Super Mario All-Stars Redrawn ( Lost Levels Demo is now Available in the OP )

[PresidentLeever]

What is it you'd want to edit? I was actually thinking of making .bin files of completed sheets publicly available in a MEGA link so people could help out and edit if they wanted to.

Well how about the SMB1 sprites and the bomb from SMB2 to start with?

I like Redrawn. Artwork Inspired or Artwork Accurate would also work.

[pocket]

Looks like "redrawn" is winning.  It's my least fave of the options tbh but i'll honor the poll. However, i'm going to let it run for a while, I currently have no other polls in mind anyway.

If you really want to go crazy with funky enemy designs, then how about referencing the All Night Nippon version of SMB1, somehow? Just a thought.......

That's a little TOO funky for my liking    While I want Lost Levels Special Edition to be a bit more "out there", I still want the foes to be believable as Mario enemies. Japanese Radio Show celebrities don't really fit the bill imo. I was thinking something more like Super Mario Land.

It would be great if these possibilities are included for both SMAS and SMAS + SMW

Super Mario All Stars and Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World:

• Super Mario Bros 1, Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World: when we only play with player 1 have the possibility to choose whether to play with Mario or Luigi

I'd love to include that but I feel like if it was possible it would be done by now. You can likely only achieve the ability to choose between Mario and Luigi by disabling 2-player mode. At least that's how the Super Mario World hacking community does things.

@pocket

I have done some pixel art in the past. If you got a set of background details or character sprites youd like to skip for now let me know and I can give them a shot. I dont expect my work to be in the final build but I can certainly try and see what you think.

I did have some artwork for powerups a long time ago as an example and they were all based on artwork.

Right now, it's the player sprites that are stressing me out the most, Hammer Bros and Special Version of Koopa Troopa are a pain in the butt too but I could manage those.

What do you mean with background detail, could you edit backgrounds? Because I'm kind of interested in changing the cave interior of SMB3 to look more like it did on the NES, and possibly changing as much of the Lost Levels Backgrounds as I can, i'm just not confident in my ability to edit background tiles without completely screwing them up, they seem to be arranged in very particular ways that I can't parse.

Well how about the SMB1 sprites and the bomb from SMB2 to start with?

I wasn't sure if you meant the SMB1 sprites for Mario or the SMB1 sprites in general. I'm letting Metal Wario handle SMB1 Mario, what I've been working on is going to be used in Lost Levels.  Keep in mind the sheet is incomplete I only have one frame for Small Mario and a lot of the frames that look different from the walk cycle and idle stance are left-overs from my first attempt at SMB1 Mario.

Here's a link to the sprites:

https://mega.nz/#F!Deox0QaJ!QzY1h8QMFx-B0x_nO3rADA

If someone wants to request a specific sprite to attempt to make their own tweaks, let me know.  But please understand if I decide not to use your version.  And please keep in mind that above all, this project is not about modernizing the sprites. I don't want this to look closer to New Super Mario Bros. That sounds incredibly boring. I want this to look closer to the artwork for these particular games. Super Mario Advance is as modern as I'm willing to go but I prefer we stay in the SNES era.

As for me, I might slow down on updating this thread, i've tried to update at least once a day but I've been neglecting a few obligations to work on this project, and, as I've said, the player sprites have made this project more stressful than fun recently, so I could use a little bit of a breather. This doesn't mean i'm stopping, i'm probably going to tinker a few hours a day and only update the thread when I feel it's worth it, or to reply to someone. I'll probably pick up the pace again once I get the SMB1 sprites and DarkSamus339's build script.

[Razieldemon]

So the pixel art is more of what I know but I do at least have a logical understanding of pixelediting using mesen.

Only problem I see running into with thatidea for the underground areas in mario 3 is im not confident with palettes.

I assume SNES also uses 8*8tiles and it stands to reason redrawing those floor tiles wouldn't bevery challenging. There are just a couple rounded edges that can be duplicated for them to work.

Ill play through SMB3 on all stars tomorrow and take a look. Only thing is if the udnerground details share the same sprite as other ares might have unintended consequences. Doesnt hurt to take a look.

