Today's hottest game video: SMB3 in Lego
by Zack Stern 
{ Dec 10th 2006 at 12:00AM }
Today's most-watched YouTube game video is a trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII. This upcoming PS3 title ... okay, we just can't do it. Final Fantasy fans, follow the link to get your fix. We're sure you'll love the game; Final Fantasy just seems to come up a lot on YouTube, and we want something different tonight.For the rest of you, we offer the second-most-watched video of the day -- with nearly as many views as the Final Fantasy trailer -- a Lego animation of Super Mario Bros. 3. This brilliant video shows what SMB3 would look like if your TV rendered 2D images in Lego. The animation looks like a pixel-to-brick translation, recasting Mario in bright Lego colors.
It's unclear if the animation is literally the labor-intensive process of animating each brick, but it looks great regardless. (Originating site, BitFlicks says that some videos use software effects.)
See the video after the break.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Limezor @ Dec 10th 2006 12:05AM
That looks fake, you can't tell that it's lego at all.
brian @ Dec 10th 2006 8:18PM
yeah, I can't tell if it's really lego, but it's definitely not as cool as the video for "fell in love with a girl" but the white stripes. That one really was done with all legos.
Pretty bitchin' tho
Rein @ Dec 10th 2006 12:14AM
You can see the lego-ness throughout the whole thing, but mostly at the bottom and at the end. Looks like he used all single lego blocks. That was pretty awesome.
Furiosa @ Dec 10th 2006 12:16AM
http://www.bitflicks.com/
Higher quality + visible bricks.
These guys are insane
Markham Carroll @ Dec 10th 2006 12:17AM
It's totally Lego's. They used a ton of those 1x1 flat pieces to create the picture. It's not the best quality of video, but it's very plausible for this to be real.
dotmadhack @ Dec 10th 2006 12:21AM
Most viewed my ass, Sleeper Cell: A New Cell Awakens on youtube has about 250k more views. Followed by some crazy Asian show and a drilling through a laptop display. The mario legos is at tenth.
Furiosa @ Dec 10th 2006 12:20AM
"what you can see is a very basic quasi-stop motion animation. Quasi because there was actually only one LEGO block involved, which was photographed in multiple positions and then composited in a photo editing program as a multi-layer image. Producing the animation was then a simple matter of masking the LEGO blocks and then hiding or displaying certain layers."
From the site.
socrates @ Dec 10th 2006 12:30AM
You missed the "Game" in the title there, dotguy.
Let's dis the Final Fantasy trailer because it is...uh, trailery? But watching someone walk through the first level of a game released 15 years ago is vastly more exciting...I guess. Well, the editors here have their interests, I suppose.
Markham Carroll @ Dec 10th 2006 12:31AM
Just checked the site. It's not completely real, but its still entirely possible to do without photo manipulation.
Mass Effect @ Dec 10th 2006 1:01AM
Real or not, thats friggin sick
Thrawn @ Dec 10th 2006 12:52AM
Mario vid is pretty incredible if it's actually legos. I was waiting for a lego part to kick in, seeing as I thought it was the actual game I was watching.
As for the FF video, mostly zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
BUT HEY
Maybe it looks like this main character has a penis?!!!
Tom B. @ Dec 10th 2006 12:53AM
Clever, but definitely not done by hand.
About 1/4 through the video, the top half of one of the Goombas disappears just as Mario is jumping over it. This is related to the number of sprites the NES can display on one horizontal line. It's hardly noticeable, so I doubt the animator would've gone through the trouble of simulating such an obscure detail.
The page actually hints at the process. It involves some combination of photography and video processing, compositing photos of Lego bricks at different locations on the board to reconstruct each frame of animation. It's all automated so you just feed it whatever video you want, and it spits out an animation, one brick per pixel. Clever, really.
Ryan @ Dec 10th 2006 12:59AM
Even if this were real, I don't think LEGO makes that many shades of brick to begin with.
FSK405K @ Dec 10th 2006 1:11AM
if it were real, they would have used angles other than the perpendicular 2D view.
ABigSmall @ Dec 10th 2006 1:21AM
I thought I saw this on Joystiq ages ago.
BPM? @ Dec 10th 2006 1:24AM
Close, but not quite, ABigSmall.
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/09/lego-cgi-stop-motion-animation-donkey-kong/
They showed the Donkey Kong clip before.
ABigSmall @ Dec 10th 2006 1:36AM
Ah, thanks for that correction.
Hawk @ Dec 10th 2006 1:40AM
I'm convinced they merely shot a large white Lego base plate and carefully overlayed the properly-sized Mario animation on top of it. Why? Because it would be way easier and we don't see a change in height of the Legos. We also don't see the cracks in between them.
"Even if this were real, I don't think LEGO makes that many shades of brick to begin with."
