When it comes to Super Mario 64 hacks, the quality bar has gone through the roof in recent years. Whether it’s Kaze and Return to Yoshi’s Island, Rovertronic and the Cursed Mirror or Dorrieal and the Mystery of the Capsmith, there are all manner of amazing projects that completely redefine what it means to even be a Super Mario 64 hack, with a level of quality that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Nintendo project.

But recently, another contender got released. Named The Patchmaker’s Workshop and created by CowQuack, the game has Mario awaken inside a mysterious workshop with Bowser and Peach turned into dolls beside him. From there, our intrepid hero has to team up with a living doll called Sewnia and explore the workshop in an attempt to stop the Patchmaker and his crazy ambitions.

It’s an interesting premise that feels like something straight out of a Paper Mario game, and something that stands up with the very best of the series on its story alone.

Yet the creativity doesn’t exactly end there. No, while the story and characters are certainly interesting enough, it’s the sheer amount of effort that Cowquack and co put in that really shines here.

Since Patchmaker’s Workshop isn’t content with taking the original game’s objects and mechanics and reusing them in a new context. You’re not simply running around a grassland fighting Goombas and Koopas, or flying through the air with the Wing Cap in an attempt to pass through another 5 rings.

No, you’re doing things you’d never expect to do in a Mario game, let alone a Super Mario 64 hack. You turn into stone mid-air and launch yourself through spikes and obstacles to reach new areas. You gain the ability to transform objects in your environment, changing the species and physical makeup of everything from level geometry to enemies and bosses in the process. And you fight… unusual characters that could just as well come from the very best of the RPG spinoffs.

Like a fallen goddess in an abandoned version of heaven overrun with robot seraphs. A group of sentient shapes invading from another dimension that have to wished out of existence with your transfiguration powers. Or heck, the creepy Patchmaker himself, who fights you multiple times in a battle as complex as the ones with Ghirahim in Skyward Sword or Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom.

It’s genuinely amazing to see, and shows just how far The Patchmaker’s Workshop goes to switch up the formula here. This doesn’t feel like a Super Mario 64 hack anymore, this feels like an entirely original game set within the Mario universe as a whole. It’s arguably the Majora’s Mask to Mario 64’s Ocarina of Time, and a title that would probably gain a whole heap of critical acclaim if published by Nintendo on Switch Online or the eShop.

So, we’d definitely recommend checking out the Patchmaker’s Workshop, especially if you’re a Mario 64 fan looking for something a bit fresher and more original. It really is one of the most creative fan projects we’ve ever seen, and one which could very well put many actual N64 classics to shame on a creativity level alone.

Either way, if you need a download, you can find the hack over at ROMHacking.com here:

The Patchmaker’s Workshop (ROMHacking.com)

And if you want to discuss it, you can do so in the comments below, or on our Discord server today!

Source:

The Patchmaker’s Workshop is out now!!! (CowQuack on YouTube)