“Though they are different genres, Mario Kart and ARMS are like siblings,” said Kosuke Yabuki, Game Director of Mario Kart 7 and 8 and producer of ARMS at the Game Developers Conference this afternoon.
ARMS also drew inspiration from Mario Kart in the way in which it introduced the element of luck into the competitive arena.
In pursuing the art and technique of good game design, no experience is wasted, said Yabuki.
While there may appear to be few surface-level similarities between the games, Yabuki argued that lessons learned on Nintendo’s long-running racing game series informed many aspects of Nintendo’s new fighting game IP.