackle something like this with a Mario game.
That's what i was thinking u take all the kingdoms from odyssey or all the painting from mario 64 and u make one giant map of it all
Considering Mario odyssey was only not open world because of a flying hat machine, I could absolutely see open world Mario. You just need to make a compelling reason for each landscape like they always do
I think the Odyssey airship exists because the game isn't open world, not the other way around, but I do agree that the Mario series seems to be at least moving toward open world
@@GradyShoemakerI think they have to let you tackle the point of interest in any order like breath of wild. This is one of the key features of open world. I believe something like the hyrule castle but with platforming instead can be implemented. Basically a tower that get easier over time.
@@QnjtGWonQNqVsbYyzjx4Yeah I considered something like that, but it might be too complex for the casual audience Mario intends to appeal to. I think it's more likely that the final area will just be something you have to unlock
@@GradyShoemaker I think the 3D games are intended to be more complicated anyway. The entry point for Mario game is 2D Mario. Wouldn’t be surprised if the next 2D Mario is more like NSMB / 3D world than wonder, they can cater to kids that way
The switch have an audience that is younger than the Wii and thus can understand gaming more, they just may not be a big enthusiast of it.
I'm pretty sure mario odyssey isn't open world. More loke open areas segregated into different levels.
The literally only thing I want from the next 3D Mario is for the other characters to be playable.
Specially luigi 😔
I think of it like an amusement park with different rides and kiosks, an open world Mario could just be one huge amusement park with many more rides and things to do
Bowsers theme park, each ride tries to kill you😂
@@therustyfork7906 exactly this 👆😂
All the levels on Mario Sunshine exist on that one island.
I imagine an open world Mario game would be like if you were playing Sunshine but could just naturally go from one level to the next instead of needing to teleport between them.
What if this game take place in the clouds instead of paradise? There are a lot of regions they can explore like a vine grown area, airship, maybe a hotel and hot spring too(maybe the angel toads lives there), a theme park can return as well.
Instead of defeating bowsers, he have to defeat a demon-like queen dragon which is disguised as bowser for the majority of the games, peach is still kidnapped and the queen also caused the hot spring volcano to leak into the region and the surface world. This time Bowser lents his crown car to Mario as they both don’t want to kill peach after the event of odyssey and bowser’s fury.
The crown car acts as the plessi equivalent of this game and he also got to use a magic wand invented by e gadd, which can have many abilities, which can be unlocked by grabbing the elements, this include the temporary creation of a cloud platform, fireballs and maybe disguise as a object for a while. The final boss lies on the bowser’s tower, available at the start of the game
The main collectable is called power planets and can be used to unlock the elements. Player have the option to pull out insane jumps to cheese the tower(which is made not impossible), but the areas are designed with the abilities in mind, the game also encourage the player to leave the tower via shortcut pipes. Player also get to fight the shadow bowser at the middle of the tower ala Mario odyssey.
I think it's a bit more involved than just making all the levels connected, since I think there would be a lot of considerations for how to fill the space between the levels and how progression would work
@@GradyShoemaker Yeah, I know. I was just giving an easy example of a Mario game that could be easily converted into an open world game. Especially since you have the different Fludd attachments you unlock throughout the game and could use those to access new areas and make progress.
I've only watched half the video so far, but I think there's something a lot of people are missing when it comes to imagining an open world 3D platformer: verticality. Imagine a dense jungle gym of platforming challenges that weave in and out and all around in all the spatial axes. Platformers are based around jumping. Why not emphasize that by building a truly 3D space to explore? Metroid Prime did something similar with it's interconnected 3D world, I don't see why Mario can't do it.
Yeah, exactly! A lot of Odyssey's kingdoms are very vertical, like Wooded, Lost and Metro, and an open world Mario game would absolutely have a lot more verticality than something like Breath of the Wild
so Retro Studio should make the next 3D mario game?
@@Doktario_Mystario I'd be down for that
Tears Of The Kingdom did that, expanding the open world formula in the vertical axis.
Knowing Nintendo, that game might have been a testing ground for a future Open World Mario game.
Mario is not new to sky or underground enviroments, so it's not hard to imagine the formula of Tears Of The Kingdom applied to a Mario game.
Maybe with less riddles and more getting-over-it sections that will exploit his jumping ability.
The real question is: What kind of power up or companion will he get to explore such world?
I just hope not like Sonic Frontiers, although it was still hub worlds. I wasn't a fan of the cyber platforms mixed with desert and wasteland fields. They could at least match the level themes, and not just some metal rails or whatnot.
A lot of people write Sonic Frontiers off for being "Breath of the Wild but Sonic" when in fact, it's the perfect example for new open world platformers; everywhere is important and there are no dull moments.
I honestly just want a Mario Galaxy 3, or at the very least something in the same style of linear, creative, gimmicky 3D platforming obstacle courses.
