User blog:WikiSchm2000/The MarioMario54321 Review Marathon - Part 6

'''Super Mario 64 Bloopers: MM54321 in: An Ice World Adventure! (August 17, 2007) [Runtime: 8:35]'''

Prelude:

We’ve hit another milestone in the MM54321 universe despite being only six videos in! Not any new game or recording device or video editing device unfortunately, but it’s something monumental nonetheless. That’s because, for once, Mario is not our main antago...I mean the protagonist of the story! That’s right, replacing him for this video is none other than the creator of the videos himself, MarioMario54321! Which...might not sound like a good idea to a lot of you out there.

It’s common that self-inserts almost never work out in fiction, commonly because we fear they’ll fall into the ‘Mary Sue’ or ‘Gary Stu’ trope of things. And you would most certainly be right in a few of those fears for this character, at least according to my memory. Though I think it does get better as we go on later and later. Anyways, you might be asking how the creator can even put himself into videos such as this. And you may fear that he’ll just put a cringey picture of himself and call it a day.

Luckily for you though, this is one of the many gifts of SM64 machinima that works in his favor. Instead of images, MM can just change Mario’s appearance and call it himself. It isn’t too original, I mean he’s just changing Mario up and calling it his OC. But hey, it moves just like Mario in the game, so it seems more like he actually belongs in the universe and isn’t just an immobile image. It’s a small victory but one that helps a lot. Unfortunately it also leaves the doors open for way, way, way, way WAY more Mario recolors to appear later on so...it’s definitely a double-edged sword. A double-edged sword with the negative edge bright and shining.

So, for this first outing, how does MM54321 fare? Let’s find out right now!

But first, please watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9r8UYyShJk&list=PLNPi6H0sXYaCHQG4Br4q5yZJp8uxhid2B&index=6

The Main Video:

We start with a Scatman song right off the bat. Scatman Counter: 3. You know it’s quite an important video if Scatman’s singing already. And it is, because we’re going to finally see MarioMario54321 in the flesh! And he...looks like Mario.

Well he has different colors like a yellow cap, white overalls, and even yellow skin flesh for some reason. But he definitely is called MM54321, so I assume this is the man responsible for making all those videos. But that begs the question, where’s Mario?

Well I imagine La Revolucion/The Purge has finally caught up with him and he’s in massive trouble over causing all of it to happen, so he’s having a nice long talk with Peach at the moment. And with his star occupied, it leaves MM with no choice but to put himself. After all, Luigi’s probably still dead, so who else really is there to star in these videos? Wario? Waluigi? Yoshi? Bowser? Well none of them are playable in SM64 so we’re going with the creator himself instead.

MM54321 is far more excited to be a part of this than Mario ever was, already promising the viewers that we’re going to visit a magical place. A place that’s called an Ice Desert, where quicksand and ice exist and where the sand will have blue textures. And automatically I’m getting Secret of the Waterfall vibes from this. I will say that’s a bit of a creative concept, a place where two naturally opposing elements can live in harmony. So again, I’m going to have to give MM54321 credit for having quite the imagination for this tale.

To get there, MM says that he needs to jump into the castle’s basement pool. I would say that this never really works, but this time we don’t have Mario jumping into it. Since it’s MM jumping in instead, I’m just going to assume he’s the only one that can get there using this method. And thus, we enter the Ice Desert! ...which is basically just a recolored Shifting Sand Land with blue-colored sand that’s supposed to be ice I guess. Yeah, it’s not really a new location but MM has made the attempt to make it feel like a new one. And for a first attempt on the new plugin, it doesn’t look too bad.

Okay, so now I have to introduce something called Rice’s Plugin. This plugin is basically what allows people like MM54321 to change the textures of the game into different things. It’s really nifty for changing up scenery and trying to make the same places look quite different, I’ll admit. The only downside is, though, that it will soon become apparent that even the different looks won’t outweigh the repetition of these stages. But, for now, changing the desert textures is a good start. He at least makes the sand somewhat look like ice.

So MM starts by walking underneath what he calls a field of fog...which normally in this sort of place is quicksand. And he walks right through it. And before I can call this out, he also walks directly on quicksand and lives. So I see MM was the third person to jump the castle...or wait, was he the first? Who said that spirit gave out the same ability every time, maybe MM54321’s gift was walking on quicksand? Heck MM54321’s first ever video was Mario jumping the castle, maybe he knew it was possible since he did it himself! How pathetic was MM’s life if it took him more than 777 attempts to jump it? Also I have to count this as a point in the Mary Sue category since this implies MM has god-like powers, and it’s proved later when he too has the physics-breaking Moon Jump ability.

