A Close Look at Mario Models Throughout the Years

[Xiahou Dun]

Hey, I thought I should just make a thread as a response to a good video analysis of Mario's models throughout history, though I think the video misses out on some key points including textures and also misses out on some models. Also, the models in the video aren't consistently triangulated, so we see quads and even n-gons (faces with more than four vertices) on those models. I'm going to show my own thoughts and opinions and they'll probably mirror the video at points but I'd rather this be standalone. I probably won't include every single model, but mainly the ones I like and/or think are important. I'll also provide pictures of models myself. Most of the models will probably come from models resource and the modeling program used is Maya 2014 or 3DS Max 2010.

You can comment if you want, but I hope this thread is interesting and I hope I don't bore anyone too much with modeling jargon. If you have the urge to upload the renders to the wiki, feel free to do so. Just make sure you provide the source correctly.

It would be nice if I were to look at other characters too, but right now, I'm focused on Mario, and this is really a spur-of-the-moment thing. I may or may not run out of steam half-way through so please bear with me.



Super Mario 64
Rendered with 3DS Max 2010. The image of Mario with both textures and mesh makeup (the one facing diagonally) is rendered with flat lighting since, for some reason, removing the tiling, which is necessary for the eyes and hat insignia to display correctly, changes the lighting of the polygons that have disabled tiling. The first two images, renders of Mario, removes that problem, but I like to show the wireframe for illustrative purposes.

Spoiler: More images

Mesh
Tris: 752
This is the most familiar old Mario model. According to 3DS Max, there are 838 faces, hair included. Without the hair, there are around 752 triangles. This is exceptionally low-poly for today's standards (in ZBrush for instance, a program for sculpting and creating intricate details on models like cloth and wrinkles in the skin, it's normal for models to exceed one million polys, how far we've come), but how does it measure up to contemporary N64 models? I guess we'll find out later. What's shown here is not a clean mesh, likely the result of triangulation so games can render the models properly. The ripped mesh doesn't appear to be perfectly symmetrical. Even if you adjust the imported model to be more in the center line, the feet, particularly the left foot, appears to be still a little out of line and not even aligned with the ground plane. I don't know if it's an error with ripping the model or if the model is always like this.

The model is imposed of very simplistic shapes, almost resembling primitives (the first models you make in a modeling program; simple spheres and cubes/rectangular prisms and other shapes). Joints simply don't exist probably due to rigging limitations at the time. To emulate joint bending, the model is broken into segments, like pieces of armor or insects with their stiff exoskeletons. Mario's hat slants sharply downward, leaving little room for the skull and hair and probably magically compressing them. Compare this to later models, where the hat is more horizontal and the space between the hat and the hair is more consistent (but not perfect). The hair looks like mush, and compared to the artwork, there are only two nubs compared to four nubs in the back of the hair.

Textures

The textures are 32 by 32 px (pixels) and have no shading whatsoever, making these extremely simplistic and tiny. Also, I believe some models don't have a texture applied to them per se. When I imported this in 3DS Max, there are color values assigned to some meshes rather than png textures. Notice that there are no plain white glove textures; this is because, from the model rip, the gloves have a color value, no mesh. Other simply colored, such as the hat, overalls, hair, and skin color also appear to have color values rather than use color information from a texture.

Mario also does not have sophisticated eye movement. Eye movement is replicated through additional textures of eyes looking up, down, left, and right. Additionally, both eyes are drawn here. Most models in the future generally draw one eye. Finally, the eyebrows are relatively tiny and pencil thin compared to the artwork of the day and later Mario models.

Bones
Unfortunately, the model downloaded from the Models Resource is in .obj format. This means there are no bones and so I can't say how this model is animated nor do I know where the bones are placed or how many bones are there. I'm pretty sure the bone structure is very simplistic though, like everything about this model.

Super Mario 64 - Mario's Head
Rendered with 3DS Max 2010. Everything seemed to turn out okay, so no need to adjust the texture settings or anything. Don't worry about the flatness of the hat at the top; it's supposed to be like that. The mesh seems to be composed of combined polygons compared to the previous model (note the wireframe color).

