We seem to be riding a fashionable wave of '90s nostalgia at the moment and when you combine that with Nintendo nostalgia (which we'd argue is always in vogue), you get a wistful blast so potent that it's sure to turn your Hypercolor t-shirt entirely orange or green or whatever colour your underarms went when it got a bit toasty.
Mario fan Jesus Lopez is mixing the look of the classic kids TV show The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and applying that unique take on Nintendo's plumber (specifically the animated parts) with a 2D platformer with the help of his family. The show, which originally ran back in 1989, got several subsequent reruns and mixed animation with live-action segments for a Nintendo cash-in so memorable that we still fondly recall 'doing the Mario' three decades on.
As you can tell by looking at the video above, there's a level of polish to this effort that raises it far above what you might expect when you hear the words 'fan project'. That might have something to do with the fact that Jesus Lopez was an animator on such video games as Ducktales: Remastered and Shantae Half-Genie Hero, both of which looked rather lovely.
Seeing as this is a fun family project, Jesus has also enlisted the help of his son and daughter with coding and art direction respectively. The level above showcases Pasta Land, the first stage in the game. As you can see, the attention to detail and quality of the animation is fantastic, and it's certainly a world away from the direction Nintendo's taken with the series. There's something very strange about seeing Mario's legs whirl around like Sonic's when he runs!
Jesus has also drawn up Princess Toadstool and Luigi in their Super Show guises and we can't wait to see more. The project is a long way from completion, and if Nintendo's track record is anything to go by, we imagine this will be available for a day or two before lawyers' letters are sent. It's a position Nintendo must maintain if it wants to protect its IP from more nefarious types of infringement, but we do hope we get to try this out one day. Alternatively, can you imagine if this was a Game Style for Super Mario Maker 2? That would never happen, but imagine!
Check out the video below for more information on the thinking behind this unique take on the Mario universe:
How do you like the art style of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show? Would you like to see it make a return in an official capacity? How about a Mortal Kombat style digitised version of Lou Albano and Danny Wells? Now you're talkin'!
[source kotaku.com, via youtube.com]
Comments 58
Pretty cool, hopefully it’s allowed to stick around a while before Ninty eventually take it down.
How long before Nintendo drops the hammer...
Super Mario Bros. game with Yoichi Kotabe art, please and thanks.
...I would play this SOOOOO FAST on Switch. Never would happen (Nintendo is not so into the whole "using our IP without permission" thing), but in a fantasy world where that weren't the case and, say, Toad's mushroom cap was in fact a cap that he could remove as he pleased, and King Koopa had just the best New York accent (rather than being, say, Dennis Hopper), yeah, I would play this game SO FAST.
"Swing your arms, from side-to-side — c'mon, it's time to go; DO THE MARIO!"
Pasta power
And please Nintendo don't delete it
Enjoy it while you can I am sure Nintendo is already talking to it's lawyers.
This is actually really pretty. I'd love to get a Mario game with this art-style.
Patty cake, patty cake, pasta man! Give me pasta power as fast as you can!
Just makes me more hype that someone will make a Mario Movie game someday!
May the pasta be with you.
Very cool and extremely impressive though the background just seems a bit much for me to focus on while playing.
I swear if there isn't at least 10 vinesauce references in there...
Awwwwwwwww - so cute! Would play this over another New Super Mario game in a heartbeat!
Looks great as expected from someone who does animation for living. It doesn't seem to have lot of gameplay yet. It's weird seeing Mario double jump. I hope those blocks are placeholders. They are drawn like they're 3 dimensional but they don't react to movement at all. Makes them feel out of place.
This looks great. Better than New Super Mario Bros graphics. This is more charming. Would love to play this one
What? no king googoo gaga koopa?
I actually have 12 DVD's of these shows, and it's sooooo cool to see it made into a game.
Wake me up when he re-makes Breath of the Wild in the style of the Zelda Animated Series.
Excuuuuuuse me, Princess!
The parallax effect is so extreme is makes my eyes hurt. But I appreciate the effort
tell you what, I'm entirely up for a series of retro remasters where the artwork comes from their 90's cartoon.
Nintendo needs to hire them ASAP!
The art style looks quite good, but this is why I'm glad it's not the fans who make the actual Mario games. The environment art is way too busy where it's hard to tell apart background from foreground, and the mechanics are completely different from what makes Mario games fun to just move around. Cool concept, but I'm not sure I'd want too play this as-is.
But kudos on taking inspiration from the TV show, the 2D Mario games could certainly use some art-style reimagining.
This looks alot better then any of New Super Mario bros games
tho I don't think Nintendo would ever make a game like this
That is both brilliant and terrifying
For those saying don't delete it .
