View source for Super Mario 128

{{Short description|Technology demonstrations and projects developed by Nintendo}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = Super Mario 128
| image = SuperMario128.png
| image_size = 270px
| caption = ''Super Mario 128'' as shown at the [[Nintendo Space World#Space World 2000|Space World]] event in August 2000
| developer = 
| publisher = [[Nintendo]]
| director = [[Yoshiaki Koizumi]]
| producer = 
| series = ''[[Mario (franchise)|Mario]]''
| genre = [[Technology demonstration]]
| platforms = [[64DD]], [[GameCube]]
| released = 
}}

'''''Super Mario 128''''' was a [[codename]] for two different development projects at [[Nintendo]]. The name was first used in 1997 for a sequel to ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' for the [[64DD]], which was canceled. The name was reused for a [[GameCube]] [[tech demo]] at the [[Nintendo Space World]] trade show in 2000. Nintendo gradually incorporated the demonstrated graphics and physics concepts into the rapid object generation of ''[[Pikmin (video game)|Pikmin]]'' (2001), the physics of ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' (2002), and the sphere walking technology of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'' (2006) and ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' (2007). The ''Super Mario 128'' demo led to widespread analysis, rumors, and anticipation in the media throughout the 2000s.

==History==
===''Super Mario 64-2''{{anchor|Super Mario 64 sequel}}===
The name ''Super Mario 128'' was first used as early as January 1997 by [[Shigeru Miyamoto]], as a possible name for a ''Super Mario 64'' sequel.<ref name="Nintendo Power, January 1997">{{cite magazine | magazine=Nintendo Power | date=January 1997 | title=Nintendo Power | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927050910/http://www.miyamotoshrine.com/theman/interviews/0197.shtml | archive-date=September 27, 2011 | url-status=dead | url=http://www.miyamotoshrine.com/theman/interviews/0197.shtml | access-date=November 23, 2017}}</ref> The name ''Super Mario 64-2'' was also used interchangeably with ''Super Mario 128''. This rumored expansion and sequel to ''Super Mario 64'' was said to be developed for the [[64DD]], but was canceled due to the 64DD's commercial failure.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ign64.ign.com/objects/001/001960.html|title=Super Mario 64 II (Nintendo 64)|website=IGN|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301062654/http://www.ign.com/games/super-mario-64-ii/n64-1960|archive-date=March 1, 2017|url-status=dead|access-date=August 8, 2016}}</ref> Miyamoto mentioned at [[Electronic Entertainment Expo|E3]]'s August 1997 convention that he was "just getting started" on the project.<ref name="npinterview">{{Cite magazine|last1=Imamura|first1=Takao|last2=Miyamoto|first2=Shigeru|date=August 1997|title=Pak Watch E3 Report "The Game Masters"|url=https://archive.org/stream/NintendoPower1988-2004/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20099%20%28August%201997%29#page/n113/mode/2up|publisher=[[Nintendo of America]]|issue=99|pages=104–105|magazine=[[Nintendo Power]]}}</ref> At Nintendo's [[Nintendo Space World#Space World 1997|Space World 1997]] trade show in November 1997, Miyamoto added "We haven't decided [whether it's two-player] yet. We are currently working with a system where Mario and Luigi can co-exist, and they are both controllable by the player. But we will decide more game elements when we finish everything about ''Zelda''."<ref name="Miyamoto N64.com">{{cite interview | first=Shigeru | last=Miyamoto | interviewer=Peer Schneider and Douglass Perry | title=Miyamoto Meets N64.com | date=November 25, 1997 | url=https://www.ign.com/articles/1997/11/26/miyamoto-meets-n64com | access-date=August 6, 2020 | archive-date=September 15, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200915160957/https://www.ign.com/articles/1997/11/26/miyamoto-meets-n64com | url-status=live }}</ref>
{{quotation | We're in the middle of preparing ''Mario 64-2'' for release on the 64DD. I'd like to take advantage of the 64DD's ability to store information. As of now, Luigi's also a full part of the game, but we haven't started thinking about 2-player gameplay with Mario and Luigi yet. We'll tackle that once we've got the system ironed out—we've figured out the processing power issues, so we could do it if we tried. | Shigeru Miyamoto, December 1997<ref name="The 64Dream Dec 1997">{{cite journal | title=A friendly discussion between the "Big 2" (translated text) | url=http://yomuka.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/itoi-miyamoto-interview-64dd/ | journal=The 64 Dream | subject-link1=Shigeru Miyamoto | subject-link2=Shigesato Itoi | first1=Shigeru | last1=Miyamoto | first2=Shigesato | last2=Itoi | date=December 1997 | page=91 | access-date=January 14, 2015 | archive-date=March 10, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310221321/https://yomuka.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/itoi-miyamoto-interview-64dd/ | url-status=live }}</ref>}}

