#i still have the original for my n64

[kirby-the-gorb]

bonus unblurred ribbon:

#eye strain #kirby #crystal shards #ribbon #daily kirby #my art #digital #hal laboratory #nintendo #they smoothed his polygons #I still have access to an n64 copy tho #and I don't have nintendo online -n- #maybe I'll replay the original once we're done moving

[thebuttsmcgee]

Also wow it's been awhile since ive really been on here. again. OOPS

#the butts chronicles #soooo......uh. h. heya pals #gosh its been way too long #Ive just been so busy and so lazy #even my side account isnt getting that much attention lol #well sorta. lol its strange #anyways. yea. ex caused me some stress but Ill be okay hopefully methinks. #Ive been feeling. Tired? of videos game and that kinda worries me. maybe I just need to play some kinda comfort game like an N64 one #which I also havent played ina while unfortunately. h #Ive bbeen thinking about getting md dx on switch tho but I still have my original blue rescue team. so ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh #oh yea!!!!!!! I also actually bought some stuff for myself! which I havent done in a while! #apparently since march or feb lol #besides the Luz plush I already posted about lol I bought some monogram keychain dudes and a certain plush I might aalso post about! #I hope I can get the gee modern Sonic plush tho like I said lol. Id like to get a Shadow as well but I probly shouldnt push my luck lol #but yea. things have been tiring. I felt like I was dying yesterday! I got like. stabbed good by a dead tree I ripped and I didnt feel it #that much until 9pm then I started panicking cuz the pain didnt really fade. seems okay now tho! Iiii think? #ah well. Probs gunna shoot a message to my mutuals cuZ I MISS THEM :^[[[[[ #Hope yall have been alright tho!!! Seriously. And have a swell rest of the week as well!

[ghostgirl101]

Dating BEN Drowned Would Be Like This:

A/N: I've suddenly got inspiration to write dating headcanons/imagines for the creepypastas, so… requests are open, I guess (but I won't write smut) 🙃 This is based on the original first arc (The Haunted Cartidge) written by Jadusable, so there's no mention of Moon Children and BEN's still the antagonist and not a victim 😎 I love writing for BEN Drowned... my fave Creepypasta 🙃

🎮• So, you found the Majora's Mask cartridge and started playing it on your N64. Everything about the game is horribly wrong, and there's the Elegy of Emptiness that keeps following you around. Wherever you go, he's following you, even if you don't notice - from the top of buildings, hidden in the shadows, or just straight up in your face. It's unnerving, to say the least. That, and the things he says.

🎮• All too familiar lines like "You shouldn't have done that," and "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" but then there are other odd things on black screen scenes, like "There is beauty in your suffering, but there is so much more," and "You need me more than you'll ever realise..."

🎮• BEN kind of likes toying with you to see what reactions he can get out of you, as he does have quite a sadistic streak in him. But instead of just terrorising you until he gets bored and then going to find another victim, he enjoys just watching you, staring at you with empty, observant eyes. He watches you while you sleep for hours at a time, mesmerised and somewhat confused by what makes you stand out to him. It's not just because you're pretty, it's something much more than looks. It's just... you.

🎮• Hidden inside your computer while you go about your day, or playing with the electrics when he wants to remind you he's there. He's obsessed with the little decisions you make, the way you look, and the idea of you being, well, all his. It's extremely hard to have secrets or privacy, because BEN doesn't believe in that. He can read your expressions easily, or what you might say before you say it, almost as if he's reading your mind. So there's no way to lie to him and get away with it.

🎮• When you go to school or work, you notice that the annoying ones who used to pick on you and all have suddenly gone quiet, only giving you wary, wide-eyed looks every now and then. The next day, there's no sight of them, and a missing person poster is up soon after. You have your suspicions immediately, and go straight onto Cleverbot when you get home:

BEN... Yes, what happened to him? Cut it out. I know you're there. Where? You killed her, didn't you? She didn't deserve that. I want you to stop. Just, please? Stop? Why would I do that? They lost the game. Besides, you're much more important. Why? Because. Because what? I choose you. Don't you feel safe? I don't know. Not really? You will.

🎮• BEN isn't kidding though. You'll never have a lasting incident with someone being horrible or being in a dangerous situation. He's always watching, extremely protective and possessive. You see more of that when he reveals yourself, which is after you'd injured yourself slightly somehow, and after a short struggle of trying to patch yourself up and stop bleeding, the TV glitches, crackles and opens up from the inside like a portal.

🎮• You almost have a heart attack as you can only watch as a boy with deathly pale skin, hollow black eyes and intense red pupils steps out casually, a look of amusement as you grip the chair you're sitting on to try and ground yourself and make some sense of the situation. It fades into huffy annoyance and almost unnoticeable concern as his red gaze flicks to your wound.

🎮• "You shouldn't have done that."

🎮• "Well I-" You don't get much of a chance to say anything, because in less than a second he's right opposite you, making you flinch back in surprise as a cold, glitchy hand takes the supplies out of your own and does an exceptionally good job of wrapping it up. His messy, snowy blonde hair tickles your skin as he looks up, sending chills down your back as his inhumane eyes lock onto yours with a playful, dark smirk.

🎮• "It's rude to stare."

🎮• BEN can be absolutely impossible by the things he says sometimes, and he loves watching you frown in frustration and try to get back at him. Ever since he first appeared in a materialised form to you, he does it more often, and you get used to the unnatural sight of him as he pops out of screens into your home whenever he feels like it, crashing your websites and snickering when you get annoyed because it didn't save some of the work you were doing. But the way he 'has fun with you' isn't all malicious and threatening as it is with the others, it's more playful and teasing. If anyone else does the same, he'll scowl and their phone will give them a harsh electric shock.

🎮• It doesn't matter how much you try to tell BEN you can look out for yourself and he can lighten up a bit when you're around others, he's still going to be watching out for you with a slightly overprotective mindset. In his mind, your 'friends' and those around you aren't as deserving or worthy as you are for pretty much anything. He doesn't pester you with the questions of where you were and who with, since he already knows, but isn't above mentally torturing people who seem like trouble until they go away.

🎮• He can also be kind of clingy, but in his own way. BEN doesn't give you much of a warning when surprisingly strong arms make you slide onto his lap while you're sitting and doing whatever it is you're doing in your room, or fiddles with your hair and examines your body and face like a curious painting. He stares a hell of a lot too, which is another thing to get used to. Hugs are often initiated by you, and he'll never push you away, though he's not that used to it. BEN will grumble under his breath if you cuddle him with a content grin, but you know he's enjoying it really.

🎮• BEN's possessiveness is shown by his like for marking you up, which he does pretty much whenever he gets the chance. He smirks roughishly as you jump at the sudden feeling of cold lips sucking and biting down on highly noticeable places of your skin on your neck and even your arms. If you ask him with those big eyes to do it somewhere that's less noticeable, he'll roll his black and red eyes dramatically, as if you're asking for the impossible, but do as you say anyway.

🎮• You can never just kiss BEN when you leave or something. He'll draw them out into heated makeout sessions that he only stops when you're gripping onto him tightly with shaky breaths, where he'll grin and wink at you before disappearing. Jackass.

🎮• He shows his crazed, obsessive love by getting you whatever things you want or have mentioned by shoving them through random screens' portals to where you are. BEN enjoys playing video games with you too (obviously) where it's entertaining to see you annoyed at him beating you all the time, but then cute when he messes with the game to let you win sometimes. His soft side comes out when you're upset or need comfort in a non-violent way to whoever could have caused it. No words are said, just cool arms around your middle and the thoughtful boy tracing shapes on your skin and enjoying the unfamiliar sense of peace he gets with you in his arms.

