Punch, Cry, Game.

While I've covered a "Mario Clone" recently with the game, Enough Plumbers, this recent addition into the market deserves special recognition for both being an awesome idea, and for being a rocket to notoriety for the author. Look anywhere on the internet and you'll see a review or commentary about this game. Jay Pavlina, creator of Exploding Rabbit, as well as the game in question, is overwhelmed by the response to a game that has only been on the internet a few days. That game? Super Mario Bros. Crossover, of course.

What's so special about another Mario game? I'm glad you asked, dear reader. Let's start with an obvious thing. This game, for all intents and purposes, is Super Mario Bros. The difference here is nothing short of brilliant. Jay has taken a cast of some pretty memorable characters from other classic NES games and put them in SMB as playable toons. Link, Mega Man, Simon Belmont, Samus, and even Bill R. from Contra, all make a staring appearance.

The game is more than just a sprite switch as you might expect. This is a hearty conversion between the mechanics of the original game with those of the characters crossing over. While not all of each character's original abilities could be brought into the world, the ones that were add plenty of excitement and new found appreciation for the classic NES platformer. Examples of each include:

Samus - Bringing her arm cannon as well as her ability to morph into a ball and plant bombs, she shines most when it comes to her exceptional jumping abilities. Acquiring mushroom and flower power-ups will extend the reach and power of her gun, along with granting her the look of her varia suit, as well as her suitless form from the original game.

Mega Man - Another King jumper, MM shares Samus' choice in weaponry with his trusted arm cannon. Adding to memorable actions, MM can also perform a familiar slide action that allows him access to tight squeezes, as well as a boost in speed. Power-ups will provide stronger attacks, allow him to charge up his famous Buster Shot, and grant him the cosmetic form of both his helmet and red suit.

Bill R. - Straight out of Contra, brings both his assault rifle and ability to shoot in eight different directions. Power-ups take him from a single shot up to the dreaded spread that will devastate anything in your path. I must say, out of all the characters available, Bill is easily the most destructive.

Simon Belmont - Already notorious for being the hardest to maneuver while jumping, Simon's jumps can't be controlled mid-air. He makes up for this by having a special double-jump ability, which not only gives you a slight of control while jumping, but also compensates during those moments when height is of importance. He also has a bonus ability to throw axes in a curved trajectory.

Link - He may be small, but don't let his size fool you. Link packs a lot of punch for a kid. Along with his sword, he has the unique ability to point it up or down while jumping. Great for smashing bricks and bouncing off enemies. Power-ups will eventually grant him the use of the magic sword, which will fire projectiles at enemies, making him one of only two characters to be both a melee as well as a distance fighter (the other being Mario himself). He also brings his boomerang to the party, helping him reach out of the way coins and keeping power-ups from getting away.

Mario - It should be noted that Mario is also a playable character. After all, it is his game; However, as someone pointed out in the comments section at newgrounds, "who the F*** is going to use Mario?"



The gameplay takes into account a lot of the little things that you would hope to see. Each character can jump to hit blocks, as well as land on enemies to kill them, keeping with the classic theme. In true crossover fashion, each character's weapons also can be used to smash blocks, trigger "?" blocks, and kill enemies as well. You can mix and match the styles of the game and the character to create something unique while never betraying the overall feel of the original. Even with that being said, some liberties were taken when Jay Pavlina put his hand to this project. The most notable being the new ability to back track a level. Something that was missing from the original SMB. When asked in a recent interview with GameXplain, Jay answered, "The only reason I did that is because I think it’s annoying in games when you can’t go backwards. I know it’s not like the original game, but I like it better this way. That is just a personal preference."

The other big change in the game is noticed during the underwater levels of SMB. Jay mentioned that he didn't have any swimming character models for stars of the game, so to compensate for this he took out the gravity of the levels. This allows each character to jump to incredible heights. There is also the addition of platforms in certain areas to allow access to coins during these same levels. Given the nature of these characters, it's certainly understandable why the changes were made, and in all honesty, they take away nothing from the fun you'll have playing this game.


Sound is a big highlight of this extraordinary game. Jay takes the themes of these beloved heroes and implements them flawlessly into each stage, further adding to the overall nostalgia that you'll experience while roaming through this familiar, yet altogether new experience. Check out the "final seconds" sounds for each character and just see what I mean.

It's really amazing how much Jay has accomplished with this simple idea. Too many people have tried to take SMB and copy, corrupt, and really just destroy what is considered the hallmark of console gaming. Jay, on the other hand, took a year of his life and used it to take something you only thought you knew, combine it with everything else you loved about the NES, and turned it into an internet sensation that is causing people to see things in a new light. A true artistic achievement, worthy of every bit of praise coming. When asked what was next for Jay and his newly formed studio, Exploding Rabbit, he had this to say:

"Actually, what I released is an unfinished version of the game, or sort of like a demo version. If everyone knew what I was really planning, I think they’d freak out even more. But I just released this version because I was going a bit insane from working on it for so long without anyone playing it, so it was sort of a necessity for me to let people play it and get some feedback. As long as I don’t get sued, you can expect more stuff like this from me. If I do get sued, you can still expect awesome stuff from me, but it will include my own original characters instead of already established characters.

I’ll be posting both my new and old movies to my website, exploding-rabbit.com, very soon. I have always wanted people to share my work with because the stuff I do is a lot of fun and very unique. I hope people consider subscribing to my blog or Twitter account to see some hilarious movies and other fun games very soon. I promise I will work extremely hard to make everything I do the same or better quality than “Super Mario Bros Crossover.”

And I could leave on that note, but I just want to say one more thing. To anyone that has a dream of something that you want: go for it. It doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many people tell you you’re crazy. It doesn’t matter how many obstacles are in your way. All that matters is that you follow your heart and do what you truly love. If everyone did that, the world would be a very different place."

I look forward to seeing Jay's movies, as well as the games that this brilliant mind will produce next. I wish him nothing but further success in the years to come.

Jay was nice enough to direct me the interview with GameXplain, which is where I got the above quotes. You can find the full interview, HERE.

And, of course, don't forget to check out the game for yourself. Get it at:

Newgrounds