The internet is abuzz with news of a Mario/Portal mashup in the works. Called Mari0, it comes from the same people who made Not Tetris 2, a studio named Stabyourself, which consists of Maurice Guégan and Sašo Smolej. With a growing line of tongue-in-cheek games, this latest title sees the classic Super Mario Bros. on the NES combined with 2007’s Portal—the mechanics of Portal are imported into the platform adventuring of Mario, allowing you not just to transport yourself down the pipes, but through them as well.
Trudging along with his trusty “aperture science handheld portal device,” Mario can zap holes in the fabric of the Mushroom Kingdom and teleport koopas and himself between two flat planes.It may seem like a joke, but it’s not. On the studio’s factsheet page they state: “Yes, this is an actual game being developed—it is not a mod of any existing one. It’s coded with Löve”. And it’s going to be free with the source code available when the game’s released in a few months time. It’ll also have a level editor embedded in the game, along with original Super Mario Bros. levels, and simultaneous multiplayer.Usually game mashups are the reserve of fighting games, like the “Capcom vs.” series, where characters from comic book pages and arcade machines battle it out for the pleasure of fanboys the world over. Or maybe you’re treated to a few crossovers where characters from different games turn up in different titles as playable treats, but nothing like this. So could the arrival of this game kick off a whole new genre of mashup video games? Only time will tell…
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