
Super Mario 64 – 1996 Developer Interviews - Impossible
http://shmuplations.com/mario64/
======
dmbaggett
>The N64 hardware has something called a Z-Buffer, and thanks to that, we were
able to design the terrain and visuals however we wanted.

This was a _huge_ advantage for them. In contrast, for Crash Bandicoot --
which came out for the PS1 at the same time -- we had to use over an hour of
pre-computation distributed across a dozen SGI workstations for _each level_
to get a high poly count on hardware lacking a Z-buffer.

A Z-buffer is critical, because sorting polygons is O(n^2), _not_ O(n lg n).
This is because cyclic overlap breaks the transitive property required for an
N lg N sorting algorithm.

The PS2 got Sony to parity; at that point both Nintendo and Sony had shipped
hardware with Z-buffers.

~~~
Retric
You can bound polygon sorting by looking at the closest and furthest points
from the camera for each polygon. This get's tricky if the polygon is
perpendicular to the camera, but avoiding O(n^2) in the general case is huge.

Z-Buffer's are still a major advantage.

~~~
dmbaggett
That's an excellent point, and something that I've never actually thought of
or read. Cool!

~~~
oxide
you should go implement this in Crash Bandicoot and make a youtube video of
it.

------
intsunny
I'll always remember the first time I saw Super Mario 64 in front of my very
eyes in ToysRUS. It was as if every other 3D game in history suddenly didn't
matter anymore. Here was the future of 3D gaming. Here was a game with
unbelievably fluid controls in really large levels clearly designed to be
explored.

Unlike most previous Mario games, there was no timer either. This only further
encouraged players to really explore the 3D environment, collect the side-
quest coins, and not be stressed out.

~~~
epidemian
Oh yes, i distinctly remember seeing commercials of Super Mario 64 on TV and
being mesmerized by them. At the time, we had a Sega Genesis at home, but i
had already seen some PlayStation games, and played a bit of Doom on a PC, so
i already "knew" what 3D graphics were.

Mario 64, however, felt like something completely new. It was like the intro
to Sonic 3D Blast[1], but with infinitely higher frame rate, and not pre-
rendered!

[1]: [https://youtu.be/oNS4_8ZX_tc](https://youtu.be/oNS4_8ZX_tc) Yep, not the
most exciting of Sonic games by any stretch, but kids used to the Genesis
graphics may had found a lot of promise for the future of 3D graphics on that
now-crappy-looking intro (i know i did).

~~~
lostlogin
Plugged in an N64 a year or two back with a mate for a quick blast. After
starting it we had an embarrassingly long period of cable fiddling trying to
work out why it looked so... average. It turns out the the combo of screens
getting way bigger and the graphics being fairly low res by modern standards
was actually the issue. It's funny how even now I remember it being pixel
perfect.

~~~
mklim
I've had the exact same experience. Every time I boot up SM64 or OOT
everything looks so blocky compared to how I remember it looking as a kid, it
momentarily surprises me every time. In my memories the graphics are on par
with AAA games now.

Picked up a Vive a few months ago--Valve created a program for it called
Destinations where people can upload 3D environments with optional simple
animation triggers, and you can teleport through the environment in VR.
Somebody uploaded the exterior of Princess Peach's castle and the Shadow
Temple boss area to it. Checking out Peach's castle in the headset was
breathtaking, got that same kick to my chest and feeling of wonder I remember
having as a kid and felt like I really recognized the environment in a way I
didn't when I booted the games up in emulators. Being there in VR made the
graphics look worse--the tiny textures originally meant to be viewed on a CRT
get blown up across the several literal football fields and the polygons are
huge sharp edges several feet across for the hills. I'm not sure why it
provoked that emotional response in me. I would guess that I felt more
immersed, and that immersion affected my perceptions as a kid.

~~~
richforrester
It's the coolest trick our minds played on us.

Think back to the Nes and SNes era (apologies, I'm a Nintendo fanboy) and the
booklets you always got with them. You might recall those booklets had
character art in them.

I'm fairly convinced that because of that type of artwork, in combination with
a lively fantasy, we recall our childhood heroes as real beings, rather than
polygons or even pixels on a screen.

This, in combination with the power of empathy, has resulted in lively
memories of heroes and villains duking it out in epic battles... that when
revisited can take a while to get back into :)

~~~
brandnewlow
I wholeheartedly agree. The art in the original Zelda manual let my brain
paint over the graphics with something much more evocative. The anticipation I
felt the first time I leafed through it is a vivid childhood memory. My sense
of adventure was stoked!

[http://www.infendo.com/wp-
content/uploads/2010/07/1277784470...](http://www.infendo.com/wp-
content/uploads/2010/07/1277784470586.jpg)

------
corysama
Shameless plug: We collect this kind of material over in
[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMakingOfGames/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMakingOfGames/)

There's also
[https://www.reddit.com/r/VideoGameScience](https://www.reddit.com/r/VideoGameScience)
for more technical material.

BTW: The linked site has a whole lot more articles like this one
[http://shmuplations.com/games/](http://shmuplations.com/games/)

~~~
wyldfire
Do any of the infocom games ever come up in /r/TheMakingOfGames? Looking at
the page now, none happen to be there but just wondering if they have in the
past.

~~~
corysama
Infocom has come up at least twice
[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMakingOfGames/search?q=infocom&r...](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMakingOfGames/search?q=infocom&restrict_sr=on)
There might be more if you search for specific title names.