Im down to work on enemies as well.Igot a good handle on what you are doing and own the SMEncyclopedia, so I have access to alot of the original art. (Nothing we havent seen before.)

[pocket]

For the record, I'm only talking about the background of the caves. I like the starry look from the NES version, I like to imagine it's sparkling ore of some kind.  But I 'm not a fan of those two tone blue squares they used in the floor tile.



I'd be more open to the NES floor tiles if they could be made to look more like natural rock formations.

Don't worry too much about it if the idea doesn't work, I personally don't mind the way the SMB caves look in All-Stars, but I know a lot of the game's critics bring it up.

[PresidentLeever]

Here's a link to the sprites:

https://mega.nz/#F!Deox0QaJ!QzY1h8QMFx-B0x_nO3rADA

Ok but how do I extract these? I tried changing the file extension to zip but then it says the archive is damaged.

[pocket]

Ok but how do I extract these? I tried changing the file extension to zip but then it says the archive is damaged.

You just open them in an editing program like YYCHR.

[UltraEpicLeader100]

I gotta say. This hack looks amazing! I can't wait to see the final product.

[PresidentLeever]

You just open them in an editing program like YYCHR.

And where can I get that? Not on this site or findable on google

[pocket]

https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/119

[PresidentLeever]

Ok, and then what? It won't load the english language file and the tiles are just a brown and black mess of random pixels it looks like. How do I extract your work as sprite sheets so it's easier to work with?

[pocket]

I'm sorry, I'm not making this difficult on purpose, I'm new to hacking and I thought YYCHR was a common tool for editing graphics, and I thought supplying the .bin files as they are within the rom would be the best way to ensure that it uses all the right colors and is the right size so it works when inserted into the game.

I actually used this tutorial to learn how to use YYCHR https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=88328 ...although this is mostly how to use it for Super Mario World specifically. I had to google how to get palettes for other games ( you actually have to use ZSNES of all things and make save states. )

But I think I completely misunderstood what you were asking for, it sounds like you just wanted a PNG image to edit in MS paint or photo shop? I can give you bob-omb right now, but a complete Mario sheet will take a little time. I'll edit this post when it's done.



EDIT: Here's Mario.



Things to keep in mind:  Mario's face looks different in some poses because they're still unedited from my first few attempts at SMB1 Mario, and there's obviously still some sprites I never got around to editing like his "shrinking/growing" sprite, and most of small Mario.

[PresidentLeever]

Thanks, you know it might be. I'm just a noob when it comes to the SNES scene so the tools are all new to me.

Anyway here's what I'd to for the bobomb from SMB2 - light source from above with more of a shine to it, and it also attempts to use the secondary light source thing they do in a lot of the mario artwork.




This is 3x. It's a shame you can't just click an image to make it bigger here like you can on pixeljoint for example.

[Razieldemon]

I'm sorry, I'm not making this difficult on purpose, I'm new to hacking and I thought YYCHR was a common tool for editing graphics, and I thought supplying the .bin files as they are within the rom would be the best way to ensure that it uses all the right colors and is the right size so it works when inserted into the game.

I actually used this tutorial to learn how to use YYCHR https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=88328

But I think I completely misunderstood what you were asking for, it sounds like you just wanted a PNG image to edit in MS paint or photo shop? I can give you bob-omb right now, but a complete Mario sheet will take a little time. I'll edit this post when it's done.



EDIT: Here's Mario.



Things to keep in mind:  Mario's face looks different in some poses because they're still unedited from my first few attempts at SMB1 Mario, and there's obviously still some sprites I never got around to editing like his "shrinking/growing" sprite, and most of small Mario.

thats helpful for me too thank you

[pocket]

Thanks, you know it might be. I'm just a noob when it comes to the SNES scene so the tools are all new to me.

Anyway here's what I'd to for the bobomb from SMB2 - light source from above with more of a shine to it, and it also attempts to use the secondary light source thing they do in a lot of the mario artwork.




This is 3x. It's a shame you can't just click an image to make it bigger here like you can on pixeljoint for example.