I think It could be a great idea to release a mix of Galaxy and Oddisey (Mario Universe / Omniverse), in which there would be open world sections with lots of stars and collectionables, but also many galaxy levels idk
Ofc Mario Galaxy 3 supremacy here!!!🎉
This is one of the reasons why i loved 3d world. Each level was masterfully designed. Galaxy 3 would be so dope cuz of the extra physics in it
interesting video but stop using disgusting ai slop in your thumbnails. people don't want to click on that
I didn't really have any other option unfortunately, like I said I'm not much of an artist and I'd feel wrong sticking someone else's fan art up on that thumbnail since it seems kinda disparaging
@@GradyShoemakeryou know that generative AI is trained on stolen artwork right? So you stole anyway. The AI is so unnecessary, if you are adamant you can’t provide visuals and you can’t collaborate with an artist, don’t include them! Or try being creative. Use your words to describe it, video editing, footage from other existing games, any number of things. While it may not be how you see it, using AI just sends the message you don’t care/are lazy and like the above poster it’s gonna turn people off. If you don’t care about your video to actually make it yourself, why should we care to keep watching?
I always imagined open world mario in a similar vein to The Windwaker. Only instead of all the island being miles apart, you can actually easily access them like you could on Plessie in bowsers fury
I totally agree with people that open worlds can be empty and copy paste stuff around. My favorite open world games have so much recycling and it does kinda leave much to be desired. BUT (and i havent finished the vid so this guy may say it) Mario is a platformer. All open world games are flat cause the player can barely jump. Most times the jump button in these games is just to get over smaller obstacles or cross small gaps. Mario is compeltely different. Of mario went open world it would actually make open worlds so interesting. First off the flatness would be gone because youd have to platform your way through THE WORLD ITSELF. No more boring walks acros an endless feild. You got make you way over lava, water, poison, pits, you name it! With percision and grace. Also instead of a steed to travel the map quickly, WHAT ABOUT A CART. I woudl love yoshi to be in an open world mario game, but i think a cart would be you main way of transport. Other thing mario would bring is creativity in the world. Lots of open worlds are fantasy so they have mostly medeival looking worlds and tons of boring plains and forests. Mario would have CANDY as an entire biome to explore. Even the familar biomes could be unique cause of how colorful mario is. Although an open world mario game could be done wrong. Nintendo thinks outside the box. If they did an open world mario it would be like no other open world and thered be some crazy gimic. Also while sky islands/floating islands are a new thing to zelda, everythifn floats in mario so the sky would be cluttered in an awesome way. So uh yeah just my take, i just think mario would fix open worlds ratger than open worlds ruin mario
I completely agree with all of this! I was super excited for Tears of the Kingdom because I thought the sky islands would make for a really unique open world game where you have to actually think about how to get from one place to another. I was disappointed when the final game hardly had any sky islands other than the starting area, and that you could just build a plane to easily fly anywhere. I'd be so stoked if a Mario game finally delivered with cool sky areas like you said!
I also had the idea of using a kart to get around an open world Mario game and I think it would be so sick if they fused Mario platformers and Mario Kart, but I don't see it actually happening since Nintendo wants to sell Mario Kart as a separate game :(
Miyamoto has wanted 2 player co-op since the very beginning. Luigi was originally in Super Mario 64 but got cut out at the last minute. Miyamoto's dream was realised in 2009 and 2013 respectively, but in both games, it was on rails and had a time limit.
There is no doubt in my mind that there will be a 2 player Mario game where they'll ditch the gimmick as the second player.
Can you imagine how cool it would be to see Mario and Luigi running around a HD environment with no time limit?
I'd love that but I think it would only work if both players have their own console. Nintendo is generally kind of against split screen, and dumbing down the second player is the only real way to make it so two players can play with the same camera view
@@GradyShoemaker My thoughts exactly. Have it so that Mario and Luigi can go to separate areas but can meet up at any time. In fact, for fast travel, there's a portable Warp Pipe Block.
@@GradyShoemakerI can see stuff like these works for the semi-open games like a potential galaxy 3, exploration is locked to a relatively small area and other times you are platforming on a set route
Yes I always look at the levels in 3D World where you can kick around balls and think it would've been so fun to do that in multiplayer without a time limit.
@@dannypalin9583 it’s a design paradox. Nintendo can’t solve this by relying on newer hardware
My biggest issue with a sense open world with lots of “kingdoms” is how strange it would feel having a snow kingdom right beside a desert kingdom right beside a candy/food kingdom
You could say they don’t need to be right beside each other, but then that introduces the problem of spreading things out too much and making the world feel empty
There’s probably a solution to this, but I can’t think of one without introducing different issues
One of the better ways I can envision it is like the Kingdoms from Odyssey that you access through the flying hat machine, only you can go to any of them at any time by going to your ship, and the kingdoms would be bigger than that of Odyssey making each feel vast and still dense
Without the strangeness of having such different environments be close to each other
I think the art style would need to be more cohesive than Odyssey's. As fun as it is to have such a stark contrast between kingdoms like Metro and Luncheon, it would look odd to have something like that on the same map. I think there are ways they could connect kingdoms if the art style was more cohesive without them feeling disjointed, like trying to put kingdoms with similar themes near each other
I mean, have it be kingdoms that flow into one another. For instance, an island where a Beach/Sea Kingdom leads into a Jungle Kingdom one one side, that flows into a Desert Kingdom, that goes into a Mountain Kingdom that has a Snow Kingdom at the top (possibly with a Volcanic Kingdom on an adjacent mountain that you access from the other side of the island, and a Cloud Kingdom above it all.
