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[jman2050]

Annoying required jumps like that is what makes me immediately avoid many Mario rom hacks. I might make an exception for this one since it actually looks alright.

Admittedly, I'm not sure if it's the rom hack itself or the controller I'm using. Mario 64, unlike a lot of other games, pretty much demands perfect analog control to be able to do much of anything.

I'll probably find a way to use my GC controller for this and see how it turns out. That aside, the platforming is actually far more forgiving than I expected for the most part, but those "rom hack" moments still creep up occasionally, so fair warning.

 

[Ionic]

This is actually pretty good. The camera can be a bit finicky due to the tight geometry in some spots, but it still all plays pretty well. I really hope this invigorates the Mario 64 ROM hacking scene. If it reached the levels that Super Mario World hacking did there would be a lot of fantastic stuff around.

 

[Throavium]

I can't begin to understand how people hold one man creations to such high standards. Are gamers just spoiled in general, or what?

 

[jman2050]

This is actually pretty good. The camera can be a bit finicky due to the tight geometry in some spots, but it still all plays pretty well. I really hope this invigorates the Mario 64 ROM hacking scene. If it reached the levels that Super Mario World hacking did there would be a lot of fantastic stuff around.

Oh right, the readme should have mentioned some gameshark code used to change the camera. From what I can tell it makes the camera sit more above Mario than behind him and allows you to hold R to make the camera follow close behind you if you wish.

Which one is preferable is I guess up to personal choice, but the unchanged camera can get stuck in some places.

 

[bridegur]

Looks surprisingly good for a one-man team. I'd love to see what he'd be able to accomplish with some help.

 

[Why would you do that?]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMRazzbJbI8&feature=related

Super Zelda 64 - Nightmareish stuff right there.

This reminds me of those early ROM hacks from the time when ROM hacking first became popular, and we had a million hacks of Mario 1 like Super Link Bros., Super Pimp Bros., etc. and all that was changed was like one or two sprites.

Kinda awesome, actually.

 

[Jive Turkey]

That looks really nice. Gotta download this.

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

I can't begin to understand how people hold one man creations to such high standards. Are gamers just spoiled in general, or what?

Clearly you haven't beat Cave Story.

 

[Tain]

I can't begin to understand how people hold one man creations to such high standards. Are gamers just spoiled in general, or what?

You have to remember that there is a very high chance that the people badmouthing this modification have no skill whatsoever in achieving the same feat. It is far easier to stay seated behind the monitor and analyze it with insults without ever touching it, nor attempting to even try and supersede it with their own efforts.

Criticism is all well and good but some posters in here are reacting as if the person hunted down their favourite pillow and shat upon it.

It's great that he spent the time learning the innards of Mario 64. It doesn't mean I have to want to play the results. I would be lying if I said that this looked fun or aesthetically appealing. What would the point of doing that be, exactly? To make the guy feel good? Why on earth wouldn't I look at the results of this with the same standards that I look at the results of other projects (be they one man or team)?

This is ignoring how flawed the whole "if you can't do it you should never criticize" argument is. I don't see anything offensively harsh in this thread.

 

[Jockel]

Game crashes on real hardware. I just hate it when people do mods that don't even work in the environment they are supposed to work in. Just like those SMW hacks that don't run on proper hardware because everybody just has emulators in mind. :/

 

[Tain]

And this is why I generally don't care for the PC modding community. Everyone holds it to such low standards that people think terrible mods like this are the best thing ever.

Gotta be careful with this, though. Some mods wind up being significant improvements on the original game or legitimately great new games.

 

[Anth0ny]

Looks pretty cool.

 

[Shamrock7r]

Game crashes on real hardware. I just hate it when people do mods that don't even work in the environment they are supposed to work in. Just like those SMW hacks that don't run on proper hardware because everybody just has emulators in mind. :/

Take what you can get. You can't expect perfection from a group of fans working for free to make a mod for fellow fans.

 

[CoffeeJanitor]

I know its just one guy but I watched some twitchtv live feeds of it and it didn't look very good. Aka looked like a fan mod.

 

[Mik2121]

Yt vid in OP made it look amateur. Not interested.

Seriously...

What? It looked like an extension of Mario 64 to me.

