Origins of the Smash 64 CSS Artwork

Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 chose to forgo unique artwork for its Character Selection Screen. So, we decided to look into where the chosen artwork came from in this in-depth analysis.
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Original article: sourcegaming.in...
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[@klunsgod]

Hey this is quite informati- **Character Announcement sound that is louder than the commentator plays** GAH!

[@angularfrequency8296]

Hank: _"BwuhaAaAah!"_

[@Blankult]

Rofl

[@Blankult]

oof

[@crakhaed]

The mixing is infuriating. Either his voice needs to be higher or better yet make the sound effect like 50-25% lower. Unrelated, I clicked on this video thinking somehow Smash 64 involved using the same css we use to make webpages and ngl I'm kind of disappointed it's just an acronym for character selection screen

[@stickerroadie1433]

plz follow me at reedredden

[@dannypalin9583]

Luigi and Kirby are also the only members of the Original 12 to have completely different Final Smashes in the fourth game.

[@JalenSoeung]

The only one that is slightly different is Ness'.

[@pigmaskplayer4373]

Yea, Ness' final smash still is the same one, but it changed a lot. now you can control it, like lucario's final smash in brawl.

[@typhusthenewbie1561]

Luigi: Everyone must dizzy Kirby: oh yeah stew time 7 years later Luigi: I now have my vaccumgustre 9000 Kirby: Ike gave me some training.

[@hoodchicken1154]

Danny Palin and king Dedede

[@dannypalin9583]

King Dedede's not part of the Original 12.

[@TetraBitGaming]

This was really cool

[@PigBoy99]

TetraBitGaming didn't expect to see you here!

[@leap123_]

hi tetrabit

[@leap123_]

hi tetrabit

[@KorbGamin]

You guys are really desperate for tetras attention lmfaoooo

[@admiralAlfonso9001]

Drool

[@sonicbrawler182]

This is really interesting, I for some reason never paid mind to the CSS renders in this game. The situation with Kirby and Luigi was particularly interesting.

[@hanburgundy4317]

I miss fat Pikachu lol Still have my old Pokemon toys, somewhere, with a talking fat Pikachu.

[@papertiger982]

That whiplash effect when you show the character splash screen is WAY too loud.

[@_G.C]

Paper Tiger "Wha-Pssh!!"

[@DisasterEXE]

I can't watch this video. I have Tinnitus and this loud sound effect you bring up leaves my ear ringing, and I'm not listening to this with my volume all the way up.

[@Toxin_Glitch]

What is this, Johnny Test? *guitar riff*

[@mynameismmandimheretosay7979]

Let’s just be glad it wasn’t as frequent as the one in Johnny Test

[@TMPStudios07]

Not for me

[@CristianShowtime]

Why is the sound effect in the Character names so loud!?

[@HyperMotionDX]

Lol

[@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx]

Cristian Showman it isn’t for me...???

[@nightzzmixx]

because it's E P I C

[@mauriciom5555]

that is a little mistake compared with all the whole mistakes latin youtubers do, that videos are really disgusting, this is a very soft mistake!

[@YYmmmYY]

@@8e469 1 year later tho. Sav

[@Lukeormaybenath]

As a software engineer, I actually came here expecting some CSS for web lmao

[@diegggz4961]

Same

[@vladimirfranciscodiaz3688]

X3 XD

[@AmManTalks]

Me too 😂

[@Bulba413]

as someone who isn't a...wait is software engineer just a fancy name for a programmer? cause if it i guess i am a hobbyist software engineer regardless i barely know enough html to make a simple website that looks like it was made in 1999 and even i was expecting stuff about css i don't even know how to use css

[@Lukeormaybenath]

@@Bulba413 Yeah, it's basically the same thing. I mean, the professionals try to make it fancy, but it's usually the same requirements and obligations lol

[@Geneolgia]

They may have used existing artwork, but they didn't just copy paste it, they edited the portraits to match a same art style, otherwise we would have gotten an ugly mismatch of Mario's 3D render, Link's OoT anime style, and Ness' clay figure.

