Brave Mario 64 - Vanilla RPG

Brave Mario 64 - Vanilla RPG
Hack Information
Author(s)	CedarBranch
Date Created	27th Jan 2025
Star Count	124
Console compatible?	Yes (Playable)
Download link(s)
https://romhacking.com/hack/brave-mario-64---vanilla-rpg

Brave Mario 64 - Vanilla RPG is a ROM hack created by CedarBranch. It is intended to be a version of Super Mario 64 with more RPG-style gameplay.

All areas from vanilla SM64 are present in this hack, but there have been a number of changes to each.

Gameplay Overview

• The save function is no longer offered to the player after collecting a Star. Instead, the player can choose to save at any given point via the pause menu. Whichever area Mario is in when the game is saved is where he will respawn if the game is reset.
• All Stars are now non-stop, meaning that they do not initiate a warp after collection.
• Coins no longer heal Mario's health. Instead, he can only be healed by hearts.
• 100 Coin Stars have been removed. Instead, a 1UP will spawn upon collecting 100 coins.
• Any coins collected in a level will also go into Mario's overworld wallet. Coins can be used to buy items from various NPCs, such as the Toad in Princess's Secret Slide.
• Most Courses has 6 stars, Except C9 (Dire Dire Docks), it has 5 stars, since Star 1 is treated as a _Key Item_ to progress throught the story, rather than a Normal Power Star.
• Because of this, Sub-Courses, such as Peach's Castle, PPS and the Cap stages has gained more stars to collect.

Merchant Locations

• Castle Grounds
  • Sells Healthy Shrooms (plenty)and Good Apples(plenty)
• Princess's Secret Slide
  • Sells Shield Stars and Cap'tain Temps
• Tower of the Wing Cap
  • Sells Star Plates and Trial Shrooms
• Top floor of the Castle, in front of Tick Tock Clock
  • Sells Mystery Tonics (plenty) and Mr. Smiley's (plenty)

Actions Awarding XP

• Collecting a Star awards 30 XP
• Collecting a Star that Mario has already obtained awards 5 XP
• Collecting a mini grey Star awards 8 XP

• Collecting a grey Star awards 2 XP
• Collecting an already collected Coloured Key grants you EXP, while collecting a key for the first time won't give you any EXP.
• Chain enemies (i.e. Defeat a group of 2 Goombas at the same time) to win even more XP.
• You can also use the Flags to alter your session experience, like, add more enemies to the courses, the enemies being faster, redirect XP/ Level ups usages to certain attributes, etc.

Items

Name	Price (Coins)	Found In	Effect
Small Heart	Not sold, found while exploring	- Some Bosses can drop it, such as Bowser or the Hands. - in any Course, placed in the course itself.	Restores 25HP.
Big Heart	Not sold, found in pink boxes, and it can spawn in regular courses, on certain spots.	Pink Boxes appears on any Course, as any ordinary Item Box. You need to push it's respective Pink Switch for them to appear in their respective Course.	Restores 250HP.
Healthy Shroom	25	- Random drop from Goombas. - Toad Shop (P. Peach Grounds). - Can spawn on certain areas of certain courses.	Restores 750HP.
Good Apple	40	- Toad Shop (P. Peach Grounds) . - Can spawn on certain areas of Certain Courses.	Restores 1000HP.
Star Plate	150	Tower of the Wing Cap (merchant)	Acts as the equivalent of 3 Star pieces (TBC)
Trial Shroom	1	Tower of the Wing Cap (merchant)	Causes Mario to gradually lose 500HP.
Shield Star (Protective shield)	250	Princess's Secret Slide (merchant)	Protects Mario from most dangers.
Cap'tain Temp (Timed Cap)	30	Princess's Secret Slide (merchant)	Adds 1 minute of time to whatever Cap Mario is wearing at the time.
Bob-omb-in-a-Bottle (Enemy Spawn)	100	- Randomly dropped from a defeated Bob-omb. - Toad Shop (P. Peach Castle - Second Floor)	Spawns a live Bob-omb upon usage.
- Mini-Shroom. - Mini Shroomshake. (Field item)	200	- Can be dropped from Certain Yellow Boxes on certain courses, such as the Box that appears at the top of the Mountain of BoB. - Castle Merchant, second floor	Makes Mario tiny; changes his movement physics to be much more floaty.
Super Candy		- Can be found on certain Hard-to reach spots in some courses, such as in one of the Pillars of PPS. - Castle Merchant, courtyard (limited to 2)	Increases Mario's level by one.
Expansion Sacks	2,500	Castle Merchant, second floor (limited to 3)	It adds an item slot to your Item count when used.
Destructive Ball (AKA Mr. Smiley)	250	Castle Merchant, top floor	Causes destruction.
Chance Item (AKA Mystery Tonic)	400	Castle Merchant, top floor	Creates a random effect.
Power Fists	1000	Castle Merchant, courtyard (limited to 4)
Empty Shell	1500	Castle Merchant, courtyard (limit?)
Mini Shroomshakes	200	Castle Merchant, second floor	Allows the player to apply a mini mushroom to Mario at any given point.
Heart Pieces	1500	Castle Merchant, second floor

Levels

Level	XP Requirement	HP	ATK	DEF	MOX	Unlocks:
1	None	2500	1	1	1
2	25	2500	1	1	1	Sweep kick
3	50
4
5		2947	1	2	1	Walljumps (firsties only)
6	125	3288	1	3	1
7	150	3836	1	4	1	Kick Jump-kick
8	175	4212	2	4	1	Longjump Groundpound
9	200	4617	2	5	1	Triple-jump
10	225
11	250
12	275	6969	4	10	1
13	300	8369	5	12	1
14	325	8439	5	12	1	Ledgegrab
15	350	9839	6	16	1	Ground Dive Side Somersault (AKA sideflip)
16	375	11239	6	21	1
17	380
18
19	450	15139	11	34	1
20	475
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36

Enemies

Name	HP	XP	Found In	Drops/Notes
King Bob-omb	3	10	Bob-omb Battlefield
Koopa	1	5	Bob-omb Battlefield
Goomba	1	1	Bob-omb Battlefield	Healthy Shroom
Gloomba	4	3	Hazy Maze Cave	Will steal Mario's hat if it succesfully attacks him.
Bob-omb	1	1	Bob-omb Battlefield;	Enemy Spawn
Snifit	5	5
Castaway Snifit	5	3	Jolly Roger Bay Hazy Maze Cave
Wiggler	3	62	Tiny-Huge Island
Haunted Bookend	1	5	Big Boo's Haunt	Only awards 5 XP if it gives up its coin.
Chuckya	1	3	Big Boo's Haunt	Will steal Mario's hat after grabbing him.
Monty Mole	30	15	Hazy Maze Cave
Big Boo	3	6	Castle Courtyard Big Boo's Haunt
Sleepy Piranha Plant	8		Whomp's Fortress Castle Grounds
Tiny Piranha Plant	3	2	Bob-omb Battlefield Castle Grounds
Scuttlebug	3	1	Hazy Maze Cave

Other Mechanics

Shiny MIPs

9. This rabbit can be found in Big Boo's Haunt, behind the mansion.
10. This rabbit can be found in the Castle Grounds, on the grass to the left of the path.

Exploits

• In Jolly Roger Bay, the chests in The Cap'n's underwater cave reset everytime the area is reloaded. This means it's possible to continually farm the chests for XP by obtaining the Star, leaving the area via the warp pad in the cavern (number 2), then returning to the cavern and opening the chests again. This would yield 5 XP per Star, assuming it has already been collected before. This exploit can be repeated for many other Stars in the game.