Mario 64's Bob-omb Battlefield Is Gaming's Most Important 3D Platforming Level - Art of the Level

[00:00] Art of the level rarely gets this

[00:02] literal.

[00:05] Bob-omb Battlefield is a masterpiece

[00:07] within a masterpiece that established a

[00:09] new grammar for 3D movement and invoked

[00:11] a sense of storytelling within

[00:12] traditionally wordless worlds.

[00:16] The first challenge course of Super

[00:17] Mario 64 is a dense possibility space

[00:20] with precisely tailored progress that

[00:22] leads you across enemy lines and up a

[00:23] mountain in pursuit of its seven perfect

[00:26] stars. Bob-omb Battlefield is worth

[00:28] hanging on the wall.

[00:30] So, what makes this war zone so

[00:32] welcoming? How many times can you climb

[00:33] the same hill? Do you think love can

[00:36] bloom [music] even on a battlefield?

[00:38] Light the fuses,

[00:40] man the artillery,

[00:41] and hold on to your flying hats.

[00:44] Because this is the art of the level

[00:46] Bob-omb Battlefield.

[00:48] >> Press start to play.

[00:51] >> [music]

[00:52] >> Presented by Marvel Animation's X Pen 97

[00:55] season 2.

[01:00] >> [music]

[01:07] >> Mario 64's tutorial space is the stuff

[01:10] of legend. The castle grounds are a

[01:12] verdant playground we can triple jump

[01:13] through for hours, but we must

[01:15] eventually put our new skill to the

[01:17] test. Step into the castle, placate the

[01:19] terrified toad, and enter the first door

[01:21] on the left. Inside this simple room

[01:23] flanked by two austere columns is a

[01:25] painting, a texture really, 4,000 humble

[01:28] pixels etched in the greater gaming

[01:29] canon. The composition is simple, a row

[01:32] of round bombs marching towards conquest

[01:34] viewed from below, towering as gods,

[01:37] blotting out the blue sky, an ominous,

[01:39] deeply inviting image. There's a reason

[01:41] the painting is hung [music] front and

[01:43] center at Super Nintendo World. It says,

[01:45] "Come on in." in every possible

[01:47] language. The game doesn't tell you how

[01:49] to start the level. Instead, you're left

[01:51] to experiment in a subtle continuation

[01:53] of the lesson that began outside,

[01:55] literally bashing your head against the

[01:56] wall [music] until the canvas starts to

[01:57] ripple and Mario takes the plunge.

[02:10] Before Bob-omb Battlefield was shown to

[02:11] the public, early demos of Mario 64

[02:13] offered up Whomp's Fortress as its

[02:15] introductory stage. A harsh, abstract

[02:18] piece of geometry floating in a cloudy

[02:20] void as opposed to a grounded pastoral

[02:22] meadow scene. Miyamoto's original

[02:24] concept called for a river to cut

[02:26] through the war zone and when that

[02:27] proved unfeasible, the team carved out

[02:29] the level's signature valley and made it

[02:30] the first real challenge in the game. A

[02:32] trench that splits the field of combat

[02:34] like the scars of the Somme. Bob-omb

[02:36] Battlefield is where Mario 64 introduces

[02:39] hostility and fail states after the

[02:41] safety of Peach's castle. So, it's

[02:43] important to give the player the lay of

[02:44] the land. The vista that greets you

[02:46] inside the painting is just as arresting

[02:48] as the artwork itself. Mario finds

[02:50] himself in a green meadow standing

[02:52] before a rocky platform with a giant

[02:54] cannon you can't use yet. An elevated

[02:56] chunk of land is blocked by a barbed

[02:58] wire fence and an island hangs in the

[03:01] distant sky. Beyond it lies a fortified

[03:03] hill where a mad king rains watery hell

[03:05] on his enemies. The battlefield has lots

[03:07] of nooks and crannies to explore with

[03:09] glimpses of colored coins and caged

[03:11] stars to keep in mind for later. Mildly

[03:13] dangerous baddies and bubble barrages

[03:15] keep Mario on his toes and you can brave

[03:17] the canyon and find a locked gate for

[03:19] your troubles or putter around the

[03:21] meadow discovering hidden teleporters

[03:23] and curious clear cubes. The level seems

[03:26] vast through the lens of a Lakitu but

[03:27] clipping outside of Mario's perspective

[03:29] reveals the compact simplicity of the

[03:31] space. From the starting point we see

[03:33] two pink Bob-omb buddies wiggling in

[03:36] place uninterested in attacking and for

[03:38] the first time in a Mario game we have

[03:40] friendly NPCs inside of the action.