In May 1998, Miyamoto expressed hope in making the game as complex as ''[[Banjo-Kazooie (video game)|Banjo-Kazooie]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Miyamoto Shows Off Zelda 64 |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/1998/05/27/miyamoto-shows-off-zelda-64 |date=May 26, 1998 |website=[[IGN]] |access-date=February 28, 2025 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130902112235/http://www.ign.com/articles/1998/05/27/miyamoto-shows-off-zelda-64 |archive-date=September 2, 2013}}</ref> In November 1998, Miyamoto said, "Well, for over a year now at my desk, a prototype program of [[Mario]] and [[Luigi (character)|Luigi]] has been running on my monitor. We've been thinking about the game, and it may be something that could work on a completely new game system."<ref name="NP Nov 1999">{{cite magazine |date=November 1998 |title=Interview with Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto |url=http://www.nintendo.com/games/gamepage/developerinfo.jsp?gameId=147 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010710092355/http://www.nintendo.com/games/gamepage/developerinfo.jsp?gameId=147 |archive-date=July 10, 2001 |access-date=April 4, 2025 |magazine=Nintendo Power |publisher=Nintendo}}</ref> The game had only a demo of one level made for it. Miyamoto claimed that multiplayer functionality was the first aspect of the game that he wanted to include.

{{quote|
'''Nintendo Power:''' How about the sequel to ''Super Mario 64''?

'''Miyamoto:''' We've been thinking about the game, and it may be something that could work on a completely new system.

'''Nintendo Power:''' Are you planning on making a two-player game with simultaneous, cooperative play?

'''Miyamoto:''' We've actually been considering a four-player game with simultaneous play, but each screen would need to be very small, and we would have to implement new camera work. But it's these sort of problems that I like to tackle. 
|Shigeru Miyamoto| ''Nintendo Power'' Subscriber Special, December 1998<ref name="NP Dec 1998">{{cite magazine | title=An interview with Shigeru Miyamoto | date=December 1998 | url=https://archive.org/details/subscriber-bonus-previews-99-top-tips-98/page/n1/mode/2up | magazine=Nintendo Power | pages=2-3 }}</ref>}}

Miyamoto had considered the two next frontiers of the ''Super Mario'' series to be a gameplay mechanic of walking on a rotating sphere, and coincidentally a setting in space{{mdash}}but it took a long time to find a way to resonate these ideas with the production team. He loved the novel idea of sphere walking, because it was totally unexplored in the game industry, and because focusing on a full sphere can eliminate camera movements and thus motion sickness. He learned greatly from the world's adaptation to the 3D gameplay of ''Super Mario 64'' and he briefly experimented with rolling fields during the development of ''[[Paper Mario (video game)|Paper Mario]]'' (2000) for Nintendo 64. During the development of ''[[Doshin the Giant]]'' for Nintendo 64, he eagerly proposed that it could become the first sphere walking game but the staff rejected such an exceedingly massive development for the game which was released in December 1999.<ref name="How Super Mario Was Born"/>

