When it comes to New Super Mario Bros hacks, it’s usually the Newer Super Mario Bros games you end up thinking of. After all, those are the most well-known mods of the series, and the ones played by most LPers and streamers.
But while the Newer Super Mario Bros games are iconic, they’re not the only interesting mods the NSMB sub series have ever gotten. Oh no, there’s a ton of awesome projects there, ranging from adventures like Super Mario Bros Next and New Super Mario Lost Worlds, to novel concepts like Newer Super Mario All-Stars and The Prankster Comets.
And one of the most interesting of these mods is Infinite Wii. Led by LiQ, the game is one of the most ambitious hacks the title has ever seen. With everything from new enemies and bosses to mechanics and level themes, it’s an incredible looking hack, and one which could very well be the Return to Yoshi’s Island of the NSMB Wii scene.
So in this interview, we’re gonna talk to the team behind it. To find out what goes into a ROM hack this awesome, and to learn more about what kind of fascinating features Infinite Wii has in store.
Let’s start the interview!
The Interview
With a bit of background info about the team behind the game. So, who are you guys? Who’s on the Infinite Wii team?
N: Hey, my name is LiQ. I’ve been a New Super Mario Bros Wii modder since 2020 and I mainly do programming and some reverse engineering for the game. In 2022, I started the Infinite Wii Mod. Until now I am still actively working on it!
L: Hey! My name is Léo Tosku or “L-Dev”, the 3D modeler of the Infinite Wii team. I’m a 16-year-old student currently living in Guadeloupe. I have been invested in New Super Mario Bros Wii modding since around 2019. Additionally, I’ve been a part of the Super Mario Galaxy modding community since 2021. I worked on the world maps as well as the 3D models in general and graphics of the mods.
B: Yo, people call me Bomb and I’m a level designer for Infinite Wii. I’m an 18-year-old from Quebec and I’ve been modding NSMBW for over three years now.
T: Sup, I’m Teltix, I’m a 16yo modder from Germany. I modded NSMBU mainly until I started helping out with Infinite Wii.
M: Howdy, my name is Miguel. I’m 22 and from Texas. I am the tileset designer for this mod. Most of the stuff I’ve made for the mod hasn’t been shown yet, but the new space tileset–and its lava variant–were made by me. It’s my job to create and update tilesets for the mod.
G: Hi, my name is Gale Sosa or ‘goatsoup.mp3’. I’m a 20-year-old game composer, and I write music for Infinite Wii, my most notable public contribution being the ‘Cooler Comet’ level theme. I’ve written music for other Mario fan projects in my spare time while working on independent games.
S: Hello, my name is Supa and I am a graphic designer. I am also one of the level designers for Infinite Wii!
What was your intro to gaming? What was your first game?
N: When I was a kid, I got a Wii Mini for Christmas along with Mario Kart Wii, which was my first video game. I really enjoyed playing it with my family.
L: Coming from a poor Albanian-Dutch immigrant family, I didn’t have much gaming experience as a child. Then I got my Nintendo Wii at around 7 or 8 years old. I definitely remember playing New Super Mario Bros Wii with my parents, as well as Super Mario Galaxy, and, of course, the “Wii series” games.
B: Hard for me to say what game was my first one. Even though I did get my hands on the Wii really quickly, I don’t really remember what my first game was.
T: My first actual game was Mario Kart Wii obviously for the Nintendo Wii, it definitely left a mark on my taste in video games as a whole and made me love the super mario franchise as a whole.
Mario Kart Wii was many of the Infinite Wii devs’ first game
M: The first games I played were The Legendary Starfy and Yoshi’s Island–both for the DS. They had a visual charm to them that quickly became my favourite part about both games. I don’t have much time to game anymore, but when I do, I look for games that have unique visuals and world themes. I like to experience games as pieces of art, rather than focusing on platforming or gameplay.
G: New Super Mario Bros. DS was my first gaming experience, which outlined my taste in the following games I would find myself playing.
S: I got introduced into gaming after watching my siblings play the Wii when I was young. The Mario series then quickly became my favourite out of any other.
What games are you playing now?
N: I’m not playing any games currently (besides NSMBW/Infinite Wii), but I’m looking forward to the Paper Mario 2 remake!
L: I don’t really play many games, sometimes I feel I spend more time modding or trying to create games than playing them, though my most recent experience was with Undertale or Animal Crossing New Horizon and probably Wii Party (U) with my siblings.
