[0:00] Art of the level rarely gets this
[0:02] literal.
[0:05] Bob-omb Battlefield is a masterpiece
[0:07] within a masterpiece that established a
[0:09] new grammar for 3D movement and invoked
[0:11] a sense of storytelling within
[0:12] traditionally wordless worlds.
[0:16] The first challenge course of Super
[0:17] Mario 64 is a dense possibility space
[0:20] with precisely tailored progress that
[0:22] leads you across enemy lines and up a
[0:23] mountain in pursuit of its seven perfect
[0:26] stars. Bob-omb Battlefield is worth
[0:28] hanging on the wall.
[0:30] So, what makes this war zone so
[0:32] welcoming? How many times can you climb
[0:33] the same hill? Do you think love can
[0:36] bloom [music] even on a battlefield?
[0:38] Light the fuses,
[0:40] man the artillery,
[0:41] and hold on to your flying hats.
[0:44] Because this is the art of the level
[0:46] Bob-omb Battlefield.
[0:48] >> Press start to play.
[0:51] >> [music]
[0:52] >> Presented by Marvel Animation's X Pen 97
[0:55] season 2.
[1:00] >> [music]
[1:07] >> Mario 64's tutorial space is the stuff
[1:10] of legend. The castle grounds are a
[1:12] verdant playground we can triple jump
[1:13] through for hours, but we must
[1:15] eventually put our new skill to the
[1:17] test. Step into the castle, placate the
[1:19] terrified toad, and enter the first door
[1:21] on the left. Inside this simple room
[1:23] flanked by two austere columns is a
[1:25] painting, a texture really, 4,000 humble
[1:28] pixels etched in the greater gaming
[1:29] canon. The composition is simple, a row
[1:32] of round bombs marching towards conquest
[1:34] viewed from below, towering as gods,
[1:37] blotting out the blue sky, an ominous,
[1:39] deeply inviting image. There's a reason
[1:41] the painting is hung [music] front and
[1:43] center at Super Nintendo World. It says,
[1:45] "Come on in." in every possible
[1:47] language. The game doesn't tell you how
[1:49] to start the level. Instead, you're left
[1:51] to experiment in a subtle continuation
[1:53] of the lesson that began outside,
[1:55] literally bashing your head against the
[1:56] wall [music] until the canvas starts to
[1:57] ripple and Mario takes the plunge.
[2:10] Before Bob-omb Battlefield was shown to
[2:11] the public, early demos of Mario 64
[2:13] offered up Whomp's Fortress as its
[2:15] introductory stage. A harsh, abstract
[2:18] piece of geometry floating in a cloudy
[2:20] void as opposed to a grounded pastoral
[2:22] meadow scene. Miyamoto's original
[2:24] concept called for a river to cut
[2:26] through the war zone and when that
[2:27] proved unfeasible, the team carved out
[2:29] the level's signature valley and made it
[2:30] the first real challenge in the game. A
[2:32] trench that splits the field of combat
[2:34] like the scars of the Somme. Bob-omb
[2:36] Battlefield is where Mario 64 introduces
[2:39] hostility and fail states after the
[2:41] safety of Peach's castle. So, it's
[2:43] important to give the player the lay of
[2:44] the land. The vista that greets you
[2:46] inside the painting is just as arresting
[2:48] as the artwork itself. Mario finds
[2:50] himself in a green meadow standing
[2:52] before a rocky platform with a giant
[2:54] cannon you can't use yet. An elevated
[2:56] chunk of land is blocked by a barbed
[2:58] wire fence and an island hangs in the
[3:01] distant sky. Beyond it lies a fortified
[3:03] hill where a mad king rains watery hell
[3:05] on his enemies. The battlefield has lots
[3:07] of nooks and crannies to explore with
[3:09] glimpses of colored coins and caged
[3:11] stars to keep in mind for later. Mildly
[3:13] dangerous baddies and bubble barrages
[3:15] keep Mario on his toes and you can brave
[3:17] the canyon and find a locked gate for
[3:19] your troubles or putter around the
[3:21] meadow discovering hidden teleporters
[3:23] and curious clear cubes. The level seems
[3:26] vast through the lens of a Lakitu but
[3:27] clipping outside of Mario's perspective
[3:29] reveals the compact simplicity of the
[3:31] space. From the starting point we see
[3:33] two pink Bob-omb buddies wiggling in
[3:36] place uninterested in attacking and for
[3:38] the first time in a Mario game we have
[3:40] friendly NPCs inside of the action.
