Movies aren’t the only entertainment medium fond of ripping off ideas, video games have been ripping each other off from day one. The games on this list compiled by Dorkly are made up of familiar games with a slightly different look, proving that imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it generally doesn’t help you sell your product.

From Super Mario Bros. to Street Fighter, to (relatively) newer games like Team Fortress and Grand Theft Auto, no popular game is safe from copycats, yet sometimes a rip-off game takes on a life of its own and makes it big. So, should we hate on imitators, or enjoy the way they lampoon the big names in the industry?

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The team at Exploding Rabbit have a gift for any fan of classic Nintendo games, and/or those looking to kill some time online with a really fun retro side scroller- Super Mario Crossover, a custom Super Mario Bros. game that allows you to play through as one of eight playable characters!

You can play as Link from The Legend Of Zelda, Samus from Metroid, Bill Rizer from Contra, Mega Man, even Simon from Castlevania, just to name a few.

Just think how fun it will be to smack Koopas around with a whip, or shoot Bowser in the face when he least expects it, all the while taking in the classic video game soundtrack slightly re-imagined. It’s like the NES threw a party, and you’re invited!

Link  –via ComicsAlliance

Show off both your mad video game skills and your muscular body with this modified Nintendo Entertainment System controller. Brian Kaminski’s interface lets you control Mario’s movements by flexing your biceps and forearms. His instructions at the link show you how to build one that just plugs into a USB port.

Link -via DVICE

(YouTube Link)

Itsa mashup trailer, featuring gameplay footage of everyone’s favorite stereotype plumber and the audio track from the latest Grand Theft Auto V teaser. Every time Mario tries to get out they pull him back in, like a giant pipe with a secret chamber inside.

–via GeeksAreSexy

]]> http://www.neatorama.com/2011/12/15/grand-theft-mario-v-mashup-trailer/feed/ 1 http://www.neatorama.com/2011/12/03/bizarro-mario-bros-title-screen/ http://www.neatorama.com/2011/12/03/bizarro-mario-bros-title-screen/#comments Sun, 04 Dec 2011 04:31:21 +0000 Zeon Santos http://www.neatorama.com/?p=56809

(YouTube Link)

Digital artist Jonathan Fletcher has created the player select screen for a bizarro version of the Super Mario Bros. video game that would apparently take place in the Gulf of Mexico.

This has to be the skeeziest incarnation of the Bros. i’ve ever seen, but nobody ever said plumbing was a glamorous job!

Link –via Geekologie

Lori Turnbull’s crocheted Mario and Luigi caps come with elastic bands to help them stay on your cat’s head. As though that would even be necessary! Cats love to wear hats.

Link -via Fashionably Geek

(YouTube Link)

Fans of the Mario Bros. video game franchise draw inspiration from the moustachioed plumbers in so many creative ways, but i’m generally most impressed by the musical tributes. This operatic styled song released on YouTube by legolambs has hilarious lyrics that go along with the gameplay so well that you’ll be entertained even though you’re watching someone play Super Mario Bros. for the millionth time.

–via Geekosystem

This visual guide has been released in order to prevent confusion when you discover these magical items in the world of the Mario Bros. Created by Juxtapop, this nicely illustrated guide was inspired by the Harry Potter universe:

I finally got around to watching every Harry Potter film.  Never saw them before, never read the books.  Then it hit me.  They have all the same powers as Mario.

So, while they may have the same powers at their disposal, Mario totally pwns Harry Potter in every way.

Link –via GeeksAreSexy

Like in the Super Mario Bros. games, eating these quesadillas will make you temporarily invincible. If you’re going to sustain this ability, you have to keep eating them — as many as necessary so that people start avoiding you. You can find a recipe at the link.

Link -via That’s Nerdalicious!

(YouTube Link)

After hearing this Bulgarian accordionist version of the Super Mario Bros. theme song, i’m starting to rethink Mario’s heritage. Maybe he spent some time in Bulgaria as a kid, or he has a Bulgarian doppelganger, because this song sounds so Mario!

–via BuzzFeed

(YouTube Link)

Mario’s brother Luigi once had his day in the sun, thanks to a Nintendo Gamecube game called Luigi’s Mansion, in which Luigi wins a haunted mansion and must rescue Mario from his ghostly captors using a vacuum pack to bust the spooks. Sounds like the perfect game to turn into a live action movie, right? Well, watch this spoof trailer made by YouTube user SAXjewell and see what you think.