===GameCube demo===
The name ''Super Mario 128'' gained permanent fame when reused for a new [[technology demonstration]] at the [[Nintendo Space World|Space World]] event on August 24–26, 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/event/566/space-world-2000|title=Space World 2000 - Event - Nintendo World Report|work=nintendoworldreport.com|date=June 19, 2001|access-date=January 9, 2017|archive-date=January 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109185627/http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/event/566/space-world-2000|url-status=live}}</ref> This software was controlled by staff to show new gameplay mechanics and the processing power of the upcoming [[GameCube]] game console.<ref name="It's Hip to be Square">{{cite news | last=Croal | first=N'Gai | others=Masato Kawaguchi and Marc Saltzman in Japan | title=It's Hip To Be Square | newspaper=Newsweek | volume=136 | issue=10 | date=September 4, 2000 | pages=53–54 | url=http://www.newsweek.com/its-hip-be-square-159157 | access-date=August 3, 2020 | archive-date=October 25, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025172138/https://www.newsweek.com/its-hip-be-square-159157 | url-status=live }}</ref> Development of the demo was directed by [[Yoshiaki Koizumi]], who would later become the director of ''Super Mario Galaxy''.<ref name="How Super Mario Was Born"/> In the demo, a large [[2D computer graphics|2D]] [[Mario]] spawned increasing numbers of smaller Mario figures, independently walking across a circular board, until the number of onscreen characters reached 128. The terrain in the demo was manipulated, rotated, and spun like a floppy saucer to show the physics engine software. GamePro declared ''Super Mario 128'' to be one of the 15 most anticipated games of 2001. Regarding Nintendo's secrecy and lack of elaborate demonstration of the camera system, GamePro assumed that "The precautions are warranted as developer after developer aped the exact camera mechanism from ''Mario 64'' for their titles."<ref name="Top 15 most anticipated games of 2001">{{cite magazine | title=Top 15 most anticipated games of 2001 | date=December 19, 2000 | magazine=GamePro | via=CNN | publisher=IDG | url=https://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/12/19/top.15.games.idg/index.html | access-date=July 30, 2019 | archive-date=November 4, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104151017/https://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/12/19/top.15.games.idg/index.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

Koizumi said he spent much thought after the event about the "close to impossible" undertaking of productizing ''Super Mario 128'' as demonstrated. Combining that demo's rounded surface with Mario's need to freely roam, Koizumi's next imagined groundbreaking objective was to demonstrate Mario walking upon a gravitational sphere. To even be able to attempt that, would require tremendous technological expertise, motivation, and achievement from a dedicated team and would not be undertaken until 2003.<ref name="How Super Mario Was Born"/>

There had always been distinctly separate development of ''Super Mario 128'' and ''Super Mario Sunshine'', which Miyamoto considered to be similar to ''Super Mario 64'' anyway.<ref name="Playboy Mario 128"/> He said, "obviously we were doing work on the ''Mario 128'' demo that we were showing at Space World, and separately we were doing work on experiments that we made into ''Mario Sunshine''."<ref name="E3 2003: Miyamoto: the interview">{{cite web | title=E3 2003: Miyamoto: the interview | work=[[Computer and Video Games]] | date=May 16, 2003 | url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com:80/article.php?id=91486&site=cvg | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215114243/http://www.computerandvideogames.com:80/article.php?id=91486&site=cvg | archive-date=December 15, 2007 | access-date=July 30, 2019}}</ref> At Space World 2001, ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'' was unveiled as the next in the ''Mario'' series, released in 2002.

The 2001 GameCube game ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'' alluded to ''Super Mario 128'' with a battle stage titled "Super Mario 128", where the player is assailed by a total of 128 tiny Mario figurines.<ref name="SSBM 22"/>

===Resurfacing===
In 2002, Miyamoto predicted that ''Super Mario 128'' would let players "feel the newness that was missing" from ''Super Mario Sunshine'' because he thought of that game as more of a revisitation of ''Super Mario 64''.<ref name="Playboy Mario 128">{{cite web | title=Nintendo Talks Pikmin 2 and Mario 128 | date=December 10, 2002 | first=Anoop | last=Gantayat | url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/12/10/nintendo-talks-pikmin-2-and-mario-128 | access-date=July 30, 2019 | archive-date=October 12, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012232148/http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/12/10/nintendo-talks-pikmin-2-and-mario-128 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Miyamoto Confirms Two Sequels">{{cite web | title=Miyamoto Confirms Two Sequels | first=Rick | last=Powers | date=December 10, 2002 | work=NintendoWorldReport | url=https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/8097/miyamoto-confirms-two-sequels | access-date=July 30, 2019 | archive-date=July 30, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730205914/https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/8097/miyamoto-confirms-two-sequels | url-status=live }}</ref>