B: Currently I like to play Lethal Company with my friends, I also really enjoyed modded Starbound recently and I always enjoy playing Minecraft or Terraria from time to time. I also play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate pretty often.
T: At the moment I don’t really play a lot of games, my current main games are Valorant, Minecraft, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 which I am a huge fan of.
M: I don’t really play video games anymore, the last game I played was Super Mario Bros. Wonder. It was visually stunning, and very refreshing to see these iconic mario characters reimagined. The animations brought a whole new level of life and expressiveness that I loved. The redesigns reminded me of the original mario games where every entry had its own take on mario.
Super Mario Bros Wonder was the game Miguel last played
G: I don’t play very many games these days, I spend a lot of time composing music, but I recently got to try “Super Mario Bros. Wonder”. That game was a great time and reminded me of the first time I got to play 2D Mario games when I was a kid.
S: I’ve been watching a lot of Donkey Kong playthroughs lately, and I do want to get into them more. I also play Cuphead from time to time.
How did you get interested in the Mario series?
N: Back when I got my first console, a Wii Mini, for Christmas. It was bundled with Mario Kart Wii. A few months later I also got New Super Mario Bros Wii and I was really hooked lol.
L: I have almost always been a huge Mario fan even when I never played the games. I would just talk about those games all the time with my school friends.
B: I always dreamed of “making my own Mario game,” but in 2017 that dream materialized when I got my hands on Super Mario Maker. I never really stopped making Mario levels since then.
T: After playing my first bit of Mario Kart at my aunt’s house, she sometimes allowed me to borrow her Wii with a bunch of games, and one of those games was NSMBW which then really made me a diehard fan of the series as a whole.
M: My first experience with Mario was Super Mario World. Yoshi quickly became my favourite part of the Mario series. The controls and sprites in that game are timeless imo—it is still fun to play even to this day. Dino Land was iconic, and I loved the unique enemies like Rex, Reznor, Dino Torch, etc. Sometimes I wish Nintendo brought back some of those enemies.
Super Mario World was Miguel’s first Mario game
G: After my first gaming experience with Mario DS, I got to play on a hand-me-down Wii from my older brother which had a fair few Nintendo games on it… including the classic NES/SNES Mario games which I have super vivid memories of growing up with.
I fell in love with the series at a young age and with its music especially, and still am an avid fan today.
S: I’d say when I watched my siblings play New Super Mario Bros. DS was when I got super attached to the Mario series. I then started watching gameplay of Mario games on YouTube and it took off from there.
What was your first experience with New Super Mario Bros Wii?
N: I remember playing it together with family and friends pretty well. In my first playthrough I used the cannons to get to world 8. Beating Roy in the castle for the first time was pretty challenging for me.
L: Since this was my very first gaming experience, I was very young, innocent and maybe a little idiot about what I was doing. A fun fact was that my parents fooled me for months by giving me an unplugged nunchuck and making me believe I was controlling one of the characters.
B: At a very young age I was playing the game with my family. I was always falling in the lava in castle stages and falling in the holes of athletic stages.
T: As mentioned earlier, I got the game from my aunt, and the first time I played it I fell in love with it. I remember playing the level 2-3, which is like a dark underground level, that I couldn’t seem to beat on my first day of playing so I had friends come over to help me beat the level and collect all three-star coins.
Teltix struggled to beat this level in New Super Mario Bros Wii
M: I played it shortly after its release date, and I loved it. My cousins would come over and we’d play it with my brother. I had the full 4-player experience, which is the best part about NSMBW imo. There was plenty of throwing each other in pits, endless ground pounding each other, and throwing shells at each other. After that, I found WiiRikeToPray’s 4 player playthrough of NSMBw, and fell in love with their content. NSMBw was meant to be experienced with 4 people, and I’m so glad my first memories with the game were with 4-player chaos!
G: I played it a year or two ago (After having played the DS and Wii U game much before) for the first time- it was a very strong and distinct experience.
S: Around the time the game came out, my brother and sister were playing it, and I couldn’t help but watch them. I vividly remember watching them struggle on World 5.
Thoughts on the 2D Mario games released since then? Super Mario Bros Wonder was certainly a change of pace for the series…
N: I really liked NSMBU, but not as much as NSMBW (for sure). For Wonder, I cannot really share my thoughts, since I only played up to World 2.
