Mari0

This article is about the unofficial video game. For the Nintendo character, see Mario.

Mari0
File:Logo for fan-made video game Mari0.png
Platform(s)	Linux, Mac OS X, Windows
Release	March 3, 2012
Genre(s)	Platformer Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer

Mari0 is an open-source fan-made computer game that combines elements of the video games Super Mario Bros and Portal. The game was developed by Maurice Guégan of Stabyourself, who has previously worked on parody games such as Not Tetris. Mari0 was developed with the LÖVE framework , and is cross platform. The game has been released on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, on March 3, 2012 . Upon release, the source code was made available.

Gameplay

Mari0 Title Screen‎

The core game of Mari0 plays directly from the 8-bit Super Mario Bros. 2d platform game, where the player controls Mario via the keyboard, running and jumping through levels, avoiding or jumping on enemies to defeat them, while collecting coins to earn points towards their score. The game adds the concept of the "portal gun" from the Portal; the player can click with the mouse device on two separate surfaces on the level to create a portal between them. This can be used for a number of gameplay options, often using vertical momentum entering one portal to "fling" the Mario character horizontally out of the other portal, but will also affect enemies and other game elements in similar manners.

The core game uses the level designs from the original Super Mario Bros. as well as sets of test chambers inspired by Portal's Aperture Science, but a level editor, along with different graphic sets and shaders are provided to create new content. Up to four players can cooperatively play in the game. Online multiplayer is to be released in a future version.

History

The original idea for Mari0 was to make a clone of Super Mario Bros. but with the multiplayer element that New Super Mario Bros. Wii had. After seeing a video on the humor site Dorkly entitled "Mario With A Portal Gun", Maurice Guégan came up with the final idea for the game.

Development began in January 2011 by Maurice Guégan, the Lead Programmer of Stabyourself.net. He frequently created blog posts keeping followers up to date with the latest Mari0 developments, including a month long 'Screenshot Marathon' of Mari0 updates. Several teasers and videos were posted and a speculated release date of Christmas 2011 was proposed, this was later pushed towards New Year's eve 2011. However, the release date was postponed further until beta testing had been completed and Maurice was satisfied with the release.

The final release date was posted as a puzzle, it was quickly decoded to reveal 3/3/12 as the release date. An accompanying count-down timer was also placed on the Stabyourself.net homepage.

The first official release was made alongside the publishing of a trailer video. The website often offers updates to fix bugs.

Reception

Mari0 has been covered on various technology and video game websites. It has gained a lot of attention on sites such as YouTube and Reddit. The game has been well received on various video game blog sites. "John Walker" of Rock, Paper, Shotgun stated things like "If it doesn’t make you gasp and want to post it to the rest of the internet, then I simply don’t understand you."

External links

• Official website
• Game video