So MM seems to be enjoying this place and even talking about how cold it is, which so far has made me endear more to him than I could with Mario. Then again Mario did all that horrible stuff recently so I guess anyone seems better in comparison. Anyways MM breaks the top of the pyramid and decides to explore a bit more. And by explore, I mean he’s going to steal a bird’s precious star and then go right in later. By the way, the pyramid’s textures I think are obtained through a cheat code since it looks like a glitchy mess compared to the smoothness of the rest of the desert. Once he gets into the pyramid, he ends up fighting against Eyerok. Wait, I mean against the IceDesert God...oh come on that’s clearly Eyerok! You didn’t even try to cover him up MM!

And so a battle against not-Eyerok commences and our epic fight track for this is...I’m a Scatman. Scatman Counter: 4. Really, MM? You thought this would be good boss music? Ah whatever, this guy dies and because he didn’t give a star MM decides he’s sick of this place. Oh so that’s where Mario gets his boredom from, I see now! Once MM leaves he goes towards a tornado and makes Mario noises, which I think confirms that Mario and MM somehow have the same voice. Okay then.

When MM prepares to leave for somewhere else, though, the bird from earlier snipes his hat. And, being the superior moral being that he is, MM declares that he’s going to kill that bird for stealing his hat. Ah, now I see where Mario gets it from! I always thought it was odd that Mario was a serial killer instead of a hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, but I see now that only happened once MM came into his life! Everything makes much more sense now! Also now MM is the real antagonist for messing up Mario’s life like that, you cannot convince me otherwise.

Fortunately for the bird, you can’t kill a Klepto in SM64 and the bird gets to live. But MM doesn’t seem to care too much to find a way, showing actual mercy and going into a lake to teleport to another place. But again I don’t think he’s morally better than Mario by doing this, I really just think he doesn’t have a choice. So MM transports himself to the second part of the Ice World, which totally isn’t a re-colored Snowman’s Land with white and blue snow.

The only thing he really does here is call an ice bully ugly before proceeding to get into a fight with him. Which I mean ugly is towards this specific one so I’m not obligated to call it racism.

Regardless MM just murders him before he starts gaining powers from his perceived ugliness which means MM has more of a kill count somehow than Mario does in this series. Also MM can just walk on the burning ice which must mean there must be more to his Jesus powers than I realized.

This nets him another fake star, though, causing MM to rage quit the adventure and head back home. He declares credits and the video ends, but not before he gives his color code so that other people can use him. And that’s the end of the video! Honestly it’s...eh it’s not really too good of an introduction to what sort of character MM could have, especially since he acts like Mario in this. Plus he’s totally giving off some Mary Sue vibes, given he’s better at killing people than Mario is and better at walking on objects than Mario is. But exploring a desert with ice textures was interesting I guess, plus it can only go uphill from here...right?

The Extra Bonus Stuff:

MarioMario54321 - 66 lines [79%] (Obviously has the most importance since his name’s in the title)

Snowbird (Not Klepto) - 5 lines [6%] (Yep totally not Klepto at all and totally not giving me Monkey vibes)

IceDesert God (Not Eyerok) - 10 lines [12%] (Yep totally not the Eyerok SM64 fight)

Ice Bully (Not...well actually it is) - 3 lines [4%] (This poor guy got called ugly, and didn't even live long enough to create a move called the Skin Freezing Punch in response)

Total Lines: 84 lines

Biggest Chad: Snowbird - The guy stole a Mario hat and ended up living. That’s quite an accomplishment.

Biggest Loser: IceDesert God - I can’t give it to Mario since he doesn’t appear, but the God here really didn’t do much to be honest. The poor guy got Scatman music playing during his fight and got murdered in his own home, how much more humiliating can it get than that.

Favorite Quote: "That's for turning my star black!" - Snowbird. (Taken out of context this quote just sounds so wrong. To all those black stars out there, don't tolerate this sort of behavior.)

And that’s it for now. Next time we’ll be dealing with some much more impressive textures...and Mario coming back. Oh no.