#papermario64

History Buds

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.

As I'd been working on Blender 3D and recreated Paper Mario/Mario Story assets, the area I'd been focusing on most was Pleasant Path, from the original N64 game merely called either depending on the region. I'd also been fascinated with Sega's Sonic Frontiers recreating past levels using only a few archetypes. Now, the time has come to show off just what the title says!

Behold! A standalone version of the aforementioned stage, with some changes so it's just a start-to-finish area!

First off, the entrance screen. For this one, while the bridge is there, a Warp Pipe serves as the entrance. Mario is also accompanied by not the Goomba kid Goombario, but a Gearmo (who'd have a more unique design if I were to follow through with this idea for a story). Regardless, all the trees, hills and blocks are in the proper place. And one thing that hasn't changed- bopping a Red Koopa (with a Goomba behind them)!

The second area/screen is pretty close to the original game's. I actually almost forgot to put in the second fence ledge, but thanks to the simple design philosophy of the cubicized stage, all I had to do was move everything over a few metres, and there- more room!

Now the third area, which has some notable changes. First, while the original game had the lower area lead to Koopa Village, the standalone nature of the stage means that pathway is no longer there. Second, the grid-like construction had the side effect of not allowing the bridge to bend (which would have been possible with a combination of the Array and Curve modifiers). Regardless, it's pretty close. Last, there's a Save Block at the intersection area, since the original game only had such a device near the end.

Now for the second-last area. It's also pretty similar to the source game with it's layout, but there's some things I wanted to mention. First off, see that Green Star in place of the Thunder Rage item? Well, this type of game would have 5 Green Stars for collectible purposes, most of them in areas where key or fun collectibles were in the original games. Second...what's a Fly Guy doing here? That's weird- usually, Red Paratroopas hang around Pleasant Path. Oh well- it's probably nothing.