Spoiler: More images

Mesh
Tris: 1,213
The infamous Mario head at the title screen of Super Mario 64 that would greet unsuspecting players to the horrors of this head (all while hackers commit unspeakable horrors of themselves to this poor head). This model is high-poly at its time and the face animation is complex. The face, unsurprisingly, resembles the artwork of this game, where Mario's eyebrows and hair details are more accurate to the artwork. This face, however, still have aspects of the familiar low-poly Mario: the outer nubs of Mario's hair are much bigger than the inner ones and thus they resemble the two nubs on the low-poly Mario. The hat is also compressing the back of Mario's head again, with its downward slant; if you were to outline Mario's skull, it would fall outside of the hat.

The iris are their own polygons so they can replicate the movement of the eyes (not very realistically, but I digress). The teeth are not their own polygon; they seem to be just a colored area that would've been Mario's upperlip. The eye sockets appear to be pretty deep, but I think it's to help with the blinking to properly cover the eyes, but makes the model look strange from a side view. Otherwise, I like the detail in this model for its time. Mario's face here has a defined chin, lip, and ears, features that are otherwise virtually nonexistent in the simple N64 models. Despite its age, I think it looks pretty fine and I consider it an achievement in 3D video game modeling.

Textures

There is not much to say. The textures are mono-colored 32 x 32 squares. It makes me wonder if they're actually textures or colored meshes like in the previous model (with the 32 x 32 textures being created with the same color values as the mesh color so the model is easier to use in other programs), OR the colored meshes in the previous model are a modification the ripper has done to make the model easier to use in certain programs such as 3DS Max. Maya 2014 didn't display the textures in the low poly SM64 model correctly for me.

Bones
I don't have the bones for this model either, but if there were bones, they may have been used as tug points, as players could tug several parts of Mario's face. There may have been bones for eye movement as well, given that the irises are separate polygons, which won't be the case in later models.

 

[Xiahou Dun]

Mario Party 2
Rendered with 3DS Max 2010.

I decided to use Mario Party 2's model because Mario Party 1's model is ripped with a model frozen in a specific pose. This isn't useful or convenient. Mario Party 2's model uses a more neutral pose, though it is still not an ideal pose, given the bent arms. The main differences between the ripped Mario Party 1 and the ripped Mario Party 2 models seem to be just the ear textures; Mario Party 1 has a less detailed ear texture, being a simple color. There seems to be weird geometry going on at the back of the hat, though I haven't really done anything to change it. I guess it's just an error of converting from quads to tris.

Spoiler: More images

Mesh
Tris: 406
I personally like this one more than the Super Mario 64 model despite having less polys. Additionally less polys do not necessarily mean less detail as the segmented nature of the Super Mario 64 models lead to unnecessary faces. Anyhow, the body is joined as one, which I find more aesthetically palatable. Mario doesn't really need to twist his body around to the same degree as his arms and legs. Mario's body, however, looks blocky, especially at the back view. Mario's hat is also more believably placed on his head. There is no downward slant as in the Super Mario 64 models that leave no room for Mario's skull and the back of Mario's hair. Thus, the back of Mario's hair actually has more room and is proportionally bigger, and I think this is the best-looking hat of the N64 era. Mario still has segmented arms and legs as the Super Mario 64 Mario. Unfortunately, while Mario's face is somewhat defined, the eyes get distorted from the shape of his head, most noticeable at the side view.

Textures

The texture resolution, the square textures being 64 x 64 (the skin texture is 64 x 128) is essentially double that of the Super Mario 64 Mario, which is the reason the textures look so much cleaner on this model. Additionally, these textures more resemble today's textures. The skin color also looks more like skin compared to the yellowish Super Mario 64 Mario. The ears have textures, though they look like they're sketched in. Perhaps the model can do without ear textures for now. The overalls have actual textures too compared to the Super Mario 64 model where separation between overalls and shirt were from merely separately-colored faces of the mesh.