🎮• Dating BEN Drowned isn't the easiest relationship to be roped into, since he does have a fair few past experiences that have scarred him emotionally and made him who he is (quite literally). Bit by bit, he'll tell you things, showing you that you're earning his trust, and you can absolutely trust him. Because, for once, he doesn't want to hurt someone. He wants to care for them. It just takes a little getting used to, that's all.

#ben drowned x y/n #ben drowned x reader #ben drowned #creepypasta ben drowned #creepypasta fandom #creepypasta headcanon #creepy pasta #creepypasta #creepypasta x reader #creepypasta x you #creepypasta x y/n #creepypasta imagines #creepypasta fanfic #creepypasta fluff #creepypasta blog #jadusable #majoras mask #nintendo 64 #creepypasta hcs #cleverbot #yandere creepypasta #slasher headcanons #slasher fandom #slashers #slasher fanfiction #slashers fanfiction #slasher x reader #slashers x reader #slashers headcanons #slasher hcs

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: BaNaNa Boy

Debut: Mario Kart 8

In the past, we have gone over some of the most silly and notable fictional sponsors appearing in the Mario Kart series, but one has always stood out as the most a-peeling, even back then! That is none other than BaNaNa Boy. Who is this mystical Boy? Why does he capitalize such seemingly unimportant letters? Let’s discuss.

BaNaNa Boy is, I must assume, the provider of the Banana Peels that are so important to the Mario Kart series! It is quite obvious, I must say. The peel is in the logo, and the slogan, “Let one slip!”, refers to slipping on them. I am also reasonably certain that this slogan is based on the phrase “let one rip”, referring to farting. Awesome!

I have to wonder how BaNaNa Boy got their start! I don’t know how long lore-wise banana peels have been used for kart races. Maybe at first the Kongs were more than happy to donate their used banana peels for the races, but as the karting franchise grew and grew, they needed more, a dedicated provider... a BaNaNa Boy! Someone BaNaNas for Bananas! Or maybe it is a more humble origin, and BaNaNa Boy was a small novelty shop, providing banana peels and other items to prank your friends with. When a large amount of banana peels were needed, one of their loyal customers suggested this small business, and that was their big break!

It may seem like producing large quantities of bananas only to use their peels would be incredibly wasteful. But do not fret!

Let One Slip right down your esophagus! As seen if you look closely at the vending machines in Super Bell Subway, BaNaNa Boy sells beverages, presumably made with the peeled bananas! You can find them wherever you find canned water from Toad Harbor and canned Roy Smooth Sounds. I would also like to assume that BaNaNa Boy provides bananas for other establishments, like Coconut Cafe, which we also see in Super Bell Subway! I know I would love a BaNaNa muffin!

I have been writing “BaNaNa” so many times here. I love the wacky capitalization! It makes me pronounce it in my mind like “bah nah nah” rather than “banana”. Do you think it stands for something? I think it can be a sort of acronym, representing their three main products: Bananas, Nanners, and ‘Nas! All brought to you by a Boy. A Boy with a dream.

A Boy with a dream of stardom! Advertised in New York Minute, Da Big Apple itself, is BaNaNa Boy, the musical! The smash hit musical! Is BaNaNa Boy such a huge and popular brand that it has become a multimedia franchise? I like to think that it is not. It’s still just a banana supplier. But now it has a musical, and everyone loves it! Wouldn’t you want to see what it’s all about? I would!

Maybe it follows the story of the company’s rise to worldwide success. Or maybe it is an entirely fictional adventure about BaNaNa Boy the banana peel and his wacky friends... and foes! BaNaNa Boy would be the hero defending the banana trees and the entire ecosystem around them, and the whole thing would distract people from the actual environmental damage the brand is actually causing just like any corporation. What a fun spectacle! Visit the concession stand and treat yourself to a BaNaNa peel packaged in its own single-use plastic wrapper!

Did you know that Super Bell Subway contains this incredible city map? That’s the subway terminal itself in pink, with train lines leading out, and you can even see Toad Harbor in box A2, and Moo Moo Meadows in box D3!

And did you know that this city is, in fact, the one seen in N64 Rainbow Road? It is so so SO cool and awesome to see such continuity in a franchise where there is so often none at all! As a wise woman once said, “More like Mario Kart Lore!” But how is this relevant? Look at the first map again! It’s blurry, but the text on each side is the names of a whole lot of the sponsors seen advertising throughout the game! This is not just any city, but apparently a capital of the racing world, full of storefronts or maybe even headquarters of businesses from BaNaNa Boy to Undead Motors. Hey, BaNaNa Boy! That’s the one we were talking about before this tangent!

According to section A, BaNaNa Boy (misspelled Banana Boy) is located in box C3. The labels on the map itself are nearly unreadable, but as they list some the same businesses multiple times even in the same boxes, I am inclined to ignore them. So let’s look at box C3, home of BaNaNa Boy!

Here it is! Somewhere in this image is BaNaNa Boy (location). It certainly looks like all residential buildings to me, though! Are you telling me they did not want to take the time to model individual unique businesses on this background setting far away from the actual racetrack, and/or did not plan in advance that a DLC track would establish that these locations are unique in the first place? Preposterous! Clearly BaNaNa Boy works from home and you can come visit him. In real life!

One more thing! Mario Kart Tour is very insistent upon people playing as Miis, with multiple racing suits available, each treated as its own character. I am not a fan of most of these, as they are usually just based on a character who is already playable, so I would rather play as the real character! However, there are some really fun and creative ones based on other things from the Mario series, my favorite probably being this one based on the end-of-level castles! If they can make a suit based on this, surely they could make one based on Banana... and maybe even BaNaNa Boy itself, seeing as this game celebrates the sponsors wherever it can, to the point of even putting their stickers on some racing helmet! It would absolutely become the best racing suit to me instantly. You could pretend you’re playing as THE BaNaNa Boy! I love selling out! BaNaNa Boy paid me to write this post! (in exposure)

#BaNaNa Boy #banana #mario kart #mario kart 8 #mario kart tour #mario #mario entities #mario brands #mod chikako

[game-boy-pocket]

Today I beat Super Mario 64... with all 120 Stars. And I did it, as Birdo, on a real Nintendo 64, with no performance issues.

Now THIS is the kind of character swap hack I love. I'm so fucking tired of "Luigi instead" editions of Mario games, get that shit outta here, even if you give Luigi his higher jump and worse traction, it's still overdone and boring.

Birdo does indeed have egg shooting mechanics in this game. You have to press L to activate it, otherwise you're using Mario's moveset. In Egg shooting mode, you can press R and Birdo will attempt to auto aim. It's not going to do anything to bosses ( though it does seem to stun Wiggler ) but it makes short work of small enemies and boxes, and I discovered way too late in the game that your eggs can collect coins. That would have made those last few levels 100 coin challenges so much easier... Birdo also has unique animations and voice clips, a lot of character hacks don't go that far.

It's not just that, but the game is improved in other subtle ways too. steering the owl in Whomp's fortress seems smoother, and you no longer have to hold A to grab onto ceilings. She moves faster when clinging to ceilings too. And there's an indicator for interacting with signs and NPCs. No more awkwardly punching at those bob-omb buddies.

This was a very fun romp ( aside from Rainbow Ride and Tick-Tock-Clock, fuck those levels ) and the author intends to make an original Birdo adventure too. I look forward to that and hope it runs on real hardware.

I really hope we see more like this, characters from the Mario universe we don't normally consider for a playable role, with unique abilities for them. I just don't want any more characters who are essentially Mario but with slightly altered properties, otherwise what's even the point?

