A new developer video has been released for a fan-made project for Super Mario 64 HD, which is being built, designed, coded, modeled and published by a group of gamers for PC. The new video gives everyone a neat behind-the-scenes look at how some of the stuff came together.
Unfortunately the near four-minute video doesn't have any talking, so we only see the progress on the remake and not actually get a breakdown of the progress. I'm curious about the process in which they're going about recreating the game. For instance, quite a few people were asking in the comment section was this an overhaul to the ROM or an entirely new game made for PC?
It's not explained in the video, but a few people comment how the game is actually a fan-made project coming to PC. Of course, this still doesn't explain if it's going to be emulated or run native.
There are also a few complaints about using the Mario model from Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii. I thought that model was okay, but some people feel it looks “non HD”. With the HDR and post-processing in the stage, it appears to match well enough. Maybe before they release the project they'll switch out that Mario with one from a Wii U game? Or perhaps have someone will take the time to upscale his textures, clean up the model's lighting and add a few more rendering passes?
Anyway, I thought the model looked decent enough. It was probably the most major complaint in the comment section, though.
As for the stages, music and gameplay... it's amazing how the team managed to completely recapture the essence of movement from the N64 with their remake. Mario moves very fluently and very fast. I mean, to this day Super Mario 64 still has one of the best control and animation setups for a 3D platforming game. Nintendo absolutely nailed it from top to bottom. So seeing that same level of fluidity and control on display of Mario – especially near the end of the video where he's doing the very impressive wall-hopping – means that the biggest obstacle of the remake has been overcome... well, as far as gameplay mechanics go.
We still haven't see how the levels work out or how well the boss fights will play. I'm also curious how well his combos will play out in the game – the whole punch, punch, jump-kick. It wasn't all that useful in a practical sense but it did look good and was sometimes helpful when attempting to get floating or flying enemies.
There's no date mentioned in the video in terms of a release schedule, but they seem to be public enough about their intentions without worrying about upsetting Nintendo. As noted on My Nintendo News, Nintendo is a-okay with fan-projects.
It'll be cool to see how this all develops once a stage is fully playable or at least made public so gamers can see how far along they are.