There are 30 facial expressions (some repeats and many blinking expressions), and they're delightfully cartoony, making this Mario probably the most expressive N64 Mario. Some of these, the x eyes (x-eyes were also used in Super Mario 64) and shocked expressions in particular, I don't see them being used again to this day.

Bones
Being the common .obj format, there are no bones in this ripped model.

Mario Party 2 - Mario's head
Rendered with 3DS Max 2010.

This is model isn't a complete model. The back of it just doesn't exist.

Spoiler: More images

Mesh
Tris: 396
This appears to be a high-quality model. Why the low poly count? That's because it has no back. This model wasn't intended to be viewed at any other angle. You can say this is like a mask. There isn't even much attention to making the side look correct: Mario has jutting lips like he's about the smooch and the pointy bit is just a piece of his chin, the cut not being neat. This is probably what the Happy Mask Salesman carries around after Mario dies. Otherwise, the model actually looks fine. Maybe a little meaner and chunkier than the Super Mario 64 head and not as exquisite. The M insignia is a separate plane for some reason, and it looks a lot different from the M insignia we see today (the angle of the "legs" on the M is smaller today and I think it tapers a little bit at the top. The Ms also differ markedly in the early models I discussed, especially the Super Mario 64 head.

The model looks best when viewed slightly from the top-down, which I think is the intended way the model is viewed. That being said, Peach's face looks much worse.

The back of this head is a nightmare, expected from looking inside hollow models of heads, and I struggle to understand why there is a polygon bridge across this gap.

For some reason, the face reminds me of the scene from Yoshi's Tropical Island. Oh, also, did you know how different Mario, Peach, and Donkey Kong in the Mario Party scenes look compared to their official artwork counterparts? For the scenes, it seems like they created the "official" models, created N64 models to represent these official renders, and they created another set of models based on those N64 models or N64 models that look like this Mario head, smoothed away the jagged edges, and then they made a scene from it. I don't know, it took me longer than it should to realize this, but this model helped me.

Textures

A simple 32 x 64 grid of colors, similar to Super Mario 64 Mario head except a lot easier to upload.

Bones
Model provided is in .obj.

 

[Xiahou Dun]

Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64)
Edit normals and UV mapping in Maya 2014. Rendered with 3DS Max 2010. The black parts around the overall buttons are just textures without the transparency applied to them.

This one seemed like an actual rip ("actual" defined loosely) and not essentially a 3D screencap compared to the Mario Party 2 Mario. This model, however, required cleanup. Its normals (how light affects every individual face) were bad, though, to be fair, it's generally to be expected when converting models without modifying the normals to make them fit for use. Additionally, the textures for the sideburns weren't applied correctly, so Mario appeared to lack sideburns. The model's eyes also seemed a little off compared to the in-game version, so I changed the UV Map (essentially a 2D map where the textures are applied to certain faces on a model) a little to make it closer to this screenshot. I didn't expect so many errors from a model here, so someone needs to resubmit a more accurate and cleaned normals model. Link of the model I had problems with here.

Spoiler: More images

Mesh
Tris: 456
Despite looking like a bit of a step back compared to the Mario Party 2 Mario, Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64)'s Mario has slightly more triangles. I believe most of the "excess" triangles stem from a better-looking abdomen. Unlike the Mario Party 2 Mario, this one has a more "circular", organic body. Also, note that this model has knees and elbows; the arms and legs aren't segmented! This means there may have been actual deformation going on. This screenshot, however, suggests segmented arms though others show actual bent arms (and possibly legs). Judging from this model, I'm leaning toward actual deformation.

The ears are only 2D planes, which is a step back from the previous two we mentioned. Mario's hair are also very simplistic spikes, sharp enough to poke Mr. I to make him cry. Mario's hair also resembles the compressed specimens at Super Mario 64, with the spikes taking up most of the room for this hair. Mario's face is defined; his face cheeks are pretty prominent at the three-quarters view, and they're more prominent compared to the previous low poly SM64 Mario and the Mario Party 2 Mario. The mustache are only colored in faces of the head model instead of drawn like the previous two, making this mustache the simplest one in the N64 times. It looks more like Luigi's mustache if anything. To be fair, I think Mario overall looks better than the Super Mario 64 Mario. His back view, especially, I like more.

