GAMES FROM THE FROG'S BOX #5: MARIO 64 OPEN WORLD MINI-HACK GRAB BAG

Today, I have three hacks of Super Mario 64, with a generally similar theme between them- namely, being inspired by Bowser's Fury's open-world design philosophy, yet with key differences in how that philosophy is interpreted. Figured I'd group them together, because each one individually isn't interesting enough- but they go great together!

MARIO'S VACATION COURSE

This first hack is made by Reonu, for Scuttlebug_Raiser's 1st hacking competition, and no wonder it placed first.
The central gimmick of this hack is that all of Mario's moves have been taken away (he forgot them), and you can only get them back through collecting a certain amount of Stars. Down to the most granular things like double and triple jumps. Heck, the first thing you get back isn't even a jump, but your dive- which you can only obtain after crawling your way up a sand castle, jumping off, landing on a spring to get your first star.

Thankfully, he has also forgotten how to take fall damage. Lava and falling in the water just respawn you right where you left off, so death is a slap on the wrist here. Good- the last thing a short minihack needs is artificially inflating the playtime.
(I do wish I didn't have to see the unskippable animation of mario getting up from being knocked on his ass every single time, but that's a minor quibble.)

Of course, then you get the surfboard, which lets you go across the water, and has a way of teleporting exactly where you need it to be like Plessie in 3D world. This game isn't quite as freeform, though- the first several stars are generally collectable in the same order, since you need to get basic moves back before you can make much progress. But the illusion of an open space is what's important here, and it never feels like you're boxed in.
The level design is quite compact, so it never takes too long to get where you need to go- a perfect kind of pacing suited for this sort of experience.

My favorite part is the fire area, even with the lava instantly killing you. Granted, Mount Magmeow from 3D world playing here helps it, but it's also got the most fun platforming in the game, and the 8 red coins challenge, too.

Probably the sneakiest Star is this white one in the tiny alcove- I rushed right past it my first time and spent like five minutes wondering where it was.

The visuals aren't really much to write home about, but I love Mario's new model with the swimshorts and sunglasses. It's so charming. The Stars all being rainbow colored is also cool. Shoutouts to Luigi breaking the cobblestone generator, lol.

Unfortunately, when you get 20 stars, you'll have all of your moves back. By then the experiences loses a bit of its creativity, but that's to be expected with any gimmick of this sort. And it is somewhat empowering to explore it like a normal Mario 64 level after spending half the runtime completely handicapped. It's still a very fun bite-size portion of SM64 action. But, I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in one simple bite.

Good thing I've got two other bite-sized portions to make a full meal!

PEACH'S FURY

This next hack is from Kaze Emanuar, responsible for many fine hacks- Last Impact, SM64 Land, Through the Ages, etc. Like the last one, it was created for a competition- the Crossover-Themed Levels competition on romhacking.com, placing 5th.

The plot is summed up by "mario spent all of peach's money, get stars to make her not mad." 

Look at peach's face, she means fucking business. (Sadly there is no boss fight against her.)

Anyway, like the previous one, you're set loose in a large area, with stars scattered all over the place. Unlike Vacation Course, you have all your moves from the start, free to run and jump around as you see fit. That's not it, though- this hack gives you a couple extra flourishes to your moveset, like the ground-pound jump from Bowser's Fury itself, or the wall slide from NSMB. 

 

Where this game really shines is the environment- it really feels like a microcosm of a typical mario experience SQUEEZED into a much smaller playfield, just like Bowser's Fury itself. It's chock full of interesting little challenges, ranging from red coins hidden by birds, to running around a merry-go-round to spawn a star...

To dropping into a pipe and ending up in an 8-bit mini level!

I think this tiny cave is the first time I've used the crawl maneuver in Mario 64 in ages.

My personal favorite objective is this one, where you find a sign pointing you to "the tip of the ship"- but pounding it just reveals another sign pointing you somewhere else, forcing you on a scavenger hunt around the whole map to finally find the star. Whether you naturally get to it while collecting the rest, or it's the last thing you do, it's the most elaborate thing in the game, and I adore it.

There's even a custom powerup, the Cloud Flower from SMG2 ported back in here- and it works just like how you'd expect it to. There's a couple bits where it's required, but for the rest it's mostly just a help if you can't make some particular jumps that require more advanced techniques to get down. 

The level design here deserves particular praise. There's always a lot of little things designed to attract your attention, and funnel you to the stars. And in the case of less obvious ones, the twinkling sound effect lets you know how close you are. 

Most impressive, though, is the fact that this runs at 60 FPS, with not a single framedrop despite the complexity of the environment. Kaze's technical mastery over the SM64 engine continues.

Overall, this is an excellent showcase of Kaze Emanuar's technical and design chops- most of his work is incredible, and I highly recommend checking it out. (Can't wait for Return to Yoshi's Island 64!)
A great to spend a half hour, this. But I've got ONE more mini-hack to blather about.

WADOVICE 64

This one was openly inspired by Peach's Fury, and I mean it as a compliment when I say it more than matches up to it. Unlike Peach's Fury, which was a mishmash of a lot of different biomes, Wadovice 64 is VERY thematically consistent- everything is the retro vaporwave aesthetic, and it commits to the theme all the way to the end.

The entire game is full of lovely aesthetic touches, like the Whomps having earphones. Can I just say, I love the color palette here. Everything's purple and blue, it's like the Lust layer of Ultrakill up in here, bisexual lighting everywhere. The electric rave music throughout just increases the bouncy vibes, it makes you want to get up and GO.  

The Toads are very funny here, they all have glasses, spout 80s references... talking to them is its own reward, really.

In between the more standard challenges are more creative stuff, like this jump rope minigame.

You can even go inside the club, with a full lyrical track blaring inside- and the Toad on a comically tall barstool, which is a great sight gag.

Probably the most tricky part is this bit with the construction site, having to walljump up beams like this is always tricky business. Still, nowhere near as brutal as some hacks I've played- it's a nice, chill vibe all around, that you can finish relatively quickly. And the strength of theming really helps it stand out. Like Peach's Fury, this runs at 60 FPS, so it's a very smooth experience all the way through as well.

I am proud of this one part where I was supposed to hit a timed switch, but i managed to get atop the construction crane and jumped off. This isn't a design fault, I just wanted to mention it.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Really, you can't go wrong with any of these, I just grouped them together because of their similar level design philosophies.
Vacation Course wins in terms of creativity, Peach's Fury for technical wizardry, and Wadovice for pure theming and vibes. I binged them all in an afternoon, LOL. And I highly recommend you do the same- they're short enough to leave you wanting more, but together they're a nicely grouped set.
Expect more grab bag entries later, whether they're themed or not.

GAME LINKS:
Mario's Vacation Course: https://romhacking.com/hack/marios-vacation-course
Peach's Fury: https://romhacking.com/hack/Peach-s-Fury
Wadovice64: https://romhacking.com/hack/wadovice64
Wadovice64 Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXgbDdCfL10 (BANGER ALERT)