#mariostory

A slight catch up wave. This time, though, it's for newer sprites and pieces I've done. BABY YOSHI

PIDER & OTHER COLORATIONS (TTYD)- I made their legs thicker, yet still toonish.

SANDMAARGH & MAGMAARGH- I've been wanting to do the former for a long time, and luckily remembered to do the latter at the same time.

PIRRA T/LEGENDARY CAPTAIN TOAD/ROGUESKIPPER TOAD REDESIGN- For this redesign, I used composite elements from the (vastly superior) beta designs.

BONUS- more Baby Yoshi colors (links only)

First off, Olly's more kingly and emotionally sad theme.

Next, here's the new theme for Olly's Legion.

The song was composed in LMMS.

As a way to get around the "new OCs can't look like mainliners" restriction, the Aleajm are designed in specific ways to be different from the Toads, yet still fit the general Mario design philosophy. They're physically taller, they have triangular spots instead of round ones, the side triangles are higher up vs the Toads having their round spots lower, and they have ponytails. The Aleajm are also (loosely) based on desert mushrooms, hence the darker skin and their species name (derived from the Arabic word for toadstool, "alealjum").

Since Fruit Shake, TOK Retold and the EX Story of the latter's plans have been finalized, it's too late to meaningfully integrate the Aleajm into the main story. I could squeeze something into the end parts of the latter two to introduce them in an early-bird appearance, though.

For future fantopics, meanwhile, limitless or restricted, I'll start including the Aleajm whenever the Toads show up. Despite this, any returning classic trilogy female Toads in limitless topics as well as Toadette will stay as-is.

Once again, I've made more graphic assets and screenshots based on one of New Super Mario Bros 2's worlds. This time, it's the Beach half of World 3!

As an aside, due to how long rendering in Cycles takes, only the first image is done that way, while the rest are Eevee renders.

Enough of that, though- let's swim right in! ...Or maybe not, given what you're about to see.

A small beach island area, the gang must navigate the islands and sands to reach the Gold Star at the end!

Two Yoshis on a honeymoon were apparently interrupted by the boss' arrival, a tale which Captain Ahant recounts to Mario, Sushie and Captain Azure! But it's nothing that hammering, swimming and tossing can't handle!

The first island area. With careful throws, Azure must toss Mario onto the lowest cliffs to navigate. All the while, Piranha Plants are moving around to and fro. There's a bridge to the next area...but what's that over there?

Ah- a far-off island with a bunch of Item Blocks and baddies. Even better- a Green Star on the far-off west side! Perhaps this water-bordered land can be reached with Sushie!

Next up, the actual beach. A whole bunch of Trouters, Urchins and Spike Basses call these sands and waters home. Mario and his pals will have to endure quite a frantic, thorny barrage to make it!

With Sushie's help, Mario and Azure must ride her across Spike Bass-inhabited waters. Hope Sushie can handle the weight, or she'll be sushi! Also, M Bushes litter the beach!

The last stretch before the boss. Among many Hurt Plants is a switch activating a plank bridge back to the start! Then, the gang should use the Save Block to save their progress in history, gather the items, and continue on their way to the Gold Star-

-Aw, naw. Not CHEEPSKIPPER again! What does a fat fish want with a Gold Star, anyways? Whatever- Mario, Sushie and even Azure are ready to throw down!

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I should probably explain why NSMB2 keeps getting picked, despite it's infamy among the fandom and redundancy. My original plan was to try and have a mix of locales from DS, Wii and 2. However, upon review of the three games and deciding which game would depict which archetype, I noticed 2 generally has the more colorful and unique designs of the trio, while DS...yeah. I actually thought DS would get more slots, but the areas seem kind of bland even for the NSMB series.

That's not to say no NSMBWii locations will be depicted. It's just NSMB2 keeps getting lucky with its incarnations of various world types early on.

Continuing one with the cubicized recreations of Mario Story/Paper Mario stages, I have two today- a classic one, and a new one. Interestingly, though, the tile and asset set is sourced from/inspired by the latter.

First up- Shiver Mountain, from Paper Mario 64! Minus a slight reinterpretation at the end and some new obstacles, it's mostly the same layout, or as close as possible when looking over old footage.

The opening area of Shiver Mountain. The switch is here as usual, causing the blocks below to go up and down. New, though, are those weird pink walls with cut-out lines. Mario might need a certain partner for those obstacles, which appear through the stage.

Then, both the second and third areas at once. For the former, the switch across the gap has been moved to the lower area that once housed a Pebble. The latter, meanwhile, receives a greater reworking. Since the intended threat/puzzle of not taking powerful items doesn't really work when you think about it- I mean, you just leave them in for the main story or swap them for a weaker item, then take them all on your way down- it's now a cut-out and poison tile area. The latter requires yet another partner, one I haven't designed yet to boot...

Now, the penultimate main area. Three big changes here. First, there's a simple maze to solve leading to the secret cave. Second, that secret area is both optional, and can be accessed an infinite number of times. Last, the area past the first flight of stairs is reworked into a second, slighty tougher maze.

Here, you see the secret area. It's...not quite as majestic, mysterious or otherworldly as its source counterpart, but I did what I could.

And here's the end goal area of Shiver Mountain. Since the stage just ends here with a Gold Star, there's no mirror area or door. That said, I decided to recreate the very end of Crystal Palace (you know the area) after the initial stairs and where the door would be.

Usually, things would end here. However, as I promised, this was a two-for-one deal. So here's the other stage using this setting's assets, and the true source of them- a cube recreation of Frullato Edge from my own fantopic, Mario Story Fruit Shake. For a refresher or glance on what this stage looks like, here's a link to that Tumblr post. https://at.tumblr.com/tyrorexdmzapp/some-more-location-screenies-for-mario-story-fruit/fs1cid6wqz6s

Due to how...accidentally short the earlier stages I physically designed are, this one's pretty short- only two simple screens. But that's part of an inherent reason why I'm doing these recreations (which is the same reason the Sonic Frontiers did the Cyberspace stages)- to study what works and what doesn't with the classic stages (...and some others...), then apply that knowledge to similar projects, whether it be Paper Mario/Mario Story.......or otherwise.

Also, more importantly and to be honest, I made this alongside the original rounded (or still jaggy) design.

So, first area. Pretty much the same, except cubier and with some changes to encourage looking around more. This screen also features snowflakes, courtesy of a particle system plane high above. I was going to put in the same particle system for the Shiver Mountain recreation. However, since the original Shiver Mountain didn't have snowing- only Shiver Fields and the highest part of Crystal Palace- I decided not to.

Last, the inner area of Frullato Edge. Here, like intended in the OG experience, Mario and friends would need to push snowballs into place to reach the Gold Star.

I decided to recreate a bunch of other stages using a small variety of location settings. For this one however, I thought we should go waaaaaaaay back, to one of the most famous stages in video game history.

It's 1-1 from the original Super Mario Bros! Other than the bigger hills back there, it looks pretty faithful!

A comparatively closer look at the first half of the recreation. Yet...something's off. Maybe we need to look at this from another angle...

Ah, I see! Some extra item blocks, pathways due to the lower jumps, and hidden Green Stars abound!

The same goes for the second half. Looks pretty close, if slightly off, from the side...

...yet more can be seen and understood at 3/4 view! And who knows what's hiding in plain sight...?

Oh yes, the hidden bonus room. I was intending to just use the regular colored blocks for this area, but due to how important it is historically, I reconsidered and made them blue.