Thoughts on SM64 B3313
This post is part of Agora Road's October 2024 Travelogue.
B3313 is a Super Mario 64 ROM hack that briefly pretends to be a recreation of a beta version of the game but is actually a Yumi Nikki-esque experience. I first heard about the hack while watching Vinesauce Vinny's playthrough of it
Earlier today, I decided to give it a shot myself. The first thing that surprised me was the file size of my untouched Super Mario 64 ROM. That thing is somehow only 8 MB. I know that back in the day file sizes were not as bloated as today, but I was still expecting something like 40 MB. When patched with the ROM hack, the file size becomes 96 Mb which is still reasonable in the grand scheme of things.
Prior to actually playing the ROM hack, I briefly replayed the untouched ROM to re-familiarize myself with the original game. Having grown up with Super Mario 64 DS, I had totally forgotten how mediocre the controls of the original games were. The worst offender is the camera. It is so bad.
Having watching lots of video about this ROM hack, I knew what I was expecting. To my absolute surprise, I have seen a ton of room and stages I had no idea existed. Despite knowing the tricks the game play unto me, I still had plenty moments when I was absolutely flabbergasted.
One of my favorite things about this hack is the pause menu. Don't like the map you currently are in? You can just warp back into the lobby!
The amount of content in this game is incredible. It feels like a futuristic ROM hack where an AI is making levels on the fly in the background. My favorite moment I encountered is when you beat Bowser for the first time and you get teleported into an entirely new lobby. This is when the game stop pretending it's a beta recreation and truly open up. That moment fell magical to me despite having full knowledge that it was coming.
What interest me the most about this hack is how efficient it is when it comes to re-use assets. Most video games tend to create the illusion that you are in a somewhat believable world, but B3313 sacrifice this in favor of content. I wonder what would happen if other types of games would try a similar formula.
Written by manpaint on 26 October 2024.