Why Mario's Triple Jump Animation Is So Good
Hello, and welcome to New Frame Plus! This is a series about game animation, and today I would like to look at just one animation from Super Mario 64 . We are going to look at Mario’s triple jump. But first, for context, a brief history lesson! Mario’s jump is the most important action in his move-set, and in prior games, the animation of that jump had always been simple.
In the original Super Mario Brothers, the jumping animation consisted of just a single key pose; one frame of animation that Mario would hold on from the moment he left the ground to the moment he landed. That jump got its first animation upgrade in Super Mario Brothers 3.
Now if you were small Mario the jump was basically the same, but if you were big Mario, then that jump was given an additional frame of animation. One pose for ascending, and then a second pose with his arms tucked back in for the descent. Still simple, but this is a nice addition! It lends the move a hint of physicality.
It also adds a subtle visual indication for when Mario has reached the peak of his jumping arc. By Super Mario World, not only did both versions of Mario now have those two frames of animation, but that second pose was sweetened with some nice extra detail! This time, Mario’s descending pose actually suggests some overlapping motion, with his hat, feet and other hand trailing behind his center of gravity.
Which is not bad for a 16x24 clump of pixels! So how does this jump translate to 3D? Well the jump didn’t evolve so much as multiply. One of the biggest fundamental changes Nintendo made to Mario-style platforming when they adapted it to 3D environments was to give Mario a variety of jumping actions: back-flips, long jumps, wall kicks… a whole kit of verticality tools, each with specific strengths and situational utility.
Even the standard jump became three, a succession of jumps that a skilled player could use to reach even higher ledges. This is the triple jump. Press A and Mario will do his standard jump. Press A again the instant Mario lands, and he’ll follow that up with a second, even higher jump.
And if you happen to be moving forward when you land and you Press A one more time, Mario will do a third, even higher jump. And each of these jumps has a unique animation, so let’s just go one by one. The first jump in the set is basically Mario’s classic jump animation adapted to 3D.
It’s not exactly the same pose, but it’s pretty close. And the animation is even structured somewhat similarly to the classic jumps in that it's fundamentally built from just two poses: first this anticipation pose that Mario snaps to as soon as he leaves the ground, and then this final pose which he reaches at the top of the jump.
It’s still just two key poses, only now the 3D character is able to smoothly interpolate between them. And Mario will hold on that second pose until he hits the ground. Then comes the second jump. Mario starts out a little hunched over with his elbows raised, and then he extends his entire body, as if he's reaching for every inch of air he can get.
And this time, he shifts to a third pose as he descends, his arms and one leg trailing behind the body as he looks down toward where he’s about to land and extends a leg to catch himself. Now, if you don’t press A to keep this chain going after either of these, Mario will either play a short landing recovery animation when he hits the ground OR, if you happen to be pressing in any direction on the stick, Mario will snap into his running animation almost right away.
But if you do keep that chain going, you’ll get to the third jump, which is my favorite: a triumphant double front flip. Or... technically a front layout, front tuck? I... I don’t know gymnastics, I'm sorry. But I do love the variation here! Having Mario’s first flip be a layout with his body fully extended and then having him tuck into a ball for the second lends this third jump this wonderful midair texture that keeps it visually interesting throughout.
And if you happen to land without running on this third jump, you will get a new landing animation, a flourishy gymnast’s salute. Just so you can recognize how good he did. Now, there are some nitpicks worth making here, and most of them have to do with the first jump in the set.
I like that this animation is trying to evoke the feeling of Mario’s classic jump , but I don’t really love either of these two poses. This starting pose feels especially weird. Like, this is an awkward pose to hit: left leg raised, torso twisted to the right, right arm in the air, head tilted down… the upper and lower body seem to be doing two disjointed things.
The line of action on this pose is… non-existent, as far as I can tell. I recognize that this is meant to set up the main pose later. Like, it’s sort of a windup before he punches his fist in the air... kind of? But it’s not really working for me. And honestly the main pose could be stronger too.
The silhouette is pretty muddy here. The right arm is almost lost behind the head, and his left arm gets lost in the leg. Things do look a little better if you have the camera rotated around to his side or to his front, but the silhouettes still aren’t great there.
And besides, the gameplay camera is going to be positioned behind Mario most of the time, so that is the angle you are most often going to be seeing this animation from. Ultimately, it’s FINE. Like, this pose being a little bit weak isn’t going to have a negative impact on gameplay or anything.
It could just look a little nicer is all. And really, that minor flaw is far outweighed by everything this animation does right! One of my favorite things about this triple jump is that it is intentionally not animated like an person jumping on solid ground.
It’s animated like someone jumping on a trampoline. Each successive jump gives Mario more height. The second jump is, like, textbook posing for “I’m jumping on a trampoline trying to get as high in the air as I can”. This animation is operating on pure cartoon logic, BUT it’s cartoon logic that perfectly reinforces the mechanics of how this triple jump works in game, and I love that.
I also love how the landing animations can sort of double as a crouch leading into the next jump in the chain, which gives them the feeling of an anticipation without sacrificing responsiveness. And I love how each jump builds in excitement, going from basic jump to trampoline bounce to a big acrobatic flip, and with Mario himself audibly having more and more fun the higher up he gets.
MARIO: "Hoo-hoo!" MARIO: "Wa-haaaaa!" Seriously, despite its age, and despite how primitive these graphics might be, this animation succeeds on just about every level! It’s visually appealing to look at. It gives the player all the visual feedback they need.
It feels pretty darned good to control. AND, on top of all that functional stuff, it even manages to express character personality! Even factoring in my little nitpicks before, this animation succeeds in just about every way I would expect an animation to in a game released today.
It is SO successful that the triple jump became a mainstay of 3D Mario games after this. It even found its way into some of the 2D Mario games. And I think the greatest testament to how strong this original animation was is the fact that they have changed so little about it, even 20+ years later! Look at the triple jump in Super Mario Odyssey.
Sure, there is a lot more detail in there now. Mario's got animation on his hands and fingers. There’s some bounce on his nose, and his hat can flop up and down on his head, which looks AWESOME. But underneath all of those polishy details, it’s the same three jumps! Classic jump, trampoline jump, double flip.
The biggest change they’ve made is to that first jump, which actually fixes all the problems I had with the original! It still succeeds in evoking that classic jumping pose, but this final pose reads WAY clearer than the Mario 64 version and is pretty appealing from just about any angle.
This anticipation pose is less awkward and it works way better for the end pose he’s headed toward. Having Mario’s feet spread wider apart in midair looks great, and having him reverse which foot is in front as he punches his fist in the air helps to tie everything his body is doing together in a really nice way.
Other than that? Basically the exact same move, working just as well decades later. It is amazing to me how many of Mario’s animations in Super Mario 64 work this well. And that Nintendo pulled this off on their first attempt at building a 3D platformer is pretty incredible.
