Koei Tecmo wants to mix Dynasty Warriors with all of Nintendo’s franchises

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Hyrule Warriors is a resounding success for both Koei Tecmo and Nintendo, who partnered to create a game of mixed combat and lore that brings two franchises together for fans to enjoy. With more DLC slated for release this year, along with added amiibo compatibility, the team behind the game doesn’t show any signs of stopping. The interesting part of this story happened before the game was even released, however.

According to the Koei Tecmo Vice President, the team looks for established IPs in order to integrate their Dynasty Warriors-style combat while raking money in hand over fist as fans scramble to the new game because of their love of the lore from the mix. So far, the team has taken several Japanese animes and game licenses and mixed it with combat fans are familiar with. The team has worked with several IP owners across Japan to mix their combat with IP lore to create games in the North Star, One Piece, Gundam, Zelda and Dragon Quest worlds.

In discussing the formula in a recent interview with Polygon, Hisashi Koinuma mentioned that his ultimate dream was to take the familiar combat from his series and mix it into the Mario universe to create something entirely new and never before seen from the little red plumber. That seems far-fetched to our Western minds, where Dynasty Warriors has not been nearly as popular as in Japan and other asian countries. Koinuma explains this as a cultural difference.

Koinuma thinks the popularity in Japan and other Asian territories is due to Japan’s familiarity with swords and spears, its “history of preying on and fighting for survival against outside forces” and its “attraction or tendency for people to adore figures with absolute strength.”

Despite the cultural differences between Japan and the West, Koinuma says a Mario game developed in a similar way could be a great way to introduce children to the action game genre. When asked how he would imagine Mario incorporated into the genre, Koinuma mentions that Mario would need to branch away from the hand-to-hand fighting seen in Smash and mentioned a few moves that will likely sound familiar to players of Hyrule Warriors, or any Dynasty Warriors inspired game.

Mario as a character that would need to branch out from hand-to-hand combat but could focus on his distinctive moves. Speaking hypothetically, Koinuma suggests Mario could “blast enemies off the screen or knock them unconscious” with his moveset. “I suppose the game would be balanced so the kids could enjoy it as their first action game experience, whereas the adults could enjoy the game with friends and families as a group.”

Would you be interested in playing a game that takes the Mushroom Kingdom and mixes it with combat and mechanics from the Dynasty Warriors series?