Playable Paper Super Mario... no really, he's made of paper

Taking Paper Mario to its logical -- albeit extreme -- conclusion, an artist / DIY'er named Keith Lam has created the first physical, playable implementation of Super Mario Brothers. By emphasizing Mario's movement on the background, and turning the "TV" into the object which moves, the character appears to traverse the familiar landscape of SMB, complete with collision detection, brick movement, and mechanized jumping. The "system" is built using a chain-driven platform, which is shakily directed with an actual NES (well, Famicom) controller, thus allowing for some game play -- though with response times like this, you're better off just watching. Speaking of, check the video after the break and see the system in action.

[Via Wired]

[NickH Posted Feb 7th 2008 6:08PM]

This is such a retrograde step. It would have been OK in the 80s, but now it just can't compete.

The high-res graphics and VR are good but it is just too limited. Even converting it to a vertical scroller like Ikari Warriors would require a major architectural and philosophical change, I mean, would you have to use a LADDER?

Silicon FTW.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2008 7:18PM]

Hey! You couldn't go backwards in Super Mario Bros!

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 7th 2008 10:21PM]

HOLY SHIT I WANT THIS!!!

[kaelb Posted Feb 7th 2008 11:26PM]

Wow, am I the only one who thinks this is cool? I mean, it really shows what the artist is trying to express. He is not trying to recreate Mario. He is trying to switch our view of how we control a character.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 9th 2008 1:10AM]

I wondering if this author is a group or a person.how come there was a chinese letter printed on the box in the end of the video.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 8th 2008 6:24AM]

What the fuck, guys?

This isn't art.
Damn you all and your hippy bullshit.
This is a piece of paper moving around a background.

I really hate it when people try to justify stupid shit by calling it "art".

Failures, the lot of you.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 8th 2008 1:48PM]

Try some german engineering from a couple of years ago: http://cyberniklas.de/pongmechanik/video.html . Granted, pong is a game much simpler than mario bros, but the execution of the project is amazing. not only is the game that you see a real "representation" of another process, but also did the guy build the computer behind the game from mechanical components, namely old telephone relays. And he did not try to pull off some phony art-speak justufication of his project.