Crisis on infinite mushrooms
November 25, 2006 7:15 PM   Subscribe

Infinite Mario Brothers Did you love Mario Brother 3? Would you like to love playing it forever? With randomized maps and worlds? Oh, yes, you would.
posted by boo_radley (29 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is why java is so much cooler then flash.

Still the randomized maps are not actually that much fun.
posted by delmoi at 7:32 PM on November 25, 2006


It doesn't play like SMB3.
posted by TwelveTwo at 7:33 PM on November 25, 2006


This is awesome.
posted by loquacious at 7:38 PM on November 25, 2006


So I guess we won't being seeing the ESRB rating anytime soon then, right?

(but yeah, this rocks)
posted by niles at 7:53 PM on November 25, 2006


This is like some weird invasion of the body snatchers version of mario; all of the basic elements are there but the randomization strips it of its essential nature and most, but not all, of its fun. There's an interesting paper in this for one of the game theory people, I'd bet. Plus, as mentioned above, the control is messed up; the jump physics, in particular, are all wrong.

This seems like a good place to (re)post some mario derivative classics: Cory Arcangel's super-minimalist Super Mario Clouds and the insanely difficult/inspired/technically advanced Super Mario Adventure.
posted by monocyte at 8:03 PM on November 25, 2006 [2 favorites]


TwelveTwo: "It doesn't play like SMB3."

The world maps are SMB3-style, but all of the gameplay I've seen so far (the art, the in-level music, the specific enemies) is from Super Mario World.
posted by Plutor at 8:10 PM on November 25, 2006


The music is too fast. The level-end tripwires are too short. Koopas knocked out of their shell don't act properly.
</nitpick>

posted by Plutor at 8:12 PM on November 25, 2006


I was tingling with excitement at the outset, but gave up at world two. It's a good mod, but too random and the levels are too sparse. Plus the "neverending" feature is more aggravating than that stupid toad dressed up as the princess at the end of each world in SMB1.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 8:25 PM on November 25, 2006


No Kuribo's Shoe?? Meh.
posted by greatgefilte at 10:08 PM on November 25, 2006


Randomly generated levels are almost always a bad idea. Good level design is far more involved than most people seem to think.

Pretty neat from a technical standpoint, though.
posted by Uncle Ira at 11:07 PM on November 25, 2006


Needs a lot more variation in the level elements. I got really sick of seeing six-brick rows by the second level.

Also, I went into the mushroom house and it loaded a castle level. WTF?
posted by neckro23 at 12:05 AM on November 26, 2006


If this were put out by Nintendo, I'd be disappointed for all the reasons stated above (SMW is far inferior to SMB3, and you should be ashamed for leading me on like that). But as a free fan-project on the internet this is very, very cool.
posted by Gary at 1:09 AM on November 26, 2006


For some reason, this just feels wrong.
posted by tehloki at 2:36 AM on November 26, 2006


As loads of people have said, the inertia, speed and jump arcs are all wrong.

It's weird, actually - the enemy and object sprites are from Mario World, but the Mario sprite, the ground art (I think) and the backgrounds are from the SNES Super Mario All-Stars remake of Mario 3. Strange mix to choose.

Mario 3 superior to Mario World? Sorry, I seem to have stepped into Bizarro World for a moment here. Mind me, me am not getting on your cosmic treadmill and getting the heaven into here.
posted by terpsichoria at 3:01 AM on November 26, 2006 [1 favorite]


Argh reminds me of why I hate playing console games. Everything is so unresponsive.
posted by beerbajay at 3:22 AM on November 26, 2006


Hmm. Wake me for the time attack.
posted by Skwirl at 3:48 AM on November 26, 2006 [1 favorite]


Playing mario using a keyboard for controls is so... unsatisfying. I kept hitting the wrong buttons. Weird.
posted by antifuse at 5:20 AM on November 26, 2006


In 1991, a ten-year-old boy exclaimed, "I wish I could play Super Mario Bros. 3 forever!"

