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One of four planned 64DD Mario Artist apps, Polygon Maker promises future owners of the disk drive add-on full control over the world of polygons. Developed by Nichmen Graphics, the makers of the same 3D graphics tools that are used to create professional polygon graphics for N64 games, this interesting app comes across as a simplified version of 3D Studio.

Using the upcoming Nintendo Mouse, N64 gamers who want to show off their creative side can create polygon models from scratch and do all kinds of neat things with them.

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You start off with simple shapes such as squares or cylinders, then you extrude, spline and splice until you arrive at the form you want. Although it sounds complicated at first, Polygon Maker's controls couldn't be simpler. You simply select key nodes (dots on the corners of the models) on the three-dimensional shapes and physically stretch or twist them into the appropriate direction (see movie for a visual representation). During the creation process, you can turn and zoom the object to your liking.

The next step is texturing. Using a drop down menu at the side, you select the right colors and directly paint your 3D object on screen. You can also create flat pictures (textures) and map them directly onto your shape like wallpaper. The outcome could be a complex polygon model as complex as Nintendo's Mario character or the T-Rex in Turok. As a matter of fact, Nichimen also included oodles of premade 3D shapes for your perusal, including Yoshi, Mario, bicycles, airplanes, and more.

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The ultimate goal of Polygon Maker is not yet known. Nintendo stresses that it will be compatible with other 64DD apps and games, meaning it could be possible to export polygon figures for use in other games, specifically written to make use of Mario Artist's features. The early demo we saw could import pictures and photos made in Mario Artist: Picture Maker and texture them onto the objects. At first sight, the Mario Artist titles all seem a bit far removed from gaming -- but if Nintendo plays its cards right, they could open up a whole new world of customizable gaming and effectively give people with no background in programming the power to create the game they want.