This week it appears that one developer fan of Nintendo’s hero series Mario has taken his love for the original to a whole new level – backwards. Atari Age forum member Sprybug has taken data from the original Super Mario Bros. from the original Nintendo Entertainment System and has begun transferring it backward into a game that very well could have been played on the Atari 2600. This gaming system pre-dates most young gamers entire lives by several years at least, and boasts graphics with pixels so large you’ll be in danger of cutting your finger on them – and now you can play Mario here, too!
With the 8-bit graphic universe shown in the original Mario Bros. game now transferred down, down, and down some more into a much more basic environment, one thing shines through the brightest: Mario was a breakthrough game. Not just because it was fun, but because the gameplay and the environments in the game were so advanced that they look good even when you strip the whole thing down to its most basic components.
In the video above you’ll see a gleefully old-school looking demonstration of the game with what should be some rather recognizable elements all around. The game has right around 16 levels re-created right this minute, and more are on the way. This game also currently exists entirely in a 32k file – amazing!
If you want to try the game out for yourself, you’ll need first to get yourself a Harmony Cartridge. This bit of hardware will plug in to your original Atari 2600 and allow you to play hundreds of pre-made games and classics without the hassle of actually going out and finding the games (which of course, are no longer produced today) themselves. And new games are being made here in 2012 as well – as evidenced by Mario!
The game is being shared right now by Sprybug so that you can tell him how awesome it is. Music and sound effects are included – and yes, you will be able to fire fireballs if you do become FireMario.
[via DVice]
Super Mario Clone World beats New titles with Atari graphics is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Dimmie Flay of Australia and her boyfriend used to play Mario games while they were still young. And apparently they still do now. Dimmie decided to go against the odds by proposing to her boyfriend. How? She came up with a brilliant idea – a Mario-themed box with the ring on it. She then managed to include a text inside the box that says “BE MY PLAYER TWO?” Dimmie says she wanted to be the player one, so she’s inviting her beau to be player two – in the game of marriage. As you can see above, her Mario-themed box looks quite nice.
If you are a US Club Nintendo member, then here is a little bit of good news to kick start your week – whenever you purchase a brand new copy of New Super Mario Bros. 2 from eShop, you will be able to enjoy a cool 100 coins for free. Just make sure you grab this particular chance when it is still available, as the offer will end when September 21st rolls around. Basically, you are able to pick up 50 coins whenever you purchase the packaged software and complete the registration survey, and double up that amount if you decide to pick up the downloadable version from the Nintendo eShop, in addition to completing the registration survey, of course. If only these were 100% pure solid gold coins that you could sell off for a handsome profit after that, or open up a branch of Fort Knox in your neighborhood.