L: As someone involved in anything slightly graphical (2D or 3D), I can’t help but be amazed by how the most recent games turned out. I played a bit of Super Mario Wonder, and it was a super fun and colourful game that I really enjoyed (shoutout to the Piranha Plants Parade).
B: For me the NSMB games started to be repetitive and a bit boring, but Super Mario Bros Wonder fixed that with many interesting changes. I didn’t play this one enough to comment on it though.
T: I always disliked the more basic feel the NSMB series had. Super Mario Bros. Wonder felt like a fresh new adventure with so many new creative ideas and aspects that make it so nice to play. It’s one of the only 2d platformers I would replay, something I wouldn’t even think about doing for any game in the NSMB series.
M: I’ve always thought about the NSMB series, specifically the home console games, we meant to be a multiplayer experience. If you wanted creative platforming, you had the DKC series; however, if you wanted a fun, chaotic, experience with friends, NSMBW & U were the games for you. Visually, Wonder is stunning, and is flowing with creativity, but the multiplayer aspect was a letdown.
G: I have many thoughts about many aspects of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, especially its music but my experience with the game has been nothing short of wonderful (haha) and brings me back to my time with Super Mario Bros. 3 in particular.
S: I personally loved the rest of the NSMB series after Wii. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to play Super Mario Bros. Wonder yet, but what I have seen so far is nothing but a beautiful masterpiece and a great change of pace for the 2D Mario games.
Let’s talk about game development now. How did you get interested in that?
N: I remember planning and drawing levels on paper. When Super Mario Maker came out, I couldn’t believe you were now able to build your own levels. Then, I got a Wii U and could unfold all of my ideas.
LiQ got into game development with Mario Maker
L: As long as I can remember, I’ve always had a passion for creating “universes.” I loved drawing characters (which, at the time, were terribly ugly) and writing stories about them. Then, during a very difficult part of my life, I decided to explore the software Gamemaker 8.1 and started creating small and not-so-appealing games for years. I never restarted actual “game development” until very recently.
B: I used to make a lot of games with Scratch, I started when I was 10. I’ve never really got into actual game development though. I’ve also always enjoyed the games that gave me some customizations possibilities.
T: There was always the urge to create something the way I imagined it to be. I used to play lots of Minecraft with my friends on my Wii U where we made up entire stories and built huge things, which I believe also shaped that feeling of creating my own stuff.
M: Games were always a fun creative outlet for me, same went for modding. I never wanted to develop my own game, or lead a team behind a big project. Modding was something I had a hobby in my free time. It was a fun destresser and I didn’t want it to become more than that. So, I never really had an interest in game development. I just used modding as a creative outlet to learn new skills.
G: At 16 years old under an unfindable screen name now, I used to make music in FL Studio 20 for very small fan projects, which helped me gain experience about the nature of development; how to handle or be put in situations where you’re sound producing for games. I became passionate, from Koji Kondo’s very explicit words about game composing, which made me put more time working on these types of projects and finally, I find myself working on original games now.
S: I got introduced into game development after seeing a bunch of Indie games when I was younger. That truly inspired me to want to make a game of my own. I used to make concept art for them, too!
What about ROM hacking/modding? How did you get interested in hacking New Super Mario Bros Wii?
N: I saw some NSMBW custom levels on YouTube. Afterwards, I googled how to make those. After some time, I got Dolphin and Reggie and did some custom boss fight levels. Nothing really interesting – just Koopalings with some extra platforms.
L: Once I became obsessed with modding my Wii and eventually got to play Newer Super Mario Bros. Wii, which was like a big revelation to me. It ignited a desire to pursue modding myself.
B: I’ve been interested in modding since 2017, but I thought I couldn’t do it. But then, when Super Luigi Land Wii came out it gave me the desire to try again and make my own.
T: I had seen many youtubers play mods of New Super Mario Bros. U. Shortly after I got my first PC, it didn’t take me long to develop the urge of making my own mods for that game.
M: I got interested in modding games with Reggie Level editor. I saw mods for NSMBw like: the OG Newer Dev Log videos, James River Youth [a project that was recently wiped from the internet], joietyfull64’s tileset pack, and NSMB Wii Custom level by a 7 years old kid, which that really piqued my interest in making my own mod for NSMBw. Unfortunately, I was a kid who didn’t know much about modding. My friend and I used to draw custom enemies and replace the sprite images in Reggie because that’s how we thought you made custom enemies (it wasn’t lol).
