Mario Saga 2

I HATE TO BE ANOTHER NAIL IN THE 3DMM COFFIN, BUT IT'S SADLY UNFINISHED.

Nearly four years later than I had originally planned, here's Mario Saga 2 in all it's unfinished glory. I feel pretty rotten about this, having to delude myself and everyone else into thinking that this would eventually be finished and would be the most beautiful 3dmm movie ever. It simply wasn't in me to string all my crazy ambitions into a coherent storyline, and it had become increasingly obvious that this wouldn't be the intense love story I had originally envisioned when I was fifteen (nor the quick, five minute short that I started immediately after the first Mario Saga when I was thirteen). I guess I sort of feel like George Lucas, except I'm lucky enough to realize how retarded I am being.

01 - Beginning Sequence
02 - Mario and Toad sequence (this was made a long time ago, so it would have been nixed from the final movie, but it's here anyway)
03 - Mario and Toad walk out to the car IN 8-BIT
04 - Shots of the Mushroom City
05 - Merlitar's First Flashback
06 - Mario and Toad attempt to get into Bowser's fortress to interrogate him.
07 - Merlitar in a quick sidescrolling level (This probably also would have been nixed)

Here's the story. Quite a great deal of it is pretty nebulous, because I admittedly never quite worked everything out.

Geno hires a team of bounty hunters and goes to investigate a fallen alien spacecraft, when the alien inside attacks him and steals the helicopter. Geno radios Toad, who must bring in Mario once again to save the day. Mario is entrusted with a magic power star. One of three that have been scattered across the galaxy.

Mario and Toad go on a wacky, drawn out adventure that essentially leads nowhere. Meanwhile, we are introduced to Merlitar, the alien being from the planet Aryis, and the tragedy that is his existence. Merlitar recalls being a young, loose-cannon soldier on the edge who plays by his own rules. He meets a young girl named Sylvia and is quickly smitten by her. Together they come across a magic energy-amplifying star that enhances Merlitar's power tenfold by merely touching it. However, the Aryisian military is quickly on his tail. Merlitar's rival, Malligan Mors holds Sylvia and Merlitar in custody, but Merlitar manages to secret them away. Merlitar and Sylvia must seperate, only to meet again years later. This time, however, they must keep their affection for each other hidden from the outside world.

Meanwhile, Toad breaks the fourth wall and decides it's time for an intermission, and what better way than with an interview with yours truly, the director. However, I decide that, like with every movie I make, it's getting boring and I should half-ass the ending. Toad, however, will have none of this, and enlists the help of Mario, Bowser, Joe Mario, and 'Cardboard Cut-out Peach' (Bowser's less ambitious girlfriend) to assist in haphazardly creating the rest of the movie in an almost LnT2-esque fashion using a variety of bizarre styles. Finally, however, I step back in and resume directing the movie.

On their adventure, Mario and Toad learn the story of how the mushroom kingdom came to be, the story of Mario and Peach's ancestry and how Bowser came to be, and how the evil sorcerer Lord Phanto created the three power stars and scattered them across the galaxy.

Back to Merlitar, who is currently in hiding with a group a nomadic shyguys, he continues his story, in which he recalls an argument he has with Sylvia regarding his inability to be with her. She storms out and is soon kidnapped. Merlitar pursues her captor with the power star in hand, only to fall right into a trap. Malligan Mors has learned of Merlitar's possession of the star, and has led him straight to him with Sylvia as a hostage. Mors holds a knife to Sylvia's throat, but Merlitar, cocky and still bitter from his argument with Sylvia, attempts to kill Mors outright. A squabble ensues, but Merlitar's speed gets the best of him, and he unintentionally impales Sylvia on his claws, killing her. Merlitar attempts to call for help, but is knocked unconscious by one of Mors' cronies. His star is stolen. The residual magic energy from the star flows through his veins, causing him to leave the planet and drawing him towards one of the other two stars. Is is because of this that he finds himself on Earth.

Eventually, Merlitar is drawn to Mario. The two fight, but they are interrupted by Mors, who arrives and reveals that he has been hiding on Earth for weeks. Using his star, he defeats Mario and Merlitar with relative ease and mass teleports them along with Toad to an underground lava fortress. It is there he reveals that he has obtained the third magic star and announces his intention to wield all three in order to become a sort of demigod. He uses his magic to take Mario's star and the three stars combine.

