Post by goodguya on Sept 24, 2016 14:35:09 GMT
Just wanted to first say that I've always loved this website and the work you do, shmuplations. Your efforts are absolutely priceless and extremely valuable to understanding that crazy Japanese world 
I just wanted to make a few comments on the most recent Mario 64 translation, specifically regarding the technology. I did a whole breakdown of the Nintendo 64, talking to hardware people from SGI, so you can get some of the details there. You showed a picture in there of Charles Martinet playing the Mario Head, but that doesn't have any direct relation to the the Super FX or the N64 technology. It's a demonstration that Nintendo used at trade shows for a number of characters from 91-94 using a Silicon Graphics 420 VGX workstation. It's a live motion capture system called VActor, created by SimGraphics in North America.
The N64 simulator platforms that Miyamoto talks about are the SGI Onyx machines. Before the final specifications of the console were set in stone, devs used Onyx machines to create the games. Those are the same machines that also built the 3D models for Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct. Following that they used SGI Indy (Indigo) machines because the performance was more comparable.
The Mario Paint thing is interesting. Clearly what he means is the Mario Artist collection that came out for the N64, but the Mario face was actually a product of Giles Goddard who had worked on Star Fox. Granted, he wasn't very elaborate in that interview, so it is entirely possible that the idea first came out of sessions for that Mario Paint idea. Again, he doesn't relate the Mario head in Mario 64 to being related to the VActor demonstration, but I think it has to be in some way.
I was just seeking to clarify some of that since there's not a lot of info out there. As always, looking forward to the next one!
I just wanted to make a few comments on the most recent Mario 64 translation, specifically regarding the technology. I did a whole breakdown of the Nintendo 64, talking to hardware people from SGI, so you can get some of the details there. You showed a picture in there of Charles Martinet playing the Mario Head, but that doesn't have any direct relation to the the Super FX or the N64 technology. It's a demonstration that Nintendo used at trade shows for a number of characters from 91-94 using a Silicon Graphics 420 VGX workstation. It's a live motion capture system called VActor, created by SimGraphics in North America.
The N64 simulator platforms that Miyamoto talks about are the SGI Onyx machines. Before the final specifications of the console were set in stone, devs used Onyx machines to create the games. Those are the same machines that also built the 3D models for Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct. Following that they used SGI Indy (Indigo) machines because the performance was more comparable.
The Mario Paint thing is interesting. Clearly what he means is the Mario Artist collection that came out for the N64, but the Mario face was actually a product of Giles Goddard who had worked on Star Fox. Granted, he wasn't very elaborate in that interview, so it is entirely possible that the idea first came out of sessions for that Mario Paint idea. Again, he doesn't relate the Mario head in Mario 64 to being related to the VActor demonstration, but I think it has to be in some way.
I was just seeking to clarify some of that since there's not a lot of info out there. As always, looking forward to the next one!