[@al.komori]

So basically all those fake character selection screens you find on deviantart lmao

[@k-leb4671]

I would've thought HAL, Inc. created 12 high-poly models to render as 2d images that can be stored in the game cartridge. I don't believe that pre-existing artwork from other games was simply edited using the equivalent of Photoshop.

[@csuki]

@@k-leb4671 The equivalent? Photoshop has existed since 1990.

[@ageguyera]

You adding the laugh to Miyamoto's quote at 14:44 was the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Congratulations. That was hysterical.

[@onion2445]

There's just something perfectly awkward about the way he laughed combined with the quote.

[@xJackDarkStonex]

Hawhawhaw

[@DoomKid]

It’s was Tonmy Wiseau’s “what a story Mark” laugh

[@MCWaxC]

Mario's model in SSB64 isn't from SM64. It's a new model, with less polygons, big, boxing glove looking hands, and spiky hair.

[@Prikense]

MCWaxC - he is not talking about the models, but the CSS artwork

[@MCWaxC]

Prikense 2:00 He literally says the model is from 64, which is isn't.

[@Prikense]

MCWaxC - oh I see now my bad

[@millieman76]

MCWaxC - Gee, wonder how you find out about the polygons.

[@atomskreborn5740]

millieman76 watch the Low-Poly video of Mario on youtube

[@corvax8644]

Jesus why does that Luigi from Mario party looks so weird

[@wapepe_]

He has Terminal 7

[@Sean16YT]

*M O U T H*

[@neux64]

It looks like some wonky kids show spin-off

[@k-leb4671]

His moustache is all wrong.

[@endlesswhale9313]

Luigi's artwork is based off his artwork in supermario 64 you just haven't unlocked him yet. L is real 2401.

[@k33m05]

NullexEssech ffs Luigi is not in super Mario 64

[@luigimcdingle1951]

Annonymous Dood Yes he is! We just haven't unlocked him yet.

[@luigimcdingle1951]

Yes he sisssssssssss!!!!'''!!

[@tydyman2003]

Kean Angel yes he is, we just haven't unlocked him yet

[@LORD---BrazilianSoldier]

THE L IS REAL 2401

[@Paco_de_Pinda]

For those who are wondering what CSS means, like me: It stands for Character Selection Screen (Not Cascading Style Sheets)

[@adriansilvestre]

Thank you

[@aozf05]

I think an even more likely reason they reused old artwork for the character icons is that it was cheaper and less time consuming to do so. After all, Smash 64 was made with a small budget and I'm pretty sure they didn't expect it to become a smash success.

[@thatkindofboi9955]

late af but me2

[@BareBandSubscription]

I’ll never understand how Nintendo had such low expectations for this game, commercially. It’s a fighting game crossing over multiple different video game franchises. Of course it was a huge success. I was so crazy excited for this game when I found out about it. I can’t imagine how they expected any other response.

[@aozf05]

@@BareBandSubscription The style of fighting game was completely original so there was no guarantee of success. I think they attached Nintendo characters to it so that there would be a selling point because otherwise the game definitely would have failed. But the whole thing was originally developed as a side project iirc. It wasn't an IP Nintendo commissioned or developed, it was just Sakurai's pet project over at Hal that built on some concepts he had leftover from Kirby. And then they slapped some Nintendo character models in the game. I think Nintendo also didn't really want a game where their characters would be fighting each other iirc? I think they thought kids wouldn't want to beat up their favorite characters. Read the wiki. My memory on all this is rather hazy now, I could be wrong

[@BareBandSubscription]

@@aozf05 It was already a crossover game when Nintendo considered not even releasing it outside of Japan. That is baffling. It didn’t matter if it was a fighting game. The crossover was enough. I was around back then and remember everyone wanting to play it. It was obviously a full-proof success with no real room for doubt.

[@BigOlSmellyFlashlight]

"nice video, lemme see the comments ..." *99.999999999% of them are complaining about the audio*

[@Brawltendo]

This is so interesting! I never would have guessed that most of these aren't original renders

[@supersmashmaster43]

I thought it was pretty obvious they weren't.

[@GrantWitherspoon]

+SuperSmashMaster43 Well, it's always a contest with you, isn't it?

[@supersmashmaster43]

Me near, okay? What?