Not quite. It looks quite bad, and I don't mean "low polygon count and blurry textures" bad, which is a N64 issue, but rather.. UGLY artistic direction for the levels, lots of random shit everywhere, etc.. Not very impressed tbh... (I'm impressed about the fact that he got the thing to work with the game though, I would love to give it a try myself)

 

[butter_stick]

I can't get it to work in Project 64 1.6. Just getting a black screen.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Jesus, that music is terrible. Sounds like something from Sonic Heroes or the Sonic Adventure games.

Game looks neat though, even if I've never liked Mario 64.

 

[Jockel]

Take what you can get. You can't expect perfection from a group of fans working for free to make a mod for fellow fans.

If it wasn't supposed to run on the real hardware, he could have just made his own PC game instead of modding a console game. Just sayin'.
I just don't see the point why you'd need to bother with emulated N64 software in the first place if it's essentially PC-only anyway.

 

[jman2050]

If it wasn't supposed to run on the real hardware, he could have just made his own PC game instead of modding a console game. Just sayin'.
I just don't see the point why you'd need to bother with emulated N64 software in the first place if it's essentially PC-only anyway.

Because Mario 64 wasn't written for a PC?

 

[Jockel]

So? If a developer has "good" ideas for level design, instead of ripping off copyrighted material, how about creating an original game?
There is a game designed to not run on the plattform it's supposed to run on, and I find that highly inefficient, to say the least.

 

[ZeroGravity]

Jesus, that music is terrible. Sounds like something from Sonic Heroes or the Sonic Adventure games.

You say that like it's a bad thing. They had excellent soundtracks.

Anyway, this hack is actually really fun. Aside from an annoying and wonky camera at times (which was the case in the original Mario 64 anyway), this really feels like playing a long lost Super Mario 64 2. Huge props to the developer for doing this.

 

[Tain]

I think it's annoying when hacks don't run on the original console, but if you have need to break compatibility with real hardware, I don't see the issue. Nor do I see the requirement to make an entirely new engine, or the issue with using emulators.

But yeah, I'm betting that in cases of hardware incompatibility, romhack makers don't care about real hardware more often than they have a conscious need to sidestep limits.

 

[ZoddGutts]

Looks better than Super Mario Sunshine.

 

[butter_stick]

Fixed the issue, make sure you read the readme with the rom.

Got bored of it quickly, mainly because the camera is so terrible. Don't know if it was this bad in the original. I kinda hope not but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[atbigelow]

Make sure you read the readme about compatibility. Game requires 8MB of RAM, not the default 4MB. AKA, try it on a system with an expansion pak.

 

[Jockel]

Make sure you read the readme about compatibility. Game requires 8MB of RAM, not the default 4MB. AKA, try it on a system with an expansion pak.

I did. I hear the replaced It's-a me, then nothing. Screen stays black, no reaction.

 

[butter_stick]

I did. I hear the replaced It's-a me, then nothing. Screen stays black, no reaction.

I get nothing unless I'm fullscreen. Maybe worth a shot.

 

[shaowebb]

You have to have a rom of Mario 64 to make this work and a rom extender to mod it with this patch. Checked his read me after downloading and thinking it was a full game. So much for this then. I'm out.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

You say that like it's a bad thing. They had excellent soundtracks.

If you're 11 years old and like shitty buttrock, sure.

 

[butter_stick]

You have to have a rom of Mario 64 to make this work and a rom extender to mod it with this patch. Checked his read me after downloading and thinking it was a full game. So much for this then. I'm out.

I just ran the ROM in the zip *shrug*

 

[RooMHM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMRazzbJbI8&feature=related

Super Zelda 64 - Nightmareish stuff right there.

WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK?!

 

[Myriadis]

So far, it's the third major SM64 mod, and I must say it is the best.

The first one is the missing stars, back when it was not possible to import levels into SM64 and it looks boring, but has a night/day system, several nice modifications like showing you the stars collected in each area and a nice inprovement over the orginal Bowser fight - instead of throwing him into bombs, you defeat him by getting the fire flower suit and spitting fire (not perfect, but it works). He even changes his strategy after 5 or 6 hits.

The second one is Super Mario 74. 150 Stars and it is really romhacking-like with lots of places where many platforms are tiny and the difficulty becomes really insane. But there are some great ideas, like wall-jumping over a huge pit or climbing up slopes by long jumping from one side to another (the last Bowser level is quite awesome).

This hack, Super Mario Star Road, shows that Skelux put a lot of thought into his levels. They are well designed, as far as someone with no previous experience in 3d level design could do it. And yes, it is insanely difficult, especially for a game which "have its own rules". Most of the stars are easy to get, but some of them are either really hard or the solution to get this star is so strange that you don't know how you are supposed to know that. But still, it is a good game, lots of fun and it shows that he put some time in this game.

