'Super Mario Bros Crossover 2.0' announced

Exploding Rabbit

Mega Man vs. the Hammer Bros in "Super Mario Crossover 2.0."

By Matthew Hawkins

Despite their original exploits being decades old, many classic 8bit characters enjoy new adventures to this very day, thanks to homebrew developers. A perfect example is "Super Mario Bros Crossover," which deposits the leads from various NES classics into the Mushroom Kingdom.

The current version allows one to explore "Super Mario Bros" environments as Link (from "Legend of Zelda"), Samus ("Metroid"), Simon Belmont ("Castlevania"), Ryu Hayabusa ("Ninja Gaiden"), Bill Rizer ("Contra"), the SOPHIA III ("Blaster Master"), or Mega Man (from the series that bears his name). The key hook: everyone's characteristics, which were designed specifically for completely different circumstances, must now be put to use in foreign territory.?One can also play as the title's original hero, Mario.

As the video above illustrates, a massive update is on the way. It includes two new characters: Luigi, who exhibits traits from his "Super Mario Bros 2" appearance, and Bass, one of Mega Man's frenemies. Furthermore, several characters are getting alternate personas. It's easy to guess which games Dark Link, Dark Samus, and Proto Man come from, plus who they're associated with. But not so much with Haggle Man, an alternate outfit for Ryu, or the Demon, Mario's second skin. Both are from the relatively obscure "Game Center CX/Retro Game Challenge" as Tiny Cartridge points out.

In addition to the original 8bit look, Crossover 2.0 will also provide SNES or Game Boy visuals (borrowed from the "Super Mario All-Stars" version of "SMB" and "Super Mario Land 2," respectively). For the latter, everything can either be in original monochrome or Game Boy Color-ized. There's even an option to replace the assets from SMB1 with SMB3's. "Super Mario Crossover" has a loyal audience among modders, which is being utilized with this new release, or so it would seem.

No release date has been given, other than "coming first quarter of 2012." So perhaps any day now, or a few weeks down the road.

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Be sure to check out the Technolog on Facebook, and follow Matthew Hawkins on Twitter, who is hopeful that "Super Mario Crossover 2.0" will support gamepads natively.

Source: http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/17/10175768-super-mario-bros-crossover-20-announced

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