The original Mario Bros that hit the Atari 2600 was less than stellar, to be honest.  It was a serviceable version but it was lacking in many ways due to the capabilities of the hardware.  Homebrew fans are working on fixing this, near, travesty, with a new and better Mario Bros for the Atari 2600.  Right now, it is in the preliminary phases, also known as a beta, but the basics are there and, so far, the results are far beyond the original release.  There are other remakes of classics for various consoles and this won’t be the last one, I am sure.

According to the developer, the animation used in this version is based on the Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game.  I am not all that sure what was the basis of the animation used in the original though (it “could” have been the arcade game but, yeah).  The animation so far in this version is already better than what was available to gamers a few decades ago- the techniques change but the hardware is still the same.

Collision detection is not yet in this remake but will surely be added later.  Also, when Mario jumps and hits the platform from below, there is no animation for that yet programmed in.  The turtles are different looking but that is to be expected, they didn’t take on their iconic look till Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo Entertainment System.  The POW Switch effects the whole level, but not the single turtle available, surely before release there will be more turtles and the POW Switch will be working properly.

Let us know if you want to see more coverage of games like this.  There are plenty for the classic systems from Colecovision to the Atari platforms.

Source: Upcoming & New 8 Bit Games Facebook

Carl Williams

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