It's been a while since I spoke about Mario Story: Fruit Shake, or anything in general. The reason is the music. It's taking me quite a while longer than expected to compose the auditorial accompaniment to the fantopic. As a result, this might be the only time I make such a large full soundtrack for a mere fantopic (with TOK Retold and its EX Story merely getting additions, replacements or displacements).
More importantly, I'm making this journal as a hub of sorts to show my current progress on the music. That way, instead of a million little updates that cause fatigue, simply watching this journal and me updating it should suffice.
Here's the music progress so far, as of March 14th, 2024...
OPENING THEMES- 2/2 (COMPLETE)
CHARACTER THEMES- 20/20 (COMPLETE)
PROLOGUE AREA MUSIC- 1/1 (COMPLETE)
HUB AREA MUSIC- 2/2 (COMPLETE)
CHAPTER 1 AREA MUSIC- 8/8 (COMPLETE)
CHAPTER 2 AREA MUSIC- 11/11 (COMPLETE)
CHAPTER 3 AREA MUSIC- 6/6 (COMPLETE)
CHAPTER 4 AREA MUSIC- 7/7 (COMPLETE)
CHAPTER 5 AREA MUSIC- 3/3 (COMPLETE)
EX DUNGEON AREA MUSIC- 4/4 (COMPLETE)
MISSIONS- 5/5 (COMPLETE)
REGULAR BATTLES- 3/3 (COMPLETE)
MINIBOSS BATTLES- 5/5 (COMPLETE)
CHAPTER BOSS BATTLES- 5/5 (COMPLETE)
FINAL BOSS MUSIC- 2/2 (COMPLETE)
EX BOSS BATTLES- 5/5 (COMPLETE)
CUTSCENES- 12/12 (COMPLETE)
CREDITS- 1/1 (COMPLETE)
In addition, to incentivize myself to hurry along, the deadline for me to finish the fantopic's soundtrack will be March 31st, 2024. That deadline gives me just enough time to complete all the songs. If I miss a song before then, barring it being a very important song, I move onto the next step.
THE SOUNDTRACK IS COMPLETE! I actually didn't think I was going to finish it, but I surprised and surpassed even myself! And with 17 days to spare, too!
New and remix track total- 124
New and remix track run time- 5 hours 46 minutes 50 seconds
Source track additions- 3
Source tracks run time- about 6 minutes
Grand total- 127 tracks, 5:52:50+ run time
This is kind of a follow-up to the "why I include past Paper Mario/Mario Story characters in my fantopics". This time, it involves something somewhat more serious- my motivation for doing these fantopics. Yesterday on discord, amidst other conversations, I noticed one person brought this up in context to another person's 3DS PM game rewrite video...
"Most major paper mario rewrites, or rewrites of games in general are mediocre. Spite as a motivation can make it seem like whatever is being rewritten is automatically better, without room for reflection or editing from others"
This is among other comments from others over the years that seem to think I did the recuts out of some nefarious purpose or bad reason, or in at least one extreme case, that I think literally everything in the modern games is bad. I was actually going to put this in the TTYD remake trailer journal or post this in discord proper, but the former was an opportunity to celebrate a classic game remake, while the convo on discord has changed enough to not veer it back in that direction. Therefore, a separate journal it is.
Now, for those who are reading this and think I had bad reasons for doing the RE stories, I feel I have to cut the tree down due to not nipping the bud earlier, and make one very important fact Crystal Star-clear at this point...
"Spite" was and has categorically never been, at any single or continuing point, my motivation. Even at worst, "righteous anger" would be most fitting, and only because I was ultimately trying to do good. At best, meanwhile, and my intended motivation- I strongly believed there was room for improvement with the modern games and that they needed to do more to follow the classic lineage of the series they share a title with. If anything, I felt it was the modern creative team whose mindset was coming from a misguided or even bad place, especially regarding TOK and certain dialogue near the end. And even then, I ultimately did have a good time writing the redone stories and thinking through them, even tearing up happily while writing two or three specific scenes for the Wii U recut alone (to say nothing of certain new and altered scenes in Fruit Shake and TOK Retold, plus the latter's EX Story).
In addition, if I thought literally everything was an issue in the original stories, then...why is Prism Island still there? Why were Gooper Blooper, Snow Bowser Statue and Petey Piranha (at least in the 3DS recut) kept? How come King Boo and King Bob-omb got to stay for the M&L crossover recut? Why did I even keep the Koopalings in either it and the Wii U recut and not just say, have Musketeer-affilated bosses for all the mcguffins? Why are 95% of the locations preserved in general and not replaced if I truly felt so little worth towards them? Because some stuff was fine, while I felt other stuff was in vast needs of improvement or overhauling. I promise I do not just make decisions on a whim.
