In recent times, Super Mario Odyssey has seen an increasing number of mods for it. These include edited physics with the moon jump and super speed code, remodeled collectables such as Shine Sprites from Mario Sunshine replacing the Power Moons in levels and unreleased costumes like Zombie Mario being made public early.
There’s some neat stuff there, especially given how new the game’s modding scene is right now. But it’s not what’s truly interesting about Odyssey’s mods.
No, that would be the custom levels. Cause you see, thanks to advancements in Nintendo Switch hacking (and the existence of a full-blown level editor for the game), Super Mario Odyssey has actually started getting custom levels too.
And as is expected from a new Mario game and its mods, one of these is a Kaizo hack intended to make the brutal finale even tougher! Yep, named Kaizo Darker Side, this mod takes the already challenging Culmina Crater area and cranks the difficulty up to eleven, adding in more enemies, trickier jumps and tweaked obstacles to do so.
Here’s a video of the mod courtesy of its original creator:
As well as a less comprehensive video from Beard Bear on YouTube:
As you can clearly see, it definitely ups the challenge quite significantly from the original, and really does show how tricky Odyssey platforming can become if you’re willing to step away from Nintendo’s fairer level design.
So, check it out if you’re after a new challenge. It’s not perfect (in part because of the level editor’s limitations, and in part due to being one of the first of its kind), but it’s a decent attempt none the less, and seems like a good start for the game’s Kaizo scene.
Over the years, Super Mario 64 modder Kaze Emanuar has done some incredibly impressive work as far as mods for the title goes. He’s remade Super Mario Odyssey’s mechanics in Super Mario 64, via the aptly named Super Mario Odyssey 64. He’s brought online multiplayer to the game via Super Mario 64 Online, complete with multiple playable characters and extra mods.
And well, with Last Impact, he’s even gone and made a whole new Mario title on the same engine. He’s basically the one guy keeping the game alive at this point, and perhaps on par with Nintendo themselves in knowing the ins and outs of its engine.
Yet even then, today’s mod is something to behold. Why? Because as the article title suggests, Kaze has now gone and remade the entirety of Super Mario Sunshine’s FLUDD mechanics in Super Mario 64!
Here’s a video showing the mod in action.
As you can see, it’s a pretty damn accurate remake. You’ve got all the nozzles from Sunshine, and they all work exactly as you’d expect them too.
But hey, what would you expect from this guy? It’s like not it’s the first time he’s ever done something like this. Oh no, back when Last Impact was his main project, Kaze remade FLUDD as an ability there too. It wasn’t exactly a full recreation (given it only had the hover nozzle included) and it wasn’t used in many levels (only the second of fifteen), but it was neat enough none the less.
Either way though, this new mod is a whole ‘nother story. After all, the Hover Nozzle, Spray Nozzle, Rocket Nozzle and Turbo Nozzle all in Super Mario 64? And working exactly as they did in Sunshine? That’s freaking awesome, and makes it wonder exactly how far the game’s engine can be taken before we somehow reach its limits.
And it doesn’t stop there either. Oh no, these nozzles are not just a small add on released for laughs. They’re not like Super Mario 3D World 64 or Super Mario Odyssey 64, which existed purely for a technical showcase.
Instead, they’re actually going to be used in a full demake of Super Mario Sunshine!
No, we’re not joking. As mentioned in the video, he (along with the people at Team Cornersoft) are going to be remaking Super Mario Sunshine in Super Mario 64’s engine. It’s unknown how complete said mod will be but given the talk of levels being ported over and the work already been done on FLUDD, it seems likely it’ll be a project on the level of his Ocarina of Time remake.
So yeah, let’s see how Super Mario Sunshine works out in Super Mario 64’s engine, and whether Mario’s tropical vacation can be brought over to the N64 in the process!
Have you ever wanted a new Wario Land game? Felt you could do some interesting things with Wario Land 4’s engine? Hell, just wondered what a community could be like for Wario Land modding in general?
If so, you’re in luck! Because thanks to a member of the Wario Forums community called shinespeciall, a new Wario Land 4 editor is now in development. This editor will allow users to edit levels, graphics, music, sprites and various other aspects of the game, with the goal being to eventually provide something akin to Lunar Magic for Wario Land 4 hackers.
It’s obviously not too feature packed as of right now, and various bugs will probably exist in the UI due to its early development status, but it’s a pretty good start all things considered. Heck, if the current development speed continues, we could even get a decent editor within a few weeks or months.
So yeah, check it out if you’re interested. It’s a neat project, and one we definitely feel could do with some more support from the community!
As you likely know, the final mission in Super Mario Odyssey’s Snow Kingdom is known as the Bound Bowl Grand Prix. This is a racing mini game where players have to bound around an icy track in order to win a Multi-Moon, with extra prices being available for harder variants. It’s an interesting challenge, and a moderately fun mini game whose high scores can also be shared online.
However, as it turns out, that mini game isn’t all the track can used for!
Oh no, thanks to the work of a modder called WexosMK on YouTube, it can now also be used for Mario Kart races too! That’s because as the video below clearly shows, the track has now been ported over to Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, complete with everything present in the Mario Odyssey original:
And what’s more, it works really well too. Oh sure, it doesn’t have the most complex layout (that’d probably be the Iceburn Circuit) and it’s not super gimmicky (like say, Mount Wario), but it’s a nice solid track design that’s plenty wide enough for karts and works really well in Mario Kart 8’s physics engine.
Which then makes us wonder:
What else from Super Mario Odyssey could work as a Mario Kart track?
New Donk City? Tostarena Town? Steam Gardens?
Maybe even a new version of Bowser’s Castle based on the one from Odyssey?
All of those would be fantastic ideas, and all could become likely now models are being ripped from Super Mario Odyssey and imported into games like Mario Kart 8. The possibilities really are endless, and the list of cool custom tracks still to come will likely just grow and grow.
As you likely know, Donkey Kong Country on SNES redesigned the characters quite a bit compared to their arcade counterparts. Indeed, not only did Rare’s new DK look far more animalistic than his original equivalent, but his sidekick Diddy Kong went from being Donkey Kong Jr to an all new character in his own right.
It was a risky move for the company, but it paid off and created some extremely memorable designs that have stayed with us ever since.
Yet what if it didn’t happen? What would Donkey Kong Country look like with the arcade style Donkey Kong and Jr in the lead roles? How would things have differed if Miyamoto was as strict towards Rare with DK as he was towards Sticker Star era Paper Mario developers?
Well, thanks to this new video by Spacepig22, we can see for ourselves! Have a look:
Yeah, it’s certainly something isn’t it? Seeing Donkey Kong looking like the gormless ape from the arcade title or Diddy Kong as Jr is a different experience to say the least.
But the thing is, it’s not really a pleasant one. Why? Because put simply, the original character appearances just don’t work for this sort of game. Everything from DK’s goofy grin to the walk animations and stylings just look off.
That’s not the fault of the video creator (who did a damn good job at making these models and seamlessly splicing them into game footage), but in general the style just doesn’t work. DK and Diddy just look and work 100 times better in the style used in the actual game.
Still, what do you think about it? Are you impressed by this animation and the models used? What do you think about the idea of Donkey Kong Country in this style?
Have your say in the comments below or on social media today!