I don't think the secondary light source technique works with these little sprites to be frank. The area it effects is pencil thin on the artwork, and if I were to try to emulate that on one sprite, and some of them don't have enough real-estate to spare on that kind of thing.

I do think you're on to something with the top half of the sprite though.



Now I know I said I'd be slowing down with this thread unless I had anything major, but I couldn't stop myself and did a full reworking of the Koopalings, they all got changed ( some more than others ) ...except Ludwig. Honestly, besides the white hair, his sprite from the original game was mostly fine.



Some things to note, Iggy is still blue instead of green, i'm not doing any changes to the game's palette until after I get DarkSamus's build script ( Which is also why I haven't updated them in the OP yet ). I'm going to change the blue in his palette to green and change the unused grey to blue so he can keep the blue highlights in his mohawk.   Next, Lemmy's missing lower jaw in his third pose puzzled me until I realized that his third pose is actually unused in the game, so i'm not going to worry about it.  And lastly, any instances where there's just a little bit of outline cut off was present in the original game as well, you won't notice it in the original game as you're fighting in a pretty dark room.

Iggy has to be the biggest improvement here, look at the potato headed monstrosity that was my first attempt.

[PresidentLeever]

Alright cool, glad I could help! Yeah I suppose that's fair. Although those highlights tend to be about as thick as the black outlines are, it might be impossible to do the secondary light source consistently for some sprites anyway.

Nice, so do the kids all have to share the same subpalette of 15+1? a nice last touch, would be having the lower half of their faces be the more light pink/peach like in the art.

For Larry's hair, it could have more contrast and a cyan-ish highlight if that's possible.
And for Ludwig's hair, you're now doing the secondary light source thing on the lower part of it whereas before (and in the original) it's shaded darker there as if lit from above.

I think I prefer the star on Morton's face being larger like you did before honestly, it doesn't quite register as a star shape now.

Lemmy's mouth seems wrong, it's not supposed to be elongated out from his face like that, it's supposed to be wide and just a bit longer for the upper half. It now looks a bit like a duck.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/7/74/Lemmy_SSBU.png/revision/latest?cb=20181206161616
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/827959740214964225/36nko_Cz_400x400.jpg

Wendy and the others look great to me, nice work on the red glasses.

Edit:
Could you also share your .pal file for yychr? I assume the SMW one mentioned in the guide is different.

[pocket]

Alright cool, glad I could help! Yeah I suppose that's fair. Although those highlights tend to be about as thick as the black outlines are, it might be impossible to do the secondary light source consistently for some sprites anyway.

Nice, so do the kids all have to share the same subpalette of 15+1? a nice last touch, would be having the lower half of their faces be the more light pink/peach like in the art.

For Larry's hair, it could have more contrast and a cyan-ish highlight if that's possible.
And for Ludwig's hair, you're now doing the secondary light source thing on the lower part of it whereas before (and in the original) it's shaded darker there as if lit from above.

I think I prefer the star on Morton's face being larger like you did before honestly, it doesn't quite register as a star shape now.

Lemmy's mouth seems wrong, it's not supposed to be elongated out from his face like that, it's supposed to be wide and just a bit longer for the upper half. It now looks a bit like a duck.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/7/74/Lemmy_SSBU.png/revision/latest?cb=20181206161616
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/827959740214964225/36nko_Cz_400x400.jpg

Wendy and the others look great to me, nice work on the red glasses.

Edit:
Could you also share your .pal file for yychr? I assume the SMW one mentioned in the guide is different.

I'm not really sure what a subpalette is. Ludwig and Larry are the only ones to share a palette, They all have 16 colors. Unfortunately, I don't think making their muzzles lighter will be an option. Perhaps if I change the grey parts of their palettes into a light flesh color it could work, i'll have to see when I get the ability to edit palettes again.

Speaking of, I had the same thought about Ludwig and Larry's hair. But like I said earlier, I'm not doing palette edits until I get the build script DarkSamus has been working on. I can however make a mock-up by altering the colors in YYCHR. I'll post that later down the line.  I haven't done much tweaking to Ludwig's original sprite so the light colors on the bottom slipped by me.

