‘Super Mario Bros.’ Becomes a Reality

Everybody who’s old enough will remember Nintendo’s classic Super Mario Bros. Stomping goombas and throwing fireballs at a koopa troopa became as much a part of reality as becoming compromised on a blue panda pop. Needless to say, coder Abhishek Singh had other dreams. Inspired by Pokémon Go, he created an augmented reality version of Super Mario Bros. level 1.1 using Microsoft’s HoloLens headset. The results were simply astonishing.

The video was uploaded on Singh’s Youtube channel, showing him dressed in the classic Mario overalls, complete with a red shirt and white gloves. His demonstration showed New York’s Central Park suddenly infested with goombas and green pipes, complete with question mark blocks which could be interacted with to obtain a classic Super Mario Bros. item, such as a mushroom.

Throughout the four-minute demonstration, Singh is seen interacting in a new augmented reality. He can be seen stomping on goombas, as well as throwing fireballs around. At the end, to finish the level, he’s even able to interact with the flagpole, which in turn set off fireworks.

Singh used the HoloLens device and a pair of virtual goggles while running Unity3D. The HoloLens is a head-mounted display unit that’s connected to an adjustable headband, which can then lift the HoloLens in various directions. The front of the device contains a camera, sensors, and processors with 3D audio speakers on the side, which allows the user to still hear outside sounds as well as the augmented reality sounds.

Augmented reality is still a relatively new technology, but is developing rapidly. It won’t be long before new worlds are accessible to gamers, beginning a new era of gaming. In the mean time, check out Singh’s augmented reality adaptation of Super Mario Bros. and enjoy a new take on a Nintendo classic. He’s clearly put in a lot of hard work to make it possible!