I personally are also making a SM64 mod, but I'm not that far. It won't be really bug, 70, maybe 80 stars. It's not that difficult, there is a tool to import levels with Wavefront .obj-files and one tool to put the objects into the levels.

Got bored of it quickly, mainly because the camera is so terrible. Don't know if it was this bad in the original.

It was better in the orginal, and it is a known problem. The thing is, each level in the SM64 orginal has hardcoded camera settings. It is really recommended that you switch to Mario perspective, then zoom out. I do that automatically now.

 

[Jockel]

I get nothing unless I'm fullscreen. Maybe worth a shot.

My N64 always displays fullscreen. coolface.jpg

 

[Hot Coldman]

If you're 11 years old and like shitty buttrock, sure.

You mean there's good buttrock?

 

[Combichristoffersen]

You mean there's good buttrock?

Depends. Some 80s hair metal is kinda fun, but other than that.. no.

Well, and Nickelback is always good for a laugh, I guess.

 

[N4Us]

Game crashes on real hardware. I just hate it when people do mods that don't even work in the environment they are supposed to work in. Just like those SMW hacks that don't run on proper hardware because everybody just has emulators in mind. :/

That's a shame. I know it's pretty hard to keep hacks in alignment with original hardware but it's disappointing to hear. I'm always excited to hear about homemade NES/SNES projects getting repro'd.

 

[Jockel]

That's a shame. I know it's pretty hard to keep hacks in alignment with original hardware but it's disappointing to hear. I'm always excited to hear about homemade NES/SNES projects getting repro'd.

The sad part is that it still runs in an emulator- I'm not sure if that is a compliment to its accuracy.
And I think that's the part that bothers me that much about it. If the emulator would work "properly", the hack wouldn't be possible.

 

[Nose Master]

I was into it until I saw that blue robot level. What an eyesore.

 

[Ysiadmihi]

Looks neat, gonna give it a shot now.

 

[Holy Order Sol]

I've been playing this for the past week, enjoying it so far despite it being a little sloppy in places. Got 20 stars.

To the people having issues with the camera, are you sure you're using the code provided in the readme?

 

[jman2050]

So? If a developer has "good" ideas for level design, instead of ripping off copyrighted material, how about creating an original game?
There is a game designed to not run on the plattform it's supposed to run on, and I find that highly inefficient, to say the least.

Okay, let me spell this out for you so maybe you can understand.

Writing a game from scratch is hard. Like, really hard. Making a game with a game making program is really hard. Modifying an existing game of this sort has its own difficulties, but is not nearly as hard.

Furthermore, my assumption is that this person did not just pull this off on his own independent of anyone else. The reason modifications like this are even possible are because of the many tools and documentation that are provided to give those without tons of hands-on experience with MIPS and the N64 hardware the ability to modify Mario 64. This means that someone making a Mario 64 game would not necessarily know exactly how the game works on a program level or even the finicky and particular limitations that come with running on actual N64 hardware.

Speaking of which, aiming for hardware compatibility is its own set of challenges. I'm not sure if documentation exists that point out the exact sort of limitations and specifications that would be required to work on real hardware. N64 emulators don't worry about it because why should they? They're emulators, a program designed to approximately mimic the behavior of a separate piece of hardware running on another. True 100% hardware accuracy is difficult and hasn't even been pulled off on the NES level, much less for something like the N64. Add to that the fact that you need additional equipment to test on hardware that an aspiring mod maker may not have access to. Also, even if he had access and knew his mod didn't work on hardware, that doesn't mean he has the information to be able to fix it.

Finally, why does it matter so much? The dude wanted to make a Super Mario 64 hack. Super Mario 64 was written for the N64, ergo, the modification he made would have to be based on that code. Why would he write an original game when he wants to modify Super Mario 64? Why would he try to use an existing PC engine for his level design when he wants to do level design for Mario 64? Why should he even go through all that extra trouble when the tools and documentation are available for him to just modify Super Mario 64 and call it a day? It doesn't run on hardware. That's unfortunate, and I hoped he'd be able to fix it. It's also such a minor complaint for 99% of the audience for his modification, who are completely satisfied with just opening Project64 on their PC and dealing with that, so what's the reasoning behind worrying about it? Because of the principle of the matter? Please...

