A place for those who "Trust the Fungus"

First, I just want to say that I'm a huge fan of the Super Mario Bros. movie. It's one of those films I can just watch over and over again and never get bored. And I love the movie's fandom. There's a lot of talented people out there, making fan art, videos, comics, etc. and it's all amazing. And while I don't see myself as all that talented, I have dabbled a bit into the realm of pixel art. Now, we're in the film's 20th year, and we have an official-unofficial sequel in the form of a web comic, and the closest thing to a proper video game adaptation (a video game adaptation of a film based on a video game) in the form of an upcoming ROM hack. I think it's time that I finally released some of my own work into the wild.

Now, admittedly, what I have to show here is not much, but at least it's something. I mean, let's face it, pixel art based on the movie is about as common as an M. Night Shyamalan movie without a plot twist. And if there's one thing about me, it's that I am totally obsessed with pixels. At the very least, I'd like to think what I have here could help or even inspire others to produce similar works.

First, we'll start with the original sprites I made:

Right off the bat you'll notice Mario and Luigi look more complete than the rest. I never got around to properly shading (or lighting, rather) the rest, so that's why they look a bit dark. I made a bunch more in this style, but I feel they're not worth posting and half of them are irrelevant as they weren't even in the movie. Of all of them, I'm most proud of the Mario sprite. Oh, and yes, I took some liberties with character design (notably, Toad and Koopa).

Next, the style I developed when the first one wasn't working out:

I really love this style. It's very simple, but still looks good (at least to me, anyway), and the simplicity allows me to actually make poses, as you can see with Mario at the top. As with the first style, I have made several characters in this style, but most of them aren't relevant here, so I'm leaving them out. This is also where I started to make tiles... I initially designed a crate for the traditional "?" block, but then Redstar turned my attention to one of the film's concept arts for a coin block and I tried my best to recreate that here.

Third up, my latest project:

As if the previous style wasn't simple enough, I went and made the simplest style I possibly could! This time, I was aiming for a style that you'd find in an old Game Boy or NES game. I took some cues from Super Mario Land (in fact, Daisy is directly edited from her SML sprite) and worked from there. I'm planning -- or was planning -- to put these sprites to use in a sort of proof of concept game demo engine thingie, but I started wondering if it wouldn't be better to go with a more familiar style instead, which brings us to...

My most recent accomplishment:

Behold, a Super Mario Bros. 3 styled movie inspired Mario and Luigi. I consider this a great accomplishment for myself because I have tried and failed many times in the past to edit official Nintendo graphics into movie inspired designs, but this time... this one time... I think I nailed it. I have been considering this or a Super Mario World style for the aforementioned game demo thingie. I don't know, what do you guys think?

Bonus:

Ever wondered what Gomez (taken from The Addams Family for the SNES) would look like as Bob Hoskins? No? Must be just me, then...

Anyway, that's all I have to show for now! Hopefully, someone out there with actual talent will find this inspiring enough to do their own thing, and we can have more sprites like the ones in my avatar. If, for any reason, anyone wants to use these sprites or even expand on them, then feel free to do just that. If you feel inclined to credit me, then please credit "Heeiexqu"... or, well, you can credit Kougo if you want, but I would prefer the other name, personally. Maybe. Your choice.

Cheers!


*insert ponies here*

You know, personally I prefer the original design sprites-- they have an extremely original looking quality. The second set (which looks like its from one of the GBA games or something) I don't like at all, the third set (the SMB3 style) are okay, but overall, I think you really had something going with the original designs.

I REALLY like the SMB3-inspired sprites. The Mario without the hat has this great Hoskins vibe to it! They look very "gamey" but also true to the film. Good job!

Hey, guys, I'm back with a small update:

Behold, Super Mario World style. First, let's talk about the Goomba. The Goomba was the result of me being dissatisfied with the Goomba seen in one of the screenshots for that upcoming ROM hack. I figured I could do better, and I believe I have. Following that, I went ahead and converted my SMB3 Mario and Luigi to SMW style, and just because I can, I made Koopa. And if I may say, I think this is the best Koopa sprite I've made to date. I'm mostly happy with the results. The second Koopa sprite is supposed to be based on how Dennis Hopper carries himself throughout the film, with his arms up to his chest, simulating the T-rex's stance. I spent a lot of time trying to make it look right and I'm not too happy with the result, but for now it'll have to do.

Serum wrote:You know, personally I prefer the original design sprites-- they have an extremely original looking quality. The second set (which looks like its from one of the GBA games or something) I don't like at all, the third set (the SMB3 style) are okay, but overall, I think you really had something going with the original designs.

I kind of agree, but the reason I moved on from that style is that it was too complicated for me to work with.

Phlibbit wrote:I REALLY like the SMB3-inspired sprites. The Mario without the hat has this great Hoskins vibe to it! They look very "gamey" but also true to the film. Good job!

Hey, thanks! I really like them, too, which is why I converted them to SMW style in today's update.

Anyway, that's all for now!
Cheers!