[@juancagon8996]

There is a video much berofe than this, it is in spanish, idk if it is a copy or it doesn´t is, even the origin of the colors, Just search : DETRAS DEL SMASH, there is a mexican what just makes a lot of videos talking about some characters, just one, this video its similar , just what this man makes it about EVERY player on Smash Bros 64

[@Mike-xh2vm]

@@juancagon8996 i have seen that guy too, as you say he did it first.

[@Lugmillord]

As for Kirby's expression: Isn't there a regional difference between Japan and the west? From what I know, Kirby never looks angry at Japanese boxarts, but he does so in other countries to appear cooler.

[@josepedroalonsofernandez6870]

Lugmillord its actually the other way (it(?)is angry on japan)

[@Vioshim]

Nope, is cute in Japan, and angry outside.

[@dragonweirdocreap]

Yeah it's true but does this apply to the art work of sword Kirby?

[@canofcashews9916]

It's not to look cooler,it's because Americans think it's cute when Kirby is mad

[@marx4538]

That first appeared in Kirby's Nightmare in Dreamland - the remake of Kirby's Adventure released for the GBA. Smash 64 came before KNiDL.

[@artsyomni]

I know this comment is a year late, but I don't think it's accurate to say that the artwork was pulled directly from the sources and edited. It's far more likely that the artist of the Smash portraits referenced the source artwork very closely, but still started from scratch, rather than starting from the source artwork and then making edits. I say this because it's honestly a lot easier and faster to start from scratch, or just with a tracing of the edges of the source images than to painstakingly modify finished artwork. =P

[@Spiderfog]

Looks like we had the same idea.

[@F0nkyNinja]

They probably just took the 3d models used in the renders and edited those.

[@SamAdamsDesigns]

those transition sounds.. bro... Come on..

[@ITALIANN1NJA1]

Sam Adams they're beyond cringey

[@SmokePudding]

ITALIAN N1NJA That's not how you use that word.

[@lrgogo1517]

And why does it take so long to start after the effect has finished playing?

[@haloblackops117]

They're sounds from smash bros...I don't see the problem.

[@saturn887]

HyperTwister Yet you can't even spell it.

[@dejiko]

13:36 "This is clearly NOT Luigi" Made me laugh

[@shuccle6161]

I love the video, but could you please mix the audio a bit more for the smash character splash screens? I'm watching with headphones and they're abruptly loud with your softer voice audio. Thanks mate.

[@JeremyBX]

I'm impressed with how you turned a couple of old PNGs into a 17 minute video

[@violet5188]

The video is pretty good and interesting, but damn the audio levels on those transitions tho...

[@fluffcake]

That Mario render has been forever ruined by that image of him smoking a blunt and I can’t help but giggle when I see it.

[@VenusHeadTrap2]

I always wondered what they based the characters sprites and models on. And, at the time, why these characters were chosen based off the games that were popular. This was amazing as I played this game a lot in 1999 and throughout the years with friends

[@austin_the_brimstone]

Great video! I've always loved the official renders for Smash, so it's interesting to see where it all started

[@naenggi233]

The FoxTrot Finally someone like me!

[@BlueNinjakoopa553]

Also, for Mario's CSS art, he seems to be drawn from an upward angle, where Luigi's is from a downward one. Could you do one of these for Melee? Most people think that the CSS art, although 3D, is just the official artwork, but some of them are different. Luigi for example uses his "Challenger Approaching" render, as does Dr. Mario. Mewtwo uniquely uses his official artwork for his "Challenger Approaching" screen but his CSS artwork is different. I can't hack my GameCube or Melee, but it would be cool to see the full-size CA renders in color. Ganon's CA render shows him with his sword that he never got to use in an official game.

[@dstinnettmusic]

It's a common mistake, but it is actually pronounced Green Mario

[@justyouraveragegamer5065]

David Stinnett thats rude

[@bredrick677]

*green waluigi

[@Number_27]

@@justyouraveragegamer5065 r/woooooosh

[@sluigi]

You Mean Red Luigi **Dabs**

[@uitraupstnctu8937]

It's stinky green mario

[@al.komori]

1:26 I just became deaf

[@magicalranter224]

Gian Rodriguez lol

[@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx]

Al J. Why are people f**king complaining about this?