Also, there are 2 more Infocom articles here:
[http://www.filfre.net/sitemap/](http://www.filfre.net/sitemap/)

------
baconomatic
If you're at all interested in speedruns, this is a great video that takes it
to the extreme for Super Mario 64:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpk2tdsPh0A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpk2tdsPh0A)

~~~
JoshTriplett
That's a fairly deep technical analysis of a tool-assisted run with an unusual
constraint. I'd suggest [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swNX-
GQt67M#t=7m30s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swNX-GQt67M#t=7m30s) instead,
for a live speedrun race between two of the best players in the world.

~~~
qwtel
is there any explanation as to what happens in the code that makes those weird
wall exploits possible?

~~~
JoshTriplett
Mario's speed was limited via "speed < MAX_SPEED", but it didn't have any
boundary on negative speed. So you can build up effectively infinite negative
speed by chaining long-jumps backward, without turning Mario around. Get
enough (negative) speed, and the boundary checks for walls get bypassed,
because you move all the way through them in one frame.

You can combine that with another trick: chaining long jumps works as long as
you're close enough to the ground to kick off the ground, so if you hit the
jump button rapidly enough, you'll jump repeatedly without leaving the ground.
Notice in the linked video that you'll hear many jumping sounds rapidly, but
occasionally the player will miss the timing and do a full-height jump.

That same trick also works to bypass the "infinite" staircase without having
70 stars (because you move past the looping portion in one frame).

Human players can successfully use this to warp through walls and bypass
star/key requirements, to complete the game with 50, 16, 1, or 0 stars. Tool-
assisted speedruns also use this to move rapidly through levels, but that
requires a series of frame-perfect inputs.

~~~
pfedak
To add to this, the "walking in place" animation happens when Mario's position
+ velocity would end up out of bounds, which the game doesn't generally
permit. When the player turns and allows the speed to drop, the motion will
take Mario to a valid position, and he will zoom until he gets stuck again.

------
johnm1019
The opening quote totally blows my mind as a humble non-game dev. I never
thought of it this way.

> Miyamoto: Ever since Donkey Kong, it’s been our thinking that for a game to
> sell, it has to excite the people who are watching the player—it has to make
> you want to say, “hey, gimme the controller next!” ...

The simple approach is to say, "to make a great game, it should be fun for the
person playing it." But they've already taken a step back and approached it
from the perspective that great gaming happens socially. Maybe this is one
reason I cherished all the Nintendo games as much as I did. It's because the
memories of playing them are always with other people and we're all having
fun. It wasn't a solo act.

------
mr_pink
Holy crap, Super Mario 64 is 20 years old now. I've never felt my age more
than I do right now...

~~~
k__
Yes, I also feel old when I hear people talk about games, that came out when I
was already >18, as "classics".

What is wrong with you people, these games are only 13 years old!!! ;)

~~~
hood_syntax
You shouldn't feel bad about that, some games are considered classics far
sooner than 13 years. Take Half Life 2 or Bioshock for easy examples. Classic
/= retro, it can mean highly influential or innovative as well.

------
TazeTSchnitzel
> —The way Mario’s face moves is really great too. Like in the opening scene.

> Miyamoto: That actually came from a prototype for Mario Paint 3D (that we’re
> still going to release).

I wonder, was Miyamoto referring to Mario Artist?

~~~
MBCook
Yep. Mario Paint 64 was the name used during development. By the time it got
released it became three titles and was released under Mario Artist.

------
wodenokoto
I really loved this game and have always been sad that they didn't do a proper
sequel.

Reading this interview now, it sounds like they had plenty ideas for new
stuff.

~~~
BoorishBears
Weren't the Galaxy games the sequel?

------
russellbeattie
I should probably make an effort to finish that game someday. Not that I've
finished many Super Mario games. I think I've purchased every one, but have
completed maybe two of them. So many levels incomplete... I wonder if game
devs feel bad working on higher levels, knowing only a tiny portion of players
will actually ever see them?

------
Insanity
I have fond memories of this game, and a lot of what they spoke about in the
interview regarding what gamers enjoyed ringed true for me. The movement of
Mario did feel great, and I had a lot of fun exploring the environment,
jumping in the water for swimming or seeing how Mario's movement was different
in different environments. (I did notice his centre of gravity as well, and it
seems like a great fit).

It is great to read that they actually had players like me in mind when they
created the game. This article actually makes me want to dig up the game and
play it through again.

------
spdustin
Awesome interview.

The other comments reminded me of this fan-made video of an Unreal Engine-
powered Super Mario 64. It's _stunning_.

[https://youtu.be/VUKcSiAPJoQ](https://youtu.be/VUKcSiAPJoQ)

Note: keep playing past 0:50 - it's not just the non-Mario environment.

~~~
whamlastxmas
Worth noting that the majority of those settings are the pre-built demo
environments Unreal provides. This guy is essentially just moving a Mario
character inside the existing Unreal tech demos.

------
ravenstine
I would love to see something similar for Goldeneye/Perfect Dark. I've been
slowly but surely working on building a demo FPS engine using very minimalist
implementation to learn about game dynamics, and I'd love to hear what sort of
technical challenges were faced at Rare and how they developed their(albeit
simplistic) enemy AIs with pathfinding.

------
pcunite
I think the first time I played this game was with the Nemu64 emulator using a
good computer and LCD monitor. The monitor alone made for a better experience
than the scaly TV sets typical of the day. Also, being able to pause, save,
and replay an area was nice.

~~~
bitwize
I had a joystick called the Gravis Xterminator I used to play emulated N64
games. Its analog stick and button layout were similar enough to the N64 to
make emulated Super Mario 64 almost as playable and enjoyable as the real
thing.

------
racl101
Really cool.

Super Mario 64 was such an amazing game back in the day. It totally changed my
life.