They actually have lots of specialty lego colors you can order. I don't think these guys did, though.
Doomstalk @ Dec 10th 2006 1:42AM
FF13 video looks meh. How people aren't tired of the same basic story over and over again is beyond me. It's bad enough in your typical FPS, but when story has as much or more importance than gameplay, it's a serious issue.
CP @ Dec 10th 2006 3:21AM
Sucks. That took like 10 mins. to do....
BPM? @ Dec 10th 2006 3:37AM
Hawk, if you look closely at the videos, you can see there IS a difference of height for the blocks.
But, they even admit it isn't pure stop animation. They use some CG as well.
Yoshi Likes Boys @ Dec 10th 2006 4:16AM
Fake mario video? Check.
Gay bashing? Check.
"It looks the same?" Check.
Yeah, those "hero rises up against the establishment" stories sure have gotten old in the last 20 years, haven't they? KH team doing FF makes me a happy panda, as long as both series survive.
bluto @ Dec 10th 2006 7:14AM
That Lego Mario statue looks awesome. Nintendo needs to make a Lego Mario game.
Drew @ Dec 10th 2006 7:33AM
this "contest" is a bunch of crap. this site always, always has the second-most-popular video without fail. its getting obscene, if final fantasy, halo, or gears of war wins... let them.
The TiaMaster @ Dec 10th 2006 8:40AM
What the crap is Sony's deal with completely CGI trailers?
Please don't mention the Halo commercial, I'm talking about how they do it ALL THE TIME.
solomonrex @ Dec 10th 2006 8:56AM
Well, FFXII got such great reviews I might play FF again. But they totally lost it on ps2. Only 1 or 2 decent games after like 20 on the ps1. And don't get me started on more "trailers" for the ps3. It's embarrassing. The console has been released! Just shut up until you have a game.
This industry is so overhyped it's silly.
Wolfrider @ Dec 10th 2006 9:59PM
It's a cool video, definitely alot of CG there. I'd like to know exactly how they made it. Would be interesting.
iceatcs @ Dec 10th 2006 9:58AM
"24. What the crap is Sony's deal with completely CGI trailers"
What the hell you talking about, Sony never made these. It is all from the developers.
Therefore you should blame Square for that. And blame Guerrilla Games for Killzone 2's infamous CGI trailer.
Blame Bungie Studio for Halo 3 commercial.
nick @ Dec 10th 2006 10:13AM
The bitflicks site is a bit cooler than the video above, and there's at least one true lego animation. The rest appear to be extreme close ups of actual game videos, with emphasis on pixelation and perhaps slight manipulation to make it appear as if each pixel is the top of a lego brick. Thing is, it's the TOP of the lego brick-- which who builds legos that way? This is certainly not done by hand, except the one animation of the white bricks on the grid, which is clearly done by hand.
Julian Emmett Turner @ Dec 14th 2006 1:43AM
The proper Lego colors for this do not exist. Granted, I've painted my own pieces but I feel confident that this was just an artsy software-assisted effect.
kduchice @ Dec 10th 2006 10:50AM
looks fake - as in, something like this can easily be done in 3d studio max... they have a 'lego' plugin where you can make a flat plane of legos and then project a video over the lego base plate as a texture. the wood under which the legos (legoes?) were sitting could easily have been rendered as well.
John Musco @ Dec 10th 2006 1:36PM
That video is all Adobe After Effects. They probably just put one of those green lego plates down, green screened it, and warped the video with the "perspective" function.
alexadroog @ Dec 10th 2006 2:25PM
ok it is established...so why is this joystiq posted not updated already....
The Super Mario Bros. 3 LEGO Video is a Trick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlERu6Pq5go
VampireHunter Z @ Dec 10th 2006 2:54PM
The FF versus XIII video is sick. Because it's not realtime doesn't mean it can't be sick. Looks very interesting.
Kestrel @ Dec 10th 2006 5:15PM
Once again, youtube proves to be worthless.
moominsean @ Dec 10th 2006 7:00PM
what's up with 50 posts one day, and not one single post the entire day today?
FatalFlak @ Dec 10th 2006 7:25PM
Well this post is somewhat awkward, pushing a great new Sony FF video aside to showcase a fake video for Nintendo.
Anyhow, this post should be updated to show that the Mario video was rendered using computer software.
Also, im not completely sure if that FF video is pre-rendered. When I watch the video, the v-sync goes off a few times in some of the more intricate frames, which usually happens on live renderd footage, odd for a pre-rendered video to chop up like that, seeing as it would usually be rendered smoothly beforehand regardless of how high the polycount gets or depth of the effects.