G: I remember finding out about NSMBWii modding in 2018 and being really intrigued by it, mostly from Newer Super Mario Bros. Wii Deluxe’s announcement. I wanted to really write music for this hack, and while that never came to be, I worked on smaller adjacent hacks and got very comfortable in the community since then.
S: My introduction to NSMBWii modding was seeing a lot of ZementBlock’s custom levels and then shortly also finding out about Newer SMBWii. I soon got into other NSMBWii Mods and I actually started modding the game in late 2019.
What are your favourite hacks of the game so far?
N: Of course, NewerSMBW is the biggest and best mod ever made. I haven’t played many other mods, but I really like the stuff Super Mario and the Cliff of Springs does.
L: Newer Super Mario Bros Wii is still, to this day, my favourite mod ever. For NSMBW specifically, my top 5, without counting Newer and knowing i didn’t play much mods, would be: [2] Luigi Land Wii, [3], Supa’s mods (they are all my top 3 lmao) [4] Mario’s New Adventure (the demo), [5] Mario’s Final Adventure Wii.
B: Super Luigi Land Wii and Super Mario & the Cliffs of Spring are definitely my two favourites.
T: For me there is only one clear answer here, Super Mario & the Cliffs of Spring. It has everything a good mod should in my opinion. It’s a unique experience and feels totally different from any other mod I’ve seen or played, which is something not many mods can achieve.
M: Definitely, Super Luigi Land Wii by Mullkaw. Cannon Super Mario Bros Wii is also a classic. Three random but iconic mods I have nostalgia for are: Curse of the Black Toad, Super Mario Bros HD: Koopa Country, and New Super Mario bros. Wii 2: The Next Levels.
G: Newer Super Mario Bros. Wii is iconic. A lot of us probably wouldn’t be talking to you today and showing Infinite Wii if it weren’t for that ROM hack.
S: Some of my favourites are: The New Luigi Team mods, the Leplap and Weland mods, Newer SMBWii and Super Mario and the Cliff of Springs.
Are there any (outside of Infinite Wii) that you’re looking forward to?
N: Specifically Super Mario Bob-Omb Blast and Super Mario Nightfall.
L: I am very disappointed about the cancellation of Super Mario Evolution. Now, the only mod I’m really waiting for might be Super Mario Gravity, for which I provided translations.
B: I always enjoyed Supa’s mods so I’m looking forward to Supa’s next mod as well: Super Mario Nightfall.
T: There’s only one mod at the moment I can really say I look forward to, Tobu’s Super Mario World U has a very unique look graphically. Which I really appreciate because most mods these days tend to look and feel the same.
M: The Wii modding scene has a great lineup of amazing mods. After 15 years of modding we have great mods like: Bob-omb Blast, Nightfall, Mario’s Final Adventure Wii Returns, Super Mario Bros. Extreme Adventure, and Mario’s New Adventure (which will be the one of the first mods to use Piranhatlas after Infinite Wii releases). I’ve seen some of the development from B1’s mod, and the 3D world maps are stunning! For U mods, I’m really hyped for t0bu’s Super Mario World U. I’m also excited for Super Mario Freezeflame Nightmare, an NSMB2 mod by TMolter, that I’m helping out with!
G: Super Mario World U and Super Mario Dark Depths are two projects I’ve been hard at work on with really unique sounds and am very excited for.
S: I’m really looking forward to Tricky Super Mario Bros. U, Mario’s New Adventure, Super Mario World U and Super Mario and the Crystal Crescents.
Time to talk about Infinite Wii now. What made you decide to create this hack?
T: Back in the day I was working on a mod for Kirby’s Return to Dreamland called “Kirby in the Cosmos of Dreamland” that never released. It was mainly just me messing around with models and the game as a whole. At some point I then created the final boss of that mod, Infinite Soul. When I showed it to LiQ in a call I asked him more as a joke if it’d be possible to make something like that boss in NSMBW. And he gave me a somewhat serious answer, that it was indeed possible, which then kickstarted Infinite Wii.
