Real talk:
how would you, Link Zelda Gannon, design NEXT-GEN Mario? does Mario really need next-gen, bumpmapped, HDRed, motion blurred, DOF'd, stencil shadowed, bokeh filtered graphics?
I do not want this kind of Mario (nor Zelda):
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/arebs.jpg[/img
Cell shading seems like the only good idea, no?
Easy answer is "make it look like pixar film quality"
Sad how few examples of cartoon-y platformers we have. As much as I like Banjo Nuts and Bolts I don't like the style they went for. The second Ratchet game for PS3 (I'm completely blanking on the name) looks really nice.
As for Mario himself, I dunno, just use his Galaxy or Brawl model. It's pretty much how Mario should look. Maybe add more polys so his nose is a perfect sphere or something.
I haven't played Brawl in a while but I remember it looking slightly off with detailed overalls and stuff. Galaxy looked great because of its simplicity, closer to the old art styles. Sunshine looked nice too.
It's really the spin-offs (kart, party, sports), NSMB games, and Mario 3D Land that stick to the boring homogeneous look. That's why I'm hoping whatever Mario for Wii U exists, there's some creative spark besides "we need a Mario on the Wii U." Galaxy totally had that.
I have no idea what that would be.