[03:42] Mario levels before Battlefield told

[03:44] stories but they were more emergent and

[03:46] play-based like that crazy sun kept

[03:48] coming after me or I went through the

[03:50] the combination of doors. Nintendo's 2D

[03:52] SNES swan song Yoshi's Island

[03:54] experimented with non-hostile characters

[03:56] and narrative techniques, but levels

[03:58] never really had a plot before Mario 64.

[04:00] The level rubs your face in it before

[04:02] you even gain control. Wow, you're stuck

[04:04] in the middle of a battlefield. The

[04:06] peaceful buddies occupy a tiny swatch of

[04:08] territory, but they concede some

[04:10] firepower if Mario can clear the way.

[04:11] It's time to aid the insurgency old

[04:14] snake style. King Bob-omb must die. In

[04:16] addition to Super Mario 64, the late 90s

[04:19] brought us all sorts of iconic classics

[04:21] like Hit Clips, Bop It, and of course,

[04:23] X-Men: The Animated Series. And while

[04:26] we're in waxing nostalgic, why not take

[04:27] a trip back to the 90s with X-Men '97

[04:30] season 2 only on Disney+. With the X-Men

[04:33] suffering some serious losses and spread

[04:35] across the past, present, and future, a

[04:37] massive new threat seeks to strike them

[04:39] when they're most vulnerable, [music]

[04:41] the 1990s. Separated, they're forced to

[04:43] deal with the advent of Apocalypse in

[04:45] the ancient past while simultaneously

[04:47] struggling for survival in a world ruled

[04:49] by Apocalypse in the far future. Can the

[04:52] X-Men break the boundaries of time and

[04:54] space to reunite in the 90s to stop

[04:56] Apocalypse? To me, my X-Men. Reunite

[04:59] with series faves like Cyclops, Rogue,

[05:02] and Wolverine, or make some new mutant

[05:04] faves like Polaris or Archangel. A

[05:06] reunion only possible on Disney+, X-Men

[05:09] '97 season 2 arrives on Disney+ July 1st

[05:12] with the first three episodes.

[05:14] Now, where were we? Oh, yes, it's time

[05:16] to take down the spherical sovereign.

[05:20] Your journey will take you past a

[05:21] snarling Chain Chomp and through a metal

[05:22] gate into a treacherous path up the

[05:24] summit. We'll deal with the beast later.

[05:27] Uh, see that mountain? You can climb it.

[05:30] You have to, in fact. Big Bob-omb on the

[05:32] summit is the only star you're able to

[05:34] select when you begin the stage, and you

[05:36] don't have many options. There are a lot

[05:38] of slopes throughout the level offering

[05:39] the temptation of a quick shortcut, but

[05:41] they're too steep to surmount without

[05:43] expert tech. Soon we'll be able to blast

[05:45] and fly our way to the top, but the

[05:46] first run has you hoofing it through a

[05:48] vintage Mario gauntlet. It begins with

[05:50] wrought iron gates, a valley of steel

[05:52] boulders, and a winding path through the

[05:54] brutality of No Bob-omb Land. We find

[05:57] one soldier manning the artillery

[05:59] showering blue death on the buddies

[06:00] below. Now, you may be tempted to throw

[06:02] a punch at the little creep only to find

[06:03] yourself holding the war criminal in

[06:05] your hands. This teaches us two valuable

[06:07] lessons from Mario 64. Enemies are

[06:09] grabbable, and war marches on. The

[06:11] cannons continue after his demise.

[06:18] The mysterious island seems just within

[06:20] reach, but you can't get there from here

[06:22] just yet.

[06:22] >> Mamma mia.

[06:23] >> The mountain's main challenge is an

[06:25] infinite barrage of giant balls ejected

[06:27] from an endless generator and sent

[06:29] barreling towards Mario on the narrow

[06:31] trail.

[06:34] You can avoid some of the climb by

[06:35] hiding in an alcove and teleporting to

[06:37] the top, but you'll have to backtrack to

[06:38] charge up on health for your imminent

[06:40] confrontation with the self-proclaimed

[06:42] lord of all blasting matter.

