The Doom franchise intermingled with Nintendo a lot earlier this year through fan-made crossover art thanks to the shared release dates for id Software's Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Now Nintendo's mascot Mario can get in on the ripping and tearing action thanks to a Doom mod for Mario 64 created by p3st gaming.
At its core, this Mario 64 Doom mod is an aesthetic overhaul for the classic Nintendo 64 game (or its unofficial PC port in this case), but the amount of work that has gone into changing the experience is impressive. Not only have all of the textures around Peach's Castle been replaced, but the music has also been turned into versions of classic Doom songs made using Mario 64 noises. Though to be fair, Doom already had weird sources for its sound effects.
Mario's model has also been adjusted, leaving the polygonal plumber in a green bodysuit and metal mask like the iconic Doomguy. A number of other players contributed to creating a special heads-up display (HUD) for the game that moves elements like Mario 64's Star counter and camera direction to the bottom of the screen around an animated model of Mario's head replacing his health bar.
Another fun detail pointed out by p3st gaming in their most recent video about the mod, showing off its customized HUD, is that there are secret Doom levels hidden within the retextured Mario 64 worlds. One has replaced the Metal Cap secret in Hazy Maze Cave, for example. Most enemies that Mario can encounter throughout the game are still staples like Goombas and Bob-ombs, but Boos have notable been replaced by Cacodemons.
Mario 64 has long been a popular game to create mods for, be it designing entirely new worlds or adding unique mechanics like multiplayer. However, there are also plenty of mods available for Doom given its status as one of the first games to popularize the first-person shooter genre.
Nintendo's popular 3D platformer has been in the news as of late considering it, alongside Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy, will be releasing on Switch in the limited-time Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection for the character's 35th anniversary. Players who can't get enough of Mario 64 after trying it on Switch can always turn to mods by creators like p3st gaming to enhance the experience.
Mario 64 will be available in Super Mario 3D All-Stars on Switch starting September 18.
Sources: Mario 64 Doom Mod, PC Gamer