Plus, the whole entire idea of art is building upon things, with no one person above reproach or scrutiny. I personally do not have an issue with a Mr Fixer attitude. There's whole fields of labor, such as doctors, firefighters, politics, plumbers, and even editors the above comment cited, whose whole job is fixing things, and no-one has a problem with that. I even recall Sonic comic writer Ian Flynn began his run cleaning up the mess of the previous Archie writers, to critical acclaim, which is part of what inspired my constructive mindset (along Linkara and Bobsheaux being constructive in their reviews of things). I just feel like the people of the world are trying so hard to avoid offending anyone else that somewhere along the way, we've forgotten that it's OK to get angry and say "No! This isn't right at all!" This isn't a problem unique to the Paper Mario games or fandom, either, but in general over the last...4 years? You can also do things for your own reasons while equally intending to help others- the two thoughts aren't mutually exclusive. Because everyone wants something, and no-one's truly a boyscout/girlscout/otherscout.
...OK. I hope this is the last time I have to talk about my decision making on things, or get so serious about it. This needs to be a fun place about Italian Xehanort's storybook adventures, not me looking like an insecure weiner. I suppose I just wear my heart on my sleeve and my shoes on my eyes.
.....Oh, and while I won't do it for all sprites, I have recently considered doing the "supersmall white outlines for individual parts" idea for a selection of them in the future.
The unthinkably good happened today. Rather than being a fully filler Nintendo Direct like most autumn Directs are, among other cool projects, the presentation closed with a whammy of a reveal...
PAPER MARIO THE THOUSAND YEAR DOOR IS GETTING REMADE FOR SWITCH.
Not emulated. Not ported. Remade. I couldn't believe it, but here it was. For this journal, I'll go over my observations of the trailer, what this game means for the official franchise, and how it'll affect my own projects (as it does change some stuff).
THOUGHTS
* All the character designs are kept exactly as is, as well as the battle system! This includes even the Toads, with at least female ones seen among them! I was afraid they were going to generify them or alter the battle system in some overly gimmicky way that merely “looks” smart while playing clumsily- but awesomely, it’s the same! I don’t know if someone on the dev team fought to retain the designs given what we know about the IP team, or if there was a contract clause stating the designs had to be kept as is, but it’s wonderful either way.
* The paper artstyle seems to once again just be that- an artstyle, rather than a literal. It’s kind of like the 2020’s game, but more subdued. Most apparently, the white outlines have been subdued immensely! They’re there, but scaled to basically a portion of a portion of a portion- barely noticeable.
* The most likely reason for this- the animation for the characters uses both frame-by-frame and motion tweening together.
* The characters all seem to have their own artificial voice clips, similar to the Mario and Luigi series. While one character in the original game did have this, no-one else did.
IMPLICATIONS
*The sprites. As said, they’re kept as is. More specifically, they’ve been recreated/remastered, with new poses and backsprites to boot. This means that these characters can be reused for future games. It also shows they always had the time and money to give multiple unique characters backsprites and multiple poses.
* This being a remaster at all and not a quick emulation also means the dev team spent all this time working on the remake instead of.....one of their honestly dartboard-addled ideas. Not only does it make that battle programming also available as a foundation- it kind of hints they did have second thoughts on things spouted during the interviews for the 2020 game with the Paper Mario series brand.
Only personality and not looks mattering? Look at all those unique characters retained as is, rather than replaced with generic Toads. Moving on from past gameplay systems? Here’s the classic one back! I wouldn’t be surprised if the devs indeed got cold feet on the modern approach as the 2020 game near development completion, or even earlier (cough Scorching Desert cough Shogun Studios).
Alternatively, maybe a different creative team is making this remake, and they just had more of a backbone negotiating with the IP team? We’ll have to wait and see. Regardless, this could signal the end of the modern style in terms of gameplay and characterization, and I, for one, am immensely happy.
PERSONAL STUFF
The crux of this journal.
Given my reputation in the Paper Mario fandom, you may or may not be wondering...what does this mean for the two-plus-one fan stories still being worked on?
I refer to Mario Story Fruit Shake and the retelling of the Switch original game with the Paper Mario brand name, as well as the latter’s planned EX Story. While just fan stories and not official, they and past stories still provide others with extra entertainment, for one reason or another.
