Why is Super Mini Mario such a good homebrew?

[DraconumPB]

Recently I've discovered Super Mini Mario by Arguru and PSP3D ( http://PSP3D.com with many mods availible at http://pspsmm.com) and I'd like to discuss why it is not only popular but an excellent homebrew to boot.

1. Super Mini Mario has fairly low overhead for what it is.

In other words, it doesn't take up a lot of space. That's a GOOD THING when ROMs and Emus take several MB at times, and when not everybody owns a 4 GB MS!

2. Super Mini Mario is very moddable. Anything from new art to new music to new levels can be done.

This is one of the biggest selling points of SMM - it can be modded by ANYONE with very, very little knowledge. I made a level the other day in like 15 minutes, and I have no real coding knowledge other than web dev and some C++ - not that it was necessary.

The other good thing about this isn't just customization, but the fact that you can expand SMM to have as many levels as you want.. you can download them, create them yourself, etc.!

3. MANY mods are already availible and cover alot of popular characters and franchises.

So far we have a Chocobo mod, several Sonic mods (for different characters), Pokemon mods, Halo mods... and of course more on the way I'm sure. All of these are also not just cosmetic, but also contain new levels.

4. SMM is great for playing on the go!

It's just one of those simple and fun games that isn't shallow enough to get boring but not deep enough to deter you from playing in a few minutes of your spare time.

5. SMM works on any firmware.

Indeed, SMM works on any firmware up to 2.6 to the very best of my knowledge. This isn't true with every program these days so it does count as a selling point in my book.

6. SMM is original on a technical level.

SMM isn't a 'port' of Mario - the engine is brand-new. That's why it's so easy to create mods based on any franchise (or, yet to be seen - an original idea, haha) imaginable.

7. SMM has the potential to keep growing through FANS of the software, not just devs!

This is a big point. Since anybody can mod it, anybody can contribute to content for the game.. there's already a fan-created level pack on the website I linked to of 25 levels. This also helps prevent SMM from becoming stale like so many homebrew releases sadly do after the dev either works on newer projects or no longer has time to do coding...

I'd have to say, next to Quake, this is the only homebrew on my MS right now! I just think that SMM is going to keep growing, at least for awhile. What are your guys's thoughts and feedback on this homebrew 'series'?

[stotheamuel]

covered it all havencha

well i love it its super mario

with any leval u want,characters,sounds,music

its as if you can make the game

[Psphreak]

Sorry...but overrated

[PSP3D]

Hey DraconumPB,

Thanks for the nice comments. Super Mini Mario was made by Arguru and me (PSP3D, I don't really have any other name). PSPSMM.com is a fan site of Super Mini Mario, the official site is, of course, PSP3D.com, since Arguru and I are the creators.

Once again, thanks, and look forward to V4 in the coming weeks!

[Darksaviour69]

wow somthing like that for the dc would be cool... i wonder if an port is on the cards

[PSP3D]

In my spare time, I made a port of Super Mini Mario to the PC, not V3, but V1. If there is enough interest, I'll happily port it to DC in my spare time as well.

Here's the PC version of SMM:
http://psp3d.com/marioworld/MiniMarioPC.rar

[Darksaviour69]

yeah, there would be interest!

[DraconumPB]

Sorry...but overrated

Well, you can't overlook the fact that it's very expandable and versatile as a homebrew... the mod-able aspect I think will keep it as a popular homebrew for awhile. Look at Half-life - it was modded like crazy, and none of the popular mods had anything to do with the original game, but people today are still playing CStrike, which is based off of a what, 8-year old game?

I'm not saying that it's comparable to Half Life mind you, I'm just saying, it's earned a special place on my MS for being as simple, fun, and versatile as it is. It's got a small but growing and dedicated following it seems, and I still stand by my assertions above that it has many aspects which make it a no-brainer for many people's homebrew libraries.

[PSP3D]

Overrated or not, it was just another homebrew project we were working on together, and we are pleased to see that everyone's enjoying it. At the same time, we are both disappointed a bit as somehow, unlike other homebrew projects, people feel that they can remake, rename, and recredit the homebrew without giving proper credit to the actual developers of the game and engine, us. Which is why I am not surprised that both Draconum and the majority of the community do not know who the actual creators are. This is partly in effect that a lot of other news sites other than my own had for some odd reason, once again, considered this a solo project by just Arguru, which is not a bad thing by any means, but people don't really know where the real 'center', so to speak, for discussing and looking for updates and talking with the developers is, and fansites like PSPSMM.com tend to steal the credit as they are dedicated to mods of our game.

Edit: Draconum, thanks for the post edit, btw.

[DraconumPB]

Actually I would be interested in a PC version of v3 if you could do it.. I'd like to possibly make + distribute a themed game based off of the engine that me and the people that blog at my site ( http://draconum.net ) could contribute to. Not really a hard plan but just a thought I had the other day.

Also, mp3 support would be nice, with a config option in the level file for what file would be used, if you're considering doing any more versions/updates

But those are just ideas! I don't expect anything more from you, I'm happy with what's already been done.

-- The reason I say this is because at http://draconum.net/index.php?blog=3&cat=65 you'll find a project called 'The Temple of Mayhem'... me and my freinds have all been producing tracks for an imaginary video game that hasn't been made yet, although we all decided we'd like to make that game! Of course we're all linked by our music, so we're of varying degrees of coding ability. Thus, coding a game from scratch is not an option. Due to the easy mod-ability of this game (and the possible port-ability of it as well), I was thinking it would be cool to do a platformer-adventure type game with new graphics and such, although using the mp3 tracks that we've produced as BGM (this would kind of be the point, if you get what I'm saying).

Anyway, this is a big interest I think for us, and there's about 4 or 5 people I think which would probably contribute, myself included. My thought is also that if it was completed, it would be an interesting flagship mod for your game considering it would be basically the first mod (that I've seen) that would be entirely original and not based off of existing intellectual property. I dunno. Just thoughts