Unfortunately, instead of combining into a new star, the stars combine to resurrect the dark Lord Phanto who turns into a ferocious, winged, clawed beast, and kills Mors by tearing him clean in half. He then absorbs Mors' life energy, before shapeshifting into him in order to laugh mockingly at Merlitar. The two engage. After an intense battle, Merlitar starts to gain the upper hand, until Phanto shapeshifts again, this time into Sylvia. This causes Merlitar to hesistate, giving Phanto a chance to defeat Merlitar, but impaling him with his massive claw. Phanto absorbs Merlitar and shapeshifts into him before changing back into the winged beast.

Mario, however, notices this pattern in Phanto, and the two lunge at each other. Phanto merely smirks at the apparently defenseless Mario. Mario, however, grins as he withdraws a bob-omb. Before the two collide, Mario throws the bob-omb at Phanto. It hits him like a fly on a windshield, and it explodes...all according to plan. Phanto absorbs the sentient explosive, and inadvertently transforms into one himself. He falls to the ground and, unable to react in time, explodes. With that, centuries of evil and suffering disappear in a puff of smoke. Mario has saved the day once again.

[Klown]

*WHIPS OUT COCK*

*JERKS OFF TO SCENES WITH PEACH IN THEM*

[Anders Borg]

This makes me sad but it's probably for the best. It drives you crazy in the end, like Rayman did to me. Looks like we were both bound to never finish because I also envisioned greatness. I will watch everything over again even though I've seen some of it a thousand times. It's just so awesome and beautiful.

[Andres]

ahahahaha

[Tuna Hematoma]

anyone youtube this? my v3dmm doesn't work when there's lots of models and whatever.

[Anders Borg]

Originally Posted by Andres

ahahahaha

IT IS. IT'S GENIOUS.

[Klown]

why would you sticky your own thread like that.

EDIT: But seriously i'm downloading this shit.

[Tuna Hematoma]

New movies (non-newb) always get stickied.

[Klown]

oic

[James McCloud]

Downloadage, will watch later.

[Anders Borg]

That was great! I liked the beginning sequence the most, that was very well done. A shame to see it unfinished but it's better than not releasing it at all.

[Slade]

Stunning. Your sense of creativity and colour is amazing. I found it hard to just sit down and watch because of it's utter lack of sound, it felt very dead, and I often found myself stopping it to skip to the next scene every time and click along parts of the frame bar until I reached the end.

Awesome stuff though, that water reflection of the town will always be one of the single best-looking scenes in 3dmm I've ever seen.

[Omnirom]

WOW that was amazing, especially the 8-bit scene, and the merlitar side scroller scene made my penis very hard. 100/10 vaginas

[Pirate Balloon]

http://www.psychoholiday.com/3dmm/mo...Unfinished.rar

[HMC]

Thanks

[Based Scrooge]

I was astounded by this. It's a huge shame that it'll never be finished.

[Compcat]

All these unfinished movies, I almost don't want to watch, on the off chance that someday, when the director looks back on the 3dmm hobbies of his youth, he decides to finish his masterpiece.

[Gorosaurus]

Wow, what a beautiful work. I've seen you grow up since you started this project, and at different ages we want very different things out of our projects. I learned that through the years I spent trying to make Lock 'n Load 2 - I wanted action, I wanted romance, drama, tragedy, comedy, and adventure. But I never stopped to think about how absurd some of those really would be in the movie.. because in my head, the scenes I had planned looked completely awesome to me. I'm glad now that I never got further than I did with that project (Or Lock n Toad, even). In the end, I managed to still see most of those ideas put to life in LNL2, but in a way that I could still keep face with how childish the ideas were, and have fun with it. I'm sure you experienced many things just like me, but you never really gave up, or, rather, found a different project to focus your energies on.

What exists now is quite cute, and I of course would've adored a finished project. But this strikes as more of what it is - a bunch of beautiful, but barely related scenes. The mario ones, actually, blend together pretty well - I think you could even spend a day and form that into a real nice short (2 minutes or so) if you felt the urge.

It seemed to me as though you felt chained down with the Mario theme. While it offered a whole slew of locations, characters, and common themes to explore, it also limited the scope of acceptable story and creativity. That said, even the story that remains doesn't quite fit with the series canon, and I'm quite sure that's very intentional. It would take a very expert eye and a whole lot of care to match the two opposite worlds of Merlitar's story and Mario's, and the baggage that would come with each when they meet. It would only work if pulled off perfectly, and I'm not convinced that very many people would be capable of that. Nonetheless, you never know until one tries.

Without sound, it felt as if I was watching one of my own incomplete movie segments. Watching it in that state of mind, I became overly critical of slight visual problems that might pop up, but I was also easier on the lack of sounds and music. It can be rough for a lot of people to get through, but I managed to watch it all without a problem.

