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The Evolution of Mario
Decaffeinated Jedi writes "NFG Games offers an interesting look at the visual evolution of Nintendo's Mario from his humble beginnings as a monkey-chasing carpenter to his more recent incarnations as a Koopa-stomping plumber. The retrospective doesn't stray into 3D Mario territory, but it does include every 2D version of Mario released between 1981 and 2004 -- including early consoles like the Atari 2600 and Colecovision."
From the article:
The SNES versions of Super Mario Bros 1, 2 and 3 are considered the definitive Marios.
By whom? Heathens perhaps. SMB 1, 2 and 3 were for the NES. The cart for the SNES was the same games just touched up a bit. So surely, the NES versions are the definitive ones...
Quite why he chose not to include Mario 64 and Mario Sunshine, I dunno, but he looks pretty cool in them.
"In order to maximize the value of new artwork created for new games, characters like Mario are first drawn in 3D. This is the only time consuming part. Afterward the 3D model can be manipulated and posed in infinite variety and 2D sprites created in rapid-fire, assembly line fashion. In addition the same 3D model can be used in a sequel, and in 3D games with few or no changes. While it's faster than drawing each frame of animation by hand, the results are usually disappointing, and often very ugly."
:)
He writes it as though it's widely accepted, but from my perspective it's more 50/50. I wish he would throw a few "IMO"'s in there, but oh well.
For instance, if you blur your vision while looking at some of the screens of the 3D rendered-to-raster Marios they look much better than the Marios with the black outlines. This is a better judge because he scales the size of the Marios up VERY large making them look pixelated which supports the view the new raster Marios look like crap. Alternative to blurring your eyes you could just scale them down and see what I'm referring to, as well. As most artists know, blurring your eyes is an effective way to view the picture as a whole instead of focusing on little details (such as huge blocky pixels). Monet's paintings are famous for this due to his near-blindness (look at his art scaled down/blurred and it looks near-photographic.) This becomes a valuable tool for beginner and experienced artists for keeping track of the "whole picture" (pun intended
There seems to be absolutely no mention of Mario Clash or Mario Tennis for the Virtual Boy. While Tennis falls under the realm of the cameo (I guess), Mario Clash is a stand alone Mario game with an interesting remake take on the old Mario Bros. games.
- colin
Interesting. I'm not familiar with the existance of these titles, but I'm getting a searing headache at their mention. How odd is that?
Original MARIO:
0
-{}-
Pre rendered, pixellated mario
.
.
.
MARIO ON JENNY CRAIG:
0 ---- I'm so weak and hungry!
-|-
Atari 2600 Mario:
Easy guys, I put my pants on one leg at a time. The difference is after I put on my pants I make gold records!
Sorry fellas, didn't save my formatting, i'm an idiot.
Mario's hot girlfriend:
OvO
Easy guys, I put my pants on one leg at a time. The difference is after I put on my pants I make gold records!
Paraphrasing the article:
When you show them as 80x160 images on VGA resolution monitors, of bloody course they do.
Quoting the article:
Dark colours around the edges. As opposed to his lovely hand-drawn sprites, which have BLACK FRICKIN' OUTLINES. More consistent, perhaps, but not inherently better.
Bleh. Dumb. This isn't the evolution of Mario, this is some kind of retro artist elitism. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, but when you call your article "The Evolution of Mario," it'd be cooler to talk about the changes in his visual style than to flaunt your wicked cool retro-gamerhood. Please. That's, like, all of us.The United States of America: We do what we must because we can.
some scaled down Monet paintings
Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
It clearly mentions that it does not include the 3D version.
Glad you're all checking out my little article. Thought I'd respond to some criticisms, some good comments, and some ridiculous whinging (I shant get into which is which...)
75th Trombone had some issues with basically everything... Let's start with the size: When comparing the appearance of an object I think enlarging it makes it easier to see. If you want it smaller, stand away from the computer. In fact, go for a walk. While you're out, think about the difference between aliasing and a black outline surrounding a sprite. As for your last paragraph, I ask you: What the hell?
zenintrude asks about the VB versions of Mario. This is a very good question, I never even thought of the VB as a 2D system, though in this respect they were more or less 2D sprites in a 3D world. My humblest apologies for the oversight.
Idealius writes "He writes it as though it's widely accepted, but from my perspective it's more 50/50. I wish he would throw a few "IMO"'s in there, but oh well." I'm not sure what exactly you're referring to that isn't as widely accepted as I suggest, care to clarify?
gkelman questions my selection of the definitive Marios. I am not, as zenintrude later mentions, talking about the games themselves but the appearance of the main protagonist, our buddy Mario. These AllStar Marios maintain the same character and appeal as the originals, but are remade without (IMESHO) negatively affecting their appearance.
And yes, to those who didn't read the whole article, I didn't include 3D Marios 'cause they're not sprites. I didn't include cameos or other appearances where Mario was not the main character, there are plenty of other webpages that already detail Mario's every appearance.
I thought it was interesting to see how Mario had changed and I put the page together to detail the progression. It's universally agreed that the most recent Mario is pretty f**king ugly, and anyone who disagrees seems only to be playing devil's advocate. (This is good logic, everyone agrees with me except people who don't 'cause they're broken somehow).
Anybody remember Hard Hat Mac!? Mario stole his gig (well, changed it from construction to plumbing at least).
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
My kids have been playing Mario Vs Donkey Kong a lot lately on the gba and emulated, and it's amazing how well they've taken the whole Donkey Kong control scheme and rules and make it very modern and enjoyable. My kids recognize Mario more than any other character I think, they've known him since they were very young as so had I.
Dear NEOGEOman,
I just read at your article. Very interesting, good work. It took me on a trip down memory lane.
I offer you some constructive criticism regarding the drop shadows on the graphics. I think the drop shadows are totally inappropriate considering the context of the article. Thanks for your time, and keep writing.
Sincerely,
DrunkenTerror
I had Mario vs. DK, and let me tell you; Sprites look a lot better on the screen/resolution they were intended to be in. Stop playing the ROM.
When you need great justice, take off every zig.