There's a pretty cool Sonic in Mario 64 mod that works on my N64 and is pretty faithful to Sonic Adventure too but... man, Sonic is just not built for those Bowser levels, waaaay too fast. So I do appreciate the effort there.

That said... Peach doesn't kiss Birdo at the end, this modder is a coward.

If you want to check this hack out for yourself, download the patch here, and use a BPS patcher to get it working: https://romhacking.com/hack/super-birdo-64

Now if I could have my own wish, give me Geno in Mario 64. Maybe his thing could be more projectiles and getting more coins out of enemies if he times his attacks right.

#pocket plays #birdo #super mario 64 #n64 #romhack

[angelicguy]

was talking about it the other day but its sad how we are never going to get really big budget games w/ funky artstyles again. like if you look at the majority of big budget releases lately, they are all kind of going for the same thing as far as actual modeling goes- hi fi, super detailed complex models that try to portray as much detail as possible. which is fine for certain games, but it makes me miss the big swings devs used to take.

take street fighter 4 for instance- despite being over 10 years old at this point, it still looks REALLY good. great art direction, has a weird painterly look so everything has a cool watercolor style to it, models are expressive, etc. and this was a BIG release, its not some indie game (where most big stylistic swings tend to be made nowadays).

compared to street fighter 6, which is going for photorealism (with strong choices made as far as animation and color goes) it looks dated in the context of graphics generally, but looks WAY better than its contemporaries from the same time period. my fear is that street fighter 6 wont look that great in 10 years time.

side note, its also why street fighter 5 was really only loved by hardcore fans. it does nothing particularly well! its a halfway point between realistic and artistic to the point where it feels like a side-grade rather than an improvement or even its own original idea!

whatever leaps were made in lighting and texture quality are essentially irrelevant here. fucking gross!

the thing is, i dont think this is a deliberate choice that devs are making right now. from what i can tell, recent rendering tech has made it way easier to achieve a handful of lately- hi fi LIGHTING, increased TEXTURE DETAIL and HI POLY COUNTS come to mind. these are cool, but if youre a dev who wants to make a triple A product, you kind of have to use whatever tech is on the table to make a product look cutting edge. none of those encourage taking wild stabs at cool art directions. devs used to use those cool art directions because it was the ONLY OPTION THEY HAD.

classic case being windwaker right. the gamecube was a huge graphical leap from the n64, where even getting a model to look like something was a challenge. compared to ocarina of time, windwaker looks absolutely fucking incredible. it got a lot of pushback at the time for being too kiddy, but really the strength of its style is a result of doing as much as they possibly could with the platform they were working on. no high poly counts, the shading tech was relatively simple, and the textures (while a huge improvement over the n64!) are still basic compared to what we have today. windwaker still looks impeccable to this day, and even the HD remaster they made which, ahaha, improved WHAT

LIGHTING and TEXTURE DETAIL. but without a real consideration for the original artstyle (or why it even existed... which was the gamecubes limitations) it just looks worse.

in response to this pushback (i think, idk i didnt work at nintendo at the time) they gave twilight princess a way more "realistic" look. but given the rendering restrictions of the time, it still has a fairly robust artstyle

proportions are more realistic obviously, but in order to achieve that realism without the kind of lighting tech we have now the "lighting" is BUILT Into the textures. look at links sword, how it kind of darkens near the hilt, or how the shadow on the keese's wings is just kind of painted in specific areas. i would argue that twilight princess looks a LOT like street fighter 4 in that area-

damn! they almost look like theyre from the same game! but twilight princess was celebrated for being "realistic" while sf4 was noted for having a funky watercolor style (thats built into the focus attacks even!). its so so smart, because the devs knew they couldnt go for photorealism (like so many games of the era tried at and completely failed at!) so they went for a mix of cool stylistic decisions that allowed a game to look GOOD in a subjective, artistic way.

Not that games don't try and apply artistic principles now, but its a lot less unique. look at mario odyssey

its just a beach. and it looks great, its well rendered, but its just a beach. colors are clearly intentional and very pretty, but it's nothin that special right now, probably will look even less special in 10 years even compared to levels in the same game.

what im curious about is when are we gonna get back to that kind of artstyle meets rendering tech! if ever! current tech makes it so devs are kind of forced to go down the same boring path. look at mortal kombat 1:

im sure there are some leaps in texture and lighting, but they keep taking shortcuts. all the faces are modeled after REAL peoples faces and they mocap for expressions/conversation, which gives a really boring look to it. the fact that mk11 and mk1 look so similar so many years apart (4 i guess isnt that much but there have been leaps!) is disappointing to me.

then you have tekken 8, which is like the best looking game ive ever seen. for a while i found it hard to put my finger on why, but my brother said something really smart i feel- they made all of these models by hand. theyre essentially digital statues. they didnt pull actual face models, they just worked on their features until it looked correct. on top of the lighting and texture work, it creates a look not unlike the renders tekken has been using for years. which is convenient for them, because they can finally match the kind of real-time fidelity they've been chasing for like 30 years

hell it looks BETTER than that. so what im trying to say is im hopeful that art direction will catch up with the kind of rendering tricks/strengths we have.

i think tekken 8 feels like how soul calibur 2 probably felt at launch. does a lot of the same things given the time period

i still think hi fi rendering doesnt make for a good looking game, but rather where the focus lies for the player. for tekken it makes sense that they would focus their horsepower on detailed models and stages- youre gonna be lookin at that forever. look at elden ring

texture wise, SUPER low res for 2022. maybe even 2020. but what they do with the horsepower is genius- they focus on scale to translate locations of objectives to a player while also reinforcing the feeling of adventure, on top of extremely strong choices in color and lighting. i hope, going forward, games focus on how they can use this kind of tech to reinforce a games "gameplay mission statement" while keeping strong artistic choices present rather than focusing on being able to wow someone with a couple of screenshots at the cost of BOTH of those things. im just ranting though french press got my ass

[gubbles-owo]

When whipping up Railgun in two weeks' time for a game jam, I aimed to make the entire experience look and feel as N64-esque as I could muster in that short span. But the whole game was constructed in Godot, a modern engine, and targeted for PC. I just tried to look the part. Here is the same bedroom scene running on an actual Nintendo 64:

I cannot overstate just how fucking amazing this is.

Obviously this is not using Godot anymore, but an open source SDK for the N64 called Libdragon. The 3D support is still very much in active development, and it implements-- get this-- OpenGL 1.1 under the hood. What the heck is this sorcery...

UH OH, YOU'VE BEEN TRAPPED IN THE GEEK ZONE! NO ESCAPE NO ESCAPE NO ESCAPE EHUEHUHEUHEUHEUHUEH While there is a gltf importer for models, I didn't want to put my faith in a kinda buggy importer with an already (in my experience) kinda buggy model format. I wanted more control over how my mesh data is stored in memory, and how it gets drawn. So instead I opted for a more direct solution: converting every vertex of every triangle of every object in the scene by fucking hand.

THERE ARE NEARLY NINE HUNDRED LINES OF THIS SHIT. THIS TOOK ME MONTHS. And these are just the vertices. I had to figure out triangle drawing PER VERTEX. You have to construct each triangle counterclockwise in order for the front of the face to be, well, the front. In addition, starting the next tri with the last vertex of the previous tri is the most efficient, so I plotted out so many diagrams to determine how to most efficiently draw each mesh. And god the TEXTURES. When I painted the textures for this scene originally, I went no larger than 64 x 64 pixels for each. The N64 has an infamously minuscule texture cache of 4kb, and while there were some different formats to try and make the most of it, I previously understood this resolution to be the maximum. Guess what? I was wrong! You can go higher. Tall textures, such as the closet and hallway doors, were stored as 32 x 64 in Godot. On the actual N64, however, I chose the CI4 texture format, aka 4-bit color index. I can choose a palette of 16 colors, and in doing so bump it up to 48 x 84.