–via Ology

]]> http://www.neatorama.com/2011/10/18/luigis-mansion-movie-trailer/feed/ 0 http://www.neatorama.com/2011/09/18/super-mario-bros-in-only-64-pixels/ http://www.neatorama.com/2011/09/18/super-mario-bros-in-only-64-pixels/#comments Sun, 18 Sep 2011 20:23:43 +0000 John Farrier http://www.neatorama.com/?p=53136

Brad Slattery made Super Pixel Bros., a version of Super Mario Bros. that is played with 64 alternating lights. The whole design is quite minimal. There’s a 8X8 LED matrix, a digital display, and controller buttons mounted onto a circuit board. There are multiple levels in the game, each of which is 120 pixels wide. Mario is represented by a simple yellow dot.

Link -via Bit Rebels

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Morgan Day and Emily Wigger definitely deserved the “Golden Budgie” award at this year’s National Jitterbug Championships. Their swing dancing routine got increasingly geeky by incorporating theme music and elements of game play. -via Comics Alliance

Etsy seller Elizabeth Kohn made a set of earrings that look like the piranha plants from Super Mario Bros. Ouch! Hopefully these don’t spit fireballs. Link -via reddit

Darick Maasen made this taxidermed version of a Koopa Paratroopa from the Super Mario Bros. franchise. It’s the perfect display item for a man cave — far superior to a mere mounted deer head. Link -via Uniblog

Doryan of Eyes of a Brownie decorated this dollar bill in a Super Mario Bros. theme. What, did you think that we were still using gold coins? Shoot, it’s not even backed up by gold coins anymore. Link -via The Mary Sue

In this re-dubbing of the classic Super Mario Bros first level, we see how Mario would sound if they had used today’s more realistic video game sound effects. See link for full video.

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Would life make more sense if you suddenly realized that you’re actually inside Super Mario Bros.?

Also: turtles can climb fences? If snapping turtles can do this and develop opposable thumbs, we’re in trouble.

via Geekosystem | Photo: unknown

If you are a fan of the classic Super Mario Bros franchise, you might have always wondered how the evil Bowser recruited and maintained such a strong army of Koopas, Goombas and those annoying Mario eating plants. It turns out he uses some slick World War II style propaganda posters! Link

Silvas’ girlfriend April loves Super Mario Bros., so he decided to propose marriage to her in an appropriate way. He decorated his living room with game backgrounds and placed the wedding ring in a yellow cube hanging from the ceiling. And then, once she said ‘yes’….

via Kotaku

You ever feel a need for a little boost? Punch the underside of this wall-mounted box made by Instructables user Bruno Pasquini. It spits quarters (with appropriate sound effects) out of the top, just like the coin boxes in Super Mario Bros. You can watch a video of it working at the link.

Link via Make | Maker’s Personal Website

Angst, drug addiction, and unrequited love. Super Mario Bros., as Joe Nicolosi discovered, has always had the potential to be an indie film. This trailer was shown at the current SXSW festival in Austin.

via Geekologie | Director’s Website

Previously:
Star Wars Retold By Someone Who Hasn’t Seen It
Super Mario Bros. Intervention

(YouTube link)

It’s only a matter of time before Juilliard starts up a Super Mario studies program. In the meantime, this prodigy is getting the ball rolling with his spectacular rendition of the Super Mario Bros. theme in real time – adjusted for speed boosts, trips into the warp zones, coin grabs, and other sound effects.

When I win the lottery and become a zillionaire, I’m going to have a room with just an NES and this guy in it.  It’s gonna be awesome.

Link

]]> http://www.neatorama.com/2011/02/10/super-mario-violinist/feed/ 3 http://www.neatorama.com/2011/02/05/super-marios-teachings/ http://www.neatorama.com/2011/02/05/super-marios-teachings/#comments Sun, 06 Feb 2011 04:55:14 +0000 The Dude http://www.neatorama.com/2011/02/05/super-marios-teachings/

Confession time: back in the ’80s, I spent a pretty sizable chunk of time cutting class and playing Super Mario Bros. on that beautiful grey box that was the NES. I also listened to Danzig – until I realized that it was drowning out that hypnotic siren song that is the Super Mario theme.

