Part 1: Why is this all so important to me?
What does it all mean for me as a person, a gamer, an artist?
This game was a big part of my childhood identity. It was the basis for many memories.
Circumstances of its time made the game stand out.
First of its kind - expanded new frontiers of gaming technology
Launch title for the Nintendo 64. It introduced 3D graphics to the gaming world, and at the time, it was groundbreaking.
Growing up with rapidly growing technology meant my generation participated in a crucial moment of gaming history.
The circumstances surrounding the game’s development and design are of great interest to me.
The game is nostalgic and fun, but also has an eerie element to it as well.
What am I going to get out of writing about Mario 64- what am I going to do with all this information?
If I can identify the elements that appeal to me, I can be more conscious of what I borrow and incorporate into my art.
Part 2: Eerie aspects of Mario 64
Hardware limitations
Aged graphics
Low polygon count
Fuzzy and pixelated textures
2D stand-ins for 3D objects
Relatively low framerate
Compressed audio
Exaggerated cartoon sound effects
Early 1990s audio sample library
CRT TVs
Graphics were already low quality. CRT screens made it even fuzzier and impossible to see fine details
Game interfaces had large readable text and graphics meant for display on a small TV screen.
CRT screens used this fuzziness to their advantage, especially with 2D graphics. Details blurred together, giving them more definition than they would appear on an emulator or modern screen.
Sky boxes
Ambiguous, surreal locations
Floating levels. Misstep and you fall into an endless abyss in the sky.
Unreachable locations. What’s on the island in the distance? Can I reach the pyramids? Who lives in the weird underwater town?
Evokes feelings of mystery, curiosity, loneliness, and creepiness
These left a strong impression on me as a child
Deliberately scary elements
Weirdly realistic death animations, especially when choking or drowning
Bowser’s evil laughter when you die
The eel in Jolly Roger Bay
Endless stairs
Giant Peach painting turning into Bowser when you get close
The painting for Lethal Lava Land
Uncanny valley
Strange characters and monsters
Lifeless beady eyes
Blank expressions
Hardware limitations
Cartoon art style juxtaposed with oddly realistic textures (e.g. Tall, Tall Mountain)
Liminal spaces and loneliness
Large and relatively empty-feeling environments
When you’re a kid, you perceive the world as much bigger. Mario has child-like proportions, making him feel even smaller inside the world of the game.
Environments presented outside context
The town in Wet-Dry World. Both the skybox town as well as the one you can explore. It seems like it should have inhabitants but it is completely abandoned.
Peach’s castle. It literally serves as the hub from one level to another and you’re not meant to spend much time in the castle itself
Colorful and lively levels but there are not many inhabitants, only monsters. What happened to the friends who supposedly live there?
There are no other playable characters despite the rumors (although it was finally confirmed that Luigi was planned, according to the 2020 Giga Leak)
There are rarely any friendly characters to talk to
Mysterious and full of secrets
There are many secret areas, stars, and other things. Could there be other secrets not yet found?
If you find one secret entrance, who’s to say there's not another one somewhere? Check every wall and every painting. You never know.
A breeding ground for schoolyard rumors- see part 3
Weird, experimental level design
Unusual design decisions that arouse curiosity and speculation
Surreal, dreamlike aesthetic
Level design focuses more on gameplay function than a convincing environment with culture and inhabitants
Some levels are dark and grungy, feeling sinister for a Mario game
Part 3: Creepy factors outside the game
Curiosity and wandering minds
The game is full of oddities and secrets. It leads to many questions in curious minds.
I remember thinking I could get Nessie to eat Mario by making him jump into Nessie’s mouth.
Spending countless hours in the same area trying to unlock secrets that only existed in my imagination.
Childhood and schoolyard rumors
Online information was nowhere as accessible as it is today. If you were a kid, you got your video game intel from magazines, guide books, an actual help line you could call, and of course, word of mouth.
Kids under 10 have a lot of curiosity, imagination, and optimism, making them very gullible. When my classmates told me outlandish stories, I believed them. It’s so cool that my neighbor has a time machine!
Not only was the internet harder to access at the time, but I was also too young to be on it anyway. There was no way for me to verify the stories I heard on the playground except by looking to the game itself.
When I discovered my classmates’ stories were made up, I was let down, but there was still a sense of anticipation and curiosity. It felt like it could be true.
Compared to the modern state of internet and gaming, there was much less to choose from when we were kids, and harder to access too. It made it easier to focus on one thing at a time instead of being distracted by countless games and software applications. We made the best of what we had.
“My [relative] works at Nintendo and s/he said that...” a universal playground story.
Personal experiences with rumors
Playground rumors: If you jump into the cloud above the door for Bob-omb Battleground, it will take you to a secret level. This only works in the K-A version.
Cousin: I heard this from a friend. In the underground part of Hazy Maze Cave, there’s a red lobster at the end of the narrow area. You have to jump down into the pits to get it.
I played Mario 64 on a very old TV with very extreme color setting controls. I made the game very dark and neon, then I told my sister that I unlocked a secret version of the game.
Creepypasta
The modern version of the playground rumors. In today’s age, while misinformation runs uncontrollably rampant, it is also fairly easy to fact check.
With creepypastas, we know it’s fiction, which sets it apart from playground rumors, which claim to be true.
Some creepypastas take existing rumors and make more detailed stories out of them.