So I watched the whole video, and I honestly remain unconvinced that it would add enough to the Mario experience without detracting in other ways, even as described here.
What if the final level was actually in the sky and the goal of the other levels was to build a path up to it? So, each world would connect to a different part of the final level, then also contain a switch that makes the final level a little easier to traverse. Maybe colored switches like in Mario World or maybe slowing down different hazards, opening doors or extending bridges/ladders across the level. Maybe it might even make changes to the level connected too.
In this way, you might actually be able to finish one level and reach the final boss, but you'd have to be doing insane speed run tricks and you'd more reasonably complete most levels and activate more switches first.
Maybe to discourage kids and game journalists from trying to beat the game quickly, Bowser could taunt you after every death, telling you you'll never reach him activating that one switch.
You could climb giant beanstalks into the clouds to grab coins and powerups, You'd have floating platforms, blocks, flying carpets, maybe some flying enemies like the Pigets.
Open World doesn't mean "giant GTA map".
Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy, and Odyssey are all open world games
Galaxy no, but the other 3 would be open world if there was no loading (remove the paintings and the airship) and you could walk to most levels without teleporting.
I'm using the term open world to mean games that primarily take place on a single large map. I guess the Wikipedia definition I showed technically doesn't specify that, but I think that's what most people really mean when they say open world
Open-world Zelda proposed the idea that locks that could be opened by multiple different keys would be more fun than a lock that could be opened by one key.
I disagree with that idea. It really means that there's no puzzle to be solved, only processes to be optimized with the first and most efficient solution available. Turning Mario into an open world traversal type game would bring up a similar issue: multiple ways to approach a geographic obstacle means that devs constantly have to check all angles on all obstacles. Obstacles then have to be formatted in a way that allows for fast transitions from out of the interiors of challenges. Taking the linearity out of level progression is questionable for creating skill checks that feel satisfying to complete rather than cheese somehow. If you close off too many approach angles to challenges then you're not making an open world anymore, just an interconnected world, which is fine but dishonest.
Open worlds also tend towards generic modular plug and play content which creates sameness and blandness in an effort to fill out a space. That could be minimized if they take a dense approach like you've put forward, but it's a real temptation. Odyssey's infamous "Why did I get that?" moons are a good example of this. Content without a story scenario tied to it is quite unmemorable...
Powerups and being able to deploy them anywhere would present serious design limitations in regard to difficulty progression. Visiting things in any order with any powerups tends toward more generic landscapes without unique features, because everywhere has to be accessible at anytime for everyone...
Freedom in games just isn't what it's chalked up to be. The best open world is a closed one.
I think Bowser's Fury might have been an early attempt at an open world mario, but covid hit and they cut development short.
This video turned out incredible, glad to have been able to contribute a bit. Now to pray this thing actually exists 🙏
when the market doesn't give you what you want there will be someone who does
I imagine it like the Minecraft Mashup world - You can do any challenge in what order you'd like and sometimes at the end of certain parts there is an end Castle. That'd be like a boss room or something I dunno
Open world Mario would 100% work .
Main land , underground and sky . Spread it out in area say the size breath of the wild .
Ways to get to the sky . Find raccoon suit …..find random stalks to go up with some being majorly hidden to reach parts of the sky u can other wise
Underground area can be reached via certain pipes ect .
Layout can be that there’s 7 or 8 main fortresses that need found and completed in any order as u find . A few scattered ghost houses …..overworld and underworld would be organic looking with natural looking olatforming elements ect .
An open world Mario 100% can work
I had an idea for an Open World Mario but it’s mostly based around the world connecting to massive dungeons filled with puzzles and mostly platforming. First main area would be this mysterious orange mushroom forest with giant trees where the area doesnt feel as empty as something like Sonic Frontiers. Haven’t finished watching the video yet but its already so underrated, very good work.
Yeah I'd love to see creative locations like your idea in a potential open world Mario game, I think a lot of people have the false idea that it would all just be Mushroom Kingdom and Toad Town stuff
Edit: I also would love to see more puzzles in Mario games, but I don't actually see it happening due to the casual audience Mario intends to appeal to
don't give up on your dreams if you know that you have an audience
loved the video! this was way more in-depth than i was anticipating
Y’all forgot Bowser’s Fury exists? Love that bonus-game to death, imagine if they combined that with the length and scale of Odyssey. One of the best Mario games ever to be made.
