Super Mario Rect

Click to download Super Mario Rect (40.0 KB)

This ROM hack replaces the detailed graphics with simple rectangles. It bestows a surprising pop-art style to the original game. This graphical reduction demonstrates how Super Mario Bros' uses colour to differentiate its various elements, and how effective this is when form is eliminated. Also, it perhaps serves as an interactive demonstration of that 'abstract minimalist pixel art' meme that was around a while back. Or, perhaps, it serves as a parody of the primitive pixel graphics aesthetic that some indie games employ, and that some people misremember the Atari 2600 as having?

This hack's central concept has also been independantly explored in two other hacks: The Pixel Kingdom (2008) and Minimal Mario (2010). It's interesting to see how these approaches differ from my own, and from each other - such as how they approach the in-game text.
All original content on this site, except where noted, is property of Leon, all rights reserved.