[3:42] Mario levels before Battlefield told
[3:44] stories but they were more emergent and
[3:46] play-based like that crazy sun kept
[3:48] coming after me or I went through the
[3:50] the combination of doors. Nintendo's 2D
[3:52] SNES swan song Yoshi's Island
[3:54] experimented with non-hostile characters
[3:56] and narrative techniques, but levels
[3:58] never really had a plot before Mario 64.
[4:00] The level rubs your face in it before
[4:02] you even gain control. Wow, you're stuck
[4:04] in the middle of a battlefield. The
[4:06] peaceful buddies occupy a tiny swatch of
[4:08] territory, but they concede some
[4:10] firepower if Mario can clear the way.
[4:11] It's time to aid the insurgency old
[4:14] snake style. King Bob-omb must die. In
[4:16] addition to Super Mario 64, the late 90s
[4:19] brought us all sorts of iconic classics
[4:21] like Hit Clips, Bop It, and of course,
[4:23] X-Men: The Animated Series. And while
[4:26] we're in waxing nostalgic, why not take
[4:27] a trip back to the 90s with X-Men '97
[4:30] season 2 only on Disney+. With the X-Men
[4:33] suffering some serious losses and spread
[4:35] across the past, present, and future, a
[4:37] massive new threat seeks to strike them
[4:39] when they're most vulnerable, [music]
[4:41] the 1990s. Separated, they're forced to
[4:43] deal with the advent of Apocalypse in
[4:45] the ancient past while simultaneously
[4:47] struggling for survival in a world ruled
[4:49] by Apocalypse in the far future. Can the
[4:52] X-Men break the boundaries of time and
[4:54] space to reunite in the 90s to stop
[4:56] Apocalypse? To me, my X-Men. Reunite
[4:59] with series faves like Cyclops, Rogue,
[5:02] and Wolverine, or make some new mutant
[5:04] faves like Polaris or Archangel. A
[5:06] reunion only possible on Disney+, X-Men
[5:09] '97 season 2 arrives on Disney+ July 1st
[5:12] with the first three episodes.
[5:14] Now, where were we? Oh, yes, it's time
[5:16] to take down the spherical sovereign.
[5:20] Your journey will take you past a
[5:21] snarling Chain Chomp and through a metal
[5:22] gate into a treacherous path up the
[5:24] summit. We'll deal with the beast later.
[5:27] Uh, see that mountain? You can climb it.
[5:30] You have to, in fact. Big Bob-omb on the
[5:32] summit is the only star you're able to
[5:34] select when you begin the stage, and you
[5:36] don't have many options. There are a lot
[5:38] of slopes throughout the level offering
[5:39] the temptation of a quick shortcut, but
[5:41] they're too steep to surmount without
[5:43] expert tech. Soon we'll be able to blast
[5:45] and fly our way to the top, but the
[5:46] first run has you hoofing it through a
[5:48] vintage Mario gauntlet. It begins with
[5:50] wrought iron gates, a valley of steel
[5:52] boulders, and a winding path through the
[5:54] brutality of No Bob-omb Land. We find
[5:57] one soldier manning the artillery
[5:59] showering blue death on the buddies
[6:00] below. Now, you may be tempted to throw
[6:02] a punch at the little creep only to find
[6:03] yourself holding the war criminal in
[6:05] your hands. This teaches us two valuable
[6:07] lessons from Mario 64. Enemies are
[6:09] grabbable, and war marches on. The
[6:11] cannons continue after his demise.
[6:18] The mysterious island seems just within
[6:20] reach, but you can't get there from here
[6:22] just yet.
[6:22] >> Mamma mia.
[6:23] >> The mountain's main challenge is an
[6:25] infinite barrage of giant balls ejected
[6:27] from an endless generator and sent
[6:29] barreling towards Mario on the narrow
[6:31] trail.
[6:34] You can avoid some of the climb by
[6:35] hiding in an alcove and teleporting to
[6:37] the top, but you'll have to backtrack to
[6:38] charge up on health for your imminent
[6:40] confrontation with the self-proclaimed
[6:42] lord of all blasting matter.
[6:45] The English localization of Mario 64
[6:47] called the character Big Bob-omb,
[6:48] [music] while the original Japanese
[6:50] version always referred to him as Bomu
[6:52] Kingu. Western audiences wouldn't
[6:54] recognize his claim to the TNT throne
[6:56] until his appearance in Mario Party 5,
[6:58] when he was finally crowned King Bob-omb
[7:00] for good. Mario offends his royal
[7:02] presence either way, so they face off in
[7:04] a duel. The rules are simple, but his
[7:06] majesty isn't interested in playing
[7:07] fair. The king can yeet Mario from the
[7:09] summit, sending him flying to the ground
[7:11] below for a brutal walk of shame back
[7:13] up.