Rumors said that the reason for Nintendo not having shown ''Super Mario 128'' at E3 2003 was because the game was extraordinarily innovative and Nintendo did not want other developers stealing the ideas from the game<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/06/20/mario-128s-new-idea|title=Mario 128's New Idea|author=IGN Staff|date=June 20, 2003|access-date=August 8, 2016|archive-date=August 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808034359/http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/06/20/mario-128s-new-idea|url-status=live}}</ref>{{mdash}}as some had assumed about the Space World 2000 show.<ref name="Top 15 most anticipated games of 2001"/> However, Miyamoto later confirmed that ''Super Mario 128'' was still in development and that the development team had planned to take the ''Mario'' series in a new direction.<ref name="Nintendo Official Magazine Sept 14, 2003">{{cite magazine | title=Nintendo Official Magazine | magazine=Nintendo Official Magazine | date=September 14, 2003 | url=http://www.miyamotoshrine.com/theman/interviews/081403.shtml | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927050900/http://www.miyamotoshrine.com/theman/interviews/081403.shtml | archive-date=September 27, 2011 | access-date=November 23, 2017}}</ref>

In 2003, Nintendo's George Harrison stated that ''Super Mario 128'' may not appear on GameCube at all.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Chris |date=November 5, 2003 |title=No more Mario? |url=https://money.cnn.com/2003/11/04/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080121112954/http://money.cnn.com/2003/11/04/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm |archive-date=January 21, 2008 |access-date=May 24, 2010 |work=CNN}}</ref> [[Yoshiaki Koizumi]], who had directed the original ''Super Mario 128'' demonstration, joined Nintendo's new [[Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development|EAD]] Tokyo office. There, [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] pushed him to hold a much bigger vision for the next ''Mario'' series game and Koizumi said this: "By working on [''[[Donkey Kong Jungle Beat]]''] together, I got to know the staff well enough by then, and I thought, if it was with this team, we may just be able to tackle the new and difficult challenge of making spherical platforms work." There at EAD in 2003, Koizumi's team began working on prototypical spherical platforms in an intensive three-month process of iterative demonstrations for Miyamoto. Nintendo's President [[Satoru Iwata]] requested Miyamoto's singular signature effort to turn this product, which would become ''Super Mario Galaxy'', into a showcase for the [[Wii]].<ref name="How Super Mario Was Born"/>

It was thought that Nintendo would unveil the game at E3 2004.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.videogamesdaily.com/news/200405/020.asp|title=Kikizo {{pipe}} News: E3 2004: Nintendo's All-Star Line-Up|last=Doree|first=Adam|date=May 7, 2004|website=archive.videogamesdaily.com|language=en|access-date=March 17, 2018|archive-date=March 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317232129/http://archive.videogamesdaily.com/news/200405/020.asp|url-status=live}}</ref> Miyamoto again confirmed the existence of ''Super Mario 128'' in an interview during February 2004, but the game failed to surface. Some believed this was due to the announcements of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'' and the [[Nintendo DS]], both revealed at the 2004 show.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} [[GameSpy]] asked Miyamoto about the game after E3:

