WEBVTT

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Hello,
and welcome to New Frame Plus!

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This is a series
about game animation,

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and today I would like to look at
just one animation from Super Mario 64

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(technically three animations, I
guess, depending on how you count).

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We are going to look
at Mario’s triple jump.

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But first, for context,
a brief history lesson!

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Mario’s jump is the most
important action in his move-set,

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and in prior games, the animation
of that jump had always been simple.

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In the original
Super Mario Brothers,

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the jumping animation consisted
of just a single key pose;

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one frame of animation that Mario would
hold on from the moment he left the ground

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to the moment he landed.

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That jump got its first animation
upgrade in Super Mario Brothers 3.

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Now if you were small Mario the
jump was basically the same,

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but if you were big Mario, then that jump
was given an additional frame of animation.

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One pose for ascending,

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and then a second pose with his
arms tucked back in for the descent.

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Still simple,
but this is a nice addition!

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It lends the move a
hint of physicality.

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It also adds a subtle visual indication for when
Mario has reached the peak of his jumping arc.

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By Super Mario World,

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not only did both versions of Mario
now have those two frames of animation,

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but that second pose was sweetened
with some nice extra detail!

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This time, Mario’s descending pose
actually suggests some overlapping motion,

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with his hat, feet and other hand
trailing behind his center of gravity.

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Which is not bad for a
16x24 clump of pixels!

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So how does this
jump translate to 3D?

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Well the jump didn’t
evolve so much as multiply.

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One of the biggest fundamental
changes Nintendo made

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to Mario-style platforming when they
adapted it to 3D environments

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was to give Mario a
variety of jumping actions:

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back-flips, long
jumps, wall kicks…

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a whole kit of verticality tools, each with
specific strengths and situational utility.

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Even the standard
jump became three,

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a succession of jumps that a skilled player
could use to reach even higher ledges.

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This is the triple jump. Press A
and Mario will do his standard jump.

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Press A again the instant Mario lands,

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and he’ll follow that up with a
second, even higher jump.

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And if you happen to be moving forward
when you land and you Press A one more time,

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Mario will do a third,
even higher jump.

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And each of these jumps has a unique
animation, so let’s just go one by one.

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The first jump in the set is basically Mario’s
classic jump animation adapted to 3D.

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It’s not exactly the same
pose, but it’s pretty close.

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And the animation is even structured
somewhat similarly to the classic jumps

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in that it's fundamentally
built from just two poses:

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first this (kind of
awkward) anticipation pose

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that Mario snaps to as soon
as he leaves the ground,

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and then this final pose which he
reaches at the top of the jump.

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It’s still just two key poses,

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only now the 3D character is able to
smoothly interpolate between them.

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And Mario will hold on that second
pose until he hits the ground.

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Then comes the second jump.

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Mario starts out a little hunched
over with his elbows raised,

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and then he extends his entire body, as if he's
reaching for every inch of air he can get.

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And this time, he shifts to
a third pose as he descends,

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his arms and one leg
trailing behind the body

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as he looks down toward where he’s about
to land and extends a leg to catch himself.

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Now, if you don’t press A to keep this
chain going after either of these,

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Mario will either play a short landing
recovery animation when he hits the ground OR,

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if you happen to be pressing
in any direction on the stick,

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Mario will snap into his running
animation almost right away.

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But if you do keep that chain
going, you’ll get to the third jump,

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which is my favorite: a
triumphant double front flip.

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Or... technically a front layout, front tuck? I...

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I don’t know gymnastics, I'm sorry.

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But I do love the
variation here!

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Having Mario’s first flip be a
layout with his body fully extended

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and then having him tuck
into a ball for the second

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lends this third jump this
wonderful midair texture

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that keeps it visually
interesting throughout.

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And if you happen to land without
running on this third jump,

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you will get a new landing animation,
a flourishy gymnast’s salute.

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Just so you can recognize
how good he did.

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Now, there are some
nitpicks worth making here,

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and most of them have to do
with the first jump in the set.

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I like that this animation is trying to
evoke the feeling of Mario’s classic jump

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(at least in theory), but I don’t
really love either of these two poses.

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This starting pose
feels especially weird.

