Mario Story/Paper Mario recreations- an ice day for a classic and a new one
Continuing one with the cubicized recreations of Mario Story/Paper Mario stages, I have two today- a classic one, and a new one. Interestingly, though, the tile and asset set is sourced from/inspired by the latter.
First up- Shiver Mountain, from Paper Mario 64! Minus a slight reinterpretation at the end and some new obstacles, it's mostly the same layout, or as close as possible when looking over old footage.
The opening area of Shiver Mountain. The switch is here as usual, causing the blocks below to go up and down. New, though, are those weird pink walls with cut-out lines. Mario might need a certain partner for those obstacles, which appear through the stage.
Then, both the second and third areas at once. For the former, the switch across the gap has been moved to the lower area that once housed a Pebble. The latter, meanwhile, receives a greater reworking. Since the intended threat/puzzle of not taking powerful items doesn't really work when you think about it- I mean, you just leave them in for the main story or swap them for a weaker item, then take them all on your way down- it's now a cut-out and poison tile area. The latter requires yet another partner, one I haven't designed yet to boot...
Now, the penultimate main area. Three big changes here. First, there's a simple maze to solve leading to the secret cave. Second, that secret area is both optional, and can be accessed an infinite number of times. Last, the area past the first flight of stairs is reworked into a second, slighty tougher maze.
Here, you see the secret area. It's...not quite as majestic, mysterious or otherworldly as its source counterpart, but I did what I could.
And here's the end goal area of Shiver Mountain. Since the stage just ends here with a Gold Star, there's no mirror area or door. That said, I decided to recreate the very end of Crystal Palace (you know the area) after the initial stairs and where the door would be.
Usually, things would end here. However, as I promised, this was a two-for-one deal. So here's the other stage using this setting's assets, and the true source of them- a cube recreation of Frullato Edge from my own fantopic, Mario Story Fruit Shake. For a refresher or glance on what this stage looks like, here's a link to that Tumblr post. https://at.tumblr.com/tyrorexdmzapp/some-more-location-screenies-for-mario-story-fruit/fs1cid6wqz6s
Due to how...accidentally short the earlier stages I physically designed are, this one's pretty short- only two simple screens. But that's part of an inherent reason why I'm doing these recreations (which is the same reason the Sonic Frontiers did the Cyberspace stages)- to study what works and what doesn't with the classic stages (...and some others...), then apply that knowledge to similar projects, whether it be Paper Mario/Mario Story.......or otherwise.
Also, more importantly and to be honest, I made this alongside the original rounded (or still jaggy) design.
So, first area. Pretty much the same, except cubier and with some changes to encourage looking around more. This screen also features snowflakes, courtesy of a particle system plane high above. I was going to put in the same particle system for the Shiver Mountain recreation. However, since the original Shiver Mountain didn't have snowing- only Shiver Fields and the highest part of Crystal Palace- I decided not to.
Last, the inner area of Frullato Edge. Here, like intended in the OG experience, Mario and friends would need to push snowballs into place to reach the Gold Star.
And that's all I got for today. I figured since it was winter, I could make and show these two stages.