Was the Newer Super Mario Bros series an inspiration here? Both games seem to be incredibly ambitious hacks with a lot of custom resources and unique ideas…
N: We haven’t got much inspiration from Newer Wii or other hacks. Earlier on we used the space tileset and background but those got quickly replaced in development. The real source of our ideas was Kirby’s Return to Dreamland.
Return to Dream Land was a big influence for Infinite Wii
T: Not really, my intent was to have the mod try something no one else tried before. Which I don’t think Newer Wii tried to do particularly, it more so tried to stick to what worked in the original New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which is totally valid for what it is.
Either way, the world and level themes look very different to the norm here. How did you come up with these?
N: In the beginning, our level themes were pretty similar outside of the enemies used. But this also got reworked shortly after the start of the project. The current ones arose during the works on the mod.
B: I think it’s case by case, really. Sometimes I just imagine a gameplay idea that might work and then we make a theme around it.
M: We wanted this mod to feel unique and take inspiration from places that other NSMBw mods don’t reference. Kirby was an obvious inspiration for a lot of the graphics. For some tilesets I took inspiration from Yoshi’s Island. I also put my own spin on some Newer assets to make them feel fresh and unique.
There’s also a heavy Kirby influence here, with lots of Kirby enemies and settings. What made you decide to mix in so many Kirby elements here?
N: Ironically, I never really played Kirby’s Return to Dreamland. Teltix mainly chose the elements from the game, which are in Infinite Wii now.
T: Like previously mentioned, it was mainly the idea of transferring the boss from my old KRTDL mod over to NSMBW, and over time we ended up mixing the games more and more.
Speaking of custom elements, there are a ton of new enemies and mechanics here, which is something you don’t see very often in NSMB Wii hacks. How hard is it to create these for the NSMBW engine?
N: For the code part, you have to know C++ and ASM. I actually didn’t know those at the start of the mod. Though, I improved my programming skills day by day and ended up in making numerous custom assets.
L: For the models part, it wasn’t so hard since Kirby’s Return to Dreamland’s file system is very similar to NSMBW’s, so I just had to import their models and apply NSMBW’s enemies lighting to them.
What are some of your favourite new enemies and items in Infinite Wii?
N: My favourite enemy is Bronto (the pink flying enemy). I just love the way they’re programmed, for example, their wings flap faster when they fly up. In addition to them, I totally love Como, who has not been shown yet.
L: My absolute favourite thing in Infinite Wii isn’t really an item or an enemy (even though I find Mopoo the snowball very funny). It’s a secret thing, which, in my opinion, is the best idea we had for the game.
B: Hard for me to not speak about Poppy Bros. I originally suggested this enemy as a joke, but then we realized it could actually be a cool idea, so having this enemy in the game is for me somewhat a dream coming true.
T: Como. Bombking implemented them insanely well in game.
G: I don’t have any specific characters in mind but the new world map looks stunning and impressive.
S: I will say that Mopoo, and the new world map system are my favourite features introduced into Infinite Wii.
One thing we don’t see much in NSMB Wii hacks are entirely custom bosses, with only Newer adding any of them. How are the bosses in Infinite Wii?
N: I’d rather not say too much about the boss fights of the mod. Though, you can be sure that Infinite Soul is not peaceful.
Do the original bosses appear in mini boss roles here, or are those entirely new as well?
N: All I can say is, a foe that hasn’t been seen in many mods will return.
There’s also an excellent looking overworld map with tons of details too. How did you create that?
N: The first version of Piranhatlas (formerly Koopatlas 3D) was created in only three days. From there on, my efforts on it raised constantly. My goal is to make Piranhatlas be as similar as the vanilla game’s map system. But that’s not where the journey started. So, L-Dev will tell you about the origin of Piranhatlas.
L: Piranhatlas is kind of a NSMBW/NewerSMBW world map system baby. It has many of the bases of the Koopatlas system, with the difference of handling 3D and including many features from NSMBW that weren’t in NewerSMBW. At first, it was a dumb idea of mine to replace the Newer Starlauncher model with a world map model to see what it could look like. However, we ended up turning all our 2D world maps into 3D, which was absolutely painful initially (before the BerryBush addon). We had to reimport everything every time we changed or tested something, which could take hours. Additionally, we had no way to see how it would look in the game at first. Then Berrybush came out, and my work became much easier.