That boy is in Hell now, and he's playing this!
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:17 AM on November 26, 2006


I'm with terpsichoria and neustile on this one. Gary, the claim that SMB3 is superior to SMW is so laughable that it might just be the most incorrect statement ever uttered. Assuming, of course, that you uttered it while you typed it.
posted by Plutor at 10:31 AM on November 26, 2006 [2 favorites]


This game sucks. It's booooooooooooooooooooooooring.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:47 AM on November 26, 2006


I'm with terpsichoria and neustile on this one. Gary, the claim that SMB3 is superior to SMW is so laughable that it might just be the most incorrect statement ever uttered. Assuming, of course, that you uttered it while you typed it.

I don't know, SMB3 struck me as more fantastic then SMW, Part of it might have been because of the lower-quality graphics, but probably it had to do with the fact that I was younger.
posted by delmoi at 11:54 AM on November 26, 2006


I can't get it to work on either Firefox or Opera on my Mac!
posted by MythMaker at 12:37 PM on November 26, 2006


seems like whomever created it, built it from the ground up ... so i'd say it's impressive. But whoever said it was right ... it's SMB3 map style with a bit of SMBWorld.
As for the person with the Mac .. you should be able to get the Java runtime environment for the mac.
posted by mallopar at 5:01 PM on November 26, 2006


I'm with terpsichoria and neustile on this one. Gary, the claim that SMB3 is superior to SMW is so laughable that it might just be the most incorrect statement ever uttered. Assuming, of course, that you uttered it while you typed it.

SMB3: Kuribo's Shoe. Hammer Brother's Suit. The giant world. Racoon Tail. Coin Ship. Awesome commerical. The Wizard.

So what does SMW have? Don't even say say Yoshi because you'll just embarrass yourself.
posted by Gary at 10:06 PM on November 26, 2006 [1 favorite]


Gary: More Levels? Better Graphics? Better overall difficulty curve? Yoshi? I'm saying yoshi because he's optional; you can just discard him if you don't want to use him. He can't possibly detract from the game, only add to it or leave it unchanged.
posted by tehloki at 12:04 AM on November 27, 2006


This infinite version has more levels, Mario Sunshine has better graphics, and Yoshi's Story has more Yoshi. But none of those games compare to either SMB3 or SMW. The difficulty curve may be true. Admittedly, I played SMB3 when I was 12, and only played bits and pieces of SMW until much later.

Oh well, maybe we can agree to disagree and go make fun of some Sonic fanboys? If terpsichoria thinks I live in the Bizarro World, somewhere out there lurk people who actually prefer that game.
posted by Gary at 12:54 AM on November 27, 2006


Gary: "So what does SMW have? Don't even say say Yoshi because you'll just embarrass yourself."

Yoshi is awesome, and even more so are the Yoshi variants available primarily (solely? It's been a while) in the star road. Secondary exits, secret levels with secret levels behind them, and secrets inside those. No stupid "playable" map pipes. Switchblock palaces. Secrets only accessible after (much later) switchblocks activated. Chocolate Island. (one level's exit leads back to itself!) Infinite flying with adequate skill. Spin jumping.

I think I've re-played SMW more than any other game, ever, simply because there are more ways to play it. You can beat it in about 20 minutes by taking the Donut Secret 1 to Star Road route, or you can spend a weekend getting all 96 exits (damn that Forest of Illusion).

Don't get me wrong, SMB3 is a great game (and the things you mention make me want to go home and play it). But, well, in my book it's only second best.
posted by Plutor at 8:06 AM on November 27, 2006


Yeah, Plutor put it better than I could. The game just has a broader, more fleshed-out feel to it. It's pregnant with possibility.
posted by tehloki at 1:56 PM on November 28, 2006


Annnd, upon reading my own comment, that's why this infinite version sucks so hard. It's got no soul, no.. possibilities. You know that you're never going to see anything more than rehashes of the same vague mario level stereotypes. Half the fun of the mario series is trying to figure out new ways to handle expertly designed challenges in the same perfect levels you've always played. The only challenge in this thing is "jump, run into wall, jump again, jump over turtle, repeat".
posted by tehloki at 1:59 PM on November 28, 2006


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