NOW WHERE THE FUCK IS IT NINTENDO WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOREVER!!!
I loved Bowser’s Fury, it felt completely different from the usual Mario formula.
Thanks for the shoutout! I definitely think Odyssey was a better representation of the potential of an open world 3D Mario than Bowser's Fury. Honestly, though, I wouldn't even mind if Nintendo stuck with the Kingdom structure with Odyssey for a little bit longer, it's a good happy medium between linear and open designs.
I think your point at 29:50 is maybe the most important part of open worlds. When everything is accessible to you from the beginning, it wreaks havoc on the difficulty curve and any sense of meaningful progression. I feel this especially with the new Zeldas, where it never feels like the Divine Beasts/Dungeons really get any more difficult, because the game has to assume all of them could be your first one. Even my favorite Zelda game, A Link Between Worlds, has a similar issue. If the next Mario game is open world, I think having some sort of linear form of progression will be essential to making it a standout experience (which is kinda of what the Kingdom structure in Odyssey also allows for).
Yeah, I especially found the dungeons in Tears of the Kingdom disappointing. The one in the Gerudo region is pretty good, for some reason they decided to make that one actually challenging and interesting even though it could be a player's first one, but the Zora, Goron, and especially the Rito one felt like tutorials. But to be fair, Mario is simpler and I don't really think Odyssey has much of a difficulty curve anyway - the only kingdoms that feel clearly harder to get around than the rest are Lost and Luncheon. Odyssey seems to be more about just exploring and having fun than taking on difficult challenges
I think you're imagining it too much like Super Mario Odyssey with all the kingdoms on the same map. Super Mario Odyssey still doesn't have enough platforming and most of the moons involve doing basic things which get boring once you've seen most of the map like whenever you've just gotta open a chest.
I think it should be more like an open world version of Super Mario Galaxy; craziness everywhere with platforms hovering in all parts of the map.
Fair points, but I think I could make a whole separate video essay defending Odyssey's choice to have so many moons. I'd rather be rewarded with something permanent for exploring each nook and cranny rather than something disposable like coins or a 1-up. In Galaxy it feels like exploration is a waste of time and the game just wants you to hurry up and finish whatever level you're on.
@@GradyShoemaker it's not so much that there are so many moons; I too also would want to be rewarded for finding something. It's more there aren't enough areas with interesting platforming. I want more of those nooks and crannies to have interesting platforming.
And I don't mean like Galaxy in the literal sense; I more mean in the sense of how dense all the platforming is.
I've not finished the video but I know I'm gonna like it. I've always thought a open world Mario game could work and over the years I came up with a simple saying: "Make the world's levels themselves, not just liminal spaces between short bursts of actual platforming".
I came up with this saying from comparing a Sonic fan game called Sonic Utopia to Sand Kingdom in Mario Odyssey. My analogy has always been: "Open world platform games are like fun fairs. You got the basic streets as limal spaces between the rides, where you can access alot of side content like foods, merchandise and etc. And then you got the Rides themselves that act as the actual main attraction of the entire fair, that represents the main drew of a game. However in most open world games like Mario Odyssey especially in sand Kingdom, the streets are bigger than the rides (platform challenges) which makes the world feel empty."
Basically, build an intresting nice looking environment and turn like 70 to 90% of that environment into a Mario 3D course, where you have many many options to get to the same place. Again, Sonic Utopia for example.
16:13 I was expecting you to say BECAUSE IT'S THE SPONSOR OF TODAY'S VIDEO right there.
4:20 I find it funny that people feel like Open world HAS to look like Zelda; when Mario Odyssey is takes place on one planet. When I picture Open world Mario, It's Mario Odyssey with Transition areas between each area (like what if you followed a river from the wooded kingdom to the Lake Kingdom, or got from the Seaside kingdom to the cloud kingdom by using the water shooting squids and Small clouds of Water?). Too many open world games try to make a realistic setting, with Fantasy-realistic Characters (orcs, etc.). Meanwhile, Odyssey has a lake in a giant floating Denim box, and a goo volcano with talking Forks
An open-world Super Mario game would be sweet to see. Just imagine so many secrets hidden in an open-world Mario game 😅
I’m only at 8:41 (in case you say this later) but I just keep thinking that it just needs to be open world like Dark Souls: multiple mostly separate areas with their own themes, but all interconnected within one map (obviously Dark Souls has some exceptions to this but that’s beside the point).
Edit: Now at 22:53 and since in my mind I’ve been comparing to what I said, I wanted to add that I think a Mario game should be more connected than Dark Souls is, with more visibility into future areas (which is a thing in Dark Souls but more than that) to see things and be interested in how to get there, and then you should be able to go to at least most places whenever you can see them, with maybe some areas (i picture a sky island area for example) where you can see it but wonder how you could get there and have to find a way in the open world somewhere.