Another significant problem that might be noticeable in the game is that the textures used on the world maps are PNGs with a transparent background. Basically, they were literally Newer’s doodads. Finally, I would like to note that I remade the world map almost from scratch five times.
Favourite map areas so far?
N: Definitely the Cooler Comet map section as it gives me vanilla World 3 vibes.
L: I don’t really know. Personally, I am never satisfied with what I create, but the best part of the world map for me might be Cooler Comet’s section.
B: Not sure if I really have a favourite specific part. Watching these world maps getting always updated and polished through the time was always interesting.
M: It’s hard to pick a favourite part, since L-dev did a fantastic job with the world map. The icy area with the custom enemy ambush is probably my favourite part of the world map.
G: I think the main World Map area with asteroids is just really nice. I wrote with a collaborator a wonderful track for this part of the game.
S: A super-secret area that I can’t tell you about! :O
And talking of favourites, what are your favourite levels so far?
L: The Final level (no spoilers) and Deep Dark Waters.
B: My favourite levels are actually the ones not shown yet, so I can’t say much about them.
T: Gotta go with Wobbling Wigglershrooms and the final level. Wobbling Wigglershrooms just perfectly executes the mechanic. And for the final level, it’s just an experience like no other level I’ve made before, the music, the level mechanics. It’s a beautiful level, and definitely one of the best I’ve made because of its more unique approach.
M: We haven’t shown it off yet, but we have a cave level that I made a tileset for. The level is visually stunning, and I can’t wait for us to be able to showcase that level. It is going to be one of the most beautiful themes in an NSMBw mod!
G: Cooler Comet is probably my favourite level and was really excited to write music for the most!
Cooler Comet is Gale Sosa’s favourite level
S: Excluding my own, I like Cooler Comet the most!
Any level ideas that didn’t work out?
B: The question should be asking if any idea actually worked lol. The lasers in the Spaceship level were originally meant to be done really differently. About the volcano stage, the original idea for it was actually to use flamethrowers to make the thrown bob-ombs on fire, but then I realized that this is not Mario Maker and bob-ombs instantly blow-up, but I thought that it could also be a cool mechanic. Chilly the snowman will not be forgotten, also I guess we won’t talk about the Nova Train. (A level that got cut pretty early on)
L: I have never been—and I am still not—a good level designer, so I tried once to create the first version of machine mania which turned out so bad we just straight up deleted it (there’s a video of it on my YouTube Channel)
S: Personally, for me, the level creation process was really smooth for the most part. I can’t recall me completing scraping an area for the mod other than major polishing
How’s the soundtrack here? What awesome remixes and original songs are there here?
G: I’m overseeing the OST, which was mostly handled by Cubix, who has gone for an orchestral/space sound. While there’s still a fair amount of work to be done, I can tell you that there definitely will be a fair few reprises and rearrangements of classics from the series with our sound direction (as well as some tunes from unexpected places).
However, we’re well aware of the obvious direction to take with OSTs like this by being a ‘greatest hits’ compilation for fan service. So, I’d like to also mention that we have written a fair amount of new music, like the earlier mentioned Cooler Comet song with its unprecedented ‘funky’ rhythms and we definitely have a couple of more tricks up our sleeve to surprise players with the sound.
What are your favourite songs so far?
N: Cooler Comet. No other words.
L: Definitely cooler comet!
B: Cooler Comet definitely hit me hard.
T: Talking about music specifically composed for the mod, I definitely gotta go with Cooler Comet. Otherwise, I gotta go with Fuzzy and Fleeting from Mario and Rabbids Sparks of Hope. It’s just great and so perfectly fitting.
G: Not a lot of the OST is public (including my favourite) but I really like the track for the final boss. It’s an arrangement but of a song I actually am not familiar with, and having been tasked to arrange it has been a really interesting experience and I hope to share that soon.
S: Cooler Comet! It has a very chill and funky atmosphere as gsoup described it and I love it!
Either way, once it’s done, how do you plan to promote it?
N: We plan by doing events in several modding servers. We’re already having discussions internally about promotion.
Do you worry that Nintendo will try to get it shut down? What’s your fallback if that happens?
N: No.
Assuming everything works out, do you have any future plans? Like other games you want to make as a team?
N: For me personally, I plan on working on some other NSMBW mods after the release of the game but not as a director.
L: As a team, I’m not really sure, but we have some ideas about a funny little indie game with LiQ. Also, I still have to finish my Super Mario Galaxy 2 mod, “Super Mario Another Galaxy.”