On the left, the original texture in Godot at 32 x 64px. On the right, an updated texture on the N64 at 48 x 84px. Latter screenshot taken in the Ares emulator.

The window, previously the same smaller size, is now a full 64 x 64 CI4 texture mirrored once vertically. Why I didn't think of this previously in Godot I do not know lol

Similarly, the sides of the monitors in the room? A single 32 x 8 CI4 texture. The N64 does a neat thing where you can specify the number of times a texture repeats or mirrors on each axis, and clip it afterwards. So I draw a single vent in the texture, mirror it twice horizontally and 4 times vertically, adjusting the texture coordinates so the vents sit toward the back of the monitor.

The bookshelf actually had to be split up into two textures for the top and bottom halves. Due to the colorful array of books on display, a 16 color palette wasn't enough to show it all cleanly. So instead these are two CI8 textures, an 8-bit color index so 256 colors per half!! At a slightly bumped up resolution of 42 x 42. You can now kind of sort of tell what the mysterious object on the 2nd shelf is. It's. It is a sea urchin y'all it is in the room of a character that literally goes by Urchin do ddo you get it n-

also hey do u notice anything coo,l about the color of the books on each shelf perhaps they also hjint at things about Urchin as a character teehee :3c I redid the ceiling texture anyways cause the old one was kind of garbage, (simple noise that somehow made the edges obvious when tiled). Not only is it still 64px, but it's now an I4 texture, aka 4-bit intensity. There's no color information here, it's simply a grayscale image that gets blended over the vertex color. So it's half the size in memory now! Similarly the ceiling fan shadow now has a texture on it (it was previously just a black polygon). The format is IA4, or 4-bit intensity alpha. 3 bits of intensity (b/w), 1 bit of alpha (transparency). It's super subtle but it now has some pleasing vertex colors that compliment the lighting in the room!

Left, Godot. Right, N64. All of the texture resolutions either stayed the same, or got BIGGER thanks to the different texture formats the N64 provides. Simply put:

THE SCENE LOOKS BETTER ON THE ACTUAL N64.

ALSO IT RUNS AT 60FPS. MOSTLY*. *It depends on the camera angle, as tried to order draw calls of everything in the scene to render as efficiently as I could for most common viewing angles. Even then there are STILL improvements I know I can make, particularly with disabling the Z-buffer for some parts of the room. And I still want to add more to the scene: ambient sounds, and if I can manage it, the particles of dust that swirl around the room. Optimization is wild, y'all. But more strikingly... fulfilling a childhood dream of making something that actually renders and works on the first video game console I ever played? Holy shit. Seeing this thing I made on this nearly thirty-year-old console, on this fuzzy CRT, is such a fucking trip. I will never tire of it.

#aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa #n64 #gubdev #technically oc shit maybe i need a tag for that idfk

[biggaybunny]

Thinking again about the original Spyro games and 3D space in games.

The move to 3D was a tough one for platformers. I think we can all agree on that. Even fondly remembered titles from the era of the N64 and the PS1 were known for having tough or clunky platforming controls. Camera problems, awkward character control, issues with depth marking, difficult gaps; there were all sorts of problems. Hell, the platformer genre shrank to near-nonexistence in the coming generations of games; Mario Sunshine for the gamecube, the first 3D mario after 64, is considered one of the weaker entries, despite having gone to extreme lengths to try and compensate for the difficulty of platforming in 3D (they gave you the ability to hover in air and correct missed jumps, this wasn't by accident).

But back to when platformers were first breaking out into 3D, you can see that a lot of different strategies were used to try and compensate for the difficulty introduced by the new dimension. Crash Bandicoot is well-known for its tactic of restricting the player to two dimensions at a time, giving you obstacle courses of various types to run through, but mixing them up between and even within levels so you still felt like you were playing a 3D game. Other games would give you a double jump to help correct yourself, though the examples I can think of were games that came out a little later (like ratchet and clank for the ps2), so they had the benefit of seeing what worked and what didn't for the first wave. Mario 64, interestingly, simply toned down the difficulty of the platforming challenge, as well as the punishment for failure in all but a few areas (mario had never had a life meter in the 2D games, and certainly wouldn't survive falling in lava in those). You might expect me to say "and that's why Mario 64 was more successful" or something, but that's not my point, and honestly, I think discussing that would be beyond the scope of what I'm trying to get at.

So what I'm trying to get at is that the move to 3D required anyone who wanted to make a platformer to think about space. How they wanted to handle space, how they wanted the player to interact with space. For the platformer, space itself, the geometry of the game, is crucial. Now, obviously, every game is affected by its geometry. A shooter is drastically different if enemies can only come at you from a corridor or from any direction. I'm not saying it's not important for other genres, I'm saying it took even greater importance for platformers. Because it's not enough to say, okay, the player can move in any direction. You have to go a step further. How can they move through every direction? What limits them? What details are there to the geometry that aid or impede that? How many directions can they move at any given moment? In a lot of platformers of the day, a lot of the actual challenging platforming sections tended to happen against walls, or in areas where the player had only to move forward and back, or side to side, at one time, neither both at once (you see this in basically everything Rareware made for the n64).

Spyro (remember what I originally said this post was about? lmao) embraced the possibilities of 3D like no other early platformer did, in my opinion. While Crash put up guide rails and Mario slowballed the challenges for you, Spyro was about using the depth and breadth of the 3D world. Other platformers jump vertically, but Spyro went horizontally. Your challenges weren't above you, they were over there. Yes, way over there. In the distance. Yes, all the way over there. You can't translate Spyro back in to 2D because it actually used all 3 dimensions. What you could see, you could get to, and not by walking over there, but by using your skills. For me personally, as a child, I never even saw the draw distance limitations as a downside. Gliding over a vast chasm and watching treasure and enemies "come into view" as I got close was exciting! It was exploration! Seeing a place and figuring out how to get over to it was a challenge. Trying to eyeball a trajectory and see if I'd make it was exciting. It was all made possible by using the distance and depth of the world, and the relative height of regions of the land. The entire 3D landscape was there, for you to traverse in fun and interesting ways.

There were some drawbacks, yes. Missing a jump in a traditional platformer is often something you find out quickly, and you can quickly learn and iterate on your mistakes. Missing a glide in Spyro often wouldn't be apparently until the 14th second of a 15 second glide, and by the time you got back to where you jumped from you couldn't be sure where, exactly, you had jumped from and if you just needed to try again. The level design was also often hit or miss with clueing you in to the existence of hidden jumps. And by necessity, levels had to full of large open gaps most of the time, which often make the world feel empty and kind of eerie. But I think these are all things that could've been solved with a little bit of iterating on them and some cleverness. Just take a look at how well Crash 4 works after the first 3 Crashes kind of hit a wall with their formula.

I really think that even modern entries in the 3d platforming genre struggle to take advantage of the potential of their world as well as the original Spyro did, at least conceptually. It's a shame the series has been mismanaged as badly as it has for as long as it has, but then again, even the original trilogy was getting pretty bad by the 3rd one. It's just a really hard formula to get right, it was probably a lot easier to copy what everyone else at the time was doing and add more gimmicks and minigames and side characters. So instead of getting to explore rich magical landscapes with a unique moveset as a cool little purple dragon, we got to go skateboarding with Hunter.

I fucking hate Hunter.