[7:15] Mario can't return the favor. Throw King
[7:17] Bob-omb out of the arena and he'll whine
[7:19] about cheating and start the fight over.
[7:21] Bad form. Like many enemies in Mario 64,
[7:24] King Bob-omb is constructed from 2D
[7:26] images animated with a 3D effect. The
[7:28] only polygons are in his crown, eyes,
[7:30] and impressive mustache. Rotating around
[7:32] a boss is a big ask for gamers who are
[7:34] new to analog sticks and the Z axis in
[7:36] 1996, but the simple readable roundness
[7:38] helps our brains acclimate. What's more
[7:40] natural than orbiting a sphere? The
[7:43] whole encounter is designed to test your
[7:45] knowledge and prepare you for the
[7:46] future. The entire level is really. So
[7:48] far, you've learned that punching some
[7:49] bad guys defeats them outright, while
[7:51] pressing the same button will result in
[7:53] grabbing more ergonomic foes. Later,
[7:54] we'll encounter enemies that simply
[7:56] bounce back from your strikes, but the
[7:57] game leaves us the simple binary for
[7:59] now. Death or uppies. After three
[8:02] throws, aided by some somersaults if
[8:04] you're feeling fancy, King Bob-omb
[8:06] admits defeat and obliquely hints that
[8:07] the same tactics that led to his end
[8:10] will also help you defeat Bowser.
[8:11] Though, he neglects to inform you that
[8:13] you'll also have to spin the tyrannical
[8:15] turtle and hurl him like an Olympic
[8:17] hammer towards the explosives
[8:19] surrounding the ring. It's a natural
[8:20] extrapolation of the same mechanics that
[8:22] led you towards [music] your mountain
[8:23] top triumph, delivered through dialogue
[8:25] and discovery rather than a tooltip that
[8:28] grinds gameplay to a halt.
[8:30] >> So long, King Bowser.
[8:31] >> The mortally wounded monarch leaves you
[8:33] to learn on your own, more concerned
[8:35] with dying than tutorializing. He
[8:37] ponders the battlefield, his kingdom
[8:38] fallen to the cursed pink robots, his
[8:40] armies turned to ash and yellow coins,
[8:42] and utters his last breath as the royal
[8:45] corpus detonates into a shower of
[8:46] splinters and a star. The king is dead,
[8:49] long live the king. It's a cruel fate to
[8:50] be born knowing how you're going to die,
[8:52] but what other destiny can balls of
[8:54] sentient dynamite expect to meet?
[8:56] Especially ones with delusions of
[8:57] conquest. King Bob-omb has continued to
[8:59] appear throughout Mario's extended
[9:01] library, forever cursed to the same
[9:03] explosive end.
[9:05] >> [screaming]
[9:07] >> The star you picked up from the king's
[9:09] corpse is the key to exploring the
[9:10] castle. You can storm Whomp's fortress,
[9:12] find the secret slide, or remain in the
[9:14] battlefield. There's still a war on,
[9:15] after all, and five more stars to
[9:17] collect, but the world you're jumping
[9:18] into isn't the same as the one you just
[9:21] left.
[9:27] The next time you enter the Bob-omb
[9:29] Battlefield, you'll be presented with a
[9:30] choice. The first star is filled in, but
[9:32] now a second empty slot has manifested.
[9:35] Foot race with Koopa the Quick. Choose
[9:36] it and you'll return to a familiar,
[9:38] slightly different course. The Bob-omb
[9:39] Buddies will unlock cannons for you
[9:41] across the level, opening new routes
[9:42] towards goals that were always visible.
[9:45] These stay open even if you select Star
[9:47] 1 for a rematch with the Big Bob-omb. In
[9:49] this version of reality with King
[9:50] Bob-omb deposed, the summit is
[9:52] uninhabited, but the mountain has a new
[9:54] postumus hazard. A third iron ball has
[9:56] [music] entered in the valley below,
[9:58] implied to be the royal remains rolling
[10:00] forever as a warning from the buddies to
[10:02] any wannabe future tyrants. Stay off our
[10:04] mountain.