And I’d say I turned out alright. What’s more, it turns out I’m not the only one who was mentored by Mario. Case in point: Julia Leptit’s Dorkly piece “Everything I Need to Know in Life I Learned From Super Mario,” which is not only brilliant but is also not the craziest thing a kid could learn. Or an adult, for that matter.

Now if you’ll excuse me, Redneck Bob the inbred comic is hosting a History Channel special on the Kennedy-Triceratops treaty of 1812.

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Children at the Maria Imaculada School in Porto Alegre, Brazil, put on a Super Mario-themed classical ballet. It was entitled “The Abduction of Princess Peach.” I’m waiting until they do Grand Theft Auto.

Link (Google Translate) via Kotaku | Photo: Reino do Cogumelo

Donald, an electrical engineer in El Paso, Texas, made this mech inspired by Yoshi from Super Mario Bros. You can see more pictures at the link, as well as similar past projects at his website.

Link via DVICE | Artist’s Website

Martin Spitznagel performed this ragtime medley of music from Super Mario Bros., Harry Potter movies, and Star Wars. Andrew Barrett and Tom Warner accompanied him on washboards. This performance took place at the West Coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento in 2008.

via reddit | Spitznagel’s Website

YouTube user yankeyan altered his Kinect gaming interface so that he could play Super Mario Bros. by mimicking Mario’s movements:

I programmed it to recognize my motions and passed the virtual button presses to the NES emulator. I could have placed a simulated keypad right in front of me that I can press with my hands, but I thought full body gestures were more in the spirit of Kinect. Of course, Mario isn’t designed to be played like this, so this is really really hard.

via Technabob

Other planned roads in the neighborhood include streets named for “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Space Invaders” and “The Legend of Zelda.”

Video games won out over more traditional options in an online poll that residents used to pick their street names, said Antonio Almudi Miranda, president of the Arcosur neighborhood association.

“We are people who grew up living with video games. We know them very well,” he said. “I’m 25. I’m the same age as Mario.”

Link via Nerd Bastards | Photo: CNN

Artist Jude Buffum made butchering charts for Koopas, Ganon, Chocobos, and Yoshi. They’ll be on display at the upcoming Pixel Pushers show at SCION Installation in Culver City, California.

Link via Popped Culture | Gallery Website (warning: sound)

Previously by Jude Buffum
Rainbow Brite: Finish Her!
1980s Movies in 8-Bit

Joseph Karam, a fan of Koji Kondo’s musical score for Super Mario Bros., discovered that there is no complete body of sheet music for the game. So he decided to create a professional-level transcription:

[...] I pulled out my professional engraving software and embarked on a meticulous and uncompromising transcription project that involved (i) transcribing every pitch and rhythm while listening to the original 8-bit NES recordings hundreds of times, voice by voice, note by note, in a loop, (ii) rigorously cross-checking my work with several of the best transcription attempts out there, (iii) arranging the visual layout and pagination for clear readability, and (iv) optimizing the piano fingering by learning the pieces myself and playing them every day for several months.

Link via Geekosystem | Image: Joseph Karam

Mario was originally known as Jumpman. However, when Nintendo’s US office were trying to think of a better name in time for the American release of the game, they were interrupted by their landlord Mario Segale, after whom they christened the character.

Link via Geekosystem | Image by deviantART user LabrenzInk

Link via Geekosystem | Photo: NBC4

The bike lane in North Williams Avenue in Portland, Oregon now sports power-ups from the video game Mario Kart. Presumably driving over them will make the bicyclist variously very fast, spin out of control, or become invincible.

via Comics Alliance

Previously:
Mario Kart in Real Life
Mario Kart Love Song

With a Flickr username like Supernomnom, it’s no wonder that the Super Mario Bros. themed picnic food dishes look supper yummy! (Served with Princess Peaches Schnapps, of course).

Here’s the Flickr photoset: Link

[YouTube - Link]

Super Mario Bros is no doubt the most popular beatboxing song because of its universal appeal, but this rendition is undeniably impressive. I especially enjoyed the second half, when he hits the darker music of the underground levels.

