‘Super Mario 64’ is an online multiplayer thanks to hero modders

Super Mario 64 turned 21 years old back in June, but the classic title lives on in the hearts and minds of players. A new fan project has taken that collective nostalgia to another level with a downloadable version of the game allowing up to 24 friends to play through the (formerly) single-player adventure. But given Nintendo’s extremely low tolerance for unauthorized versions of its games, play it now before the company DMCA’s it off the internet. Built by modders Kaze Emanuar, Melonspeedruns and Marshivolt, the Super Mario 64 Online project is a downloadable ROM, so you’ll need emulator software that plays N64 games. The project requires a little tinkering with settings (tutorial video here ) and drawing straws to see who will host your game session. After that, it’s off to the races for you and your friends to fiddle around Super Mario 64 ‘s original levels with a sprawling cast of characters, all with different abilities. Sure, the game’s content is unchanged, so having multiple players likely makes acquiring stars and advancing through the story easier — if that’s your only goal. But idle hands are the devil’s playground, and stuffing a bunch of your friends in what’s supposed to be a single-player game makes for a wild sandbox. Think of it like Mario Party where you make the rules. If you’re planning to boot up Super Mario 64 Online , do so now. The last time somebody released a computer-playable version of the classic N64 platformer, Nintendo shut it down within days. And if you come to this post too late, just remember: People have tried to give Super Mario 64 multiplayer before , and they will probably do so again. The dream lives on. Via: Mashable Source: ‘Super Mario 64 Online’ (YouTube)

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‘Super Mario 64’ is an online multiplayer thanks to hero modders

Hackers jailbreak permanent mods onto Super Mario World save files

The practice of hacking standard Super Mario World cartridges on stock Super Nintendo hardware has come a long way in a short time. Three years ago, it required a robot entering thousands of button presses per second to insert arbitrary code on top of the game. By last year, streamer SethBling was proving that this kind of code insertion was possible for a human acting with pixel-perfect precision. Now, SethBling and others in the SMW hacking community have taken things a step further, permanently writing a full hex editor and gameplay mods onto a stock Super Mario World cartridge using nothing but standard controller inputs. SethBling’s ten-minute video explaining the entire “jailbreaking” process is a must-watch for anyone interested in the particulars of perpetually altering a 25-year-old game without any special hardware. In short, the jailbreak builds on an exploit discovered by Cooper Harrsyn that lets players write data directly to the small, 256-byte save files that are permanently stored on the Super Mario World cartridge. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Hackers jailbreak permanent mods onto Super Mario World save files

‘Super Mario Run’ is now available

Finally, there’s a Mario game on smartphones. As promised , Nintendo has released Super Mario Run today, giving iPhone and iPad users a new way to run, leap and spin through the Mushroom Kingdom. It’s an auto-runner, meaning the portly plumber will jog, hop and vault over obstacles automatically. You tap the screen to jump, leaping across gaps and goombas to collect colorful coins. It sounds simple, but there’s a surprising amount of complexity to the platforming. Like Rayman Jungle Run , timing is essential to unlock contextual moves, such as rolls and wall jumps. The game has a one-time fee of $9.99. Nintendo is keen to avoid the free-to-play mechanics that plague so many smartphone games, focusing instead on quality and traditional replayability. The levels are challenging enough, tasking players to collect coins of increasing difficulty. With plenty of stages and worlds to explore, they should keep you preoccupied for hours. There’s also Kingdom Builder, a basic village design mini-game, and Toad Rally, an aysnchronous multiplayer mode that emphasises style over brute-force level completion. The three modes feed into one another too, unlocking one-time “rally tickets, ” enemy score multipliers and more. It’s not all rosy, however. Nintendo has been criticised for demanding an always active internet connection . (The company says it’s to stop piracy.) If you’re the type of person that likes to game on their morning commute, or has to ration a modest data cap each month, this could be a deal-breaker. Regardless, it’s a landmark moment for the company and it’s beloved mustachioed mascot. Miitomo was an interesting experiment, sure, but it pales in comparison to the potential of Super Mario Run . This is a true platformer, albeit one with limited controls, that could make a ton of money and improve Nintendo’s standing in the public conscience. Source: Super Mario Run (iOS)

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‘Super Mario Run’ is now available

Mario and Sonic look absolutely stunning in Unreal Engine 4

Unreal Engine 4 has shown us what the next generation of video games can look like: large, realistic and mind-bogglingly gorgeous. Frankly, its tech demos are breathtaking — technical marvels that show off photo-realistic apartments and stunningly beautiful landscapes ; but what happens when you cram cartoonish mascots like Mario and Sonic The Hedgehog into these technical marvels? Mind-blowingly awesome YouTube videos, that’s what. It was bound to happen eventually. Back in March, Unreal made its incredibly popular game engine free to anybody who wants to use it, leaving amateur game developers with immediate access to professional game creation tools. Search around YouTube, and you’ll find more than a few folks using it to put our favorite game characters into hauntingly realistic worlds. Check it out: See that vast landscape? That’s the setting for Unreal Engine 4’s Kite demo, which shows off the engine’s ability to handle large worlds and procedural asset placement. YouTube user CryZenx decided it was the perfect place to drop in Sonic The Hedgehog. The resulting demo isn’t much of a game (though it does show off just how fast a blue hedgehog can run), but it binds the potential of Unreal Engine 4 to a familiar face — letting us imagine what the coming generation of games could really look like. CryZenX made a Mario demo, too — but the plumber looks a little out of place in the Unreal’s endless prairie. YouTuber Aryoksini put Mario in a more familiar environment, a series of castles and caverns more suited to his adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom. The canned environments (taken directly from the Unreal marketplace) look a little too polished for the off-beat world Nintendo’s mascot normally inhabits, but it’s still a stunning look at where console gaming could be in a few short years. Want to see more? Hit up the YouTube search bar with “Unreal Engine 4” and your favorite video-game mascot. Let us know if you find anything good. Filed under: Gaming Comments Source: YouTube (1) , (2)

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Mario and Sonic look absolutely stunning in Unreal Engine 4