Hey Paisanos, I'm your host Shesez and welcome to episode 103 of boundary break. And in case you're new here we go out of the boundaries of any video game to try to explain developer techniques, or sometimes find left behind content. And for this remake episode, we had a returning animator Michael Chin, aka Metal Penguin. make an all-new intro. So sir thank you so much for the contribution. You can find links to him down below. And for those of you who don't know why the original episode is gone, I will explain that at the end of this episode. With that said, enjoy some new content and new commentary for Super Mario 64! And by the way, I'm going to be doing both Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64 And as you can see here on the Nintendo DS as well. And here's something that wasn't in the original episode. Luigi's Casino! Now normally the camera is locked in a fixed position and you're not allowed to explore its area whatsoever. However by taking the camera anywhere we want we can see that the area itself is very limited, as well as excellent resource management. You might notice that nothing is modeled on the other side of these slot machines. And we get a good look at what happens to Toad when he walks off screen. But that's not all, we can also explore any other minigame that uses 3D geometry, like that completely pointless Yoshi minigame with the flower. One thing that I never even took the time to notice is that he's sitting on a bridge, and by manipulating the camera you can see that the only thing that is rendered here is the bridge. Everything else is just a 2d image that's attached to the HUD. Also, you might remember that waiting area with the Yoshi from multiplayer. And once other players start joining your lobby, different color Yoshi start walking onto the screen. Well, if no players join the lobby and you take the camera outside of its intended boundaries, you can see that the other three Yoshi's are there at all times and bunched up together in the same position. So, let's kick the ball back over to Nintendo 64 version and show you a cool little trick that's not used in the DS version. Back in the day 3d, graphics had very limited technology and so developers always had to come up with interesting tricks with the resources and the limitations that they had. And one of my favorites is swapping out character models depending on how far away the character is See back in the day you are all playing Super Mario 64 on standard definition televisions and a boatload of aliasing. And so without the standard of HD, developers were able to put more on screen by having a low poly version of your own character. This technique in Super Mario 64 isn't used in a whole lot of areas though. I've been able to find it on a couple examples like Yoshi and King Bob-omb, but the transformation isn't quite as charismatic as it is over here with Mario. And since we're in the main area of the castle why don't we do a zoom out of it, to show you just what it looks like all in one shot. And fun little fact here you might notice that in official players guides back in the day, there were screenshots that were very similar to this; and this is because Nintendo themselves would in-house use a camera system just like this to be able to supply those images and hey, what the heck? Why don't we also show you what it looks like in the DS version as well? It almost looks the same, doesn't it? But there is something slightly off. And that's because in the DS version of Super Mario 64 the devs went above and beyond and created special rooms just for when Mario goes through the door. Each of these rooms have their own special texture to try and represent the area that it's going to load into. So like for example here, you can see the blue on the ceiling and the green on the walls. This is because it's supposed to represent the outside of the castle. And I gotta say, for something that I thought would be really boring, it ended up being one of my favorite parts of this episode; the menus of Super Mario 64 NDS use all sorts of fun developer techniques.One of which I want to show you here with the heads on the DS version, the backdrops that they use behind the heads are in a 3D space. And so when you manipulate the camera you can see the entire texture moving around in a white void. And the logo for the 64 version is a fully 3d model. If we take the camera behind that logo you can see that there's no modeling. Though there is one untextured face right here. And I also managed to find an extracted model from VG Resource dot com and although the colors are off, I can stop to show you all this without worrying about the game transitioning to Mario's face. It's kind of amazing how many unique textures are added to something that's only on there for a brief second. Unique textures are used all over the menus of Super Mario 64. Like the moving blocks when you go to select a file, all the back faces of all these menus have unique textures on the back. I honestly would have just imagined they would have duplicated the same texture because I don't feel like anybody would really notice. But it's really neat to see that dedication. Especially on the big yellow one that usually never moves as this is a texture that's completely unique and never seen by the player. And alternatively on the DS version They use this cool water effect in the background. And the effect is pulled off by contorting the two images to give a ripple effect. But that's not all, if we go back to the 64 version when you go to select the stage you might notice that all the stars are 3D. Well, what's really cool about that is that the white void that they rest in also has a floor level. And it becomes really easy to figure out where that floor is because the shadows of those stars drop down on them; something that again is never seen by the player. Now here's something I didn't really get a good chance to do in the original episode. I want to a side-by-side comparison of both of the DS version and the 64 version and to see if they do anything really different. One of the things that I did cover on the original episode was these Monty moles for the 64 version and back then I made the observation that they quote-unquote 'disappear' only to find out later from other sources that they don't really disappear. They are warping to different spots and making it seem like there's four Monty moles on screen. And the truth of this becomes way more apparent when you slow this down. But on the Nintendo DS it's a lot different. You'll notice that when the Monty moles go underneath the ground