#long post #spyro #spyro the dragon

[crusherthedoctor]

"Mario never undergone a drastic redesign for plots"

I mean...the proportional change between the SNES era and N64 era for Mario is massive, and design again changed a lot for Early GC era. And less said of the 1981-85 designs the better

Or hell, Bomberman doing whatever the fuck until Super Bomberman 4

https://twitter.com/a_kinopio/status/1243785430299865088?s=20

Sonic also very much HAD gradual design changes between 1991-7...it's just that the general public didn't give a shit. We go from this tubbiness

To long legs and hair mcbrow here. Hoshino did Sonic CD and R 2D art, and the diff between that and here is still indicating an overall evolution. Only Amy and Eggman drastically changed, which for the former I'm glad. Better than being a literal girl Sonic clone. The rest are just continuing a trend then adding iris color

But really I feel Sonic Team did the redesigns to welcome a new era, given how Japan unironically forgot about Sonic. It's jarring- if you ignore 6-7 years of the franchise, but also distinctively full of much needed energy given the crap 1995-7 period.

Similarly I feel we're missing cultural context; both the US and Japan had a problem with associating design with specific tone, so you ended up with typecasted designs. Sonic despite having attitude and games like 3K WAS associated to being a cutesy generic mascot inferior to Hello Kitty in Japan, which is not a good thing. Almost all noncanon manga further just divorced itself from actual game tone to be a parody or cutesy manga, which both Naka and Oshima didn't like, same for early Sega Harmony Calendar art.

The US market had a forced redesign that lasted till 1994 that while ass, unfortunately just lended to the idea of not accepting a design as is, regardless of tone. So Sonic Team gave in to that for Adventure, which a competition was held in 1997 to see how it was recieved. Uekawa won ironically cuz he had the safest design, but took elements of Okano's art later to add flair and zaniness as it'd defeat the point otherwise

I feel Capcom had a similar problem with Megaman: they didn't feel comfortable with solely using the same design for bigger stories, so they opted for the more adult X spinoffs, and then similarly did the same for Legends and Battle Network (ironically I feel this backfired). Even Ruby Spears attempted to be faithful for their show pilot, but test audiences didn't like it, so we got a mediocre jocked up muscle Mega Man. While in Japan the anime OVAs were very cutesy and basic, despite games being more action oriented

It's hard to say if this issue disappeared now, and I feel it's revisionism to say "oh, if the redesigns didn't happen, no one would be mad" cuz the truth is...Sonic would die if he didn't change harder

I feel both ignoring every middle design and just lumping Sonic as "Classic" "Modern" is a very stupid thing as both are fucking subjective and tempermental terms. Adventure isn't "modern", and anything with sentimental value and nostalgia is "classic". Heroes is fucking over 20 years old, and can be considered one to some, as unpopular of an opinion that is. Sonic Team didn't have eras awkwardly like that in the 10th Anniversary book, and even said "Sonic will continue changing", but after 10 more years of the fandom, original creatives outside Iizuka leaving, and game reviewers destroying nuance and history, they forcibly had to split him like so for Generations. I see the same fan mentality outside Sonic for Golden Age era cartoons, it's maddening. Just look at Looney Tunes fans on how they treat Daffy, it's the same shit

Sorry for ranting, but I hate when history and evolution are ignored just to make strawmanned points when it boils down to "wishful revisionism under MY misnostalgia/control". I saw someone make an SA1 mod to make stages "More classic" with checker spam when not only is that term bullshit, Sega and Okano literally showed us concept art of Adventure stages before the char designs tweaks, and it's the exact same texture and bg prop set as final. That is maddening

I'm tired of it

At the risk of being blunt, I'm aware of all that. I assure you that I could never forget American the Assface and Ivo No-Eyes no matter how much I'd prefer to.

As for Mario, his earliest designs had the excuse of it not being fully set in stone yet, and with the N64 era onward, they generally only involved slight proportion changes or subtle details in the clothing and what have you... much like Sonic in the years between 91 and 97, American Assface and other questionable SoA decisions notwithstanding. The point is, Mario wasn't redesigned for the explicit purpose of seeming like a more mature bing bing wahoo man. :P Neither was Kirby, who I used for reference due to his reputation of fighting eldritch abominations and occasional dark subtext despite resembling a pink blob with stubs for arms.

Finally, I can't speak for how others choose to use the terms, but I use Classic and Modern for simple convenience. I agree that there should never have been an official line in the sand between the two, at least outside of Generations' context, but this is what the franchise has taught us to do at this point. That's the ugly truth, I'm afraid. As is the ugly truth that the vocal, dramatic shift to the Adventure designs and style - regardless of intent, regardless of justification, regardless of the gradual alterations and differences between artists in the years beforehand, regardless of every angle of relevant context - still brought on one of the single most notorious divides in a fandom full of them, up there with the debut of SatAM. We can debate all day as to whether it was fair or not, but the divide happened all the same.

I'm not a Classic-only purist. SA1 is one of my favourite games in the series, and I love various other Modern titles. And to stress once more, I like the Modern character designs and have no personal beef with them whatsoever. But I can't ignore these things in an age where Adventure era rose-tinted goggles are at an all time high, and while it's true that not everything is straightforward, that goes both ways in cases like this.

#Crusher's Asks #Opinion #Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic Character Designs

[blueskittlesart]

do you have any tips on like, starting emulating? i was playing a version of wind waker ages ago on citra i think but i remember nothing about how i set it up or anything

i unfortunately can't give any tips on citra because my computer's graphics card is actually too low of a model to run it, but from what i've heard citra isn't really the best option for 3ds emulation anyway. it runs slowly if at all and has some intense framerate drop problems. in almost every other instance i recommend 3ds hacking, which allows you to take a regular 3ds and bypass the security locks that prevent it from loading and playing pirated ROMs. with a hacked 3ds you can play any 3ds game you can find as intended, with the original control scheme and configuration.

for DS game emulation, i will cautiously recommend desmume, although i have only ever used it for low-load visual novels that don't have complicated control schemes or timed elements, and even then i experienced some minor speed drops, so i can't attest to its usability for more complex games.

for gamecube/wii emulation, i once again recommend a hacked console. gamecube emulators can be loaded onto a hacked wii and function very well as long as you have a gamecube controller (i do NOT recommend using the reconfigured wii remote for these emulators) and, like a hacked 3ds, a hacked wii can load and play any compatible rom regardless of how it was obtained.

for consoles like playstation, gameboy, n64, etc, i personally have a retroid pocket 2, which is a console designed to emulate retro arcade games that can run emulators up to about an n64/psp level of processing power. i prefer this because i prefer physical buttons and joysticks to keyboard controls and, as previously mentioned, my graphics card isn't good enough for higher-load emulators, but most pc rigs will have enough processing power to run those emulators themselves, though depending on the emulator you may have to build the emulator yourself using visual studio or some other interface, which is something i'm still learning myself. the retroid runs on the MAME framework, which is a multi-purpose emulator that requires building to run on a home PC. this is also part of why i like the retroid, MAME comes pre-installed so I didn't have to build it myself! but it's definitely possible to learn to build it yourself, my skillset just isn't quite there yet lol

#i got my retroid on amazon for about $100 and it's a really good little emulator! i'm currently playing minish cap on it #and in terms of hacked consoles both wii and 3ds hacks are relatively safe and reversible if you want to sell the console later! #asks

[blueberryfruitbat]

doing a thing to help do other things

So I wanna do some things but i wanna gauge the universal likes of the LoZ franchise, some games are left out because I

(1) have something already planned/made (2) its a known fact that the game is not widely played even for a series like Zelda some just don't get as big as the rest. (I'm sorry oracle games, minish cap, and toon DS games but you're not talked about very frequently ;-;) (3) I think it'd create some poll bias, this is mostly applying to just BotW and TotK since they are newer, and still very much in the current brain space of the fandom and that could sway votes. Don't take this too seriously, but its obvious these games are BIG rn and they've basically already solidified themselves into a high slot even without being in the poll. (4) Is not a mainline game, sorry Hyrule Warriors, I still love you...