With TTYD remake being released, will I still be doing them, or dropping them out of some sense that “whelp, TTYD is bein’ rereleased, so no need fer me or ter focus on re-imaginin’ a modern game with the brand, derp-e-derp!”
...Yes, I’ll still be doing them.
One....I already put in a bunch of prep into making these topics, so I kind of have to do them. It’s professional, and it’ll be bugging me forever if I leave the former two unfinished. Two, I still have great original or reimagined stories to tell with these topics, including things readers might not have considered before regarding the latter.
Mario Story Fruit Shake will stay mostly the same. Though, to avoid stealing some of TTYD’s thunder, while those characters will be kept, some things and references they make will be more subtle. There may even be dialogue added to help indirectly advertise the remake.
In truth, the TTYD remake’s announcement gives me more energy to see that project through. Let’s be honest- Fruit Shake has been on hold for a while despite my protestations otherwise. I think it was because there was no guaranteed light at the end of the tunnel when I started. Then, the 2020 game being released in the interim, in the state it is, dampened my passion on some level I wasn’t willing to see, subconsciously slowing me down.
I should have still finished the story back then, and the blame falls on me on not doing so rather than another game merely existing- but the way the official dev team was acting was a deterrent.
For TOK Retold Act 1 (whose script I already showed), while it will keep its dialogue and story for the most part, I still intend to change the opening prologue a bit in light of some feedback that gave readers a bad first impression. This is something that was planned prior to this announcement, and which I've mentioned before.
TOK Retold Act 2...as I type this paragraph, some stuff have come to mind. I may (keyword) make some amendments to Act 2’s ending and things leading up to it. TTYD’s remake means there’s things I feel I no longer have to adhere to in the future and would be best left in the past. The EX Story will also have some endgame stuff notably altered in light of me no longer feeling the obligation to hold onto certain modern conventions.
How will these stories be released, meanwhile, in light of this news? While Deviantart and other fanwork places would just have them posted in the appropriate places, GameFAQs was tricky.
Prior to the remake’s announcement, the plan for GameFAQs was, as a way to avoid promoting the modern games, Fruit Shake would have been posted on either Super Mario Odyssey or 3D World’s board, while the 2020 game’s retelling and EX Story would be posted there.
With this announcement, now, Fruit Shake will be posted on TTYD’s forum posts. This is to it hewing closer to the classic two games and the presence of three connected TTYD characters in the main story.
(There was originally a rant here on my feelings regarding certain matters, but I've removed it. For those who saw it before I deleted it, I'm sorry.)
The way things look, it’s a new positive age- both officially, and for fans.
Mario movie second trailer thoughts
Like with the first trailer, I’ve decided to capture my thoughts into a single post reflecting on my thoughts regarding the Super Mario Bros movie’s second trailer. It was pretty good, and technically it was better than the first trailer. It’s just the reveal of that first trailer stands out more than the second.
+Seth Rogen seems more genuine in the pre-trailer introductions. He seemed more honest in his history with Nintendo, and it was easy to tell his declaration of wanting to be in a Mario movie back when he was a kid had a positive, semi-jokey tone to it, unlike how Chris Pratt was trying a liiiiiiittle too hard to play it straight despite certain things being evident. Rogen also reveals with his dog’s name, Zelda, that he appreciates Nintendo as a whole, instead of trying to force the whole thing to be Mario-related.
+Some VAs/voice actors already advertised, Charlie Day as Luigi and Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, are heard for the first time. Charlie Day sounds appropriate and amusing, but the real eye-opener is ATJ as Peach. Right before the trailer, I actually heard her speak for the first time, and I noticed a British accent. There’s nothing wrong with that- I just bring it up because in the movie, ATJ’s Peach doesn’t have an accent. That’s...pretty skillful, actually, up there with Jack Black as Bowser (who we also hear more of).
+There was something oddly amusing about DK whaling on Mario nonchalantly.
+Some more of the plot can be guessed from the trailer. From what I can gather, it seems like Mario is either being trained by Peach and Toad in areas very similar to the games (like in Disney’s Hercules) while also wanting to find Luigi. That, or Mario is travelling the Mushroom landscape (or galaxy, per something Peach says regarding the nature of this movie’s world) as a whole. Maybe even both. It’s a good first plot for an animated Mario movie, being simple enough while providing some curveballs and explaining why certain Mario game traditions would happen in a cinematic setting.
+Raccoon Mario appears, along with a Fire Flower field, with one such flower wielded harnessed by Peach rather than Mario. Together, these show how power-ups work in this setting.
