Art Director Hitomi Furuta revealed how the artists created the iconic design of Mario brothers in a recent interview. The team faced a challenge to create 3D visuals that would differentiate the game from other Mario titles.
Initially, they tried to present an edgier, more rugged version of Mario, but received feedback from Nintendo, which asked them to maintain the art direction’s recognizable identity for fans. This led them to combine the charm of pixel animations with illustrations featuring solid outlines and bold black eyes.
Furuta explained that a meeting was called to reassess artistic direction after early designs were deemed too similar to existing Mario characters. The team then reviewed Nintendo’s document outlining core features of Mario and Luigi, which helped them stick to the original character design known by players worldwide.
Source: https://80.lv/articles/mario-from-mario-luigi-could-have-looked-more-rugged-edgy