Textures

The model provided has only one texture: an unusual 162 x 96 rectangle. The blue square where the overalls would go and the red square with the emblem are 32 x 32, making them on par with the Super Mario 64 models. The eye texture is 64 x 64, making it more detailed than the Super Mario 64 Mario. Coupled with the bigger size, only one eye is shown while Super Mario 64 Mario eyes had to be fit in a 32 x 32 square, thus making the eye even bigger by comparison. The brown square is 7 x 7, which I find weird as it can be easily enlarged to be the same size as the blue texture. For some reason, the white, the gloves is 98 x 32, probably to force the texture resolution to have a factor of 2 or another number (textures at the time had to be divisible by a certain number, 32 x 32 for instance, can be divided by 2, 8, and 16). The skin is yellowish, even moreso than the Super Mario 64 model. The racket and tennis ball are 2D sprites put on a 2D plane. The rackets in Mario Tennis 64 are 2D and look strange today, much like the trees back in the N64 days resembling cardboard cutouts rather than actual trees.

The textures are incomplete. Mario clearly has different eye expressions (see the ending of the opening in that game), can close his eyes, and can open his mouth (see his losing animation).

Given the apparent tinkering with the model, I'm not sure if this texture is actually composed of several textures and the UV maps adjusted to fit everything (an easy task since the textures are so simple) or if the model indeed uses one texture.

Bones
The model provided is in .obj format.

 

[Xiahou Dun]

Super Smash Bros.
UV Mapped in Maya 2014 (missing UV maps in the model?? I had trouble rendering this in Max). Rendered in 3DS Max 2010. Fixed normals.

I had some trouble getting this model to work given the confusing way its textures were set up. The normals were also bad and made this model look like a disco ball. Not that it would look much better if were smooth.

Spoiler: More images

Mesh
Tris: 320
This model holds a special place in me. Not because it's any good. It's easily the cheapest Mario on the N64. It's no surprise, given that Smash Bros. has very humble origins and began as a low-budget title, in stark contrast to its top-system-selling heavyweight hype train champion it is today. Despite his ugliness, this model belongs to a game that made me who I am. No doubt I would be a very different person if Mario wasn't the first character I picked back when I was, like, 4. I love Mario and I loved him in Smash Bros. so I have some soft spots for this model. However, Mario's nose is essentially a crystal jammed into his face (complete with a spike inside his face) and his hair are just two spikes. From the front, he has an overly chubby face, even for Mario, giving the illusion that his mustache is smaller than it really is. From the back, Mario doesn't look that good: his ears (which are polygons unlike the Mario Tennis Mario) seem to be too small, probably because the hair takes up so much volume back there. The overall straps hang really low down there and makes me want to shift the UV mapping higher to make it not seem like it's sagging. The UV mapping is not great, even for N64 standards. If you pause and can find the point where Mario's head joins his body, there is a mess of red and blue, and it seems like it converges on a single spot. Yeah, that point IS visible if you look hard enough. The side view though gives me that warm fuzzy early childhood memory that'll never go away from me though, similar to how people see the Super Mario 64 Mario. This is my Super Mario 64 Mario.

The feet don't lie perfectly flat on the ground plane nor are they symmetrical to each other, and the model is not perfectly aligned to the center axis, but I'm not sure if this is how the model is designed or just a ripping artifact.

The arms seem connected, but I had to apply textures to them separately (check arms in the above pic and you can see a seam that probably shouldn't be there). According to this screenshot, however, it does seem like Mario's arms are deformed rather than being fragmented unlike the Mario Party and Super Mario 64 Marios. The hat is incredibly low-poly. From the side view, Mario's hat doesn't even line up with his forehead, which makes the hat look oversized and ready to cover Mario's eyes. If you look at this hat from the top, it looks like a highly angular wedge. This is especially notable if you use Mario's backthrow on another Mario. To its credit, Smash Bros. Mario's body looks better than than the Mario Party body by being more circular and, in my opinion, looks better than the Super Mario 64 body by not being segmented.

Textures