 

[beril]

I don't know why I keep entering threads about fan games as I despise the concept in general, but this really does look awful even by fangame and by n64 standards

 

[Holy Order Sol]

Yeah, this whole thing about accurate emulation gets out of hand with the purists. Some of us just want to play a Mario game with a twist.

I despise the concept in general

Well, to sort of quote myself from a similar thread, I don't care if a game comes from Nintendo, some fan, or Satan's asshole, what matters is how it plays. Rejecting fanmade games is just another form of developer/company worshipping, in that sense.

 

[Htown]

So? If a developer has "good" ideas for level design, instead of ripping off copyrighted material, how about creating an original game?
There is a game designed to not run on the plattform it's supposed to run on, and I find that highly inefficient, to say the least.

In your world, games like Counter-Strike, Team Fortress and Day of Defeat do not exist. In your world, Bethesda games remain shitty and don't get any improvements from the community. In your world DOTA and the entire MOBA genre never came to be. There would be no Garry's Mod or Red Orchestra.

What smart people and developers realize is that creativity and resources are NOT THE SAME THING. You can have the creativity for something and not have 100 people to code an engine and generate art assets for two years in order to see it through. That's why smart devs hire the great modders instead of sending them Cease and Desist letters.

 

[jman2050]

Eh, I'm glad guys do stuff like this. It's worth pointing out whether it's worth playing or not, but I'll never understand people who just actively hate work like this.

The copyright concerns are valid and some people just can't get past that. Fair enough I say.

Other than that though, there's no good reason not to judge fan works on their own merits.

 

[beril]

Yeah, this whole thing about accurate emulation gets out of hand with the purists. Some of us just want to play a Mario game with a twist.



Well, to sort of quote myself from a similar thread, I don't care if a game comes from Nintendo, some fan, or Satan's asshole, what matters is how it plays. Rejecting fanmade games is just another form of developer/company worshipping, in that sense.

It's not developer worship, it's just respect for intellectual property. Fangames are, regardless of how naive the intentions of the creators are, just a nasty piece of copyright infringement. It doesn't matter if they're free or not; there isn't really such a thing as a free game anyway.

The people who are most hurt in this scenario though isn't Nintendo; it's every decent developer who puts actuall effort into creating something and doesn't steal other people's work to get attention. As soon as someone makes a few 3d models based on a classic game they have no connection to at all and call it a fan remake, or in this case do a mod with some really crappy graphics, it get's posted everywhere on the internet and gets hailed as the greatest thing ever, while other people struggle to get any attention for something awesome they have worked on from ground up.

 

[Kyuur]

I can't seem to figure out how to get the star on the ship. x_X No cannon yet... am I supposed to find someone to open it?

 

[Tain]

while other people struggle to get any attention for something awesome they have worked on from ground up.

you sound like a dude that hates sampling, lol.

Getting worked up over how much attention something receives isn't really worth it, though. A lot of people get tons of attention for work they've made from the ground up. Shitty work, even! Some developers of the greatest games of all time get less attention than these shitty games, too. Sucks, but what can you do?

 

[jman2050]

I can't seem to figure out how to get the star on the ship. x_X No cannon yet... am I supposed to find someone to open it?

The bobomb that opens the cannon is on top of one of the watchtowers at the peak.

 

[Holy Order Sol]

It's not developer worship, it's just respect for intellectual property. Fangames are, regardless of how naive the intentions of the creators are, just a nasty piece of copyright infringement. It doesn't matter if they're free or not; there isn't really such a thing as a free game anyway.

The people who are most hurt in this scenario though isn't Nintendo; it's every decent developer who puts actuall effort into creating something and doesn't steal other people's work to get attention. As soon as someone makes a few 3d models based on a classic game they have no connection to at all and call it a fan remake, or in this case do a mod with some really crappy graphics, it get's posted everywhere on the internet and gets hailed as the greatest thing ever, while other people struggle to get any attention for something awesome they have worked on from ground up.

If all you're basically saying is "but it's unfair", then I don't care about any of it. Some hacks/mods are crap, others are amazing. Works built from scratch have been brought to my attention as well and the same goes for them. They may deserve credit for the additional work that creating something entirely new requires, but by doing so they're not directly catering to me if what I precisely want IS something based on an existing IP but created by fans who can go nuts with them. Such mods get more attention due to a portion of existing fanbases who want more of what they like, regardless of where it comes from, and there's nothing wrong with that since they're the primary target.