Lemmy is an odd one.  I'm trying not to reference modern Mario artwork here, but it's not like there's any good official artwork of the Koopalings in profile, so I think it's okay to take a peek at modern Lemmy art... that being said, there's not a lot of consistency here. Like, this was made for Mario Kart 8.



But so was this.



And I don't even know what to say about this.



More than anything, I want to avoid referencing the 3D models since they are, in my opinion, the most boring and rigid versions of the characters to look at. But on top of that, they don't match even some of the modern 2D art. Larry's nose in 3D is really big and rounded like Bowser Jr, lacking the little button like bump where his nose should be.

With all that said, I've taken your suggestion and applied it to Lemmy because I wasn't really satisfied with him. He just has such an oddly shaped face compared to the rest of the Koopalings... but I did realize he's actually pretty similar to the King of Water Land's Kappa form, who also went through a similar change ( his picture in the OP is outdated, waiting till I can get the Dog and the Seal into the game before updating it )

Here's how they look now.



Looking at Ludwig again, maybe I will take another whack at him. He might look better with his head tilted a little more down but that hair is a doozy to work with since it takes up all of my real-estate for that sprite.


Ah, that tutorial I shared is actually meant just for Super Mario World. They have the advantage of having Lunar Magic to extract pal files and other things. I have no idea how to obtain .pal files from other games.  What I actually have to do is make save states in ZSNES when what I want to edit is on the screen. Best to re-name them immediately after you make them so you know what they are and don't accidentally over write them.

I can share the save states I have, but keep in mind, if you test them out in the game, a few things might not look the same since I've done palette editing work on some things ( specifically Triclyde in world 1 of SMB2, Player sprites in SMB2, Larry, Wendy, Roy, and Ludwig in SMB3 )    Here's all my save states so far: https://mega.nz/#F!WeQhyIiQ!1PZR31_M3sMMKSfcTjbJeA 
It might appear to not have everything but some of the palettes are a bit more global and you can use any of the palettes from their respective games to edit them. Although in the case of SMB1 and TLL it's good to keep in mind some things change color depending on their environment.

[PresidentLeever]

Ah I see, sounds like it's a bit of a hassle currently. Well these most recent ones look pretty nice I think, so good job!

Sub palettes are what the sprites and tiles are divided up between for the full image (256+ colors) at any point - afaik you can use one per sprite or tile unless you use two overlapping ones which I don't think All-Stars does. I don't remember how many there are on SNES, just that there are more than on Genesis for example.

[JacobLeBeauREAL]

Honestly, I think that if you collabed with someone who is skilled at coding, you and that person could make the definitve SMAS experience.

[pocket]

Honestly, I think that if you collabed with someone who is skilled at coding, you and that person could make the definitve SMAS experience.

I am collabing, with DarkSamus993. So far they've made it possible for me to use separate graphics for SMB: The Lost Levels, they're still working on a few other things you can see for yourself elsewhere in the thread.  I'm open to other people volunteering to help with things I can't do as well, but I don't like to pester so those people would have to come to me if they wanted to help.

What exactly do you have in mind that would make this the definitive experience besides the graphical changes and the brick fix for SMB1/TLL? It might not something I can do personally, but I could add it to the list of things I wouldn't mind outside help with in the OP.

EDIT: Also, I know I sound like a broken record, but I've taken a break from Lost Levels and gone back to look at Super Mario World and I cannot overstate how much the color palette for that game sucks. It's somehow worse than Super Mario Bros. 1 on All-Stars because it has so many sprites that use less than 16 colors. I tried changing the extra pitch black slots to expand some palettes in Lunar Magic but they keep saying those colors are hardcoded by ASM.  On a more positive note, i've finally organized all the SMW enemies into their own sheets to make them easier to work with ( at least as much as I could. Some of the poses are really scattered across several different files. )

[Metalwario64]

Here's my finalized LL walking animation:


Here's the sheet of the corrections to your sheet:


I basically reverted the victory pose to the All-Stars one to make it more in line with the Lost Levels/SMB2 FDS cover artwork's pose.

[EDIT- fixed a slight oversight with his hat.]