Edit: 31:17 I definitely agree that some areas should be locked until doing enough in earlier kingdoms. There could be a few areas where the main entrance is locked by a number of collectibles, but then from inside you can open shortcuts to other kingdoms or hit a switch inside to open access to that kingdom from other places. For Bowser’s kingdom, I picture a big wrought iron gate with bowser’s face on it that requires a certain number of collectibles to open. Or maybe the kingdom is accessible but the castle itself is locked by that gate.
Hmmm.... I actually think an open world mario would work. But it'd have to be *just* right. I know I'd be curious. It's one of those ideas that'll either work wildly well or fail completely and either way it'd be fascinating.
They should bring back the Switch Palaces from Super Mario World, that way you'd have an incentive to visit every world.
This could also be used to gate progression instead of collectables, as they'd summon blocks that would let you cross gaps.
Also canons, have pink bobomb open canons for you like in 64, which would also gate progression.
I feel like the switch palaces wouldn't be that interesting. Something like mario 64's cap switches and sunshine's nozzles would be more interesting.
@@sobblegaming350 They could do a combination of both, have the blocks give you unique power ups like in 64, but also have them be useful for platforming like in World.
But also have the switches be hidden like in 64, to incentivise exploration.
I agree a Mario game have to make him jumping all the time, make him walking more than jumping I don't think I will like, and thinking about, fill a world with Mario type platforms It will be a huge challenge. This make me think a good sollution for that are many thematic big worlds for a Mario Galaxy 3, It Will be easier to create non-boring interactives environments.
why does everything have to be open world ?
I don't think it's that open worlds HAVE TO be repetitive and empty, but making huge scale worlds that are also dense would require a LOT of content to fill in each nook and cranny, which would take lots of development time, and they would likely run out of creativity to fill in each spot. This is why games should be made smaller in scale, not larger. The idea of open world has already been tainted with large-scale worlds and realistically-scaled landscapes, which is too huge for meaningful content.
It would be fine to go back to calling it open-zone or open-level like this was Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine. Those worlds were scaled down significantly to fit in meaningful content and platforming challenges.
Yeah run around the overworld, hit a block with a Yoshi egg in it and hop onto Yoshi. Each one would have a different color and there would be way more colors to pick from than usual. Then you can ride your new Yoshi anywhere. Yoshi can flutter jump to get across big canyons or spike pits. Eat a blue shell Koopa and you can fly higher for a while. Red koopas for flamethrowers because fireballs can already be tossed by Mario when using a fire flower. Maybe have Yoshi gather eggs from swallowing enemies and carry up to six for projectiles. Have the eggs explode like a bomb from Yoshi eating bob-ombs. Mushrooms make Mario bigger temporarily. Instead of one extra hit like a regular shroom, have it be a time limit. I guess that'd be like a Mega Mushroom. That way you can keep the health meter from the 3D Mario games. Starman powerups should also be temporary. You could use them to run across hazards quickly like across hot lava or freezing cold water. Maybe you need to get past some enemies that are a real pain in the butt and don't wanna die. Bullet Bills should chase you down no matter what, no matter how far you run. Have them lock onto you like a homing missle and keep going until they hit you or you jump on them. The overworld would be like any Mario game but you can run in any direction. Underwater segments would have your usual bloopers and cheep cheeps. Maybe some treasure chests. Air bubbles let you stay underwater longer. Coins should only be used for currency, not oxygen or health. Instead to recover health, may I suggest regular mushrooms? 1-up shrooms are gone now. An open world game means no life counter. Instead you have one life and when you lose that it's game over and a reset from the last save point. Boos would hang around graveyards instead of haunted houses. Have them hiding in headstones. Same for Dry Bones coming out of the ground like the Stalfos in Zelda.
Like you I believe mario shoupd be fine in openworld and people just arent thinking about it in the right light. Having said that what mario is and what nintendos willing to do in that context is going to have to evolve significantly in order for it to work.
The modern zeldas that reward you with: larger inventory, more health, greater capacity to climb & special abilities that shift how you engage with the world still gets criticized for a sense of exploration without purpose or reward, so how does mario which can only open a few doors, buy some cosmetics and maybe unlock a new power up or two overcome that?
Nice job on this video and congrats on the apparently sudden channel growth lol. It was recommended to me and caught my eye. This topic really speaks to me as a fan of both 3D platformers and the open-world subgenre. I also have no doubt an open-world entry would exceed most people's expectations. It'll be nice to see new 3D Mario and Mario Kart games after so many years.
What about the Mario themed Minecraft world on console versions? Surprised you didn’t mention that, I think it sort of is like what you’re imagining as an open world Mario game.
ai garbage thumbnail
I would have liked a better thumbnail, but it was out of my budget to commission an artist
@@GradyShoemaker fair enough
I don't think it's a question of can it be done, but should it be done? Like I dont think every series is meant to be open world, nor should open world be the end goal.
