User:Ultra64Detective2401/Personalization Factor

The personalization factor of a cartridge is a measure of just how personalized a copy of Super Mario 64 is. As you may know, every copy is personalized to some extent, but some are more personalized than others.

—Personalization Factor 0:Base Game—

No true PF0 cartridges exist, because every one is personalized. However, all SM64 ROMS played on emulators function as a PF0 cartridge. The Wii U version and 3D All-Stars version both use these ROMS, and therefore also lack personalization. The reason for this is that the emulators do not emulate the AI itself. This was done on purpose, in an attempt to remove all traces of personalization

—Personalization Factor 1:Typical cartridge—

Your copy is probably here. These cartridges are personalized, but not by a noticeable amount. You can still tell they’re personalized when you play two different cartridges, though, as when you switch to a friend’s cartridge, it can just feel wrong.

—Personalization Factor 2:Minor alterations—

You know how in some copies, there was a crack that easily revealed where the Whomp’s Fortress secret 1-up could be found? Anomalies around this kind of level can appear in a significant fraction of copies. However, besides clues appearing and disappearing compared to the base game, and controls being slightly different, copies at this level appear normal.

If you can follow a walkthrough of the game, and everything appears to work like the guide said it would, your copy is either here or PF1.

—Personalization Factor 3:Dynamic Level Rearrangement—

Here is when personalization becomes immistakable. Enemies not appearing in the same places they would on a normal cartridge, coins being in different locations; Dynamic Level Rearrangement and similar anomalies fall here. If your Personalization Factor is 3 or above, you are likely to see the White-eyed Chomp. This may be what brings the Personalization Factor from 2 to 3 in the first place, it may be there to signify that the Personalization Factor is already at PF3, or it may come just before the Personalization Factor rises even higher.

Strangely, around here, it is common for the HUD icons change into one of their beta incarnations.

—Personalization Factor 4:Dynamic Level Arrangement—

It is rare for a copy to ever reach this high of a Personalization Factor, but this level has been documented. This is where anomalous levels begin to appear. However, not all of these levels can appear at this level, as Dynamic Level Arrangement can only use pre-existing assets.

It is also possible for a copy to have a Personalization Factor of 3.5. In this case, the game may simply bring back unused stages from the game’s earlier builds, but will be unable to make original levels.

Around here, it also becomes possible that Luigi becomes a playable character in the game.

—Personalization Factor 5:Anomalous Types—

This is where things like Coin Discoloring, Enemy Discoloring, and sometimes even Star Discoloring appear. At this point, you may also start to see anomalous floors of the castle, like the 4th floor and Floor 2B. These floors may also exist without these previous anomalies, using only enemies that can be found in the game, plus unused enemies. If this is the case, your copy has a Personalization Factor of 4.5.

-Personalization Factor 5.5:Enemy Recreation-

Enemies from other Mario games, like Dry Bones and Hammer Bros. have been observed to appear in Super Mario 64, somehow completely recreated. These enemies appear to be based on modifying existing assets, and treating them as variations of the original enemy, much like how this same process was used for Enemy Discoloring. This process may also be responsible for the elusive Wario Apparition.

—-Personalization Factor 6:???—-

A Personalization Factor this high has never been observed. Every observed anomaly could potentially have come from personalization at PF5.5 and below. However, looking through the AI and its functions, we can tell a level of PF6 is theoretically possible. At this point, the game may become unrecognizable as Super Mario 64, with the castle transforming into a seemingly infinite labyrinth. Because cartridges and RAM has a limited amount of space, it would possible to go back into the direction came from, and, rather than end up where you started, instead end up in a new place. There is a developer anecdote of this level of personalization actually being reached in the 7/29/1995 build, after going into the basement, though this has yet to be confirmed.

This endless labyrinth may be what is referred to on the iceberg as “the internal plexus of the castle”. This is yet to be confirmed, though.