Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto says a 'new kind of Mario' game may be revealed in 2017

At E3 2016, Nintendo's focus has been The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - a reinvention of what the 30-year-old role-playing series is with a huge open world, survival mechanics, hunting and so much more. It seems Nintendo mascot Mario could be getting similar treatment too.

"We're always challenging ourselves to create something new, so hopefully you'll see a new kind of Mario in about a year or two," legendary developer Shigeru Miyamoto said in an interview with IGN. "Maybe next E3 we'll be able to share something."

However, Miyamoto did mention that changing the Mario formula will prove to be more difficult than in the case of Breath of the Wild.

"It's kind of difficult with Mario because some of the more important conventions of Mario are based on the approachability and accessibility of those games," Miyamoto said. He also said that having new people join the company has allowed the team to look "at the conventions with fresh eyes".

The last Mario platformer to be released was 2015's Super Mario Maker, which allowed players to design their own custom levels for others to play rather than complete a full adventure. The last traditional Mario game was 2013's Super Mario 3D World.

The mysterious new Mario game is most-likely being developed for Nintendo's upcoming NX console which is slated to release in March 2017. Mario fans eager to play more games starring the beloved plumber don't have long to wait. RPG Paper Mario: Colour Splash is set to release on 7 October for Wii U while Mario Party: Star Rush will release on 4 November for 3DS.