Your points are making me think of super Mario RPG with loading zones. That’s be so cool. SMRPG has amazing areas, if they did that in true 3D it may work, who knows
personally i think Bowser's Fury is gonna be the blueprint for a standalone open world 3D mario game, mainly the power-up system with maybe the level design from Odyssey
I sorta think it'll have something new to replace powerups like Odyssey did, probably something that we'd never think of and only the geniuses at Nintendo could possibly think up. If I had to try to pull such an idea out of my ass, maybe something similar to captures but where you merge two different enemies? But who knows, maybe traditional powerups will make a return
@@GradyShoemaker honestly the captures just don't hit the same as power-ups because you can jump out of them at any time and getting hit doesn't make you lose the capture. Also you often can't take the capture with you out of a confined space and the captures have limiting ability's while power-ups are more generally useful that only enhance your moveset
@@Doktario_Mystario Fair point, I was mostly just glad to see them do something creative and different with powerups. There could be plenty of other creative things they could do though
Same! It’s a little-known fact that Bowser’s Fury is the first collect-a-thon 3D Mario to actually incorporate traditional power-up mechanics. The Galaxy games have them, but they are both gimmicky and (in the case of the fire and ice flowers) time-limited. I would love to see them incorporated in the future games.
When people say they honestly can't imagine what open world Mario would look like, it's because they lack the kind of imagination needed to visualize it. Keep in mind here, Super Mario 64 was the first ever 3D platformer. Nintendo was BREAKING NEW GROUND by creating a platformer that existed in the third dimension with a camera to visualize it with, you don't think they can do it again?
Also, a lot of criticism of Mario as an open world is that it's a platformer, like the one person who said "Mario should spend as much time jumping as he does running"... Oh, so you mean like the giant sprawling desert hills in sand kingdom, where you don't need to jump once to go from one end to the other? Or perhaps Metro which just gives wires to go to the top of every building instead of making you jump up every one? No, you probably meant like Cascade, where the intended way to get to the top of the plateau only utilizes TWO of the three dimensions the game was made in, right? Point is, Mario does not spend as much time jumping as he does running, nor should he. Plenty of interesting level design simply can't exist if we are restricting all of it to follow the arbitrary rule that Mario needs to jump to go literally anywhere. Consider all the movement gimmicks Mario games have used, from FLUDD, to the Spin, to captures. All of these change movement in significant ways, and some of them don't really work if you're assuming that going up should be as important as going side to side.
I agree with you.
The only problem that I see in open word game is Lost what I mean is.
In liner game goin for point A to point B and or in case or Mario Odyssey for one word to another.
In open word game on the other hand you able to go enywar that means it's very likely for people Lost or not go to every area.
For example how can play able to know that the final boss is on the other end of the map when the little able to go any were.
And what It make the Player to won't to explore all the map not only parts of the map.
In my opinion open word game need to be open ending one good example for this is the elder scrolls sires.
For example on Skyrim you able to go eny and do multiple quest explore ECT and you don't nessery have to follow the main quest and this sires hase multiple guilds that is you little able to do whatever you want.
One other good example for is Zelda breath of the wild but to be fer what I don't like on the game is the fact that end what mean by this wean defeat the final boss the you have to go to last save instead of let you explore the game.
Why try applying Breath of the Wild aspects to a new 3D Mario? I feel like applying a lot of metroidvania aspects to a 3D Mario would fit better overall as a new style of gameplay in regards to open world speculation.
open world games...like botw..ya know the game that propelled Zelda ahead of the very series you are discussing?? what are you people talking about?
Imagime going back to super mario world's dinosaur land and making that open world. That would be fun to explore. Jesus loves you!
The problem with open-world games is that they are mostly empty space and automatically generated nothing with the same enemy all over the place. What you want is wat we all want a good open world game that is hand crafted.
I imagine a colored switch mechanic for eqch wprld u beat, like mario world, could add a lot while still allowing people great challenges for trying to skip to harder kingdoms and challenges
Had not seen one of your videos before, I must've clicked 'like' and 'subscribe' within the first 5 seconds. Looking good :)
I have an idea for years, that
someone should make the:
Super Mario World (SNES)
'remake' - but open-world
Imagine Bowser’s Fury, but with as many Cat Shines and challenges as Galaxy or Odyssey. That’s what I think of for open world Mario. And, honestly, it’s my favorite Mario game/gamemode.
Also, what I love about BF is that it incorporates the power ups from 3D World, which makes the levels and platformimg way more fun.
I'd be down but I don't know if it would be the optimal formula for a full game. I think a full game could use more variation in terrain and environment rather than just being mostly water
Bold topic for such a small channel to cover! Subbed. Looking forward to seeing what comes next from you.
Is this survey by nintendo about the Mario RPG series still active?
Anyways, great video and quite interesting ideas!
The people who complain about open world games are the same people that aren’t picky about the games they play and tons of terrible games . When I think of open world my examples are RDR2 BOTW ELDEN RING GTA, I don’t play Ubisoft or assassin creed boring filler ass games . Even if mario was open it wouldn’t be like the “open worlds” people are complaining about.
