Mario no Photopi

Mario no Photopi
DevelopersNintendo Co., Ltd., Tokyo Electron, Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.[1] Datt Japan, Inc.[2]
PublishersTokyo Electron, Hagiwara Syscom Co., Ltd.[3]
SeriesMario
PlatformNintendo 64
Release
  • JP: December 2, 1998
GenreCreativity
ModeSingle player

Mario no Photopi[a] is an educational video game released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998 in Japan.[2] With a variety of photo retouching and image composition functions, SmartMedia storage card slots, and planned 64DD floppy disk compatibility, the game was intended to supplant Japan's small growing market for personal computers.[1]

Gameplay

Mario no Photopi primarily functions as an image editing tool, encouraging user-generated content. To facilitate this, the cartridge features two slots on the top for SmartMedia memory cards to be inserted, allowing the import of any Exif image saved to the memory card by other compatible devices such as digital cameras. The game will not function unless it detects a connected SmartMedia card.[4]

Once imported, these images can be retouched using the game's included Mario series clip art, borders, fonts, and other graphics to create new compositions. The composition's layout can become a postcard, name card, poster, or slideshow. A minigame allows players to solve a puzzle based on their created composition.[3] Completed compositions can then be exported to the memory card, allowing them to later be reimported to a personal computer or Fuji printing kiosk such as at a shopping mall.[1][3][4]

Development

SmartMedia storage cards store photos and clip art for the game.

The game's development was a joint effort supervised by Nintendo, which contributed some character graphics; the computer memory manufacturer Hagiwara Syscom, which developed the game software;[3][5] electronics makers Datt Japan[2] and Tokyo Electron, which integrated the SmartMedia slot into Nintendo's Game Pak cartridge design; and printer maker Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.[1]

On December 2, 1997, Mario no Photopi was preannounced with optional compatibility with the 64DD floppy drive,[1] which was expected to launch in March 1998 at the time.[6] Compared to a SmartMedia card's then-typical 2MB,[4] the 64MB floppy disk was intended to hold a user's entire photo album and therefore further supplant the Japanese user's need to buy a less desirable personal computer and printer.[1] The 64DD's drastic launch delays forced the removal of all 64DD functionality from the game. From September 30 to October 3, 1998, the game was publicly demonstrated at Hagiwara Syscom's booth at World PC Expo '98.[5]

Release

The game was released on December 2, 1998 with a suggested price of ¥9,800, and came packaged with a blank SmartMedia card.[2][7] As a nonstandard cartridge uniquely containing the only SmartMedia interface to the Nintendo 64 platform,[4] the cartridge has a model number of NUS-023.

Ten optional SmartMedia cards were produced separately and specifically intended for use with the game, preloaded with themed graphics files.[8] These included two "Illustration" cards containing generic clip art graphics,[3] and eight "Characters Collection" cards featuring images from different properties: Bomberman, Cardcaptor Sakura, Hello Kitty, Himitsu no Akko-chan, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Medarot, Sylvanian Families, and Yoshi's Story.[7]

Reception and legacy

At the World PC Expo '98 prerelease demonstration, Kumio Yamada of PC Watch expressed mistrust of the product's file format in favor of an open standard like JPEG. He praised the convenience of the gamepad driven user interface for image slideshows and management, and he especially enjoyed editing custom photos with Nintendo's characters.[5]

Jason Johnson of Vice retrospectively called the game "one part Photoshop, one part Mario Paint". He said its obscurity makes it "a piece of Nintendo lore" and "something of a holy grail among collectors".[4]

In 2017, a hobbyist released the "Cardless Hack", an unofficial patch that removes the requirement for a SmartMedia card to be present, allowing the game to be played through emulators.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Japanese: マリオのふぉとぴー, Hepburn: Mario no Fotopī

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Mario no Photopi". Nintendo Co., Ltd. December 2, 1997. Archived from the original on February 5, 1998. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d "Mario no Photopi" (in Japanese). Nintendo Co, Ltd. Archived from the original on August 24, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e "マリオのふぉとぴー" [Mario no Photopi]. The 64Dream (in Japanese). No. 29. Mainichi Communications. February 1999. pp. 52–53.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Johnson, Jason (October 5, 2017). "This Forgotten Nintendo 64 Game Is One Part Photoshop, One Part 'Mario Paint'". Vice. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Yamada, Kumio (October 3, 1998). "山田久美夫のWORLD PC EXPO98 デジタルフォトレポート". PC Watch (in Japanese). Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  6. ^ Johnston, Chris (June 23, 1997). "Donkey Kong 64 Jumps to DD". IGN. Archived from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  7. ^ a b "今日からボはカードザイナー。" [Starting Today, I'm a Card Designer]. The 64Dream (in Japanese). No. 40. Mainichi Communications. January 2000. p. 140.
  8. ^ Super Mario Bros Encyclopedia. Dark Horse Books. 2018. p. 242. ISBN 9781506708072. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
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