{{quote|It's moving along secretly like a submarine under the water. When developing, we often look at the different hardware and run different experiments on it and try out different ideas. There have been a number of different experiment ideas that we have been running on the GameCube. There are some that we have run on DS, and there are other ideas, too. At this point I just don't know if we will see that game on one system or another. It is still hard for me to make that decision. I am the only director on that game right now. I have the programmers making different experiments, and when I see the results, we will make the final decision.|Shigeru Miyamoto<ref name="Gamespy May 25, 2004">{{cite magazine | magazine=GameSpy | date=May 24, 2004 | title=GameSpy | url=http://www.miyamotoshrine.com/theman/interviews/250504.shtml | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100419232959/http://www.miyamotoshrine.com/theman/interviews/250504.shtml | archive-date=April 19, 2010 | access-date=November 23, 2017}}</ref>}} IGN later in the year got a similar response. Miyamoto again asserted ''Super Mario 128''{{'}}s experimental nature.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/11/29/nintendo-supports-cube|title=Nintendo Supports Cube|author=IGN Staff|date=November 29, 2004|access-date=August 8, 2016|archive-date=August 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821152439/http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/11/29/nintendo-supports-cube|url-status=live}}</ref>

At the [[Game Developers Conference|GDC]] 2005, Nintendo of America's VP of Marketing, [[Reggie Fils-Aimé]], stated that ''Super Mario 128'' would be shown at E3 2005, probably in the form of a non-interactive video.<ref name="Reggie Talks Revolution">{{cite interview | title=GDC 2005: Reggie Talks Revolution | date=March 9, 2005 | interviewer=Matt Casamassina | first=Reggie | last=Fils-Aime | url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2005/03/10/gdc-2005-reggie-talks-revolution | access-date=November 23, 2017 | archive-date=December 2, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202033013/http://www.ign.com/articles/2005/03/10/gdc-2005-reggie-talks-revolution | url-status=live }}</ref> However, for the third year in a row, the game once again failed to surface during E3. During a [[GameSpot]] video interview at E3, Reggie Fils-Aimé stated, "I can only show what Mr. Miyamoto gives me to show." When a reporter asked if it exists, he responded, "I've seen bits and pieces." In an interview with Miyamoto from 2005, a Wired News reporter confirmed that ''Super Mario 128'' would not be produced for the GameCube, but rather that it had been definitively moved to the [[Wii]] (then code-named Revolution).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2005/06/67854|title=The Man Who Keeps Nintendo Cool|last=Kohler|first=Chris|date=June 15, 2005|magazine=Wired|access-date=March 11, 2017|archive-date=December 18, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218203817/http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2005/06/67854|url-status=live}}</ref>

In September 2005, [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] gave his least ambiguous comments regarding ''Super Mario 128''. Questioned as to the status of the game by a Japanese radio station, he revealed that Mario would have a new character by his side and reiterated that the game would appear on the [[Wii]] with a different name. He mentioned that ''Super Mario 128'' had played a large role in the conception of the Wii console (then known as Revolution), as ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' had done for the [[Nintendo 64]]. He went as far to say that the Wii was based around "this new type of game".<ref name="Radio interview">{{cite interview | subject-link=Shigeru Miyamoto | first=Shigeru | last=Miyamoto | date=September 3, 2005 | title=Interview | url=http://salon.p-nintendo.com/news/N-1064063874.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=February 11, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211054248/http://salon.p-nintendo.com/news/N-1064063874.html | language=fr | access-date=August 8, 2016}}</ref>

In 2006, Miyamoto said that he had forgotten whether ''Super Mario 64-2'' had been prototyped for the 64DD, and said that "it's become other games". When asked whether he meant that the demo's gameplay functions are being used in other games, Miyamoto responded, "From the time that we were originally making ''Mario 64'', Mario and Luigi were moving together. But we couldn't get it working in the form of a game", echoing his statements from 1999. He also hinted that some elements inspired by ''Super Mario 128'', such as running upon a spherical surface, had been incorporated into ''Super Mario Galaxy''.<ref name="Miyamoto Opens Vault">{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/08/21/miyamoto-opens-the-vault|title=Miyamoto Opens the Vault|last=Gantayat|first=Anoop|date=August 21, 2006|website=IGN|access-date=January 28, 2015|archive-date=August 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820205007/http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/08/21/miyamoto-opens-the-vault|url-status=live}}</ref>