I think people apply the same criticisms even to the most beloved open world games though. BOTW actually has a lot of repetition and emptiness, but many people look past that due to how fun it is to have so much freedom. However, some other people aren't able to look past that, and that's where the criticism of open world comes from, I think.
Open world Mario would be awesome. And it does not mean they can't go back to a level based 3D Mario in another game after.
why the hell did I listen to this hat who makes shoes talk about video games for 40 minutes
Along as there are tons of smaller linear Mario obstacles I think it can work
The Jodel part was HYSTERICAL! Haha, I totally thought that it was an ad. 🤣🤣
Another way to visualize it, take Jak and Daxter but make it MUCH bigger and more open
Mario Odyssey is a pretty good example. Each world is pretty much an open world in its own right
Tbh I'm tired of every game now being open world. Zelda, pokemon, probably mario next....boring.
For the "final kingdom" they could do something similar to Phantom Hourglass where there's some restriction on the player's movement (ex. a time limit, thick fog, etc) that prevents most CASUAL players from completing it on their first try, and would require collectibles from the other kingdoms to loosen the restrictions (looser time limit, less dense fog, etc). But really skilled players like speedrunners would be able to get past these restrictions and beat the kingdom without any collectibles.
Yeah I considered something like that but didn't think Nintendo would do it in a Mario game. I didn't know Nintendo had already done something like that though, so who knows!
I have a strange feeling that the next 3D mario game is going to be mario galaxy 3
Jak and daxter and Jak 2 were phenomenal and prove that more platformers needs to try an open world format
lets go
Backtracking and metroidvania esque design could also work really well for an open world Mario. Ex. you obtain a star on one side of the map that opens up new routes and areas in the other side of the map.
That would be cool but sadly it's probably too complex for Nintendo to put it in a Mario game? Maybe not though
There is this Roblox game called "Find Everything", and it perfectly represents what an open world platformer would look like
That sounds interesting, maybe I'll check it out at some point
Super Mario Bros: Breath of the Mario and Tears of the Luigi?
I think “Odyssey but all the different kingdoms are only separated by a quite literal line in the sand” would be a good format for an open world Mario game.
Adjust the mechanics and goals to reflect the new world setup, and you’re golden!
You could even replace “Odyssey” with “Galaxy” and “Kingdoms” with “Planets” to get a similar idea, if the Super Mario Galaxy series is your preferred series…
Except the gravity gimmicks in Super Mario Galaxy wouldn’t work in an open world like that unless there is literal space travel, in which point it becomes “No Man’s Sky, but Mario”…
I don’t see that working…
Gravity gimmicks could work in an open world game - they'd just need to be confined to a certain area or structure. Odyssey had gravity gimmicks, even though it was only within the 2D areas, but at least it showed it's possible to have them integrated into a larger world.
Bro failed to mention that Mario Sunshine does exactly what he's mentioning at 22:04. When I was first playing through that game as a child, I used to imagine there is a lot of open world space in between the hub area and the levels, often because you can see the other levels relative to one another when you're in one
Super Mario Sunshine was going to be open world, they had to scrap it because they rushed the game, Delfino Isle was meant to be way more interconnected,
I wouldn't be surprised if the next 3D Mario in 2025 is 'Super Mario Sunshine 2' but with another name.
Do people who think it wouldn't work forgor Bowser's Fury exists ?
An open world game can literally be mario odyssey without the ship giving you fast travel. If all the kingdoms were just placed next to each other, boom that would have been open world. That would have worked relatively busy as great, however, I think I still preferred the fast travel to another kingdom, though.
EDIT: After making it far enough into the video, you had similar thoughts lol
Yeah, the only hitch is that a progression system needs to be designed to make such an open world actually work as a game
If u played sonic frontiers. People had similar takes
All of your points are right. Great video.
Something I’ve been wondering about is why the next 3d Mario game needs to be open world to begin with.
Most of the benefits just don’t seem worth it to me, for instance all the time spent making the world seamless, getting everything on screen to render correctly no matter how far away it is could’ve gone into making individual levels better.
There’s also a big problem with the restraints that an open world has on level design, the main one being that typical mario levels would look extremely jarring when put next to each other like how it’d look extremely weird if all the odyssey kingdoms were next to each other. To be fair I don’t think a lot of people will be too bothered by this, even I think I’d probably get over it quite quickly, but I absolutely believe that some people will since I’ve seen it before with complaints about sunshine’s secret levels and sky levels because sunshine’s world is supposed to be interconnected.
This all being said, I’m just one guy whose game design CV is entirely made up of the few meh geometry dash levels I made years ago so I’m hoping that if Nintendo wants to go through with this, they’ll have enough people working through any problems they come across to make a solid game, in the meantime though I’m still gonna be worried about it.