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Like, this is an awkward pose to hit: left
leg raised, torso twisted to the right,

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right arm in the air,
head tilted down…

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the upper and lower body seem to
be doing two disjointed things.

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The line of action on this pose is…
non-existent, as far as I can tell.

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I recognize that this is meant
to set up the main pose later.

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Like, it’s sort of a windup before he
punches his fist in the air... kind of?

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But it’s not really
working for me.

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And honestly the main pose
could be stronger too.

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The silhouette is
pretty muddy here.

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The right arm is almost
lost behind the head,

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and his left arm
gets lost in the leg.

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Things do look a little better if
you have the camera rotated around

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to his side or to his front, but the
silhouettes still aren’t great there.

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And besides, the gameplay camera is going to
be positioned behind Mario most of the time,

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so that is the angle you are most often
going to be seeing this animation from.

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Ultimately, it’s FINE.

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Like, this pose being a little bit weak

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isn’t going to have a negative
impact on gameplay or anything.

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It could just look a
little nicer is all.

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And really, that minor flaw is far outweighed
by everything this animation does right!

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One of my favorite things
about this triple jump

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is that it is intentionally not animated
like an person jumping on solid ground.

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It’s animated like someone
jumping on a trampoline.

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Each successive jump
gives Mario more height.

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The second jump is,
like, textbook posing for

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“I’m jumping on a trampoline trying
to get as high in the air as I can”.

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This animation is operating
on pure cartoon logic,

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BUT it’s cartoon logic that
perfectly reinforces the mechanics of

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how this triple jump works in
game, and I love that.

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I also love how the landing
animations can sort of double

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as a crouch leading into
the next jump in the chain,

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which gives them the feeling
of an anticipation (kind of)

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without sacrificing
responsiveness.

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And I love how each jump
builds in excitement,

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going from basic jump to trampoline
bounce to a big acrobatic flip,

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and with Mario himself audibly having
more and more fun the higher up he gets.

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MARIO: "Hoo-hoo!"

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MARIO: "Wa-haaaaa!"

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Seriously, despite its age, and despite
how primitive these graphics might be,

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this animation succeeds
on just about every level!

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It’s visually
appealing to look at.

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It gives the player all the
visual feedback they need.

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It feels pretty darned
good to control.

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AND, on top of all
that functional stuff,

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it even manages to express
character personality!

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Even factoring in my
little nitpicks before,

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this animation succeeds in just about
every way I would expect an animation to

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in a game released today.

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It is SO successful
that the triple jump

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became a mainstay of 3D
Mario games after this.

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It even found its way into
some of the 2D Mario games.

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And I think the greatest testament to
how strong this original animation was

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is the fact that they have changed so
little about it, even 20+ years later!

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Look at the triple jump
in Super Mario Odyssey.

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Sure, there is a lot more
detail in there now.

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Mario's got animation on
his hands and fingers.

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There’s some bounce on his nose, and his
hat can flop up and down on his head,

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which looks AWESOME.

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But underneath all of those polishy
details, it’s the same three jumps!

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Classic jump, trampoline
jump, double flip.

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The biggest change they’ve
made is to that first jump,

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which actually fixes all the
problems I had with the original!

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It still succeeds in evoking
that classic jumping pose,

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but this final pose reads WAY
clearer than the Mario 64 version

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and is pretty appealing
from just about any angle.

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This anticipation
pose is less awkward

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and it works way better for the
end pose he’s headed toward.

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Having Mario’s feet spread wider
apart in midair looks great,

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and having him reverse which foot is in
front as he punches his fist in the air

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helps to tie everything his body is
doing together in a really nice way.

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Other than that? Basically the exact same
move, working just as well decades later.

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It is amazing to me how many of Mario’s
animations in Super Mario 64 work this well.

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And that Nintendo pulled this
off on their first attempt

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at building a 3D platformer
is pretty incredible.

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But I think that'll do it!

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Thank you very much to Zach
Vaul for suggesting this topic!

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If you would like suggest an
animation for a future analysis video,

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then considering supporting the show
like all of these lovely folks here.

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Thanks for watching,
and I will see you next time!

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[music]