I would like a sample size outside of my usual gang so if you could RB its appreciated, but not required.

#batty babbles #poll #legend of zelda #Loz #the legend of zelda

[luigiblood]

GoldenEye 007 & The Future of Nintendo Switch Online

I wanna talk a little bit about the rerelease of GoldenEye 007, the little context and also something I noticed during my research.

GoldenEye 007 has finally got rereleased on January 27th 2023 on both the Nintendo Switch Online service, Xbox Game Pass and as a digital Rare Replay update.

See more after the break.

Emulation quality

Both the Switch and Xbox versions are confirmed emulated and not based at all from the leaked XBLA version, which I'm probably certain will never see a release ever, possibly due to the rights holders which are... very messy if I rely on the copyright info: FIVE. Nintendo, Rare Studio (Microsoft), Danjaq LLC, MGM and Sony Music Publishing.

Welcome to rights hell.

The emulation of it is... kinda complicated because it is mostly fine, like it is playable for certain, if you play it I think it is sort of reasonable. Both versions have 16:9 support (which by the way, was part of the original version on N64) and are 30 FPS with some framerate dips.

The Xbox version has tons of hacks to just change the controls, copyright info, and upscaling (up to 4K!) which honestly, is the imperfect part, with the slight but very visible texture warping and seams, which while Code Mystics claims it is technically accurate to the N64, and I do actually believe them about that, I don't know if we can really talk about accuracy the moment you just upscale the graphics way beyond what the original console could do.

Personally this problem would definitely bother me a lot, but from what I can see the Xbox version is still emulating fine.

The Switch Online version has not many hacks, they do exist, but not really a lot, the graphics emulation is slightly worse than Xbox with mostly too much fog than intended, repeated textures that shouldn't repeat as much, but it makes up for not having the texture warping issue in the slightest, only having less visible seams at times, as it is also upscaled in HD.

Just to talk about the specifics of the Switch version as I datamined it: The base ROM is different, and was modified to remove the face textures for Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. This is actually kinda the first time they hacked a base ROM like this before, especially only for parts that are fully unused, they really wanted to make sure it's not there.

I also noticed tons of texture replacements that seem to be related to explosions, maybe muzzle flashes as well.

The major thing that people will talk about are the controls, which by result of the Nintendo Switch Online service being more about playing the original games as is, which I do respect personally, in fact let me say this: the default control scheme is dated but it's fine to play, but there's one thing that I really dislike: The stick sensitivity is way too high. I think this makes it almost unplayable in certain aspects, because current sticks are definitely not like the N64 sticks which I think are way more precise due to their inner workings and form factor, it does not adapt 1:1 to newer sticks.

So when you just wanna use the aiming mode in Goldeneye, it's way harder to aim properly than on an N64 controller. It's doable, but it's harder.

The online, exclusive to Switch due to the N64 emulator already supporting it, I couldn't try it but after seeing footage it is very sad that it still can't handle online with players from two different regions when on PC it is not as much of a problem.

If you ask me which version is emulated better, I'd say Xbox at first glance, but both versions are totally playable, good enough but imperfect. Code Mystics' work for their N64 emulator is I think respectable, and iQue's work on the N64 emulator for Switch is also much better than we originally anticipated with the trailers and other official footage.

And yes I mentioned iQue and not NERD because their official involvement with Nintendo 64 NSO seems to be purely on the UI integration, possibly a bit more, but the major developer is iQue.

A lot of the disappointment I noticed are on the fact that 360 XBLA port is not used in any way, and it is certainly a bummer when that version showed promise.

N64 Switch Online Issues

But I also do hear a lot of complaints about the controls, but I think it's more of a quality of life debate, I think it's playable except for the stick sensitivity on Switch. But everyone does point out the need for a way to remap controls. Instead we just use the Switch OS controller remap feature in an attempt to fit our needs, which, personally, is only a bandaid and is not a real fix.

Personally one of the most annoying thing is the fact that B and A are horizontal instead of vertical just like the original N64 controller.

WHY IS THIS NOT A FEATURE YET?

I also hate how the ZL is always Z, and the L button is always L, when most games' L button equivalent is Z since we put our left hand on the stick part.

iQue and NERD really needs to implement control remapping, PER GAME, or possibly ways to register presets per game or something, it getting urgent.

...what's the deal Japan? (Theory)

Now, if you're in Japan, you might have noticed GoldenEye 007 hasn't rereleased on Switch there yet...

Nintendo's website says that the game would be released in other regions on the 27th, as planned, but the game would be out in Japan only later in 2023, while mentioning the game's rating: CERO: Z.

This is kind of important, because this is the highest rating. Japan have strict laws about this, and you can't let kids access this game easily.

Aside from the very weird rating, this means a lot, this means Nintendo has to do something about Parental Controls about this game, there's two ways they could deal with this:

Either they just make a 18+ N64 NSO app with the game, rated 18+ instead of Teen or 16+ like in other regions.

Or they do add some parental controls check inside the app, preventing access in a dynamic way per account.

The thing is, I've seen how the application manages the game library user interface: it's very flexible in what it can show/hide, just see how it manages European games or the case of region locking, applied in Korea to hide Magical Drop2 (SNES) and F-Zero X (N64).

For me, this seems like the kind of thing that could have been implemented easily in a few months? Though I'm speaking as someone who hasn't been in a big company managing these things in some way.

The funniest part is still how the apps can access the Parental Controls OS service the entire time.

So my theory is the following: I expect a sort of refresh of the NSO retro apps in the near future, downgrading the NSO retro app age rating to a minimum, instead putting every single age rating info for each game individually, trusting the parental controls to provide information to the app to hide games that shouldn't be played by the user.

I can see the possible logic of implementing this fully for every possible age rating from Nintendo, because while you're at it, you could just as well manage it for the entire library of games, which, currently, is almost 200 different titles in total.

And this, I can see this taking time to do, because you'd need info from every single rating boards in every region, which all games have been assumed 16+/Teen just because the app is that way. I can see some logistics required and could potentially take months to make sure everything is all right.

Now I don't know if they could see this as an opportunity to refresh the UI in a way, possibly even adding new features (like custom controls, please), and maybe this is the reason why Game Boy Color NSO hasn't launched yet, I could see this as a reason to just have feature parity everywhere as a saner base.

I don't know if I'm being reasonable on my theory, but I feel like it'd make sense? We'll see how it goes, really.

#n64 #goldeneye #nintendo #xbox #rare #nintendo switch online

[taralen]

Announcement? Other things!

Hey, everyone, so besides commissions and all my SPECIL SALESMAN art, I would also like to share more things (like original art) and draw fanart for other things. Spamton G. Spamton is a mainstay on my blog. He is very important to me, and if you don't like him, then too bad!

My range of interests is absolutely massive, and as one fan/friend of mine said to me years ago, "You're like a mystery box of surprises!"

Here is what I plan to make art and possible theories or analyses for:

[[please note that a lot of my interests are 17-18+, but anything uploaded here will be kept SFW or cropped. All NSFW stuff will go to my Pixiv account. I highly recommend to NOT look up the origin if you are a minor or sensitive to explicit content.]]

Queen's Blade Franchise (17+) - I really want to make more art of my favorite character, Alleyne the Elven Fighting Master, and possibly her apprentice, Nowa!

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (17+ GORE HORROR. Do not look up if you are sensitive.) - Recently fell in love with this series. I consider the original anime from the 2000s to be a masterpiece. I want to draw my favorite character, Takano!