they just kind of stay in a stationary position until they're ready to spring back up. Now this is something I was more expecting in the original 64 version. And you're gonna find this lack of care across the board not because the developers were lazy or anything, It's just that they didn't have to do this anymore. Like for example in the 64 version when Mario would jump through a painting, he would immediately get culled out. But in the DS version it's a totally different story. The characters just continue falling down. That's of course until the characters load into the stage. And Lakitu is handled way differently between the two games. On the 64 version all the clouds are just 2D textures and it also reveals something else, which is that the Lakitus do not have legs or anything outside of the shells that you can normally see in the game. The Lakitus in the DS version however are a bit extra. Their clouds are not only 3D polygons, but inside those clouds is also a weird cone that has duplicate images of the mesh that is used for the Lakitu. In fact, cones are used all the time in Super Mario 64 DS. It's a technique that is used in a lot of Nintendo DS games. And the reason why this technique is used is because developers can place these objects on top of things without ever having to worry that it hovers off of the ground or measures correctly so it doesn't clip through it. Instead they decide that they're gonna overdo it on purpose and make no mistakes at all. It's kind of great when you think about it. And as you can see that technique was used on the Whomp King, which also had an extracted model. So what I ended up doing here was ripping apart the model so that you can see the entire crown model without any obstruction or having to have your face right up against it. So, why don't we start talking about birds in Super Mario 64? Birds are always a great subject on the show Boundary Break because usually they're used as background elements and you never get a good close-up on them. Sometimes they can be really really detailed and sometimes they can be so hilariously low detailed. In Super Mario 64 it falls somewhere in the middle. In the original 64 game, they were full 3D models with white bellies and yellow beaks. However, in the DS version for whatever reason they got rid of the white bellies, gave them their own head, and the blue on their bodies has more of a grading effect as it keeps going down different darker tones. Also in the DS version the castle is completely modeled in the backside. If you were to take the camera through the grassy geometry you'd see details that are not present to the player nor ever present in the original game. Which is pretty awesome but let's see what the castle and everything else in this area looks like all the way up in the sky. So, let's take a quick break from the side-by-side comparison to show you what's unique to each game. Over in the 64 version there is a spawning point for the flame textures. You can see this for yourself when you're playing the game but if you look up in the first Bowser level you can see a little red dot way off in the distance. This is where all the flames spawn from and then get warped through these positions. So, let me just take the camera right on over here and show you where it is exactly. It's pretty much underneath and near the very end of the level. But *meanwhile* over in the Super Mario 64 DS,
Dire Dire Docks has a landscape that's completely unique to this game. But *meanwhile* over in the Super Mario 64 DS,
Dire Dire Docks has a landscape that's completely unique to this game.
(Note: It's actually 'Jolly Roger Bay'.) Normally the large textures act as walls that keep the player out and outside those walls there's nothing to see. However in Super Mario 64 DS, the environment continues on. Obviously this was put in place to make the area seem more organic because in those very very rare moments in which the player could launch themselves high enough to see outside of those walls, the developers want you to believe that there's something more to it. Also in the hidden area in Hazy Maze Cave, the waterfall at the very end for the original Super Mario 64, it had like a big white texture to represent the outdoors. Because if you've gone that way you would end up outside. Although funny enough in Super Mario 64 DS It's the entrance to Hazy Maze Cave that has a white texture underneath the pool. And if you were to ask me which one I think would make more sense I'd say that the original game made a little more sense, because you could actually see the white behind the waterfall since it was a little more transparent. Whereas here with the pool in DS you would never see this. But anyways, let me do a couple of viewer requests. As always you can find out what the next episode I'm covering is on Twitter. And that's also where you can leave some viewer requests for the upcoming episodes. So if you're interested in that, by all means you can follow me there. Um, but yeah one of the things that was really interesting that I didn't even think to check out was someone had mentioned when you unlock a new character in Super Mario 64 DS, the mini-map shows them without a hat before they pop out and I don't really know why this is the case. But yeah, if you take the camera on the other side of the door You can see that the characters start off with no hat before they eventually come out. Also since we're in this proximity I can show you what it looks like when you swap out the characters. Also something that's kind of weird, if you try to unlock Wario with Yoshi, which is something you can't do by normal means in the game, there's unique dialogue for Yoshi in Wario stage. The boss makes a comment about how Yoshi doesn't have his own mustache; It's kind of interesting. And also a couple people on Twitter want to know what happens exactly with the white room on the DS version. They want to know how it was pulled off, and if you pull the camera out you can see that it's actually a small room a small room in a black floyd So the contrast is really good here. And I believe you can see this for yourself if you go into look mode and tilt the camera in certain ways, at least that's what happened with my experience. But anyways, let's do a couple more side-by-side comparisons. In the Bob-omb Battlefield, if you haven't activated
the cannon yet in the original 64 version In the Bob-omb Battlefield, if you haven't activated
the cannon yet in the original 64 version
(Cannon Count: 1) you'll see that there is no cannon underneath. you'll see that there is no cannon underneath.