[06:45] The English localization of Mario 64

[06:47] called the character Big Bob-omb,

[06:48] [music] while the original Japanese

[06:50] version always referred to him as Bomu

[06:52] Kingu. Western audiences wouldn't

[06:54] recognize his claim to the TNT throne

[06:56] until his appearance in Mario Party 5,

[06:58] when he was finally crowned King Bob-omb

[07:00] for good. Mario offends his royal

[07:02] presence either way, so they face off in

[07:04] a duel. The rules are simple, but his

[07:06] majesty isn't interested in playing

[07:07] fair. The king can yeet Mario from the

[07:09] summit, sending him flying to the ground

[07:11] below for a brutal walk of shame back

[07:13] up.

[07:15] Mario can't return the favor. Throw King

[07:17] Bob-omb out of the arena and he'll whine

[07:19] about cheating and start the fight over.

[07:21] Bad form. Like many enemies in Mario 64,

[07:24] King Bob-omb is constructed from 2D

[07:26] images animated with a 3D effect. The

[07:28] only polygons are in his crown, eyes,

[07:30] and impressive mustache. Rotating around

[07:32] a boss is a big ask for gamers who are

[07:34] new to analog sticks and the Z axis in

[07:36] 1996, but the simple readable roundness

[07:38] helps our brains acclimate. What's more

[07:40] natural than orbiting a sphere? The

[07:43] whole encounter is designed to test your

[07:45] knowledge and prepare you for the

[07:46] future. The entire level is really. So

[07:48] far, you've learned that punching some

[07:49] bad guys defeats them outright, while

[07:51] pressing the same button will result in

[07:53] grabbing more ergonomic foes. Later,

[07:54] we'll encounter enemies that simply

[07:56] bounce back from your strikes, but the

[07:57] game leaves us the simple binary for

[07:59] now. Death or uppies. After three

[08:02] throws, aided by some somersaults if

[08:04] you're feeling fancy, King Bob-omb

[08:06] admits defeat and obliquely hints that

[08:07] the same tactics that led to his end

[08:10] will also help you defeat Bowser.

[08:11] Though, he neglects to inform you that

[08:13] you'll also have to spin the tyrannical

[08:15] turtle and hurl him like an Olympic

[08:17] hammer towards the explosives

[08:19] surrounding the ring. It's a natural

[08:20] extrapolation of the same mechanics that

[08:22] led you towards [music] your mountain

[08:23] top triumph, delivered through dialogue

[08:25] and discovery rather than a tooltip that

[08:28] grinds gameplay to a halt.

[08:30] >> So long, King Bowser.

[08:31] >> The mortally wounded monarch leaves you

[08:33] to learn on your own, more concerned

[08:35] with dying than tutorializing. He

[08:37] ponders the battlefield, his kingdom

[08:38] fallen to the cursed pink robots, his

[08:40] armies turned to ash and yellow coins,

[08:42] and utters his last breath as the royal

[08:45] corpus detonates into a shower of

[08:46] splinters and a star. The king is dead,

[08:49] long live the king. It's a cruel fate to

[08:50] be born knowing how you're going to die,

[08:52] but what other destiny can balls of

[08:54] sentient dynamite expect to meet?

[08:56] Especially ones with delusions of

[08:57] conquest. King Bob-omb has continued to

[08:59] appear throughout Mario's extended

[09:01] library, forever cursed to the same

[09:03] explosive end.

[09:05] >> [screaming]

[09:07] >> The star you picked up from the king's

[09:09] corpse is the key to exploring the

[09:10] castle. You can storm Whomp's fortress,

[09:12] find the secret slide, or remain in the

[09:14] battlefield. There's still a war on,

[09:15] after all, and five more stars to

[09:17] collect, but the world you're jumping

[09:18] into isn't the same as the one you just

[09:21] left.

[09:27] The next time you enter the Bob-omb

[09:29] Battlefield, you'll be presented with a

[09:30] choice. The first star is filled in, but

[09:32] now a second empty slot has manifested.

[09:35] Foot race with Koopa the Quick. Choose

[09:36] it and you'll return to a familiar,

[09:38] slightly different course. The Bob-omb

[09:39] Buddies will unlock cannons for you

[09:41] across the level, opening new routes

[09:42] towards goals that were always visible.

[09:45] These stay open even if you select Star

[09:47] 1 for a rematch with the Big Bob-omb. In

[09:49] this version of reality with King

[09:50] Bob-omb deposed, the summit is

[09:52] uninhabited, but the mountain has a new

[09:54] postumus hazard. A third iron ball has

[09:56] [music] entered in the valley below,

[09:58] 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.