Nintendo certainly aren’t leading the pack when it comes to bleeding edge visuals, but there’s no denying that their games always look good and run buttery smooth. Still, what would a more realistic Mario look like I wonder? There’s no need to imagine – YouTube user Aryoksini has answered that question.
He took the famous plumber and reworked him into some pretty environments using Unreal Engine 4. The result? See for yourself (via Kotaku):
Here is Mario running in Unreal Engine 4, all the environment assets were taken from the Unreal marketplace, all the character actions were scripted using blueprints only, all animations were re-created from scratch as well as the PBR ready textures.
Though it is visually pleasing, it’s kind of odd to see Mario in those realistic locales. He looks too “cartoony” running around them like that. Perhaps it would be alright if he looked more like this…
Er yeah. No thanks! Would this look work in one of his future titles? I don’t know so much.
I think over the years, Mario fans have become far too accustomed to seeing him in wild, colourful playgrounds, and are too used to the look he currently has (in both 3D and 2D iterations). Any change to his formula would probably be received negatively. This is Nintendo we are talking about – they’re all about fun, both in terms of visuals and gameplay anyway, not hyperrealism.
They do happen to be working on a new NX console however, which will more than likely have a new Mario game. Will the art direction mirror the one above? Nope, I don’t see that ever happening, not in a million years!
Last Updated: June 29, 2015
RinceThis
June 29, 2015 at 21:15
Still not displaying on my phone correctly. That Mario looks all types of wrong
Ottokie
June 29, 2015 at 22:02
Itsa me! Nightmario!
Hammersteyn
June 30, 2015 at 07:50
hahaha
Admiral Chief's Adventure
June 30, 2015 at 08:01
Ewwwwww
Ocelotty1
June 30, 2015 at 08:02
I’ve never played a Mario game, but that was freaky looking
Rock789
June 30, 2015 at 08:15
It’d work… As a horror title! Yikes!
DragonSpirit009
June 30, 2015 at 08:49
That face…. It’s staring at me… It’s freaking me out!