Throughout writing this I actually came up with an idea I think would actually be quite interesting and that’s to make the entire world just one big mountain. What I mean is basically, take an open world Mario game map, wrap it into a cylinder, and put it length ways up so essentially you’d be platforming up an enormous mountain whilst encountering all the regions of the game on the way, you could even make it so there are multiple ways to climb up and mechanically locks you from going straight to the end of the game from the start since your objective is as far away from you as possible. What I really like about this though is that this game would not be able to be made if it wasn’t an open world since in any other Mario game you just select the next place you’re going to but the main gameplay loop for this game is the exact part of Mario games which is usually left out or cut across using a hub world.
This is the kind of solution I wanted when I asked myself the question I posed at the start of the comment since with this idea we’ve unlocked a new potential for 3d Mario games that we didn’t have before just like how lots of care for how the world actually functions without you allowed for the interconnected world of sunshine, just like how the gravity mechanic and using miniature planets allowed for level design that can’t be replicated anywhere else with galaxy and how cappy allowed for essentially as many new power ups as needed to make a game with so many individual objectives be new and interesting throughout with odyssey. Every 3d Mario game has managed to be a pioneer for new ideas since the start however open worlds have been used in games for ages now so to live up to the standards of the others, the next 3d Mario game cannot just be Mario levels but they’re all connected because it can be so much more than that.
"Typical mario levels would look extremely jarring when put next to each other like how it’d look extremely weird if all the odyssey kingdoms were next to each other."
Actually it's just Mario's Odissey putting that to the extreme, with levels that don't even seem to beling to the same game. Yet, after some accomplished missions, we can see the inhabintants of each kingdom appearing as tourists in the other kingdoms, and they really stand out, like some characters of Super Smash Bros. next to each other, but that level of goofyness works for a Mario game.
I dunno how much weight to give some of the naysayers when oke of them said open word "ruined" Zelda. The non open world games are great too but botw and totk are awesome games.
I agree with you and I vastly prefer BOTW and TOTK to classic Zelda games, but I do understand the criticisms and I think the main flaws of modern Zelda are things like the puzzles, dungeons, and repetition. I also think TOTK was a bit of a disappointing sequel (even though I still enjoyed it), particularly because it didn't attempt to combine the open-endedness of BOTW with the more deliberate design of classic Zelda games, and instead went even further in the opposite direction with even less focused puzzles and more repetition and emptiness throughout the game
open world mario is cool and all but 4d mario when?
I'd bet that those same people complaining about open world games probably bought Skyrim multiple times on multiple platforms. (7:19)
And I love Skyrim too, but you can't complain about ALL open world games while loving a specific open world game across multiple platform generations.
Bronze Space Comet has pronouns in his bio!
Hey I’m not sure if you’ll see this or do a follow up on this video but I think sonic frontiers has a flawed but interesting take on the idea of an open world platformer. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the idea of it!!!
Perhaps I'll play it at some point!
i would like another thing like odysessy, but maybe make the kingdoms have a lot bigger with a lot more extra content.
Making the kingdoms bigger would mean there's less of them. I don't disagree, since I'm basically just advocating for there to be only one kingdom, but it's massive
Now im actually going to watch the video and see what the guy has to say.
Mario Odyssey and Bowser's Fury say hello
Now I want to see a Yakuza platformer.
Platformers with open worlds have been done successfully before honestly so a huge open Mario wouldn't be too hard for Nintendo to pull off
Like what? The only AAA open world platformer I can think of is Sonic Frontiers, which has very mixed reviews
Mario Sunshine and Mario Odyssey were disappointments, and Mario 64 and Super Mario World on N64 we're awesome. Because of Mario Sunshine I stopped playing Mario for a while I thought maybe Mario Odyssey was a return to form but it also disappointed me as well. An open world Mario I feel like should look like the map of Super Mario World from the Nintendo 64.
Super Mario World was on the SNES.
@@HypercatZ Sorry for that error.
u deserve more subs good video👍
good video but hate the AI thumbnail, just use Mario PNGs
There was literally no way for me to make the point I wanted to make in the thumbnail without:
a) Using someone's fan art with permission (not gonna happen since using it in this thumbnail is kinda disparaging)
b) Using someone's fan art without permission
c) Paying $40 of my hard earned cash to commission some art for myself
d) Using AI
So I'm not sure what Mario PNGs you're talking about here. The point is to have an image in the thumbnail that resembles what people (incorrectly, in my opinion) imagine open world Mario to be like
Who even cares about switch 2. Switch is fine.
Make a Part Two please about other lead characters, warp pipes, towns, and items (yes I want an inventory!)
I think it's likely that Nintendo could just show the next 3D Mario game before I can make a part 2! They're rumored to be announcing the new console this month, so if they show the 3D Mario game and it turns out to be open world, I wouldn't really be able to make a part 2 with the same format... but there's a good chance I'd make a video analyzing the trailer and describing some theories or ideas!
cool.
grady may not be pregnant but he still delivered a video!