My favorite scene of the movie is scene 67 of the flashback. It's not the most impressive shot of the movie, nor is it the greatest colored or animated, but there was a spark of life in that short scene that I loved. The last three frames moved so perfectly that I was envious! Fast enough to trick the eye into believing the movement, but paced enough that one could appreciate its subtleties from just one watch. The curvature of the leg might just be a lucky mistake, but it gives the illusion of movement and form.

Beyond that, I must commend your pioneering of new techniques and excellent color work. The night city you created was incredible, and much more impressive of a model than I originally thought. When I dragged the shape, everything moved with it.. reflection included! Very cool, very cool. Your technique for showing instant transmission worked quite well, as did your take on lightning.

The classic Mario scene was indeed quite gratifying. However, as I'm sure you know well enough, a lot is lost in 3dmm's puny frame rate. It became hard to appreciate a lot of the choreography when the eye isn't completely fooled. I've noticed this a lot with imported images - it takes a whole heck of a lot to make them move believably. Entire scenes composed of them seldom work out, unless each frame is handled like a picture alone. Was this made before you knew of Super Paper Mario? If so, good job trailblazing!

I was hoping to see some Bowser action in this, but alas, I suppose I'll have to fall back on Joe Mario to get that done. I hear he prefers the name Jon, anyhow.


I've already given you some feedback on the characters you created for this movie, and I'll just briefly reiterate that. All of your original characters are excellent and well-varied. That's incredibly important, and you are one of the strongest people in this community in that area. Never underestimate the power of a unique design; it helps us remember and care for the characters, it generally makes animating a lot easier, and it makes the whole picture a lot easier on the eyes. Mario still has a way to go before being a completely pragmatic design. Full body movement/walking in 3dmm is such a chore that I don't blame you for cutting those scenes to a bare minimum (Cutting to Toad ringing the doorbell was, while slightly obvious, a good compromise). Mario's design still looks like a lot is lost in translation to 3dmm, and I think that you'd really have to get creative to make it work. The character is extremely flexible in terms of style. Think about how they changed him around to make the shape work for the Paper Mario series, and then try to apply the strengths (Or weaknesses, I suppose) of basic 3dmm shapes to a new design. It just feels like you were hampered trying to emulate the look of Mario as he was in Mario 64 or something. Even a cop out like using Joe again is forgivable if you give us a cookie once in a while (Mario Saga 1, perfect example). Though, I suppose, that's just not what you wanted to see.

I loved how you designed the koopa turtle.. that translated perfectly! I even prefer it over the outlined version Nintendo would use for pictures. That is a perfect example of using 3dmm's vices to your advantage! Perhaps I am just a sucker for big eyes and a few well placed spheres.


Good work, and I'm glad that you've decided to put this chapter behind you. It was a struggle just watching you struggle with your ambitions for this project. I surely hope that you don't quit making shorts or movies, because you certainly have a gift for it. I think that you just need to have a clear vision of what you are aiming for, then map it out, and knock that movie out in a week or so.

What's most interesting to me is that this movie does not age from one scene to the next. The only thing I caught on to was that in some later scenes, characters might have hands made of individual shapes, whereas earlier in the sequence we saw them with your fingerdings expansion. So I'd say you don't work in order, but I could be wrong. Beyond nuances like that, I'm stumped to find any inconsistancies. Either you are not including a lot of scenes you started years ago (Which I know of a few that are missing), or you've retraced them all to make it one big, seamless style. Very impressive, I can not boast the same for myself!



P.S. - I've attached a P-wing for you.


love, Goro

[Bown]

It's like I already said, nearly every scene in this movie is absolutely brilliant, but it leaves such a bitter taste in your mouth cos to me it all feels like a waste. This file contains some of the most impressive stuff I've ever seen in 3dmm, and I have no doubt the finished movie would have been pretty great. Too bad.

[Anders Borg]

I feel inspired yet regret that I released Rayman unfinished as well. I haven't worked on anything since then so I hope this doesn't happen to you too. As I said, I feel inspired after watching both this and Rayman but lately I've been having these inspiration kicks, they tend to stop when I open 3dmm. What do you plan on doing now, HMC?

[Ross Marlow]

wooooooow! that was suck a cool movie!

[Brossy]

Seeing as though there is no music syncing, I can watch this. Stupid new computer and its windows 98 speed 3dmm...

[Blooman]

Wooo! The sequel to Mario Saga is finally here!





.........unfinished...........

[bl0ppin]

Yes, thats the gist of the 1st post...

DOWNLOADING

[Jim Raynor]

ATTEMPTING to download now.
Something's really fucked up about the psychoholiday mirror, it keeps cutting out.
EDIT: No, wait. It was my internet being fucked up.