Nintendo says Super Mario Odyssey was always planned for Switch, aimed to make use of the platform's strengths

Super Mario Odyssey hit in the Switch's first year, which was absolutely awesome to see. A brand-new Mario experience for Nintendo's latest console before the first year wrapped! How did Nintendo manage to crank this one out? The discussion has lead some to wonder if perhaps the game was originally in the works for Wii U, but then moved over to Switch. In an interview with Game Informer, Nintendo's devs say that's not the case.

Producer Yoshiaki Koizumi

“It was always planned for Nintendo Switch. We really were considering a lot of the hardware capabilities specifically for this game, and wanted to make the most use of them.”

Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi

“I think the idea of what the Nintendo Switch is became very important around here, because it can both function as a console or portable device. We really thought about what sort of software features would make the best use of those capabilities. Super Mario Odyssey really answers to a lot of that capability in the way we had hoped. We wanted to time it for year-end release to make the most of that as well.”