Splatoon was nearly a new Mario game

Shigeru Miyamoto and his team had debated whether Splatoon, the new team-based competitive title for Wii U, should have been a Mario game, it was revealed today.

Speaking to Edge Magazine (and spotted by MCV), the creator explained how there were "heated debates" about choosing the main character for the game.

"When we talked about the possibility of it being Mario, of course we could think of the advantages: anybody would be willing to touch it as soon as we announced that we had a new Mario game. But at the same time, we had some worries. If it were Mario, we wouldn't be able to create a new IP."