Thread by @LuigiBlood

Today is Mario Artist Polygon Studio's 20th anniversary. So let's talk about this final title of the Mario Artist series.
This title is bundled with no accessory this time, and it's compatible with nothing but the N64 Mouse (which I really recommend using!)

As you might have guessed, this is a 3D modeler. But it's a bit more than that.
This title gives off a really wacky and weird vibe from the get go.
The main menu has a couple modes: Simple, Expert, Gallery, Option, Shortcut.

In many of the menus, you will find a clock icon. That's how you set up the shortcut so that you can go back to that specific mode from the main menu.

Simple mode is really the mode where you can't really do much, you can look at the exemples and then move each "block" around.
You can be a bit creative but it's not where you'll make the most use of it. I'll talk about the "blocks" in more detail later.

Expert mode is where the real creativity tools are.
You have several modes: Modeler Rocket, Block Dome, Stage UFO, a photo mode, and a simple showcase mode.

I need to talk first about Block Dome, as it is very easy to misunderstand the point of Modeler Rocket in my opinion.
Any 3D object is considered a "block". You can find basic blocks, between simple shapes to more detailed shapes, sometimes even animated, and noisy.

Most of the exemples show that you can make something with just building blocks that you assemble the way you want.
You can move, rotate, scale, glue, duplicate, mirror duplicate (VERY USEFUL!) and more, and in a seperate mode you can color them however you want.

Modeler Rocket is where you make your own custom model, this is the real deal!
Using base models of many kinds, you can then make whatever you want within the limits of this modeler which is 1000 polygons.

It also comes with recorded tutorials on how to use it with exemples of models that you can recreate by yourself.

There's also something called Craft Mode. This is for making simpler models to send to Randnet via Communication Kit, and then they mail you the paper craft that you can build by yourself. Pretty cool feature.

This modeler has several edit modes: point, edge, face and model. Each have different sets of tools to help you model.
You can move, rotate, scale, extrude, round, cut, duplicate, change shading, and so on, depending on what you are editing.
It is powerful but hard to master.

Once you're done modeling and have something you are satisfied with, you can get to paint on it!
Keep in mind the model shading beforehand, because you cannot change that in the Paint mode.

The Paint mode works like you would expect:
You can directly draw on the model with a pen or a different tool, fill the model with a color, use stamps, import a picture as a stamp or even eat the color away to make parts of it transparent!

You can also mask certain models to help you draw if it's on the way, and also remove the wireframe. Don't forget the camera view icons on the bottom right, which is also present on every editor in this game.

And then after all this work... you can save it, and take a break. You can also import these custom models as an actor in your Talent Studio movie!

When you go back... you'll notice your custom model might now appear as a block. You can do whatever you want with it as part of a bigger model!
But there are a couple details about Block Dome that I haven't talked about yet. There are minigames!

First of all, Go Go Pack (should name it Chicken Race instead), where your creation is used like a toy car. You build up energy and get as close to the edge as possible without falling! There are 3 stages.

Then the most known exemple, Sound Bomber (named Boom Beat in my translation), where you attempt to beat as many microgames as possible, which also uses your creation in various ways. This was the base used for Wario Ware later on.

And then... one of the modes that most people don't really know much about, Experimental World (Jikken World).
There's something I didn't tell you about blocks: there are what's called "power blocks". These are building blocks to create your own vehicle.

Once you put them, you can then use it to wander around the experimental world, which is a full open world mode.
You then attempt to collect the missing power blocks as well as bonus hidden ? blocks you can then use to customize and upgrade your vehicle with.

It is a weird and mysterious world, full of toasters that burns bread with hint text, eggs and tree trunks who wants to eat you...
But it's worth checking out! I can promise this: you can uncover who are the bakers behind these toasters!

Let's talk about Stage UFO: Basically it's the part where you can set up a stage on how you want to show off your creation of blocks.
You can change the stage, the background image, add special effects, change the lighting. A pretty simple mode.

You also have a photo mode for the Stage, where you can take the pictures you want... and maybe import them in other Mario Artist titles, perhaps?

What you can save in this title are custom 3D models (blue triangle icon), your block setup (green circle icon) and the entire stage setup (orange square icon).
It's really easy to get confused if you're not careful.

There's not a lot of known cut content in this title, weirdly enough.
The best we can see of earlier versions is really just different user interface, with the same icons and same purpose.

Now I have to talk about how to emulate this title:
At this time, you have no choice but to use angrylion based graphic plugins.
This title does the weirdest uses of the RDP (think N64 GPU), and most plugins just don't know what to do.

Using HLE plugins will result in the editors to not work as intended, they cannot detect what you are pointing at, you cannot paint textures either.
Once it does work though, I'll be the first to warn you all about it. I really want to push GLideN64 developers to get it to work.

And again, I translated all Mario Artist games, but I intend to redo them to be a lot better. It's all accessible! :)

And that's about all I can think about Polygon Studio, a really underrated title, which in my opinion is only remembered for being Wario Ware's inspiration when it has more to offer. I'll do a last, very small thread about Mario Artist Communication Kit later.

The thread about Mario Artist Communication Kit can be found here:

https://twitter.com/LuigiBlood/status/1300182014742736897

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