The less convincing creepypastas try way too hard by shoving excessive detail and violence in your face. A cartoon Mario with hyper-realistic bleeding eyes and teeth isn’t scary because it tries way too hard to be edgy.
The most convincing creepypastas make use of the in-game engine that makes the events seem plausible. A good example of this is Ben Drowned. All events were orchestrated in-game using cheats, glitches, and tricks, then edited together to weave a compelling narrative.
The hardware limitations, fuzzy audio, and aged graphics add to the creepiness because it leaves more to the imagination. The suggestion that it is old adds to the creepy factor as well; it feels foreign instead of recent and familiar.
Memory
Because of hardware limitations, only the most essential elements are in the game.
The simple graphics and iconic design make the game easy to visually recall
Yet, it is also easy to misremember things because less detail means it can be perceived in many different ways.
As kids we process memory differently. We don’t always understand what we’re seeing, and it’s easy for that memory to be distorted into something that never happened. Can you REALLY jump into that one wall, or were you thinking of a different room?
Glitches
I was on the last Bowser boss. Mario started sinking into the floor and moving around oddly. I don’t remember what happened next but I assume the game froze or crashed. Ryan might have been over.
Recently I booted up the game. I was in Whomp’s Fortress and paused the game for something. When I unpaused, Mario sank into the ground and started moving strangely. The audio distorted, and then the game crashed. The audio eventually stabilized after several minutes, playing the course’s background music on loop, while the image on the screen stayed eternally frozen.
Dreams I’ve had
The giant round lake in Dire, Dire Docks. I still have dreams that recall the layout of this level with the deep circular layout.
A level similar to Bowser’s first dungeon, but it was more of a yellowish green. It was also suspended in an endless void with a cave-like background.
Bowser’s Dark World viewed from above, getting a sense of how tall the level actually is.
A similar dream to above but with Whomp’s Fortress
Part 4: Main takeaways
The case for hardware limitations
Psychology 101: things become more desirable when we can’t have them. When a game has simple graphics, it leaves us wondering more about what the game doesn’t show us.
We can’t possibly pay attention to every single detail IRL or in a video game. In my opinion, the detail in modern gaming is excessive. It’s important to focus on what matters.
Video games guide the player where to pay attention. An abundance of detail is not always necessary, especially depending on the game. What level of detail would create the most immersive experience?
Limitations in hardware force the developer to be creative in order to solve problems. It can lead to some interesting decisions and clever shortcuts.
What are my favorite things about Mario 64?
Juxtaposition of cartoon and realism, weaved together in a dreamlike harmony.
The game felt like a fever dream with its experimental game design and aged graphics. Coming back to the game years later and remembering things thinking, “oh yeah, what’s up with that?”
It harnessed the power of a child’s imagination. Think of the way a young child plays with toys, pretending it’s something much more grand. Old video games function in a similar way- our mind fills in the blanks. The hardware limitations, as well as the novelty at the time of release, made it easy to imagine more about the game than it could show us.
The game’s many secrets. You have to search high and low to discover some of the more well-hidden ones. It invites insatiable curiosity and focused attention.
What other things do I like?
Super Mario 64 wasn’t just a video game; it shaped my whole world. I bonded over the game with other kids; we exchanged rumors and wild speculation. At night I dreamt of it and imagined my own scenarios. It was more than a video game. It was an essential element of my childhood experience.
I love the idea of a game doubling as both a happy game and an eerie one. There is a very thin line between creepy and cute.
A good video game provides a memorable experience that extends well beyond the time spent actually playing it. That is how some of the best memories are formed, especially during childhood and adolescence.
What have I learned from this? How could I borrow and incorporate these elements into my work?
Self-imposed limitations
Color palettes
Fuzzy or vague detail
Simplified designs
Brushes
Shapes
Open to interpretation and speculation
Mysterious, unanswered or unexplained elements
Experimental, surreal, dreamlike qualities
Mixing cartoon style with more realistic elements
Fantastical worlds
Straddling the fine line between cute and creepy
Adding hidden details or secrets
A hidden image or message
Metaphors and symbolism
A secret code
A hidden element featured in multiple artworks
I would love an interactive element to my work to make it more like a game, but how?
Puzzles
Mazes
Scavenger hunt
Wimmelbilder
What art ideas from my lists could potentially incorporate these above-mentioned elements? (Note: Brainstormed ideas only! Otherwise the list would be endless)
Undertale: Frisk and Chara duality
Yume Nikki: Hub
Awakened god
Doll
Forest’s maze
Gem in the sky
Heaven
Strange owl god
TV ghosts
What things do I feel demonstrate the above-listed elements and ideas?
Web artist: Danker Beef
Visceral and dream-like
Fuzzy ambiguous detail
Takes happy and cute things and makes them creepy
Movement: Impressionism
More about feeling than detail
Feels like recalling a memory or dream
Vibrant colors
What other games would I be interested in covering?
Zelda 64
Yume Nikki
Silent Hill 4
Shadow of the Colossus
Ghost Trick
Undertale
Other notes
“Creepy is about the uncertainty of threat. You're feeling uneasy because you think there might be something to worry about, but the signals aren't clear enough to warrant a desperate life-saving action” McAndrew
In the spirit of the ideas I explored, I am going to keep this as a list of organized notes instead of going into excessive detail with a full written essay.