MarioKing64DS: The Man Behind the Mods

Character mods, mod packs and several other modded features have been gaining popularity in the Smash community since the release of Project M. But, have you ever taken in mind the modders that put in the countless hours of compiling the mods that several people in the community enjoy?

Smashboards recently had the opportunity to speak with MarioKing64DS, one of the most influential modders in the scene and is the creator for the Waluigi Character Mod for Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Project M. In the video below, it shows clips of Waluigi's game-play in Brawl and showcases his entire move set as well.

THE JOURNEY ​

1PC: Lets start off with the same question I ask everybody, how were you introduced to smash?

MarioKing64DS: I’ve been into Super Smash Bros. since the very first title on the Nintendo 64, ever since then I've been hooked to the series, I like fighting games and also like Nintendo, use Mario every game.

At what point did you want to enter the complex world of mods?

I would say ever since Super Smash Bros. Melee I’ve wanted to get into game development, if it wasn’t for the debug mode I don't think I would’ve had a huge interest in character move set development but the time I really wanted to take my step into modding was around Brawl, before Brawl modding even started I wanted to make Waluigi and replace Pit.

How was your learning experience with modding? Did you watch a ton of YouTube videos? Were you self taught? Did you read through some forums?

To use the tools for modding I used forums and YouTube videos, also talking to others, but for my 3D art skills I went to a gaming art course for that to become fully qualified in the field.

What was your first mod and when you released? What was the reaction to it? Positive or negative?

It's been quite awhile since my first ever release, as I recall it was mostly positive, but like with any character you get blind haters giving it hate regardless on the quality

WALUIGI​

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You're the developer who created Waluigi's move set. Could you go into depth on why you chose those move-sets and how was the experience like into developing him from scratch?

Waluigi was the first character to be developed due to how less complicated his overall moveset design is, see with Waluigi the goal was to make this Semi-clone based mostly around Wario. But it wasn’t just taking Wario's moves and changing them around to suit Waluigi, we also worked on how Waluigi would feel like as a fighter, to get that we needed to workout who is Waluigi.

Waluigi’s character design comes off being the complete opposite to (as I like to believe) brother, Wario. Wario is notably shorter and wider with most of his powerful moves being from his upper body(Hands,Shoulder,Head) while Waluigi is the other way around, taller,thinner and has powerful kicks and stomps(look at his actions as an assist trophy) so I had applied that to his overall play-style while keeping it familiar to Wario’s overall actions a great example would be the Up-Aerial, both will Clap... but Wario with his hands while Waluigi will use his long legs.

This logic also applies to his attributes, Wario is noted to have one of the best Aerial movement and control in the Smash games, so I had made Waluigi’s aerial control one of the worst in the game while giving him the best vertical jump height in the game.

I also wanted to go over some of the special attacks I had chosen for Waluigi, I had explained it before hand but i’ll go over it here as well, The WAA! was chosen has his Neutral Special to play off what Wario does for his Neutral Special which is Chomp. Wario inhales and chews while Waluigi will exhale and yell at the opponent.
The Brawl in the Family “WAA!” was added to give him something so you know were the hit will be and yes a nice reference.

Down-B is more of different case, I based that move off the Tekken move Mist Step which is now formally dubbed “Mischief Step”, it was a thank you to Namco for co developing Smash 4, with that said the overall idea also follows from something else about Waluigi… No one really know who he is, his just this dude who came to play tennis, he has no real backstory and it's surrounded by mystery, so having a move that has many options for the player to do while making the opponent guess what Waluigi may do because they don't know much about him… we all don't really.

Now that all being said, the overall process of getting a character from the ideas book and into reality requires more than people anticipate, see it’s not just having a solid idea, it's also putting the idea together, you need to build the 3D model, need to texture it, need to make a lot of animations for just one character, need to program the attack data into the character, you also need to get sounds for the character and much more. It's a tedious process. It took me and my team about 5 years to get Waluigi to the level he is now, keep in mind there was a lot of down time and tools advancing, If we were to make Waluigi a few months it wouldn’t take as long.

Oh one more thing, the current Final Smash for this mod is awful and was nothing like I wanted it to be, original final smash was completely different, it was working at point in time but caused game breaking glitches, maybe we could get it working in the future.

BEYOND WALUIGI

What are some current projects that are you working on?

I am currently working on original move-sets for King K.Rool and Black Shadow, I just want to be 100% clear here and say Black Shadow IS NOT going to be remotely like Captain Falcon and/or Ganondorf.

What are some mods would you be interested in developing in the future?