Link via CollegeHumor

Back in 1985 when Super Mario Bros. was born, the intuitive simplicity of game meant that anyone could pick up an NES controller and start playing, figuring out the rules as they went along. This classic videogame, considered primitive by today’s standards, went on to sell more than 40 million copies.

But have you ever wondered how Mario and Luigi would appear if the game were invented today?

Professional games developer Zach Hiwiller had fun imagining just such a scenario, assuming the game were made with today’s sensibilities (i.e. , dumbed down).

Link – via kotaku

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.

Jaime Margary (DeviantArt user kalapusa) created this realistic Super Mario Bros. Piranha Plant sculpture a couple of years ago, but I just found out about it today … and was blown away by its sheer awesomeness!

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]

From the NeatoShop: Super Mario Bros. stuff

Aha! I knew these guys would eventually open a restaurant, but I always imagined it would be a joint venture, not next-door competing eateries. Found at Google Street View, ever the source for coincidence, not irony. This is in Manchester, United Kingdom, where reports of plumbing failures have peppered the news there.

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Mario Question Block Coin Candy - $3.95

You never know what you'll get from a question block in the video game Super Mario Bros., but there's no question here. You'll get awesome coin-shaped candies from Boston America's Mario Question Block Coin Candy.

The candy, licensed from Nintendo, comes in a collectible metal tin and is now available from the Neatorama Shop: Link

More Super Mario Bros. themed stuff from the Neatorama Shop:

Super Mario Bros. Mushroom Tin - $3.45	Mario Bros. Super Star Candy - $2.95	Super Mario Bros. Power Up Energy Drink - $2.95

When microbiologists aren’t curing diseases, they create works of art in petri dishes. In fact, they have an annual competition at the international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) conference. This entry, inspired by Super Mario Bros., was submitted by the nanobiology laboratory at the University of Osaka. You can view a gallery of petri dish art at the link.

via Popular Science

UPDATE 12.20.09: Apparently we’re having virus problems, so I deleted the link. I would not have guessed that New Scientist would be a bad risk.

deviantART user William Chua of Singapore created this remix of Super Mario Bros. and classical Japanese illustration. He claims inspiration by both Super Mario Bros. and the game Monster Hunter.

Link via Geekologie | deviantART Gallery

This video shows four different levels of Super Mario Bros. in which the sound effects were synchronized to play four different musical parts in the Queen song “Don’t Stop Me Now.” If that explanation doesn’t make sense, it will about a minute into the video. Its origin is a little unclear, as the information is in Japanese. I’ll update as I learn more.

via Geekologie

Animator Jeremie Duval remixed Super Mario Bros. with the tone and sound of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Content warning: not for mushroom lovers.

Via Geekologie

So. Unless you’ve been living in a cave, I’m sure you’ve heard that President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize (surprise!)

The blogosphere was immediately abuzz with … confusion. What has Obama done to deserve to win? Isn’t it a bit premature? Are Norwegians just Obamafans? And does this mean that the Olympics is ditching Rio to come to Chicago? You’d expect this kind of reaction from his political opponents, but it seems that *everyone* was scratching their heads.

I know, I know – no politics on Neatorama. But I’m genuinely puzzled. What do you guys think is going on?

[poll=13]

And yes, I made that Super Obamario Bros. photoshop

Photo: Montyfull

Craftster user Montyfull was a fashion major and a gamer, and so naturally combined the two interests with evening wear inspired by the video game Super Mario Bros. The above sequin dress took eighty hours of work and features a NES controller as a garter. There more pictures at the link, including a mushroom dress and a bob-omb dress.

Link via Geekologie

This faux trailer presents Super Mario Bros. as the classic war movie The Inglorious Bastards (or possibly the new Quentin Tarantino remake). It’s called The Inglorious Plumbers and was produced by Nick Murphy.

Via Popped Culture

Craftster member enemyairship created this 7 by 7 foot rug of Mario in raccoon form:

He’s made of 386 granny squares, each one representing 1 pixel (3.5″ each) that makes up Raccoon Mario. I learned to crochet in February by watching youtube videos and recently watched another video for granny squares and got started on this project right away. I had originally thought that it would take me over 1 month to complete if I made about 10 granny squares per day.

Link via Gear Fuse

Antoinette J. Citizen created this art installation straight out of Super Mario Bros, complete with working question mark boxes with sound effects: Link – via Chunnel