Profile: Yoshiaki Koizumi

After working on both A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening, Koizumi occupied prominent roles on subsequent titles such as Super Mario Kart and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. The next great challenge in Koizumi's career was when he was appointed as Assistant Director on what was perhaps the most important Nintendo title in the 1990's: Super Mario 64.

There were several reasons why anyone would feel intimidated as Assistant Director on such an important game. First and foremost, Koizumi was working directly under Shigeru Miyamoto on a game that really put his reputation to the test. And secondly, Super Mario 64 was, in almost every sense, a leap into the unknown; it was the game that had to legitimize the oft-delayed Nintendo 64 console. Not only did it have to be good, it had to be revolutionary.

Apart from the obviously astronomical expectations both inside and outside Nintendo, Super Mario 64 presented a serious design challenge. It was not just a question of bringing Mario into three dimensions; it was also a question of learning how to correctly develop a three-dimensional game in general. Super Mario 64 would provide a critical foundation for all of Nintendo's future 3D work. Luckily, Koizumi already had experience with 3D graphics, as he had produced several examples in his own time during his college years. This experience gave him a solid background for early Nintendo 64 projects.

The highly daunting project began in the humblest of ways. The first step simply involved the creation of a three-dimensional model of Mario. Koizumi produced a model, to which he added basic textures and animation. Initial critical details involved making Mario walk, run and jump. Shigeru Miyamoto considered these simple actions to be fundamental to the entire experience and Yoshiaki Koizumi often found himself discussing the specific details of Mario's simplest maneuvers until 1 or 2am in the morning.

Once 3D movement had been essentially solved, there was a potentially bigger problem on the horizon; what is the best way to view the game world?

Koizumi was deeply involved with solving this problem in Super Mario 64. Both he and Miyamoto brainstormed on the best way to view Mario in a three-dimensional world. There were many options; the camera could always sit to the side of Mario (much like a traditional 2D game, which would stop players from getting lost or disoriented) or the camera could follow Mario around dynamically (the "over the shoulder" or "follow cam" approach that Super Mario 64 and latter Nintendo games adopted). In the end it was decided that a follow camera would give players the ideal view. It was a camera system that could be either manually adjusted by the player, or it could be set to follow Mario automatically.

Super Mario 64 was released to universal critical acclaim. Not only had it successfully brought Mario into the brave new world of 3D gaming; it had set a clear standard for the entire industry. Super Mario 64 became a lesson to other developers (and to Nintendo itself) about how to approach a 3D space. Ironically, several developers in Japan had stated that 3D games were "impossible" only a few short years earlier. Super Mario 64 made believers of anyone who doubted Nintendo EAD's talents. And Yoshiaki Koizumi was very much at the center of the revolution.

Later EAD games built on Super Mario 64's foundation. In both The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, the 3D camera system had gone through further innovations. In particular, Nintendo had solved the problem of depth perception; Link was now able to target enemies, which prevented the player from having to deal with a cumbersome manual system.

In addition to further advances in camera control, Koizumi and company pursued game environments that were "like a movie you could touch". The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time introduced a natural day/night system that, Koizumi believed, added a further layer of immersion to the world.


Koizumi had quickly become a highly successful, creative member of the EAD group. He had proven himself to be versatile, innovative and a true problem-solver. This led to him being appointed as Director on Nintendo's next major Mario title, Super Mario Sunshine.

Super Mario Sunshine was a radical departure for the series in some respects. For one thing, it was set in a completely new locale: a tropical paradise full of water and water-based environmental obstacles. The water theme followed through to a major gameplay addition in the form of Mario's FLUDD jetpack, which gave him multiple new abilities (including the ability to hover for short periods, "ski" at high speed along bodies of water, boost himself high into the air and spray water at enemies and objects).


The follow-up to Super Mario 64 was an attempt to expand upon its predecessor in several meaningful ways. The locale, which seemed somewhat random to gamers, was actually based on the idea of a "miniature garden" (little gardens in boxes, found in Japan). Koizumi's team incorporated the FLUDD jetpack for several reasons, too. Apart from simply giving Mario more moves, Koizumi believed that it would help with common confusion surrounding depth perception and spatial ambiguity (having shadows cast underneath Mario also helped a great deal).

In addition, Koizumi wondered why Mario had to be limited to simply running and jumping. Mario had effectively mastered jumping on enemies, so why couldn't a game be made where simply running around and exploring would also be fun?

Super Mario Sunshine's environments were created with this concept in mind. The emphasis on jumping was reduced in favor of exploration and environmental interaction. Now, Mario could spray water at enemies and he could also realistically spray paint off objects, which would act to modify his surroundings and surprise the player.


Also, Super Mario Sunshine attempted to introduce more complex 3D environments without the need for an in-game map. This was achieved by deliberately placing clear landmarks in levels, which players could use as visual cues without needing to stop what they were doing.

Super Mario Sunshine received highly positive reviews and was generally a critically-acclaimed title. At the very least, it was one of the better platform games of its time. However, many Nintendo fans considered that it didn't go far enough; it wasn't new enough for Mario fans in particular. The decidedly "un-Mario" setting, combined with a slightly more divergent style of gameplay was not what many were expecting in a "true" sequel to Super Mario 64. To this day, Super Mario Sunshine is often considered to be a "black sheep" in the Mario family.

Three-dimensional game design was a difficult process and it brought about several different philosophies. Koizumi felt that 3D games — and their accessibility — were often defined by both camera control and the inherent limitations of a 3D world. On the one hand, there were games with completely automatic cameras. These were probably the ideal solution, but it was virtually impossible to create a camera that would sit in the ideal position 100% of the time. The obvious solution was to introduce a manually controlled camera; this, too, brought about problems. Koizumi felt that when the player had to control both the camera and their character simultaneously, gameplay became too difficult for some players. Ultimately, Koizumi thought that gamers could probably be divided into these two camps.

Another problem with 3D games, according to Koizumi, was that the worlds were finite. In other words, if players ran far enough they would inevitably hit an "invisible wall". This would often trigger a violent camera change and a jarring break from fluid gameplay. Koizumi considered this phenomenon to be a major problem in modern 3D games.

This conclusion brought Koizumi to a clear crossroads: how should 3D Mario games behave in the future? For the time being, the answer was unclear and Koizumi decided to take a break from Mario projects.