Taimanin universe (17-18+. Seriously don't look it up if you're a minor lol.) - I really love some of the characters of this series, like my waifu Ingrid. I've drawn her before, and I want to draw her again. Funny enough, one of my pieces is featured in the mobile game Action Taimanin as a poster on the wall for a level. Sometimes, I see people use my art as an icon. It's very flattering!

Dragon Half (15+) - One of my all-time favorite mangas ever made from the 1980s. I think it's long overdue I make a fanart for it.

Winx Club - I have numerous unfinished fanarts for this series. I love it so much, even though Sailor Moon is superior lmfao.

Shoujo Tsubaki (18+. BANNED WORLDWIDE. DO NOT LOOK IT UP if you are sensitive or if you are a minor) - I watched this two nights ago, and it's so sad... I plan to do an analysis of it. I honestly don't think it's the worst thing ever, but I can see why people find it offensive, as it touches upon A LOT OF taboo topics.

Psychonauts - This game series man... So good. I want to draw something of my favorite character, Helmut, and his husband, Bobby. I just absolutely adore them. 😭

Touhou Project - It's been a long time since I've drawn proper fanart for this series. I have A LOT on my DeviantArt account, but I'd like to draw my favorite girls again.

Super Mario Bros - Peach is my original waifu. I've tried drawing her many times in my style, but I've kind of failed. I also really like Princess Daisy's N64 version and want to draw her again. Rosalina/Rosetta, I will also think about it.

The Legend of Zelda - This one is a little... Difficult for me. This is one of my favorite game series ever, but I really struggle to make art for it. I want to since it heavily inspired my work, but damn is it hard... Hopefully, I can break out of my shell for this.

Various other Eroge titles (18+) - Eroge are any games with erotic elements that originate from Japan. There are so many I like that range from simply being romantic to utterly insane. If you're a minor, do not look up anything.

Runescape - How I love thee. It's been a while since I've drawn fanart for it. I love the Elves haha!

Creepypasta or ghost legends/stories - I've been listening to a lot of these lately and I feel a bit inspired to draw some of the things that pop up in my imagination.

That's all for the non-original stuff. I'm still hesitant to post OCs here because they got 100% ignored last time. xD

Stuff of mine I won't ever upload to this blog:

18+ NSFW. Obvious. Do you want me to get banned?? I can draw fanart for something adult without it being NSFW.

Fetish stuff. I know I get commissioned a lot to draw fetish art, but all this will remain on DeviantArt.

Anyway, that's all I can think of right now.

#musings #drawing ideas #Oof when listed out my interest list is an absolute dumpster fire

[alln64games]

Super Mario 64

JP release: 23rd June 1996

NA release: 29th September 1996

PAL release: 1st March 1997

Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

N64 Magazine Score: 96%

Starting off with a bang, one of the Nintendo 64’s launch titles just happens to be a revolutionary game that’s one of the best games on the system. It didn’t just show the world how platform games could work in 3D, but it set the standard for movement in 3D as well. Despite it’s legendary status, Nintendo have never given us the port that this game deserves. Super Mario 64 doesn’t need a full remake, just a little bit of sprucing, widescreen and an updated camera.

Luckily, fans of the game have done this themselves by fully recreating the game’s engine on PC, with lots of options to set it up the way you want. There’s some much more graphically impressive options than what I chose, but I wanted it to look similar to the original game, with just crisper textures and some of the 2D objects replaced with 3D ones.

The movement of Mario still feels amazing all these years later. His move set is brilliant with all of his moves (minus the special hats) available form the get-go, it’s just a case of learning it and figuring out the best way do move. Most people will start off ding taller jumps by doing the backflip, but then transition to the quick turn jump to get up to the tall platforms. Even now, it’s an absolute joy to control.

The camera from the original game is the main part of the game that now feels clunky. It was pretty amazing when the game came out, but it’s one aspect of games that has improved over time. Luckily, the version I played lets you turn on a more modern analogue camera, which (along with widescreen) is really all Super Mario 64 needs to feel modern.

The levels are small, but it’s a style that really suits the game. They’re packed full of secrets, with six stars to find in each one (plus an extra star for collecting 100 coins). Once you collect a star, you’re thrown out of the level, which does mean you have to re-do parts of levels multiple times, but there are sometimes changed to the level depending on which star you collect. There is a mod that lets you remain in levels, but I feel like this alters the game too much, and is itself fiddly as you need to work out when you need to manually leave the level.

Each level has a very distinct feel to it and I enjoyed every level in the game, with the exception of two of the water levels. While some have generic themes (lava, water and ice), the levels are still built in unique ways, and even matching themes (like the two snow levels) don’t feel like a reuse due to the level design.

Other than a couple of stars that include the wing, metal and invisible caps, you can also complete levels before moving on, or just do a couple of stars and try somewhere else. You only need 70 out of 120 stars to complete the game (far fewer if you choose to do glitches), but it’s enjoyable collecting them all.

To unlock different sections of the castle (and access more levels), you need to complete Bowser’s levels. There are three in total (the last one being to save Peach) and these are much more linear platform challenges, which creates a nice change of pace. At the end of these you have to face off against Bowser, grabbing his tail and spinning him to throw him into bombs, and I’m still absolutely dreadful at aiming my throws.

The final section of the game has some outstanding levels.

Wet-Dry World is the third water level of the game, but this one stands out much more due to the mechanic of raising and lowering the water levels. There are different ways to move upwards depending on the water level, and you’ll need to make use of these to collect all the stars.

Tiny-Huge Island has you using pipes to swap between a giant Mario and a mini Mario. You get to see cute tiny goombas or have to fight ones that are much larger than Mario. It’s not Mario’s size that actually changes, but the level itself. It’s an absolutely adorable level full of joy.

Tick Tock Clock is actually a lot smaller than I remember, but is focused on well timed jumps. The unique aspect of this level is that the level entrance is itself a clockface, and where the minute hand points alters the speed of the objects in the level, or even stops them completely. I have quite strong memories of trying to figure out what was happening when this happened as a kid.

The final main level, Rainbow Ride, is more linear than most levels, with different segments connected via magic carpets. You’ll need to jump off the carpets to avoid obstacles, but if you take too long, the carpets will vanish. This level requires you to have learnt how to master Mario’s moveset.

Super Mario 64 is still an absolute joy to play, especially so with an updated camera. I think a full remake would alter the game too much, as the level design and movement is integral to its identity. It just needs a bit of sprucing up, and I really hope we get an official version that does this at some point.

This was an amazing start for the Nintendo 64. Not only was this game integral to the development of 3D games as a whole, but the gameplay and levels still hold up today. Games keep trying to be bigger and better, but smaller and varies levels are also a great approach.

“The best game ever?” Possibly, but then it’s so far ahead of anything that comparisons seem meaningless.

- Zy Nicholson, N64 Magazine #1

---

Remake or Remaster?

As the fan-made PC version shows, Super Mario 64 still holds up really well and just needs some basic improvements. A remastered Super Mario 64 would be perfect.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no way to buy a new copy of Super Mario 64, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak.

Other versions

2004: Super Mario 64 DS. This version featured altered levels, more stars and extra playable characters. The extra content was well received, but forcing previous stars to certain characters was frustrating. The controls also don’t work very well on the DS. The touch screen minigames were a brand new addition and were well liked.

#n64 #n64 games #nintendo 64 #super mario 64 #sm64 #mario #retro games #retro gaming #gaming #super mario #mario bros

[blazehedgehog]

Physical or digital media?

I would be a 100% physical media person if I could help it.