On March 8, 2007, Miyamoto delivered the GDC 2007 keynote speech. He mentioned that ''Super Mario 128'' was merely a demonstration of the [[GameCube]]'s power and restated that several techniques from ''Super Mario 128'' had become foundational gameplay concepts of the ''[[Pikmin (series)|Pikmin]]'' series and the upcoming ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' series. He said "The one question I'm always asked is, 'What happened to ''Mario 128''?' ... Most of you already played it ... in a game called ''Pikmin''".<ref name="GDC 2007 keynote GIB">{{cite web | title=GDC: Shigeru Miyamoto's Keynote Speech | first=Matt | last=Martin | date=March 9, 2007 | work=Games Industry | url=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/gdc-shigeru-miyamotos-keynote-speech | access-date=August 8, 2016 | archive-date=August 11, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811142416/http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/gdc-shigeru-miyamotos-keynote-speech | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |people=Shigeru Miyamoto |date=2007 |title=Shigeru Miyamoto: "A Creative Vision" – Keynote at GDC 2007 |url=http://www.visualwebcaster.com/Nintendo/38232/event.html |time=1:09:08 |access-date=March 11, 2007 |archive-date=October 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018051920/http://www.visualwebcaster.com/Nintendo/38232/event.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://wii.gamespy.com/wii/mario-wii/771581p2.html|title=GameSpy: Miyamoto's Creative Vision - Page 2|last=Williams|first=Bryn|date=March 8, 2007|website=Gamespy.com|access-date=August 8, 2016|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185544/http://wii.gamespy.com/wii/mario-wii/771581p2.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="GDC: Shigeru Miyamoto">{{cite web | title=GDC: Shigeru Miyamoto's keynote address | date=December 18, 2008 | first=Robert | last=Purchese | website=[[Eurogamer]] | url=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/gdc-shigeru-miyamotos-keynote-address-live-report | access-date=July 30, 2019 | archive-date=July 30, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730234606/https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/gdc-shigeru-miyamotos-keynote-address-live-report | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Legacy==
Initially presented as a public demonstration of the new [[GameCube]]'s computational power and of Nintendo's programming prowess,<ref name="GDC 2007 keynote GIB"/> the secrecy and hype of ''Super Mario 128'' provoked some of the greatest anticipation in video gaming of 2001<ref name="Top 15 most anticipated games of 2001"/> and into the 2000s.<ref name="GDC 2007 keynote GIB"/> The height of its intrigue is commemorated in the 2001 GameCube game ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'' a battle stage titled "Super Mario 128" (Event 22), where the player is assailed by a total of 128 tiny Mario figurines.<ref name="SSBM 22">{{cite video game | title=[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]] | developer=[[Nintendo]] | platform=[[GameCube]] | level=Event 22: Super Mario 128}}</ref>

The software technology and concepts within the ''Super Mario 128'' demonstration became or inspired core components of other Nintendo games: the explosive herding and wandering behaviors of multitudinous tiny automata in the ''[[Pikmin (series)|Pikmin]]'' series since 2001;<ref name="GDC 2007 keynote GIB"/> the physics of ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' in 2002; the sphere-walking gravity of the ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' series since 2007<ref name="Miyamoto Opens Vault"/> and the gravity-defying feature of the Iron Boots in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'' in 2006. The director of the ''Super Mario 128'' demo, [[Yoshiaki Koizumi]], became the director of ''Super Mario Galaxy''.<ref name="How Super Mario Was Born">{{cite interview | title=How Super Mario Was Born | interviewer=[[Satoru Iwata]] | first1=Yoshiaki | last1=Koizumi | first2=Takao | last2=Shimizu | url=https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/super_mario_galaxy/0/0 | date=2012 | access-date=July 30, 2019 | archive-date=June 19, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619204053/http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/super_mario_galaxy/0/0 | url-status=live }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Portal bar | Video games | 1990s }}
{{Mario series}}

[[Category:Cancelled 64DD games]]
[[Category:Cancelled GameCube games]]
[[Category:Cancelled Mario video games]]
[[Category:Cancelled Wii games]]
[[Category:Technology demonstrations]]