[10:05] A giant Koopa Troopa is now waiting in
[10:07] the meadows. Another enemy which any
[10:09] Mario veteran's muscle memory would read
[10:11] as a threat, but Koopa the Quick just
[10:13] wants to go fast. He challenges us to a
[10:15] race to the flagpole that's now atop the
[10:17] mountain. Originally, Miyamoto intended
[10:18] this to be a straightforward sprint
[10:20] against Mips the rabbit instead of the
[10:22] reformed baddie, but the addition of the
[10:23] rolling balls and alternate routes turn
[10:25] the contest into a skill check that
[10:27] gives you another chance to scope
[10:28] [music] out coins to snag in the
[10:30] upcoming collect-a-thons. KTQ's time
[10:33] isn't consistent. The iron boulders
[10:34] introduce some RNG into his route, but
[10:36] you've got about a minute and a half to
[10:38] perfect [music] the path that you just
[10:40] barely survived. You can't use the newly
[10:41] opened cannons, which the Quick would
[10:43] rightfully decry as cheating, although
[10:44] the teleporters are fair game.
[10:49] Collecting your prize unlocks the third
[10:50] and final world state with three balls
[10:53] locked and loaded cannons and a green
[10:54] shell that Koopa the Quick left behind
[10:56] as he trudged, defeated, and presumably
[10:58] nude to your next showdown on Tiny Huge
[11:01] Island. Fanatical holdouts in the hills
[11:02] continue to shell your position, and
[11:04] >> [music]
[11:04] >> war never changes. The next star is the
[11:07] one we've been waiting for. Shoot to the
[11:09] island in the sky. The floating rock
[11:11] that's been taunting us is finally in
[11:12] reach thanks to the cannons, but aiming
[11:14] is awkward and our margins are thin.
[11:16] We've got to snag the branches on a lone
[11:17] tree at the island's edge to catch Mario
[11:20] before he overshoots into the canyon.
[11:22] There's no fall damage from the cannon
[11:23] shots, so the experimentation is low
[11:25] stakes and extremely satisfying, turning
[11:27] Bob-omb Battlefield into Mario's own
[11:29] personal Hall of Meat.
[11:31] >> Wow!
[11:32] Wow!
[11:37] The best launch angle for the island
[11:38] happens to be near the top of the
[11:40] mountain, sending you to brave the balls
[11:41] a third time. It's technically possible
[11:43] to reach the island with a single long
[11:45] jump via some speedrunner setups, but
[11:47] for most people this star is unavailable
[11:49] until the cannons open. Mario's [music]
[11:51] next task involves the eight red coins
[11:53] scattered across the entire stage. Now,
[11:55] you've probably been collecting them
[11:56] this whole time, but now you can finally
[11:58] grab them all. One is on the floating
[12:00] island, so the cannon is required here,
[12:02] too. Others, however, are tucked behind
[12:04] clever moments like opening the gate in
[12:06] the canyon or sliding down the green
[12:08] slope from above. The most obvious coin
[12:10] of all hovers above a wooden post
[12:12] holding a very bad dog's leash.
[12:15] Every spherical object in the
[12:16] battlefield, like bowling balls, the
[12:18] bubbles, the Bob-ombs, and their king,
[12:19] is a perspective trick on a 2D
[12:21] billboarded sprite. Chain Chomp is the
[12:23] only orb in the stage [music] that's
[12:25] fully polygonal, and he's an exception
[12:27] in more ways than one. The sixth and
[12:29] last star on the menu, behind Chain
[12:31] Chomp's gate, is the only one available
[12:32] completely out of order. If that red
[12:35] coin above the log sparks an epiphany
[12:37] that leads you to slamming Mario's butt
[12:38] into the ground, you can smash that gate
[12:40] open first before even glimpsing King
[12:42] [music] Bob-omb.
[13:01] But now, you've probably been here for a
[13:02] while. We know it's a great level, and
[13:04] that's why we made a video about it, but
[13:05] at this point the game really wants you
[13:07] to give Whomp's Fortress a call. You can
[13:08] select star five, Mario winks at the
[13:10] sky, without ever unlocking the mystery
[13:12] behind the translucent item blocks, but
[13:14] you're not meant to succeed until you've
[13:16] explored the castle [music] further.
[13:18] Mario needs 10 stars to unlock the
[13:19] sunlit ceiling fresco that hides the red
[13:22] switch, and there are only seven in
[13:23] Bob-omb Battlefield. Until you leave and
[13:25] return, you have no way of flying
[13:26] through the three rings made of coins in
[13:27] the sky. It's technically possible to
[13:29] pull off with the cannons if you're
[13:31] stubborn enough, but Mario is supposed
[13:32] to take [music] flight here. The wing
[13:34] cap also makes the somewhat tedious task
[13:36] of the 100 coin run [music] viable.
[13:38] Without it, you're scraping somewhere in
[13:40] the low to mid-90s and coming up short.
