Hotel Mario - Development

Development

In May 1991, following an unsuccessful attempt with Sony to develop a CD-ROM-based add-on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo signed a deal with Philips to develop the aforementioned add-on. However, witnessing the poor reception of the Sega Mega-CD, Nintendo no longer considered the add-on profitable, and the project was scrapped entirely. As part of dissolving the deal, Nintendo gave Philips the license to use five of their characters, including Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool, to be featured in their games for the CD-i. Philips used the characters to create games for the CD-i, with Nintendo taking no part in their development except to give input on the look of the characters. Apart from Hotel Mario, the Mario characters were intended to be used in Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, but the game was cancelled with only some prototype versions being programmed. While Wacky Worlds was planned as a CD-i adaptation of the side-scrolling platformer Super Mario World, Hotel Mario was made into a puzzle game in which stage areas were restricted to a single screen. Unlike the Legend of Zelda-related games, the game was not developed by a third-party company, but by Philips' development team Fantasy Factory.

Several full motion video cutscenes were animated for Hotel Mario. The cinematics depict Mario and Luigi as they advance to the next hotel, discussing with each other and giving hints to the player such as: "If you need instructions on how to get through the hotels, check out the enclosed instruction book!". The voices of the Mario Brothers were provided by Marc Graue, with Jocelyn Benford doing the voice-over for Princess Toadstool. On top of the full motion video capabilities of the CD-i, Hotel Mario made use of the system’s internal clock by displaying messages that vary by date.

The backgrounds of the hotel stages were designed by freelance artist Trici Venola. Having seen Hotel Mario's initial version — which Venola called "mechanical" and "visually no fun"—she and art director Jeff Zoern decided to use elements from Disney and J. R. R. Tolkien to enhance the game's visual style. Illustrations of the stages were composed of several blocks, each of which featured one detail. The first item Venola created for all hotels was the door. Every building took one week to complete and was designed in accordance with a specific theme. For instance, a gothic design was used for Bowser's hotel.