[@jlpt9960]

because its so loud compared to his voice

[@duduwt]

JIgglypuff's eyes are what differenciate it's regular version from the shiny one. The shiny has green eyes, and has a more bright purple-ish pink skin tone, while the regular has blue eyes. Wonderful video, keep it up! =]

[@Ghostflowers]

Damn, KZbin content is evolving. I'm loving this!

[@hadsbros]

FANTASTIC!! Thank you so much for this video! I've grown up with these games and it's AMAZING to see your diligence and perseverance of this game's artwork origins. LOVE IT and truly appreciate everything you did here!!!

[@TurtleCraftZ1]

I think Yoshi's artwork came from the Super Mario World box art.

[@DOCTOR.DEADHEAD]

Definitely not. If you look closely, there are slight differences like his eyelids being more closed, his head being a bit fatter, and his nostrils being a bit further from each other. The artwork he found however was an exact match. www.mobygames.com/images/covers/l/113506-super-mario-world-snes-front-cover.jpg

[@epicwade6346]

The luigi looks like the box art from Mario is missing

[@DOCTOR.DEADHEAD]

kleyoni24 Even if the Yoshi's Island art is an edit of the Super Mario World one, it's pretty obvious the changed art is the one they used for his Smash 64 portrait; not the original art.

[@tree9999]

Me too

[@Meeper12346]

Umeko Honestly? I was personally thinking he was from Yoshi’s boxart or the boxart/one of the artwork for Yoshi’s Safari. Yoshi has a very similar design in a lot of his art, it’s hard to really find the true source. In favor of Yoshi’s Island Japanese Boxart being the source though.

[@JeanieBoxx]

when samus isn't your favorite bounty hunter

[@dathbaeder]

Dvdjeters' Games and Stuff Boba Fett?

[@MohinderPictures409]

Dvdjeters' Games and Stuff Samus sucks ass. Captain Falcon is better bounty hunter.

[@NeoGraena]

Captain Falcon COME ON

[@NeoGraena]

SHOW ME YA MOVES

[@wapepe_]

I am best bounty hunter

[@Glitchy-zh7ts]

Kirby "Copies the competition" Very clever! I love that! Also, awesome video! I hope you keep making more!!

[@starryplatinum]

I honestly miss Ocarina Link in Smash. Maybe thats just me, but I'd love an alternate costume for him in the new Smash. Where is this man, i miss him damn it

[@that_crazy_filipino3875]

Looks like Luigis getting special attention with his CSS artwork. Cool

[@bluray2012ify]

Congratulations on getting almost 24,000 subscribers and 3,300,000 worldwide views!!

[@Icyfire25]

this type of video has no rewatchability. but here i am, every few months or so, watching it all the way through!

[@bubby-fi9mc]

11:08 "Nirbion, our resident Kirby fanatic" The dude literally blocked me on Twitter for pointing out that he shouldn't target people for liking characters that he doesn't. So much for a "fanatic"...

[@SgtImrak93]

M A I R I O O C A R I N E R

[@evanseifert8858]

I'm always happy to hear someone actually refer to a Metroid enemy by it's name.

[@saltysammie802]

Fun fact, Luigi's Mansion was origanally planned for the n64. My theory is that Luigi would've had art work from that game, but later the game was cancelled so they scrapted it. They cancelled Luigi's Mansion because while it was still in devolopment the gamecube was about to be realesed. So they decided to move devolopment to the gamecube. Hope you learned a thing or two from this!

[@lollamo7608]

Lol cringeworthy, where's proof that it was meant to be n64?

[@SmashBroRazz]

The Pikachu artwork is also just the official artwork from Red and Blue in America. The strategy guides all show that Pikachu graphic.

[@autbo]

Please normalize your audio. The transitions are earrape compared to your microphone.

[@chromosoze]

at first i thought CSS meant Cascading Style Sheets

[@nek0bit]

Same brother, I was confused until I saw the video, lol

[@md.nazmunsadatkhan6489]

me too

[@ytpu1]

Mario Teaches You Not To Use Awful Gimmicky Web Design

[@JocaPeltPT-BR]

6:06 this makes me laugh for some reason i think it's the fact that he is different than the rest

[@Anthon1996]

I think they recycled artwork because it was cheaper, as the game had a small budget.