Author X @ Dec 10th 2006 7:42PM
Okay, first of all, @23: WTF? Who said it was a CONTEST? This is just to show the Joystiq readers cool video that's circulating. They're not awarding prizes. For that matter, seeing as the point is to link it, they still link the FF video anyway. If you're going to bitch, at least don't be stupid >.<
Secondly, BEFORE YOU PRESENT "PROOF" IT IS FAKE, WATCH THE ORIGINAL VIDEO:
http://www.bitflicks.com/2006/09/13/at-what-price-innovation/
Not only is it MUCH higher quality (though animation is choppier while loading than YT) , but no, the goomba's head does NOT dissappear. That must have been some error from whoever re-captured it before putting it on youtube.
I'm not saying the video wasn't done with some effects, but at least give them credit for not being so obvious! It clearly took more work than just applying a filter, but you can't tell just by watching the YT version.
iceatcs @ Dec 10th 2006 8:07PM
Author X -
I suggest you watch and READ the original video post more carefully.
They said "CGI" and the 4th goomba's head does cut off.
Esp it does have VS problem from emulation's common bug.
smacksmackums @ Dec 11th 2006 2:44AM
If you watch closely the goomba's head still disappears in the higher quality version.
Also, it seems to slow down in some strange places, just like the game.
Clearly not real, but still pretty neat nonetheless.
socrates @ Dec 10th 2006 9:25PM
Brian - that's not true. Sections of that white stripes video were digitally pixelated (it is patently obvious what sections aren't done with legos). Still a great video though.
iceatcs @ Dec 10th 2006 9:41PM
socrates, it is real legos.
check it out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fell_in_Love_With_a_Girl#Video
iceatcs @ Dec 10th 2006 9:42PM
more info:
http://parents.lego.com/Features/Director%20brings%20White%20Stripes%20Video%20to%20life%20with%20LEGO%20bricks%20-%20story.aspx
Hiroken @ Dec 11th 2006 3:20AM
This really is better than the FFvsXIII trailer?
While it's true the game trailer is probably all rendered, the trailer nevertheless shows off the game's potential excellence. How so, you ask? Quite simple: Final Fantasy's core element has never been gameplay! This trailer shows off the things that SE knows Final Fantasy fans love: Drama (a hero against all odds), coupled with a story (this trailer is something writers call a narrative hook- it isn't SUPPOSED to do anything but get you to raise your eyebrow and say "hmmm")that we, as the player, do not yet know-- as such, you cannot say that it's the 'same old' and I cannot say that it's something totally.
On top of those things, the trailer showcases a couple of the things that have helped make Final Fantasy the paragon of RPG excellence, graphics (which none can argue are outstanding, rendered or non) and music. While the actual game is still a mystery, the overall tone and presentation of the trailer is foreboding and dark. It tells a story, and not one frame is wasted to that end.
I think producing a trailer like that one is actually the better route- anyone can show off gameplay, but to produce a trailer that communicates in just over two minutes the epic and foreboding tone of the game is a better example of what gaming is really about-- transcending the medium altogether to communicate an experience.
~
Thrawn @ Dec 11th 2006 9:11AM
Re:44
Narrative hook and drama in a trailer? Watch the last major Twilight Princess trailer (the one that is also found as an alternate opening in the game itself). Now that's drama. Built with in-game cutscenes, dramatic music, and....actual gameplay. See? The gameplay actually sells the game. It answers the question of, "Does the actual game match up to this hyped, non-interactive horseshit that you're pushing at us?"
Amazing concept isn't it?
As far as I'm concerned it pisses on trailers like this one for FF versus XIII. It's not really hard to see why.
hollerback @ Dec 11th 2006 11:06AM
Re: 45
NintendoZelda Fanboy FTW!!!
FF vs XIII is nowhere close to final production. You're comparing a TEASER trailer to the FINAL trailer (and in-game trailer -- by your own words -- nonetheless) of Twilight Princess?
Ridiculous. You can't compare a finished product's trailer to one that's in-production. Hrmph. Fanboy.
Compare FFXII's finished trailers to Twilight Princess' and FF "pisses" on the latest Zelda.
Jackson Pritt @ Dec 11th 2006 1:23PM
The only real problem with this is that they call it "stop-motion animation" when it clearly isn't. It's a very interesting and unique form of computer animation using lego blocks as pixels, but it's not stop-motion animation. I think they're trying to be truthful on the website, as Furiosa points out in post #5, but they're just having a difficult time explaining what exactly this is since it falls somewhere inbetween stop-motion animation and what we traditionally think of as computer animation.
I don't understand why people are mouthing off about other trailers and stuff in here though. Let's just talk about THIS VIDEO, PEOPLE. And if you think it's "real" or "fake" explain why, and maybe VISIT THE GODDAMN WEBSITE FIRST before throwing out theories.
David @ Dec 28th 2006 4:11PM
This is not stop motion at all, and they should not label it as such.