[13:42] Some loops through floating currency
[13:43] will fill your pockets fast, awarding
[13:45] you the final unlisted star.
[13:47] The fight has been long. You arrived as
[13:49] a tourist just looking for some cake,
[13:50] but seven stars, three world states, and
[13:52] 100 hard-fought coins later, you exit
[13:55] the painting one last time. A hardened
[13:58] veteran carrying memories that won't
[13:59] just go away. We can leave the war
[14:01] behind [music] us, but the battlefield
[14:03] never leaves us.
[14:06] You never forget your first level. They
[14:07] stick with you like long-lost loves or
[14:09] the layout of a childhood bedroom. Even
[14:11] lapsed gamers can recite a litany of
[14:13] excellent opening stages and remember
[14:15] the path beat by beat. World 1-1, E1M1,
[14:19] Kokiri Forest, Green Hill Zone, they all
[14:21] have few things in common. Simple
[14:23] layouts, smart onboarding, enticing
[14:25] [music] graphics, and music that stays
[14:27] with you for life. The song you hear in
[14:28] Bob-omb Battlefield isn't unique to the
[14:30] level. It plays across three more
[14:32] courses, and its melody runs through all
[14:34] of Mario 64. From the frantic ragtime
[14:36] sliding music to the game over screens.
[14:38] This is a favorite technique of composer
[14:40] Koji Kondo, who likes to build a melodic
[14:42] throughline for a game and bend it to
[14:44] fit different scenes. Scroll through the
[14:45] official soundtrack and you won't find
[14:47] Bob-omb Battlefield theme or Big
[14:49] Bob-omb's Lament anywhere. The music is
[14:51] simply called main theme, inseparable
[14:53] from the revolutionary package that is
[14:55] Mario 64. Like the battlefield itself,
[14:58] it represents more than just the opening
[15:00] stage of a pretty good game. Maybe you
[15:02] first encountered the level at a toy
[15:04] store kiosk in 1996 or fired it up on
[15:06] your Switch 2 to see what all the fuss
[15:07] is about. Perhaps you dove headfirst
[15:09] into the 2004 DS remake, which added a
[15:11] seventh star for King Bob-omb's rematch
[15:13] and reworked the fight to suit Yoshi's
[15:15] puny arms. No matter when your first
[15:17] tour of duty was, the battlefield still
[15:19] has plenty to offer. Like a favorite
[15:21] painting in a quiet museum gallery,
[15:22] there's always something new to find.
[15:24] [music] Inspired by the simple story
[15:26] depicted in the levels, fans have spun
[15:28] their own lore to explain the
[15:29] hostilities between the belligerent
[15:31] bombs. Urban legends about a peaceful
[15:32] Bob-omb village torn apart by war that
[15:35] supposedly existed in beta builds of
[15:37] Mario 64 have become a part of internet
[15:39] folklore and creepy pasta cannon despite
[15:42] being demonstrably false. Meanwhile, the
[15:44] equally obsessive speed running
[15:45] community has spent the last three
[15:46] decades tearing the level apart,
[15:48] unlocking glitches and secrets buried in
[15:50] the game's famously creaky code. Koopa
[15:52] the Quick can be smoked in 1.7 seconds.
[15:54] Chain Chomp's fence can be clipped
[15:56] through without ever freeing the
[15:57] creature, and the entire stage can be
[15:59] cleared without a single jump. It's
[16:01] possible to collect all seven stars
[16:03] without so much as breathing on the A
[16:04] button as long as you're skilled enough
[16:05] to engineer a floating staircase out of
[16:07] cloned Goombas. But, you don't need to
[16:10] master parallel universes or backwards
[16:12] long jumps to feel the pull of the
[16:13] battlefield. References to the level
[16:15] continue to pop up in Mario media from
[16:17] the hint toad's map in Odyssey to Peach
[16:19] and the gang strolling through the
[16:20] meadow in the movie. Nintendo keeps
[16:22] coming back to it, and so do we. Some
[16:24] art should be appreciated from afar,
[16:25] while other pieces invite up close
[16:27] scrutiny and examination from all
[16:29] angles. Bob-omb Battlefield is the best
[16:31] kind of art, one that encourages you to
[16:33] jump right in.
[16:40] Hey, if you liked that video and you'd
[16:41] like to see more like it, why not check
[16:43] out our art of the level for the
[16:44] original Resident Evil. And for
[16:46] everything else Mario, be sure to stick
[16:48] with IGN.
[16:52] >> Thank you so much for to playing my
[16:53] game.