[@Tonybc99]

AGS 101 but THAT SMALL, i mean come on, how hard is to draw some freaking faces

[@demolitiongod64]

so that's why the game looks shit for even N64 standards

[@Q-box]

“Planet zeebs”

[@DaLucster72]

I use to think Samus’s portrait had an open mouth with fangs, thought she was some type of monster.

[@lucentshadow]

I honestly always thought that CSS pic for Falcon showed him striking some pose with his hand behind his head.

[@jahfitzfam]

Lucent Shadow same

[@bowens9211]

Lucent Shadow already knew that

[@DoomKid]

Same here

[@flarmie]

marios smash 64 model does not come from mario 64

[@UrBloodOnMyFace]

ResonantWill watch the video dumbass

[@jevansturner]

Fronzilla the video says the models and assets for Mario and Peach's castle stage were reused assets from Super Mario 64. That is obviously incorrect.

[@renejotas]

know your css!

[@dannypalin9583]

Here's another fact that I think is pretty cool. In the Subspace Emissary, most of the Original 12 (minus Fox and Jigglypuff) team up with each other: Mario with Kirby, Donkey Kong with Captain Falcon, Link with Yoshi, Samus with Pikachu and Luigi with Ness.

[@scheddoc]

It’s crazy they’re all from different games, they all look so similar in style

[@codieb5612]

For my entire life I thought the red part on Kirby's icon was his mouth

[@highprinceryoma4410]

Everyone's talking about the sound effects, nice video.

[@BigOlSmellyFlashlight]

yeah sound loud give me likes

[@zbe8ewmqYH]

Who else thinks captain falcon looks like a zombie?

[@sdh643fn]

Yo, you should reduce the volume on the sound effect on the transition slides. It's pretty jarring going from your calm voice to a super loud KTCHHH

[@LMaruchan]

This game was really addictive for me back then. I remember my thumbs swelling up because I would play this game without breaks.

[@magicsabby]

THIS IS CLEARLY NOT LUIGI

[@NickJamNG]

wh...what?

[@marlon6598]

He was quoting 13:37

[@1337rooster]

This is some good research. We should get this peer reviewed and published.

[@KingOskar4]

I watched this in 2020 as I discovered you recently. I like the splash screens for the first twelve N64 characters. Now we take them for granted

[@frankstevenson4494]

I love it when someone actually puts work and research into a video.

[@UltraVioletLite]

so basically luigi is technically the first echo fighter

[@hoIyrevenge]

I come back to this video every once in a while because I honestly love it so much and it’s quite interesting.

[@jhozan]

Mario's model wasn't the one from Mario 64. It was a new creation for Smash.

[@luyixi]

Pretty much as you explained, Luigi's head is surely taken from his Mario Kart 64 artwork, and the rest of him adapted to the game's theme by placing it onto the leaping Mario image. I remember being aware that some of these were taken from official artwork - Mario, DK, Fox, Luigi, Falcon, Pikachu (3D-ified) - and I would assume some of the polygonal models were mostly imported from their N64 games where possible. Without doing a one-to-one, I'd say that Link and Fox are identical to their models in Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64 (my favourites models for them in the entire Smash Bros series, I will add!), Mario and Yoshi from Super Mario 64 (Yoshi on the roof!), and Pikachu and Jigglypuff from Pokémon Stadium. (or vice versa, as Smash predates Stadium). I love 90's era CG models, for all platforms. And Mainframe Entertainment's ReBoot.

[@executiveE]

I’ve been searching like crazy and I can’t find Zelda occariner can someone please help do I have to import this?

[@javierapodaca3021]

Luigi is from Mario kart 64 just flipped on the character select screen not the render and Kirby is from an artwork of Kirby's adventure where he is running.

[@Don_Porculio]

Mario Minestrone.

[@StuCupid]

in stores now

[@LikanMX]

Oh boy those loud sounds between characters... RIP my headphones.