+Of all facets of the Mario franchise to get highlighted, the Donkey Kong extended family was an unexpected curveball. It’s not just Cranky (who seems to be more a ruler of the kongs if the trailer is any indication), either...Funky and Kiddy also appear during a certain shot.
+While more direct/concept art related, I should also mention DK’s design, since a bit of the after-show is dedicated to it. Simply put, DK’s design perfectly melds his current one with his design from the arcade game- some have even said DK ‘94. I recognized what they were doing once I got a good look at the art, and I greatly admire it!
+Alongside DK, this trailer is the first time anything Mario Kart (that certain shot) is revealed to be in the film at all, beyond that one blue spiked Koopa. From my observations, I'm guessing this happens at least halfway/two-thirds of the way through, and might be that “ride to the showdown” scene movies sometimes have, like Jimmy Neutron’s outer space carnival ride scene. Regardless, it’s more than evident that Illumination is putting their best foot forward as much as possible, and for a movie that could be around 90 minutes. Oh, and Peach's racing outfit being used as her battle gear is top notch.
=Chris Pratt’s voice...sounds about the same. He’s more “driven” in these scenes, and seems to be having more of a ball than in the scenes chosen for the first trailer, but it’s now pretty evident it’s just his normal voice.
=So...the movie’s Toad and friendly species situation.
=+The good news- alongside the Yoshis and already established Penguins, not only do the established Kongs appear- they’ve been extrapolated into a whole species with various ages and genders for crowd scenes (mostly in DK's area, but still)! I mean, they already were, but mostly for unique characters and rarely for generics.
=-The bad news- it doesn’t appear there’s any female or young Toads. While it’s possible there could be color-coding for genders, it’s unlikely. It also seems like Toadsworth doesn’t exist in the movie timeline, as there’s a table of 5 Toad ministers, yet none of them are him nor are visually hinted to be him. EDIT: However, there might be old Toads at least, or as much as possible, since at least one Toad has old person spectacles.
=+Some more unexpected subtle yet key good news, though- rather than reusing Keegan Michael Key’s voice for every Toad like expected, it appears they have different VAs altogether, as seen with the yellow Toad minister (or possibly ministress). It also seems like the 5 Toads ministers have different outfits, with each outfit having a different pattern on top of different colors. While I’d prefer natural unique-looking Toads in a visual medium, the different voices does help better differentiate them in a medium that also emphasizes sound. More importantly, the different voices make it muuuuch more believable they’re different members of the same species.
Mario Movie trailer thoughts
I saw the Mario movie trailer. It was AWESOME, both for the promised movie content and what it implies for modern Mario going forward.
THE MOVIE ITSELF
+The designs are beyond anything Illumination has done before. Like, that texturing on Bowser alone is jawdropping! Mario, Toad and Luigi also look really good for moviefied/Ullimified versions of themselves.
+While sounding younger, Jack Black is a great Bowser, really getting into the role! Keegan-Michael Key also sounds fun as the movie's main Toad. I also smirked a bit at how the Penguin kingdom defends itself against Bowser...
THE FRANCHISE AS A WHOLE AND PAPER MARIO STUFF
+Beyond just the poster showing Biddybuds living alongside Toads, the Super Mario 64 Penguins finally return as locals, with noticeable clothing on them. This is important because Penguins are mainline characters themselves, yet they've been a no-show in Paper Mario, even in the modern games. So if Illumination could get not just Penguins, but dressed Penguins, it gives other companies, both inside and outside Nintendo (especially Intelligent Systems) powerful precedent to bend any mandates related to that and use the Penguins as another friendly species!
+The same goes for some of the Koopas. While there's no Koopatrols (not that I expected any), there ARE new armored Koopas (in fact, they look like an alternate take of my Sentinel Koopa idea) and one with an eyepatch. This means there's also that whole avenue for second and third parties to now explore, all thanks to Illumination!
+While I don't remember how far back Bowser's Castle had wrecking balls on its front, the fact it has both that and a castle atop a Bowser-faced rock suggests that's specifically a Paper Mario 64 throwback. So there's SOME classic PM fans on the Illumination team, or someone who researched that game at least, and I thank those individuals greatly for this specific throwback!
My only gripe with the trailer and implied content? Chris Pratt's Mario voice. I suppose since it's early in the movie and maybe even early in recording from behind the scenes, Pratt either didn't have the voice down yet by that scene or grows into it, but still, it's not the best voice at the moment.