Yes, I have plans moving forward, not much of a secret that I would love to bring Waluigi and others to Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

Lastly, what future goals do you have for yourself in the modding world and where do you see yourself in the distant future?

I would love to develop my skills enough to be accepted by gaming studio so I can do what I love for living, I personally treat these mods as both a passion project and legitimate work.

Thanks for having the time to do this interview with us, we appreciate it greatly. Before we end, do you have any special thanks or shout outs you would to give?

I guess I have to give a shout out to my main man KingJigglypuff and the rest of The WAA! Cave. without them, this Waluigi move-set wouldn’t be a thing. Also a shout out to everyone who has played with this moveset Brawl, Project M, Brawl Minus, LXP and even Infinite.

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Mods are pure fun for gamers that want to spice up their game play and are tired of watching the same bland game they put countless hours into. Next time you are using mods in one of your favorite smash games, take a minute to step back and give some appreciation towards them. If you enjoyed this interview and MarioKing64DS' work, make sure you follow him on Twitter for new announcements on Waluigi and upcoming projects. Also, make sure you subscribe to his YouTube where you can find exclusive game-play of his projects and characters. Stay tuned to Smashboards for all Waluigi and MarioKing64DS news!

 

You go man! Great interview, love Waluigi in Brawl Minus!

 

Great interview! It's really nice to see MarioKing64DS get some recognition as he absolutely deserves it for all the work he put into it. I've used the Brawl version of Waluigi's move set and it's pretty great! There's definitely a lot of love that's been put into it.

 

Awesome interview. MarioKing64DS is an amazing modder and anything he works on really feels premium.

 

No, this guy is simply amazing. He inspired me to make my own mods, but due to being cognitive impaired, I was unable to really go as far as he did with movesets and only became adequate for Sm4sh instead, but I will be honest here and say that seeing his Waluigi inspired me early on when I was making basic Brawl texture hacks, which at one point, I even pitched a concept to somebody and helped improve a mod that was unfinished. I eventually became proficient in sound editing and even gave a voice to the character, completing the last thing she needed for a final release, so I felt pretty proud about that.

Spoiler

But, he wasn't the first professional modder I experienced, as that title goes to Eternal Yoshi with his amazing Gray Fox mod, the only mod I feel is complete as a Brawl character, since Gray Fox has a completely original moveset (though only one taunt, that is fair since there's not much he could really do), victory animations and even a final smash. The Waluigi one is also pretty amazing, despite how simple it is. I imagine the final one was going to be much better. But, as of now, I believe Eternal Yoshi's Gray Fox has the most complete modded final smash in the game, as the animation, effects and more were completely original. And I also like how, sometimes, Gray Fox fails to kill with it, referencing how his mental state gets impaired well he's fighting sometimes and he gets distracted that way during the game, too.

Oh, and I also contributed and made a voice for that Gray Fox, too, making him feel much more complete. I was really satisfied with that one, though I was unable to find Rob Paulsen clips and had to use Greg Eagles instead, I feel he came out much better.

But, yeah, speaking of Waluigi, I did feel a bit bad cause I was trying to help promote the WAH by helping out behind the scenes. I contributed by adding in a true voice to his prior Waluigi mod, sound effects and even upping the quality of him by increasing the speed of the (then) Brawl Waluigi's moves and giving him a Project M name font so that he looked like he was in there. I asked if I could release all of that, but MK64DS did not respond, so I cut out the parts I feel he would've disapproved of. I did release the voice and textures, and I even went so far as to take the official Waluigi render (unreleased at the time) from MK64DS' thread and make it into a CSP, so part of me felt a bit bad for releasing that. I recolored it for the (then) Waluigi alts that he had as well, so it made the beta Waluigi feel much more complete.

Overall, I was a bit annoying as I had posted on KingJigglypuff's thread a lot asking about him and such, and even poking at the undeveloped Project M characters and having an argument with one of the main developers, but my experience as a modder only increased after I saw all these amazing mods and now I know how much effort goes into the process, so my badgering days came to an end shortly after.

And, after waiting a full year and a half, being finally able to play Waluigi felt like a dream. I never thought somebody would care enough to make him this amazing and I have to thank MK64DS for finally throwing in the Mario brother, Wario brother, or whatever, that I always wanted to play as in this series. If what he says is true, I heavily look forward to his debut in Sm4sh. Hopefully, over Dark Pit, cause that would make the most sense.

And, maybe someday, somebody can do the same with Arle Nadja, but that dream will only be a reality if I ever decide to learn the modding ropes myself and do it.