[@makutas-v261]

**KICKS DOOR OPEN** GIVE ME GIVE ME YOUR LIVER

[@fireballftw-]

Mario's model in ssb isn't actually the one from sm64, though being somewhat similar to the low-poly model for when the camera is far away from Mario, they are different.

[@lemonviper]

Luigi's artwork is Mario Kart 64 but flipped.

[@nertholy3242]

So satisfying to see the smash bros picture fit perfectly with the refrence one

[@CartoonFan18]

Kirby’s artwork is actually based on Kirby Dream Land 3, just with a different expression

[@RabbiB0Y]

Luigi's CSS render actually looks like the picture of Mario used for Mario's render just edited green and enlogating the chin face and neck

[@AnakinSkywalker-rv8tg]

5:14 "Planet Zeebs" ...I think you mean Ze *Bes.*

[@megamanfan2745]

Captain Falcon is everyone's favorite Bounty Hunter

[@aguchamp7766]

Remember reading the article on this! Great to have in video form!

[@SonikkuAtrue]

About Luigi....The Mario Party CGI model is the same as Mario kart.The difference is the Luigi is looking forward in Mario Kart,so his neck is hidden,while Mario Party is stretched since he's either reaching up,or standing.It's simply animating a 3D model differently Interestingly,only Luigi and Toad retained their N64 design in 2001,on Luigi's Mansion,while everyone else moved on to the GameCube design

[@fnln3011]

Captain falcon looks ready to declare himself the law

[@MaxMarriner]

This has nothing to do with the subject of the video, but the splash screen texts are pretty clever. “Link Shows His Courage!”

[@nzr4881]

Wow this video must have taken a while but it sure as hell was worth it

[@hlavco]

Makes sense that Yoshi's artwork is from SNES and not Yoshi Story. The Yoshis in Yoshi Story were newly hatched and had more compact proportions as a result. Oddly, ever since then, all Yoshis have had the voices of the baby Yoshis.

[@luismarquez5038]

Luigi and Mario looks cool in the character selection.

[@unison_moody]

I just wanted to say "Good Job"! It's interesting to hear that they made those CSS Artworks from previous games to show something familiar, yet I think they are poorly choosen. Especially the Artworks of Captain Falcon and Samus are very confusing and back then I couldn't even link them with the original games as a kid.

[@NunofYerbizness]

So why did it take me this long to say "Mario's portrait in SSB64's CSS is actually Mario Minestrone"?

[@gustavrider5561]

This is still an amazing investigation, well done lads.

[@elmagogog4190]

The render for mario is actually from the japanese mario 64 box. You will note the difference once you see it

[@iamthe2833]

Luigi's CSS artwork looks a lot like official artwork of him from Mario Kart 64.

[@SonicTheCutehog]

What's cool is that in Brawl, Captain Falcon, Ness, and Jigglypuff use their Smash 64 CSS icons! Also, Yoshi's CSS artwork is from the box art of Super Mario World.

[@BasementDweller_]

I love those renders.

[@SanchezMonin]

*Everyone's favorite bounty hunter, samus* Umm what about Cptn. Falcon

[@davidrobles2960]

SomeoneOnTheInternet you mean ganondorf

[@ThatAnnoyingBird]

I really love the SSB4 styled inro screens for each fighter! I just feels so good for some reason.

[@vinnisvidya]

WTF WHY IS MA MARIO SMOKING WEED!!!

[@SuperDavidBrothers]

Maybe you should do the same for all of the other smash games.

[@clickycal]

The Awesome Saucesome Guy!!!! From melee on, they are all original renders

[@pandabearian]

He says right near the beginning of the video that smash 64 is the only smash to not use original CSS icons

[@SuperDavidBrothers]

@@pandabearian that's not true guys. In Brawl, Mario's render matches his Sunshine render, for Lucario, obviously that's his Diamond and Pearl render, for Banjo in Ultimate, obviously that's his Banjo Kazooie render, etc dudes!!

[@_G.C]

Bowser and Fox's classic mode trophies are from their 64 games

[@JackBond1234]

You know the Smash model for Mario is NOT the same model used for Super Mario 64. The Smash model is much lower poly.

[@cheesuscrust6561]

But that is a image not a model...