Paper Mario cubicized recreationed- PM64 Pleasant Path
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.
Now for the final area. Rather than entry into Koopa Bros' Fortress, there's a Power Star to collect. There's also a Save Block here, but it's on the other side of the screen this time. The reason- vicious Legnesects, from the far-off Frutta Archipelago! OK, now Mario and his Gearmo pal KNOW something's up with this version of Pleasant Path! What is the true nature of this place...?
