Mario Reduced To 8x8 With Open Source and Arduino

adeelarshad82 writes "The open-source Arduino electronics platform has received a ton of attention from the hardware enthusiast community. And one more follower is joining the fray — Mario himself. The mustachioed plumber of console video game fame has been converted into an eight-by-eight LED matrix by Carnegie Mellon University student Chloe Fan. However, the game isn't quite the Mario you know from your legacy Nintendo Entertainment System. For starters, it's just lights. While one often sees the game's LED-backed grid used in devices like the open-source Monome, where it can function as a push-button toggle for music beats and effects, Fan's version of Mario uses the grid as a display only. Mario — or rather, a one-light representation of the game's hero — is controlled NES-style through the use of two buttons. One button makes Mario move forward; the other makes him leap into the air."

Comments

Live version

[suso]

I've always enjoyed this version of super mario

Re:Live version

[b4dc0d3r]

This one's better, but it has a bit of swearing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in6RZzdGki8

Two classic games combined

[suso]

This 8x8 version almost looks like a combination of Super Mario and Tetris.

Re:Two classic games combined

[Nefarious Wheel]

There's a company called HACEDuino that makes Arduino kits if you're interested. Cheap, they sell them on Ebay out of Australia. Neat little kits, I have one myself.

Disclosure: company belongs to a friend of mine, but I have no financial interest.

Re:Two classic games combined

[mrsteveman1]

You know you really don't have to disclose that sort of thing just to comment on slashdot ;)

Re:Two classic games combined

[CrazyJim1]

This 8x8 version almost looks like a combination of Super Mario and Tetris

Hmmm... I wonder what that would be like . o O http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/522276

Re:Two classic games combined

[Nefarious Wheel]

Thanks for that ;) I only really require it of myself.

Chloe Fan

[GodfatherofSoul]

I love you. If you had Princess Leia hair buns in your profile pic, you'd be the perfect woman.

Not Super Mario Bros.

[esaulgd]

Other than the music, there's nothing on the game to make it "Super Mario Bros.". The player character runs and jumps over generic obstacles without making any use of SMB physics or any other distinctive elements. If anything it's closer to Pitfall.
Then again, "8x8 platformer created with Arduino" wouldn't attract as much publicity.

Re:Who cares?

[Yvan256]

Most of the 8x8 LED Matrices use round LEDs, so I don't see any problem with your request.

Re:What's it with Arduino, anyway?

[kobaz]

From my pov, it went from "did not know it existed" to "why is everyone so excited" pretty much over night. I don't get it and would appreciate it if anyone told me why this particular bit of hardware hit home so hardly.

Because when I was in EE classes in college it took weeks (probably faster for someone who knows what they were doing) to build up projects using ICs and little microcontrollers. The microcontrollers also had to be programmed with a UV eraser and reprogrammer, which required having a printout of the machine code in hex, and typing it all by hand into an eeprom programmer.

Now with the Adruino, you get a USB interface to a very cool little chip that you can upload C code on to. There's also bunches of modules (shields) that you can link together to create your project. Ethernet modules, wireless modules, input device modules, output device modules (led/lcd screens). All these boards can work together in harmony... versus building all this stuff from scratch with the basic components. They are also quite cheap compared to what it would cost to build from scratch.