B: I’m currently working with Miguel on a remake of my first mod “Mario’s Final Adventure Wii” that is called “Mario’s Final Adventure Wii Returns”.
T: Many of the people on this team are also helping with many other projects of mine, one that I am currently working on with the help of Miguel and Goat-Attack is a mod called “Super Mario and the Cosmic Catalyst”.
M: As a team, we don’t have plans to work on other projects. Like Bombking mentioned, he and I are working on a small remake of his first mod where he remakes the mod’s most iconic levels, and I make brand new tilesets and backgrounds for it. I’m also helping out Teltix and Supa with their projects, but I’m not doing anything major for it—just general feedback and graphics stuff
G: I’d be happy to work on any independent projects if we stick together, doing fan work like this takes a lot of time and I don’t always have that on my hands while working on independent games.
S: I’m currently working on my own NSMBWii mod, “Super Mario Nightfall” and a few others on the side. After Nightfall, I want to branch off and work on a few other NSMBWii mods including: Super Mario Bob-omb Blast and Super Mario Impending Doom.
Finally, what advice would you give people looking to get into NSMB Wii hacking, or game development as a whole?
N: Making a Mario mod might sound easy but it definitely is not. As a first step I’d recommend joining a modding server (like the NSMBW Hacking Depot). There you can find several tutorials and also get help from other modders.
L: My first advice would be not to, as you need to be overly patient and you more than often don’t get the rewards of your work for a long time, if ever. However, if you really want to start, be extremely careful with any kind of criticism and with the community. Apart from the harsh words, criticism should never be dismissed with an attitude like “I don’t care, as long as it is good for me.” Your only way to evolve is to acknowledge your errors, even if it might take years, but most importantly don’t let it negatively affect your emotions as you know what you’re worth. They might not see it at first but if you pursue the way to get better, they’ll definitely change their mind. Modding, despite its challenges, offers numerous unexpected benefits. Personally, I learned 3D modelling and the 3D softwares in-depth, became fluent in English, developed my design skills, learnt programming, and gained experience in teamwork and managing responsibilities. There are certainly many more skills you can gain from modding, but you’ll need to discover them yourself.
B: Determination is everything. Everything else doesn’t matter. Adjust your ambition to your determination, not the opposite. Also don’t let haters take your mind.
T: Enjoy your own stuff. Don’t let criticism, especially from people up high in the community, affect you too much. It’s all about the fun that comes with creating these mods. Oh, and please don’t try to make a full mod as your first project, you will fail.
M: Be patient and enjoy the learning processes. A lot of the tools, and methods of making custom stuff aren’t intuitive. It’s a long and slow process to make something unique. Enjoy learning new skills along the way! Modding taught me how to 3D modelling and animating in blender—a skill I never thought I’d learn. Make stuff that is fulfilling to you, and be willing to teach yourself. There are no, “How to code a custom enemy in NSMBw” videos on YouTube. You’ll have to learn new skills, read boring wiki tutorials, and then troubleshoot your project. However, after doing this over and over, you’ll get a gasp of the process. You’ll be able to do things you thought were impossible months before. It’s a fun hobby for me, and the new skills I’ve learned have been the best part about modding.
G: Making games isn’t easy and it’s okay to have a hard time. There are so many things that make up a game and even if the quality isn’t there, the fact you were able to ship something, even small- is a huge accomplishment. Your creative input as a creator is what matters starting out and you can only refine your process further.
S: Have fun! I’ve had such a fun time making levels and graphics throughout the years! However, it took me nearly 2 years to call myself decent in those departments, so it doesn’t just happen out of nowhere. Have fun with your work and acknowledge your faults along the way.
Thanks guys! We don’t often see someone tell people not to work on a ROM hack or fan project, so that’s a new one.
Either way though, your advice is excellent nonetheless. Making a mod (or heck, any game in general) is a lengthy and difficult process, with no guarantee your hard work will be rewarded (or even acknowledged) at the end of it. So it’s definitely not for everyone, and something you’ll need to be truly passionate about if you plan to get anywhere with it.
Regardless, that’s the interview. So what did you think of it? Was it interesting to hear about Infinite Wii and its development? What other questions do you have for the team when it comes to this project?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, on social media, or over on our Discord server today!