There are too many stories of games getting delisted for licensing or whatever. A developer pays for a celebrity likeness or a top 40 song or a specific model of car and five years later, whoops! The rights expired! The game goes poof. It's like it never existed. Doesn't matter how good or bad the game was.

And keep in mind, even a bad game is going to be somebody's favorite, and they deserve a way to still experience it.

If you have a disc, that disc is forever (within reason). If it's a digital game, it gets deleted from that reality. Literally deleted. I bought Forza Horizon 3 on PC a few years ago because Microsoft had the foresight to warn people when it was getting delisted. And thankfully, the servers are still up, and Microsoft says they are, at least for now, committed to letting you redownload delisted games that you paid for.

But that won't always be the case, and it's already happening that some games can permanently disappear. The Wii Shop Channel is gone now. All those Virtual Console games, all those WiiWare titles, if you missed your shot to download it from Nintendo, it's gone now. Doesn't matter how much you paid. If you connect that console to the internet all you'll have is an error message. The clock is also ticking on the 3DS and Wii U eShops, which are slated to close at the end of this month.

Stadia, in its entirety, is gone. Most (not all) of those games are available on other platforms... but if you bought it on Stadia, you will have to buy it again somewhere else, and hope that one day, that too does not also go down.

There are always gestures of preservation efforts made by the community. And I'm thankful for those. The Wii Shop Channel is gone, but all of those games have been backed up by pirates years ago. Believe me, I'm no stranger to the methods used to play games like Castlevania ReBirth or Fast Racing League, which died on the Wii Shop and have never been ported anywhere else to this day.

But there are a lot of assumptions made in things like that which may not have practical solutions. Like, how many of you reading this blog have ever tried to emulate an original Xbox game on the PC? Microsoft only lets you access a small percentage of the Xbox library through their official backwards compatibility, but what if you want to venture outside of that?

It's not an easy process. Compatibility is a mess, system requirements are all over the place, and you have to get very specific dumps to even get the games to boot at all, assuming they can actually run. Yes, the data has been preserved, but it's not worth much when you can't do anything with it or need to spend $1500 on a PC good enough to run the emulation software.

It will always be easier to own the disc and throw it in the original hardware. A lot of Sega Saturn emulation still isn't an especially easy thing to run smoothly unless you have an above average gaming PC. I'd have to spend at least $300-$400 just to upgrade my system's CPU, but a couple years ago I spent $110 on a RetroTink2x Pro and I can hook my real hardware up to that just fine.

But even that's becoming it's own problem, because all of the greasy collectors have been moving in for years now and driving prices up on even the cheapest, most recent trash. The aftermarket is all but disappearing -- up through the launch of the PS4, it used to be you could find PS2 games for pennies. Now used prices seem to stay pretty much lock step with retailer MSRP (that's the price you pay for brand new shrinkwrapped games, kids). You might be lucky to find newer games on Ebay for a couple bucks off, but it's not like it used to be.

There are more and more and more stories about grifters like WATA coming in and "officially grading" retro games to be fake collector's items, leading to awful headlines like a copy of Super Mario 64, one of the most ubiquitous and common N64 games ever made, selling for a million dollars. That's like selling a bucket of tap water for a million dollars.

Buying physical is becoming a landmine because it's feeling like if you wait too long then you're at the mercy of scalpers and grifters and "collectors" who think they can throw a loose cart of Super Mario 64 up on Ebay and get $50-$70 for it.

A part of me wants to slap on a tinfoil hat and say that this was a plan. Ten years ago, the used games market was the enemy for a corporation like Microsoft, because it was a method to get dirt cheap games without any of that money going to them.

And though they backed off from that after it publicly damaged the Xbox brand, they are still pushing very, very, very hard to move everything to digital where the used games market does not exist. The next generation of Xbox after the one we're on right now probably won't come with a disc drive at all for how much they push the all-digital Series S in the marketing.

How do you hurry that along? Turn the used games market in to "the collector's market" where those old games like Halo 2 are much more expensive and much less convenient than just buying a digital copy of The Master Chief Collection for $20 on the Xbox Store.

And make no mistake, it is more convenient. Speaking as someone who has moved into smaller and smaller spaces over the last seven years, there comes a very real moment where you have to get rid of pieces of your life. Being able to plug a single box in and have my 18 year old Steam account with 1500+ games certainly seems a lot more comforting on the surface than having to lug five tubs of plastic cartridges and game discs around everywhere I go.

But what if the unthinkable happens, and Steam shuts down some day? I cannot reliably back up 1500 PC games. What if it gets stolen tomorrow and I can't get access back? Is convenient always better? Like, yeah, somebody could break in and steal my retro games, too, but that's a lot harder to do than breaking into my Steam account.

And this isn't even touching on the complications of ownership rights, and how certain businesses are trying to redefine what it means to be a "service" because that allows them to bypass the ownership laws meant to protect people like you and me.

The reality is, because of space, price, and availability concerns, I only really buy physical games if they're meaningfully important to me. And if they're important to me to own on a disc, I usually end up buying them digitally too, just for the convenience of digital. The Xbox 4 might not have a disc drive but I'll still be able to play the digital copy of Sonic Unleashed on it some day, while also being able to pop that same disc in my old 360, assuming it still works.

There are forces at work here and as always their goals are to take more and more and more of our money away from us. They have discovered a lot of great ways to do that. Buying physical is getting to be almost a matter of protest at this point.

#questions #anonymous #physical #digital #xbox #microsoft #gamepass #collectors #WATA #insane ramblings or perhaps the truth

[saturn-munchies]

hello

as im currently hyperfixated on Earthbound, we're going to grade all the Ness models that have been made. Ok?

Starting off with

The OG

9/10 - Very cute. A little hamburger boy. I would trust him with my life :)

2. American model

4/10 - He looks homophobic. and i dont like those eyebrows... he looks like an imposter pretending to be Ness...... evil........

3. Super Smash Bros. (N64) Model

9/10 Adorable. I want to give him a hug :) what a cutie

4. Super Smash Bros. Melee Model

10/10 baby boy... baby.,....

5. Super Smash Bros. Melee (Classic Mode) Model

8/10 - Seems to be based on the original clay model. Not as cute as the fighter model for Ness. Still good though !

6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl Model

6/10 - I don't hate this model but why are his shoes shaped like that..... although I'll add a point for the highlights in the eyes. so 7/10.

7. Super Smash Bros. for 3DS / Wii U (FAKE LEAK) model.

10/10 - This was a fan render posed as a "leak" of Ness's official art for Smash 4. I LOVE this render. It translates Ness's design into Smash's more... grounded artstyle better than any other version besides MAYBE Melee. (al;though this one ALSO HAS HIGHLIGHTS IN THE EYES!!!) 11/10. Whoever made this I love yuo.

8. - Super Smash Bros. for Wii U / 3DS (Official Render)

9/10 - This one is also great. It always reminded me a ton of the Smash 64 design. It feels like a definitive modern Ness design. However, I wish it felt more in line with Smash's general (post-Melee) 'grounded' or ""realistic"" aesthetic... (though I think designs not fitting the Smash aesthetic is more of a fault of Smash 4's art direction as a whole.)

9. - Smash Ultimate Model

10/10 - THERE we go. Exactly what I wanted in Smash 4. The stitching on the shirt, the leather material on the backpack straps, the panels on the hat, the stitching on the jeans... and the bat being brought out? (where have I seen that before....) While I do think the Smash 4 model is the definitive modern Ness design, this is the definitive modern Smash model for Ness. He fits sooo much more cohesively with the rest of the cast now. And can I also praise the way none of the realistic elements look jarring (i.e. there's no hyper-realistic denim texture)???

#earthbound #smash #smash ultimate #pearlmoment