by N Rumas - 04.10.07
If you still haven’t seen the fan-made Super Mario 64 NES Edition video, click here to check it out. It may be a bit rough, but it’s pretty dawg gone cool all the same. While watching it, I couldn’t help but feel excited about the possibility of Nintendo actually taking such a style as a starting point and expanding it into an true 3D adventure.
Coincidendtally, prior to E3 2006, I harbored the secret hope that Mario’s grand debut on Revolution would take on such a bold visual design: NES SMB textures on intricate, blocky 3D characters & scenery to achieve an immersive Mario 64-esque world with genuine 8-bit charm, far beyond anything done with cel shading up to now. Then, however, the stunning Super Mario Galaxy came along, and the thought faded into the far reaches of my brain.
Still, seeing this cool video, in addition to having art design on the mind due to Super Paper Mario’s release, I find myself once again pondering the possibility of a true 3D 8-bit Mario game. SPM is giving us a little taste of what this could be like with its clever dimension-flipping, but I’m already hungry for more.
Sound cool to you? Any other funky art styles you’re anxious to see on Wii? Do tell.
You changed the image!
duderdude2 - 04.10.07 3:23 am
no, you’re just going insane
N Rumas - 04.10.07 3:31 am
It looks cool but I doubt it’ll get made by N. Emu-version? Possibly…
jd - 04.10.07 5:11 am
AWESOME! I’d buy those if I knew where to get them.
Wilford - 04.10.07 6:17 am
Artistically I’m really anxious to see No More Heroes. Along those same lines, I’d give anything for a super robust, cell shaded world in a Jet Set/Grind Radio game….complete with totally awesome controls.
I think some fantastic art direction could really push those graphics to the edge.
Drew Kora - 04.10.07 8:43 am
no he isn’t, its a conspiracy. Rumas only wants you to believe that there is nothing wrong.
Oh and that Video brought me back to my first mario game I ever played, which happened to be Mario 3.
Bainick - 04.10.07 9:40 am
That video really amazed me. I would love to see, at the least, one stage of a Mario game that looked like that.
As far as art direction goes, I’m finding that cel-shaded games almost invariably look better than any others. It’s probably got something to do with the fact that you can make the world look EXACTLY like the concept art, which is flat-out amazing.
Speaking of which, how does Paper Mario work? Is it just flat character models or what?
Mushroom Pie - 04.10.07 2:12 pm
It is a really neat video clip, isn’t it?
I think that if Nintendo’s made the radical decision for the Wii to not be up to snuff with the other current gen consoles graphics wise, then they really have to be dedicated to really artistic and unorthodox imagery in their games. I agree with Drew Kora about Jet Grind Radio, I really enjoyed it on Dreamcast and think it’d be a great Wii title.
jgoreham - 04.10.07 2:18 pm
i want those magnets now!! lol
evldereckx - 04.10.07 2:23 pm
LOL, hm…. sorry, that’s a real crazy idea, I’m afraid Super Paper Mario is the closest thing you’ll get, and I think that’s really pretty darn close enough.
Dylan - 04.10.07 3:39 pm
Keep up with the Brian Eno man.
Sonic - 04.10.07 5:34 pm
I’d like to see a game similar to that style, but what I’m thinking is that everything should be made of pixel like blocks, sorta like legos or those magnets. besides looking cool it’d give them lots of flexibility and the ability to made everything destructible very easily, and hopefully lots of fun physics stuff.
peshue - 04.10.07 7:44 pm
I think Super Paper Mario has parts that are close enough to what Rumas is describing that they wouldn’t try to do another “2D in 3D” (or is that “3D in 2D”?) Mario title.
And now, about “The Legend of Paper Zelda”….
raindog - 04.12.07 11:21 am