(Cannon Count: 2) It truly is just that one cannon that's resting on top. It truly is just that one cannon that's resting on top.
(Cannon Count: 3) However, in the DS version,
they handle things a lot differently. The cannon that is in use is a *dummy* cannon and
you'll find the *true* cannon underneath that cannon.
(Cannon Count: 4) The cannon that is in use is a *dummy* cannon and
you'll find the *true* cannon underneath that cannon.
(Cannon Count: 5) The cannon that is in use is a *dummy* cannon and
you'll find the *true* cannon underneath that cannon.
(Cannon Count: 6) The cannon that is in use is a *dummy* cannon and
you'll find the *true* cannon underneath that cannon.
(Cannon Count: 7) So by clipping through the boundaries
and going inside of that cannon, So by clipping through the boundaries
and going inside of that cannon,
(Cannon Count: 8) you can actually use the cannon within the cannon and you can see the inside of the cannon while you're in the cannon. you can actually use the cannon within the cannon and you can see the inside of the cannon while you're in the cannon.
(Cannon Count: 9) you can actually use the cannon within the cannon and you can see the inside of the cannon while you're in the cannon.
(Cannon Count: 10) you can actually use the cannon within the cannon and you can see the inside of the cannon while you're in the cannon.
(Cannon Count: 11) you can actually use the cannon within the cannon and you can see the inside of the cannon while you're in the cannon.
(Cannon Count: 12) Wow! Alright, what am I even saying right now?
Let's just fire this thing off! And wow, by chance of firing myself out of the cannon I also found objects stored underneath the stage. And wow, by chance of firing myself out of the cannon
I also found objects stored underneath the stage.
(Cannon Count: 13!) ...wasn't expecting that.
A little bit of a *bonus* Boundary Break right there! Yeah, let's look at this one last side-by-side comparison. The mansion level starts off with you jumping into
a cage and shrinking down to the size of the mansion itself. And here you can get a nice good close-up of how it looks before you jump into the stage. Funny enough, I would argue that the detail in the 64 version is slightly better than the DS version 'cause there's some weird graphical glitches going on here. And in fact, speaking of graphical oddities,
you can find something *way* out of bounds. Far below the Rec Room area is a "tri"
that has a distorted texture on it and the distance
between this "tri" and the stage is enormous! Honestly, it would take quite a while just to drop down there. But going back to the Castle Garden, let's do a
zoom out of what that looks like on the DS version just to show you that there isn't any hidden
environment like there was for Dire Dire Docks. just to show you that there isn't any hidden
environment like there was for Dire Dire Docks.
(Note: It was actually 'Jolly Roger Bay'.) And lastly I want to share an experiment with you. In Super Mario 64 DS, you're not allowed
to fight Bowser with the other characters. So I wanted to show you what would happen
if we took Wario outside of the boundaries,
got him all the way through Bowser's last stage, defeated Bowser with Wario,
and see how the game would react. Well the first thing that seems to happen here
is that Mario spawns *behind* Wario and doesn't even play out that animation
where he's supposed to have the Wing Cap
and fly around the stage. And then after that, Princess Peach is saved,
with Mario nowhere to be found. And so you gotta ask yourself,
"Who does Princess Peach reward if Mario's not around?" Well you might find the answer to be a little bit
messed up and I think, chances are, Wario
is probably feeling the exact same mood. [Super Mario 64 - "Game Over" Theme Plays] All right, so a quick little story
for those of you who aren't caught up yet, I had to basically remake this episode because Universal... ...has now sent out third-party companies to search
for videos with a lot of views and, essentially... ...see if *any* of their properties can be
found in *any* of those videos. And, if they do, what they want.. you to do, is to just
give them all of your ad revenue for those videos going forward. I looked at that situation and I was like,
"No way man! You guys didn't put in *any *of that work!". It was an 8 second music clip. So... what I decided to do was just
remake the episode from the ground up. You know, it was an older video anyway, so I feel like...
the channel has improved quite a bit since then. So I thought that I had a lot to offer a remake episode of the most popular video on the channel. So I deleted the video and this is what came of it.
I hope you enjoyed the episode. Just remember if people try to bring you down in certain ways you just get yourself right back up. Find ways to get happiness in another way. Outside of that. I just really want to thank
Michael Chin 1994, aka Metal Penguin... ...for, animating this episode again. It was great to have you back sir, and I hope you guys enjoyed the new intro and outside of that I'm gonna be working really fast and really hard to get a Resident Evil 2 episode out. And uh, yeah, it's really great. I already am already halfway through it. So it's been a lot of fun and there's already been a lot of good discoveries. I might even have to put out one of those discoveries ahead of time just because it's pretty incredible. Anyways guys, thank you so much for your support, it means a lot to me. Especially for those who have seen the prior episode and came back and watched this all new one. You guys are the best. All right guys, well, take care, and I hope you have a great week. Bye.
man I love this show!