First it's not a finished game he is selling or making any money off of. Second he probably got the ok from Nintendo to share videos of his project. It's not licensed or being published and not being sold so I'd say he is ok. Given the fact he worked on Shantae and DuckTales I'd say he k owe how the business works and if or when it is completely he would look to nintendo for licensing.
It looks good but it just too god damn animated. Everything is SCREAMING for your attention. Everything is always moving. Objects in the foreground move very distractingly. The parallax scrolling effect is horrendous.
@nab1 you ever play paper Mario or Yoshi games? They have the same kind of backgrounds. The newer ones anyway.
I never knew there were more animated Mario cartoons other than SMB3.
For those of you saying it'll get shot by Nintendo, fat chance. Nintendo only heads for remakes like SMB1 C64 and AM2R. This, along with Super Mario Flashback and Super Smash Flash 2, are not remakes of pre-existing Nintendo titles, just fangames based on them.
this would make an interesting game style for super Mario maker 2. unfortunately we are still waiting for other game play styles. like an super mario 64 game play style or whatever game play style that nintendo comes up with.
Very cool. It's like they reverse engineered what the game adventure from the Super Show universe would have looked like.
Though I love it, Nintendo will probably not let it went through.
On his YouTube channel he’s also created Wario in the Super Show style, and plans to include him in the final game.
Where can i download this! I want it soo bad
Wait a minute... that first video just rips off The Video Game Years' logo, colored over years, and slaps it into the side of the Super Show logo...
Otherwise, it looks great. Neat concept.
Love it!
I hope I'll be able to play it before it gets shut down.
This animation looks fluid as hell
And Nintendo's totally about to DMCA it which is unfortunate
Looks like Cuphead.
Also the thought of seeing this as a style in Super Mario Maker would be cool. The movie also.
Or at least as alternate outfits for Mario in a future 3D game (if they keep that idea around for the next one).
I love this. Very curious how the Super Mario World cartoon will be once he gets to it. LOL! No, hopefully Nintendo won’t bother him. As long as he isn’t providing links and stuff for everybody to play it. If anything, hope they hire or commission him for something... like uh, er... A Zelda 2 remake done in the style of the cartoon!
@nessisonett Well the appeared to have blatantly ignored the Metroid 2 AMR game because that guy worked on it for years, put a countdown clock, released it, and then they fired a letter day or so after the fact and only indirectly. It wasn't until the game was bugfixed they wrote the guy directly so kill the project so there's hope. They're not like Square-Enix that watched that Chrono game made for years then C&D'd it days before it arrived pissing off a lot of fans.
This is legit awesome. I was just thinking about a "Super Mario Bros. The Movie: The Game" game haha
Takes me back to simpler times, like the war between the PS2, Xbox and GCN - https://youtu.be/t4JK6d2j4GA
I hope to God someone makes a Zelda CD-i esque quick time event game.
My dream for 2D Mario is reimagining it like Cuphead. This is pretty much exactly it. Nintendo should hire this man. He's not pirating/distributing anything or hurting the brand. And he clearly has a vision worth pursuing.
I love the style. It's very nostalgic for me, I remember watching this show when it aired.
It'll likely (rightfully) get shut down, using the Mario IP unlicensed and all, but it's very cool.
This imo should be the future style for 2d Mario’s leave the crisp graphics for the 3D platform
Although I am not a fan of how some of the characters were animated in the show this sure makes me want a 2D Mario game in a nice animated style. Even if they used the character designs and art style of the Mario and Luigi games as their basis.
I dont get why people waste their time doing this knowing it will get taken down before it gets any where
The problem with the parallax background scrolling is that the layers are reversed in terms of speed as the camera pans. Stuff far away should scroll slower than those meant to be up close.
If it's based on a TV show that Sony still owns the license for, can Nintendo really do anything in this scenario?
@Darkyoshi98 Its for his kids. Not public release. This video only got shared, because his friend saw what he was doing, and asked to share a snippet. He'll be fine. Worst thing thatll happen, is he'll go back to doing it in complete privacy.
Miserable manicotti! The Koopa's escaping into a Warp Zone!
HOLY WOW this looks so GOOD! Nintendo needs to hire this guy right now and provide resources to develop this as an official Nintendo game. Even if someone has never seen the cartoon, or didn't like it, I'm sure they would love the stylized look of this game. If there can be so many different styles of Legend of Zelda, why not Mario too?
Urp, the far background is moving faster than the near background! Please stop the spinning! 🤢
it looks like the Nintendo Ninjas have a new mission
@Andrew_R_2000
"I actually have 12 DVD's of these shows, and it's sooooo cool to see it made into a game."
Could the author of this message provide some more details about the "12 DVD's"?
@Mario500 they are DVD's that have all 3 of the cartoon series, including mario 3 and mario world.
So cool, I wish it was official!
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