Cognition Dissemination: What Happened with AlphaDream?

The news that Japanese developer AlphaDream declared bankruptcy and shuttered came as a surprise to nearly everyone. After all, they mainly handled spinoffs in one of the most successful franchises in video game history.

Since their inception in 2001, formed by developers involved with Super Nintendo title Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Alpha Dream has been primarily responsible for the Mario & Luigi RPG series. It can’t be overstated how enjoyable most installments in the series were. They combined traditional turn-based RPG mechanics with those fitting for a Mario game, including stomping enemies and team attacks. They also had fantastic senses of humor.

The critical and commercial reception to each game was inconsistent, but mostly good. The first game, Superstar Saga, was overwhelmingly successful; but the franchise reached its zenith with Bowser’s Inside Story, where the formula for the series came into its own for a game that contained enjoyable battles, a witty and entertaining story, and great pacing. Unfortunately, they never recovered after Dream Team, which sold well, but was criticized for being overstuffed with tutorials that slowed its pacing to a crawl.

In their later years, they remade the most successful games, the aforementioned Superstar Saga and Bowser’s Inside Story, for 3DS. Their sales were underwhelming, which presumably contributed to their financial woes. The company was hiring for PlayStation 4, Switch, and smartphone development a little over a year ago, but we may never have a chance to see what they had in store for their future.

Despite AlphaDream’s fortunes taking a turn for the worst, it still feels surreal that I’m posting about their demise. It’s worth asking why Nintendo didn’t step in to save them, and what plans they have for the future of Mario RPGs.

It’s true that the last three Mario & Luigi games didn’t set charts on fire, between Paper Jam and the aforementioned remakes, but the series still had worth. There’s a substantial Nintendo audience that wants to explore the Mario universe in ways the platformers and sports games don’t, and the RPGs were the perfect outlet for that. Several characters still hadn’t made their way into the series, including even Wario and Waluigi (who honesty could use an RPG spinoff of their own), and the developers were good at introducing new characters. Keep in mind some of these team members were responsible for introducing Geno, currently a well-requested character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The lack of these games will leave big holes in Nintendo’s future software lineup if they choose not to continue it.

So, why the heck didn’t they buy them? This is only something Nintendo occasionally does. Comparisons have been made to the also-defunct Cing, who achieved notoriety by making the Another Code/Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk/Last Window adventure games for Nintendo platforms. But Nintendo didn’t save them when they folded in 2010. This comparison doesn’t entirely work since Cing’s games weren’t anywhere near as successful as the Mario & Luigi games, but it’s another case where Nintendo wouldn’t save an independent development partner in a time of need. Nintendo didn’t seem to mind the void of adventure games it left in their software lineup (though they may be taking steps to fill it now). That void will be even larger without AlphaDream’s games, which were more popular.

There’s a possibility that Nintendo couldn’t care less about filling this void, as they’ve had little interest in green lighting Mario RPGs over the last several years. The Paper Mario series was their go-to franchise at one point, but later games in the series, Super Paper Mario, Sticker Star, and Color Splash, focused less on the RPG mechanics. Interestingly, Sticker Star was originally planned to be a story-heavy RPG, but Shigeru Miyamoto convinced the developers at Intelligent Systems to abandon that structure, after questioning whether it even needed one.

Interestingly, Color Splash assistant producer Risa Tabata told GameXplain around the Wii U title’s release that it was an action-adventure title due to the Mario & Luigi games existing for fans’ RPG fix. (Take a look at the thumbs up/thumbs down ratio on that video to see how many fans agreed.) With AlphaDream’s demise, there’s a minimal chance that a new Paper Mario RPG could be made. But keep in mind that it’s been nearly four years since the last brand-new Mario & Luigi game released (Paper Jam), and Nintendo’s lineup hasn’t suffered too much from it, nor have they green lit other new Mario RPGs.

It’s also possible that Nintendo could hire key staffers from the Mario & Luigi series to continue it, or start a new RPG series with another developer. Nintendo hasn’t had as much interest in making sprite-based games in years, and AlphaDream had little 3D experience. The 3D elements in the series’ games, specifically the Giant Battles, were handled by Good-Feel and Arzest. They were hiring the necessary talent, but it was too late by then.

Even if Nintendo hires the staffers to make the Mario & Luigi games internally, or especially if they make a brand-new series, pour one out for AlphaDream. They made some great games over the years, and they’re worth remembering and preserving through further ports and perhaps remakes. They’ll be missed.